The University of Notre Dame has received an award from a higher-education technology group for an innovative approach to upgrading its communications infrastructure.

Notre Dame was chosen as the winner of the Institutional Excellence in Communications Technology award for 2007, presented by the Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education (ACUTA), in recognition of its Transforming Communications project. The project is based on a model for mobile communications that is designed to be continually adjustable to the changing demands of the university community.

In the Transforming Communications project, Notre Dame installed a multi-carrier cellular distributed antenna system to provide enhanced cellular communications across its South Bend, Indiana, campus. It also added 500 new Wi-Fi access points in 27 residence halls, nearly doubling its number of campus access points.

In addition, the university removed 3,364 traditional land lines in student housing areas and redirected its financial focus toward newer IT priorities for students, while also introducing cable TV services in all its residential spaces.

The Transforming Communications initiative “enables the university to achieve new ways of conducting our business and, more importantly, provide new ways to inform our students and enhance the quality of their educational and residential experience here at Notre Dame,” said John I. Jenkins, the university’s president.

A few years ago, university officials realized it didn’t make sense from a financial standpoint to keep providing in-room telephone service in students’ dorm rooms, because students were using cell phones to make all their calls. But ensuring proper cellular coverage was a challenge--and officials didn’t want to erect unsightly towers all over campus.

The solution they hit upon was a key factor in receiving ACUTA’s award, said Gordon Wishon, Notre Dame’s associate vice president and chief information officer.