Gwinnett Daily Post

LAWRENCEVILLE -- Thanks to a $30,000 grant from the SunTrust Trusteed Foundation, students and faculty of Gwinnett Technical College will be able to access university and industry experts with the touch of a button.

The foundation's Thomas Guy Woolford Charitable Trust donated the money to support the purchase of a Cisco Tandberg video conferencing system to enhance learning, professional development and external relationships for students.

The Tandberg elevates face-to-face learning and collaboration by deliver a mobile communications experience through high-definition audio and video.

"We are grateful to SunTrust's ongoing support of Gwinnett Tech and education as a whole in our community," said GTC President Sharon Bartels. "Their donation will have a direct and positive impact on our students by helping us provide learning tools using the latest technology that will greatly contribute to student success."

The mobile video conferencing system will be used as a teaching aid for the college's new one-year health information technology certificate program and for additional life sciences courses.

The new HIT certificate program provides indsutry-designed training to help veterans, the underemployed and unemployed to seek employment as skilled coders in many healthcare settings.

A leader with SunTrust said the foundation was glad to support the college's mission.

"We share a common goal," said Assistant Vice President of Community and Government Affairs Jolie Maxwell. "(We want) to advance student achievement and higher education."