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Dakota State Awarded Software Grants

(MADISON, SD)- The College of Liberal Arts on the campus of Dakota State University has received a significant reduction in cost of industry standard graphic software. The software, AutoDesk 3D Studio MAX, has a purchase price of $4,000 per single user. Dakota State will be paying $7,500 for 25 licenses for one year. “That’s a significant savings to Dakota State ($90,000),” said Eric Johnson, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

The software comes from Kinetix, a sub division of AutoDesk and is distributed through Avatech Solutions.

Johnson says the recent success at DSU with the first ever multi-media web degree is a big part of why companies like AutoDesk are offering Dakota State such discounts. “The reason AutoDesk is offering DSU this great deal is in recognition of our imaginative use with our multi-media web major,” Johnson said.

The software will be implemented immediately for fall art courses in 3D and 3D animation and will be used in the newly created high-end graphics lab in Beadle Hall. “The software is professional production level software. Every aspect of it is flexible,” said Johnson.

For more information on the software or the multi-media web degree offered at Dakota State, visit dsu.edu/departments/liberal/multiweb.html.

Also awarded a software grant was Jim McKeown, Associate Professor of Business and Information systems at Dakota State University. McKeown received a $48,100 grant from Microsoft that will be used mainly for the Internet to develop a course and offer it strictly on-line. McKeown says the software will be implemented this fall and is by in large an update for existing software that was granted to McKeown three years ago by Microsoft.

“It fits in well with what we’ve been doing and the direction we want to go in,” McKeown said. “It’s a good example of University and Business working together.”

Under the grant, Dakota State will receive 50 licenses for Windows 2000 and 100 licenses for Visual Basics 6.0 Professional. McKeown says the grant was a level three grant, which is the highest Microsoft awarded. The other two levels were for a course description and part of a course. With the level three grant, McKeown will be able to put the entire Basic Programming course on the Internet.

DSU information Office