NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 23 number 1 - Fall 2002
Beyond the Boundaries: Partnerships in GIS Education at NC State
By Carolyn Argentati, Public Services
On January 30, 2002, a large group of faculty, students, staff, and community
partners involved in more than twenty-five projects using Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) displayed their work for members of the UNC Board of Governors
as part of a tour of NC State University. Chancellor Marye Anne Fox welcomed
the attendees, and Hugh Devine, associate director of the Center for Earth
Observation in the College of Natural Resources, offered an overview of the
GIS technology being used and taught at NCSU and the diverse range of disciplines
and activities that it supports.
Opportunities in GIS are attracting increasing numbers of students and lifelong
learners, and the applications of spatial analysis and online mapping encompass
virtually all disciplines. North Carolina's state and local government agencies
recognize the university as a key resource in GIS as they engage in dynamic
partnerships with its faculty, students, and librarians. NC State's GIS initiatives
also involve teachers and students in K-12 education, with exciting outcomes.
Rather than housing GIS education and research in a single department, this
university has taken a fully multi-disciplinary approach. A collaborative group
of GIS faculty from more than thirty departments has been formed, with the
goal to ensure that every student who crosses NC State's threshold has opportunities
to become skilled in both the display of spatial data and the spatial reasoning
that underlies those maps. The NCSU Libraries provides an extensive collection
of spatial data, along with workshops and consultation in the use of GIS software.
In addition, NC State's Graduate School has led the way for the university
to establish the first Graduate Certificate Program in GIS in the UNC system.
This program and its corresponding multi-disciplinary faculty (thirty-four
departments represented) have proven enormously successful in attracting excellent
students, research support, and extension opportunities.
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