Bell Atlantic Foundation Awards $1.5 Million for Excellence in Education
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Bell Atlantic Foundation Awards $1.5 Million for Excellence in Education
October 1, 1997
| Media contacts: | 212-395-6569 212-395-5990 |
NEW YORK -- The Bell Atlantic Foundation today granted $1.5 million in Excellence in Education Awards to 64 colleges, universities, public schools and community organizations engaged in educational technology initiatives in New York and New England.
U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley joined company officials and educators at Bell Atlantic's corporate headquarters in Manhattan for the announcement.
The recipients were recognized for their work in developing programs that use computers and telecommunications technology to help improve and enrich the learning environment.
"Helping improve the quality of education in the communities that we serve is vitally important to Bell Atlantic," said Raymond W. Smith, the company's chairman and CEO. "Of course, we must remember that technology alone won't do the job of improving our nation's schools. It also takes teacher and student dedication and training, parental and neighborhood involvement -- and these
grants will go a long way in making this happen."
The Bell Atlantic Excellence in Education Awards, which range from $5,000 to $100,000, will help fund a wide array of programs that address issues of integrating technology into the college and secondary school curricula.
Largest Awards in New York and Massachusetts
The four largest awards of $100,000 each over two years went to Community School District 13 in Brooklyn, N.Y.; St. John's University in Queens, N.Y.; North Shore Community College in Danvers, Mass. and the Fall River Public Schools in Fall River, Mass.
Brooklyn's Community School District 13 plans to enrich the existing curricula at three middle schools -- JHS #113, JHS #117 and JHS #258 -- by incorporating a comprehensive multimedia component. The grant from the Bell Atlantic Foundation will be used to support classroom-based staff development sessions, hands-on classroom activities and the acquisition of new multimedia equipment.
St. John's University's Project SMILE (Student, Multimedia, Internet, Learning Exchange) is a collaboration with Community School District 32 in Queens. The project involves approximately 30 teachers and an equal number of teachers in training and their professors from the university. They will employ a participatory approach to learning in three of the district's middle schools, with an emphasis on student discussion and teamwork.
The award to North Shore Community College in Danvers, Mass. supports the "New Century Schools" project that connects with the Massachusetts Consortium of Colleges for Distance Learning. North Shore's program is an integral link in a full interactive audio, video and data network in conjunction with the Lynn School to Work Partnership and Gloucester High School. Part of the Bell
Atlantic Foundation grant will be used to train teachers at the high school to use newly acquired video conferencing equipment, as well as in the instructional possibilities of the Internet and its impact on teaching methods and curriculum.
The Fall River Public Schools in Fall River, Mass. are engaged in an effort to redefine and strengthen the "Career Pathway for Communications and Telecommunications" at Durfee High
School that serves about 3,000 students. By adding multiple-networked labs throughout the high school and giving students access to the Internet, the school district hopes to expand the program to reach all students.
The Bell Atlantic Foundation administers all domestic and international philanthropic grants on behalf of Bell Atlantic. The Foundation's philanthropic emphasis is on providing safe havens for
youth and grants to technology and education, arts and human services.
A complete list of grant recipients is attached. For more information on the Bell Atlantic Foundation, visit http://www.bellatlanticfoundation.com on the Internet.
1997 Bell Atlantic Excellence in Education Award Winners
Bell Atlantic Leadership Grants | |
| North Shore Community College (Danvers, Mass.) | $100,000/2 years |
| Fall River Public Schools (Fall River, Mass.) | $100,000/2 years |
| University of Vermont & State Agricultural College (Burlington, Vt.) | $50,000/2 years |
| Community School District #13 (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | $100,000/2 years |
| St. John's University (Jamaica, N.Y.) | $100,000/2 years |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.) | $50,000/2 years |
| Bell Atlantic Innovator Grants New England: | |
| Cape Cod Community College (West Barnstable, Mass.) | $20,000 |
| City of Quincy/Public Schools (Quincy, Mass.) | $20,000 |
| Middlesex Community College (Lowell, Mass.) | $25,000 |
| Shawsheen Valley Technical High School (Bellerica, Mass.) | $23,000 |
| Earthwatch (Watertown, Mass.) | $15,000 |
| University of Massachusetts-Lowell/Tsongas Center (Lowell, Mass.) | $21,200 |
| Worcester Natural History Society New England Science Center (Worcester, Mass.) | $20,000 |
| ACCEPT Educational Collaborative (Framingham, Mass.) | $20,000 |
| Alliance for Education (Worcester, Mass.) | $25,000 |
| College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.) | $20,000 |
| Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District (Upton, Mass.) | $10,000 |
| Wentworth Institute of Technology (Boston, Mass.) | $25,000 |
| University of Massachusetts-Boston | $23,000 |
| Massachusetts College of Art Foundation(Boston, Mass.) | $15,000 |
| City of Taunton/Comprehensive High School (Taunton, Mass.) | $21,300 |
| Community Action, Inc. (Haverhill, Mass.) | $23,000 |
| Springfield College (Springfield, Mass.) | $10,000 |
| Holyoke Community College (Holyoke, Mass.) | $10,000 |
| University of Maine at Farmington | $17,500 |
| Colby College (Waterville, Me.) | $20,000 |
| St. Joseph's College-Maine (Standish, Me.) | $16,000 |
| Audobon Society of New Hampshire (Concord, N.H.) | $15,000 |
| Plymouth State College (Plymouth, N.H.) | $20,000 |
| Center of Hispanic Policy & Advocacy (Providence, R.I.) | $20,000 |
| Warwick Chamber Education Foundation (Warwick, R.I.) | $20,000 |
| Castleton State College (Castleton, Vt.) | $24,700 |
| College of St. Joseph (Rutland, Vt.) | $16,000 |
| New York: | |
| New York University (New York, N.Y.) | $25,000 |
| Research Foundation of CUNY. Baruch College (New York, N.Y.) | $18,000 |
| Teachers & Writers Collaborative (New York, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| ASPIRA of New York, Inc. (New York, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| New Visions for Public Schools (New York, N.Y.) | $16,000 |
| Teachers Network IMPACT II (New York, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| Barnard College (New York, N.Y.) | $23,000 |
| Lehman College Art Gallery (The Bronx, N.Y.) | $23,500 |
| Manhattan College (Riverdale, N.Y.) | $25,000 |
| Manhattan School of Music (New York, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| New York Institute for Special Education (The Bronx, N.Y.) | $13,500 |
| Community School District #18 (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | $20,000 |
| Salvadori Education Center for the Built Environment/ Walt Whitman Intermediate School (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| Fort Greene-Crowne Heights Youth Service Coalition (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | $16,000 |
| Research Foundation of CUNY/New York City Technical College (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | $16,000 |
| St. Francis College Department of Education (Brooklyn, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| Fund for NYC Public Schools/RFK Community Middle-High School(Flushing, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| Research Foundation of CUNY/York College (Jamaica, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| Futures in Education Foundation (Douglaston, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| Lawrence Public Schools (Lawrence, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| Our Lady of the Hamptons Regional School (Southampton, N.Y.) | $13,000 |
| Institute for Community Development (Manhasset, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| Dominican College (Orangeburg, N.Y.) | $17,000 |
| Partners for a Better Education (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| Research Foundation of SUNY-Plattsburgh | $25,000 |
| Marist College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) | $18,000 |
| Clarkson University (Clarkson, N.Y.) | $15,000 |
| Utica College, School of Nursing (Syracuse, N.Y.) | $10,000 |
| State University of New York at Buffalo | $25,000 |
| Trocaire College (Buffalo, N.Y.) | $21,500 |