Department Donates Computers To Area Schools

Computer science lecturer Li-Jen Yu Shannon (center) and department chair Peter Cooper (on right of Shannon) donate 10 refurbished computers to Livingston and Shepherd ISDs on Dec. 11. With Shannon and Cooper are, from left, Property coordinator Wayne Frosch, SISD teacher Christine Campbell and LISD warehouse worker Craig Coker.

The products of a learning experience for Sam Houston State University computer science students will soon benefit those not yet in college.

The computer science department donated 10 refurbished computers built from discarded university equipment to the Livingston and Shepherd school districts on Thursday (Dec. 11).

The computers were built by CS lecturer Li-Jen Yu Shannon’s CST 138 class and members of the Sam Houston Association of Computer Scientists.

“Ms. Shannon runs a course which involves the building of computing equipment,” said Peter Cooper, chair of the computer science department. “So rather than just doing it as an academic exercise, what she and I talked about was the idea of being able to take old equipment that the university had discarded and sent back to Property (department) and then refurbishing that equipment and allowing it to then go out to other state agencies to support the work that they do.”

The project, which was initiated at the beginning of the fall semester, has resulted in six computers for LISD and four for SISD.

“This is mostly old Sam Houston property, together with a few components we had to buy to get them to work and some other pieces that were donated by faculty around the department,” Cooper said.
The project is a win-win experience for all those involved, according to Cooper.

“It benefits us in the sense that it helps our students learn,” Cooper said. “Most of that time (spent working on the computers during the semester) was getting the students to the point where they understood what they were doing before they built these machines.

“It benefits the university because it gives us another connection with the school districts, but it also benefits the school districts because they can target their technology funds to additional areas and not have to worry about these particular machines,” he said.

About half of the computers were built by Shannon’s class and the other half were built by the SHACS group.

This is just the first step in the project, according to Cooper. The class will continue in the spring and the department has several other school districts lined up as future recipients.

“Ms. Shannon contacted a number of school districts around the area, most of whom responded,” he said. “These are just simply the first two school districts out of a group that are going to be receiving this equipment over the next few semesters.”

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
Dec. 11, 2003
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