Michigan Tech Makes PC Magazine's Top 20 Wired Colleges List

Michigan Tech has been ranked number seven among PC Magazine’s 2007 Top 20 Wired Colleges. The leading technology publication in the United States, and The Princeton Review, the premier test prep and educational services company, announced the winners Tuesday.

Michigan Tech, the only university in the state to make the list, was cited for involving undergraduates in information technology and system administration at the earliest stages of their careers. Many stay on to work at the university. “A large number of the IT pros here are former students,” said Michigan Tech CIO Walter Milligan.

“A lot of people here provide outstanding IT services to students, faculty and staff, and our students themselves deserve a great deal of credit for that,” Milligan said. “We have some of the best students in the country, and they bring a fresh, innovative approach to important problems.”

In addition, PC Magazine singled out the university’s Enterprise Program, specifically the Blue Marble Security Group. Through the program, teams of students provide real-world solutions to industrial and governmental sponsors. Blue Marble clients include the state of Michigan and Rockwell Collins.

The list is available exclusively in Issue 1 of PC Magazine, on newsstands Dec. 26, and at go.pcmag.com/wiredcolleges (scheduled to go live on Dec. 15), where extensive profiles of the top 20 schools are available, as well as all 240 schools that completed The Princeton Review survey. On the site, users can also build charts to compare up to 10 schools and view the original survey.

“Cutting-edge technology has become an integral part of the college experience—and something that enables students to have many more marketable skills when they enter the workforce,” said PC Magazine Editor-in-Chief Jim Louderback. “As the foremost resource for computing and electronics news and analysis, PC Magazine is pleased to join forces with The Princeton Review to highlight the tech achievements of colleges.”

The “Top 20 Wired Colleges” honors colleges with the most comprehensive—in terms of size, scope and quality—computing and technology offerings. To identify the honorees, The Princeton Review surveyed college administrators from the schools featured in the 2007 edition of the Princeton Review’s college guide, Best 361 Colleges. The criteria focused on three main areas of technology: Academics, Student Resources, and Infrastructure; and included questions on everything from faculty computer training to streaming media from the college's radio or television station to the types of tech support available to students on a 24-7 basis.

"Initially, you might be surprised by some of the schools on our "Top 20 Wired Colleges," said Robert Franek, vice president. "At the Princeton Review, we know that finding the right-fit school for college bound students is not a matter of brand name recognition, but of quality of education and quality of life. All the schools on our list offer superior access, service, and infrastructure, and by doing so, they go above and beyond to serve those very real student needs."

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.