Yahoo! gives servers to BBCC Computer Science Program

For Immediate Release
January 28, 2013
Contact: Mary Shannon, 509-793-2056

Yahoo! Inc. has donated 40 servers with rails valued at $16,000 to the computer science program at Big Bend Community College, giving another boost to the program in its first year of reorganization.

The latest gift of servers will be used in the server lab and hardware classes, said Mary Shannon, Computer Science Instructional Designer for the Title V Program.

The donation was arranged by Jason Thebault, Yahoo! Northwest Site Ops Manager and Michael Allbee, Yahoo! data center technician and a member of BBCC’s Computer Science Advisory Board, Shannon said.

The college received a $149,000 Workforce Development Grant in December to help hire a full-time computer science instructor, acquire instructional equipment, and develop curriculum. There is a good chance the grant will be renewed for 2014, according to Shannon.

Last November, REC Silicon donated $88,000 worth of servers, data storage controllers, switches, server cabinets, and networking gear to the program.

“One of the main reasons BBCC received the grant is due to our partnerships with private companies like Yahoo! and REC,” said Shannon.