Mesalands approves computer purchase

The Mesalands Community College board of trustees approved a purchase requisition of 300 Chromebook computers and sleeves that will be given to students as part of a pilot program this summer.

Larry Wickham, the college’s institutional technology director, said during the board’s regular April 20 meeting the total purchase of $70,146 would be part of a future 1-to-1 program where all Mesalands students would receive the computers.

Wickham said the Chromebooks would be returned at the end of the summer and reissued to new students. He said those devices typically have a lifespan of two to three years.

Acting president Natalie Gillard said the purchase, made possible by federal coronavirus relief funds, would be something many students would appreciate, especially those without laptops or computer tablets.

The supplier of the Chromebooks will be CDW Government LLC of Vernon Hills, Illinois.

In other business:

• Gillard said two faculty members soon would travel to Carson National Forest near Bloomfield to see several wild horses that will be cared for and used by students in several animal science classes. She said the corrals also are being built at the college.

• Gillard said 21 students from Clarendon College in Texas recently attended silversmithing and farrier classes at Mesalands.

• The board approved the college’s 2021-2022 academic calendar. Classes would begin Aug. 16 with finals week on May 2-5, 2022.

• Board Chairman Jim Streetman noted Mesalands’ graduation, scheduled for May 7, would be virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic.