World’s largest technical society signs agreement with Stevens

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Recognizing the Internet as a significant force in professional advancement today, Stevens Institute of Technology and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) — the world’s largest technical society — have taken a giant step forward to offer distance learning graduate programs online to IEEE’s 330,000 members.

The courses are part of Stevens’ new service, WebCampus.Stevens, which begins offering online graduate-level courses worldwide in spring 2000.

In its first-ever such agreement with a graduate school, the IEEE will co-sponsor WebCampus.Stevens programs in telecommunications management, wireless communications and technology-based teacher education. The IEEE will promote Stevens’ online program with direct mail, catalogs, advertisements and exhibits. The joint venture calls for IEEE members to enroll on the society’s web site and take courses delivered by Stevens’ faculty using the WebCampus.Stevens courseware platform.

"We plan to extend educational content to IEEE members and others around the country and the world," said WebCampus.Stevens Director Robert Ubell. "Our aim is to offer quality professional advancement programs in every medium that makes sense, including online."

After the first classes go online in January, Stevens will generate modular versions of its graduate programs as IEEE short courses.

Stevens already delivers video courses to graduate students in six states, using interactive videoconferencing technologies in collaboration with giants such as Bell Atlantic and Lucent Technologies. In spring 2000, for example, some 250 graduate students will be in classes conducted using interactive video. The addition of online courses was the next natural step, said Ubell, and the IEEE’s involvement offers an outstanding measure of support.

Many WebCampus.Stevens faculty hold prominent positions in IEEE. Dr. Stuart Tewksbury, for example, director of the online wireless communications course sequence, is editor of Microelectronic Systems, an IEEE Press series. He has also served as symposium and general chair of a number of IEEE conferences. Dr. M.T. Fatehi, who teaches a course in the online telecommunications management program, is a senior IEEE member.

Publisher of IEEE Spectrum and more than 60 technical periodicals, the powerful organization generates 30 percent of the world’s literature in electrical engineering, computers, and control technology, many of which are now available online. The IEEE holds more than 300 major conferences annually and produces more than 800 standards, with 700 currently under development.

Composed of 36 societies in all branches of electrical engineering, including communications, signal processing, and engineering management, its 300 local groups are in every part of the globe. In addition to the United States and Canada, regional sections are in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Stevens is also home to an IEEE Student Chapter.

The IEEE-Stevens agreement was concluded with the society’s Education Activities Division, publisher of nearly 200 books, CD-ROMs, self-study courses, videos and videos on demand.

Ubell, who directs the WebCampus.Stevens site, has long been associated with science and engineering publishing and education. A former publisher of Nature, the noted weekly British journal of science, editor of the National Magazine Award-winning monthly, The Sciences, and former president of BioMedNet, the giant life science web site, Ubell is the first web-based distance learning director at Stevens.

To learn more about WebCampus.Stevens, visit its web site at: webcampus.stevens.edu

Note to reporters: Robert Ubell, director of WebCampus.Stevens, is available for interviews by calling (201) 216-5084. He can also be reached by e-mail at webcampus@stevens.edu.

About Stevens Institute of Technology

Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.

Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.  

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