Gift Helps Launch Enterprise Architecture Program at School of Digital Sciences

DETROIT and CANTON, Ohio, June 2, 2011 -

A gift to Kent State University's new School of Digital Sciences
(www.kent.edu/dsci/) will allow students to pursue a
first-in-the-nation concentration in Enterprise Architecture at both the
undergraduate and graduate levels.

(Logo: photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110602/DE13334LOGO )

Enterprise Architecture is a concept used by Fortune 500 companies, the
United States government and major organizations around the world to assist
those entities in creating technological roadmaps that match their business
needs. Using these roadmaps, organizations develop tools and processes to
help their employees work smarter and more efficiently.

Through this partnership, the Enterprise Architecture Center Of
Excellence (EACOE) (www.eacoe.org/index.shtml) will donate to Kent
State a five-year license to use its courseware in the School of Digital
Sciences' curriculum, a gift valued at $3.2 million. Samuel B. Holcman,
chairman of the Pinnacle Business Group Inc. and managing director of the
Enterprise Architecture Center Of Excellence, calls the collaboration with
the university exciting because of the school's multidisciplinary approach to
the topic.

"What students will gain is a series of transferable skills that will
make them extremely valuable to organizations around the world," Holcman
said. "But while Enterprise Architecture is of interest to people around the
world, work in the field from an academic standpoint is very thin. We believe
academic institutions like Kent State can bring discipline to this, with the
university becoming the foremost authority in the world."

Holcman is one of the field's early pioneers; his organization has
educated more than 130,000 people on the topic and works with corporate and
government clients around the world. EACOE's U.S. offices are located in
Pinckney, Michigan.

"In the last 20 years, people have started to pay attention because of
one word, and that word is complexity," Holcman said. "The business and
technological needs of modern organizations are extremely complex. The
analogy I like to give is if you're building a rowboat, you don't need
information and planning. If you're building a cruise ship, you better do a
lot of planning and architecture."

Dr. Denise A.D. Bedford, the Goodyear professor of knowledge management
in the Information Architecture and Knowledge Management program of Kent
State's School of Library and Information Science, also serves as a faculty
member in the School of Digital Sciences. She calls EACOE's courses "the best
training you can get."

"They start with the idea that information technology is really about
business and performance, and looking at whether you have gaps," Bedford
said. "Organizations today are struggling to manage all of their I.T.
components and to see how those components align with business goals.
Enterprise Architecture puts the focus on business goals to create systems
that work together - so that tools work for users, rather than users working
for tools."

Kent State's newest school will operate under a multidisciplinary model
that incorporates faculty and courses from existing programs, including
computer science, computer information systems, technology, library and
information science, visual communication design, communication studies and
instructional technology. The first classes will be offered in fall 2011.

"Sam's gift is a strong endorsement of our forward-looking program, which
is poised for tremendous growth," said Dr. Robert A. Walker, director of the
Kent State's School of Digital Sciences. "Courses will be available through
online distance learning, allowing students from around the world to 'come to
Kent State' and tap into this unique curriculum."

The school fits within the university's vision of driving knowledge and
economic growth in the region and beyond.

"The impact on Ohio, in particular, could be meaningful," said Bedford,
who joined Kent State's faculty following her retirement from the World Bank.
"We are in very tough economic times. One of the things Enterprise
Architecture tells organizations is how they're spending money inefficiently.
I think the jobs in this field are going to be significant."

Brian Thornton, +1-330-672-0419, bthornt1 at kent.edu; Bob Burford, +1-330-672-8516, rburford at kent.edu