By VALERIE METREJEAN

Staff Writer

Tech students have often wondered how that mysterious "technology fee" on the tuition sheet is actually used.

Tech's Technology Fee Board says students are paying for several worthy projects.

The Student Technology Fee Board decides what the money is spent on.

This committee is made up predominantly of Tech students because, "They are the ones paying for it," Chris Womack, information technology coordinator, said.

"We want to get information out to the students about what is being bought with the technology fee because most students do not know what it is for," Womack said.

This year's projects include installing wireless Internet connections around campus, several additional Smart podiums and 12,000 copies of McAfee antivirus protection.

"We now have 39 Smart podiums," Womack said.

Smart podiums are multimedia tools in the classrooms consisting of a laptop that can project an image onto a screen from the computer.

Womack said this was useful for those who have laptops to follow along.

In addition to classroom improvements, individual computers will now be safer with the antivirus protection.

"The 12,000 McAfee antivirus programs will not only cover the university's computers but will also be administered through housing to protect students' computers in the dorms," Mark Shoemaker, network specialist, said.

Becky Callaway, coordinator of instructional technology, said the Student Technology Fee Board will also replace computers on the third floor in the Wyly Tower of Learning and the 10th floor of Prescott Memorial Library this year.

"If it were not for the technology fee we would not have been able to fund many projects in the past," Callaway said.

Callaway also said the fee, in the past, has paid for Internet wiring in the dorms, Blackboard and new equipment in the Maxie Lambright Intramural Sports Center.

"I do not think students are aware that they have access to the wireless system," Womack said.

"Unless they stumble upon it, the students, for the most part, are not using it because they do not know about it."

Some areas on campus such as Wyly Tower, the Student Center, the Bookstore, the Bulldog Kennel, the Quad, Centennial Plaza, Adams Residence Hall, Nethken Hall, Bogard Hall and Tolliver Hall already have wireless Internet.

Womack said Carson-Taylor Hall, Reese Hall, George T. Madison Hall, Woodard Hall and Davison Hall should begin working by the end of November.

Womack said he hopes people will hear about wireless and utilize it.

"I still see students in Tolliver plugged into the walls," Taylor Stein, a senior mechanical engineering major, said.

Womack said he likes the idea of seeing "study groups of students on laptops out in the Quad."

The possibilities to be in class or outdoors and still have access are something that Womack said will be beneficial to students.

"Installing wireless is a useful way of spending the students' money because it is something we can use everyday," Stein said.

When trying to figure out what to spend the money on, Callaway said they invest in things that will "enrich the lives of the students."

Callaway said, "We work hard to be good stewards of the students' money."