News Releases
News from Lane Community College
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
BEST OF FIRST GIS GRADUATES EARNS AWARD AND A TRIP TO SAN DIEGO
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Steve Farset |
Eugene, Ore. - Lane Community College has awarded Springfield High School alumnus Steve Farset its first Outstanding Geographic Information Science Student Award. The award includes a trip to the Environmental Systems Research Institute International Users Conference in San Diego, California, August 4-8.
Farset, 27, is one of the GIS program’s first graduates. Lane won a $782,144 three-year grant in 2006 from the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Fund (grant number 0603492) to develop the Mapping, Analyzing and Problem Solving (MAPS) GIS program.
“I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am,” said Farset, who now lives in Eugene. “Throughout every step in the learning process in the GIS program at Lane, I felt like the education and experience was top notch and could not be any better.”
An engineering major, Farset earned a 4.084 GPA at Lane. He graduated in June with an associate of arts Oregon transfer degree and plans to enroll at Northwest Christian University this fall, where he’s already taken some math credits.
GIS graduates have the demonstrated skill sets necessary for entry-level jobs in the fast-growing GIS workforce. Local professionals and the State of Oregon acknowledge Lane’s GIS certificate and courses transfer to most Oregon four-year Universities.
At the conference, Farset will be exposed to new developments and opportunities in the GIS field. More than 14,000 GIS professionals attend this annual conference. Farset will share his experience with incoming MAPS GIS students, and publish information on the program’s website.
The program offers a four-course sequence focused on geo-spatial technology. Graduates may earn a GIS Pathways Certificate and qualify for career opportunities in social science, science, and computer information technology. Farset says the program is a “world class experience. The teaching and learning experience here is similar to the satellites we rely on for our aerial photography and GPS data-out of this world!”
For more information on Lane’s MAPS GIS program, visit http://gis.lanecc.edu/Plone
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PIO: Joan Aschim, (541) 463-5591, aschimj@lanecc.edu
Contact: Jane Benjamin, GIS program principal investigator, (541) 463-5875,
benjaminj@lanecc.edu
Steve Farset, GIS graduate, (541) 954-7861, sfarset@yahoo.com
