Gouri Banerjee

Associate Professor of Information Technology
B.A., University of Delhi; M.A., Ph.D., Boston University

Office hours:
Mon 11:00-12:30
Tue & Thur 1:30-2:30

Office: Administration Building, Room 335
Phone: 617-735-9724
Email: banerjee@emmanuel.edu

The essence of all revolution, said philosopher Hannah Arendt, is the start of a new story in human experience. For us in the field of information technology, the new story began roughly in 1981 with the mass adoption of the personal computer. My work in teaching, research, and interacting with students tries to capture the excitement, complexity and rapid and unexpected change brought about by the information technology revolution and its powerful consequences on all our lives.

Having received my Bachelor of Arts degree in India I developed a great sensitivity to the inequality of access to food, shelter, education and skills by the vast majority of the world's people. Graduate school at Boston University in the 1970's sharpened my sense that technology, social activism and personal commitment can bring meaningful change to people's lives. My Ph. D. dissertation, "Interregional Information Flows and Mass Media Networks," explored the power of mass media technology to heighten an awareness of social and economic inequities in less developed countries, notably India. Information and technology literacy are powerful agents of change. Today, I teach about the power of computer technology to access, organize, analyze, and use information productively in a very fast-paced technologically driven world. Currently, my research explores ways and means of bringing the power of IT to underserved minority, immigrant and marginalized people living in the Merrimack Valley region of Massachusetts.

Courses:
ITECH1101 - Computers for the Liberal Arts
ITECH2101 - Problem Solving with Computers (QA)
ITECH2103 - Using the Internet: Tools and Techniques
ITECH2107 - Computer Databases: Design and Applications (QA)

Recent Grants, Publications & Professional Activity

• Haymarket People's Fund grant recipient, June 2002, for work with South Asian Immigrant Women, Economic Independence Project.
• "Establishing A Minor In Information Technology For Preservice Teacher Education," Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, SITE Conference, Nashville TN (March 21, 2002).
• "Technology Assessment for Incoming College Students." Paper presented to the New England Faculty Development Consortium, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester (October 6, 2000).
• Davis Education Foundation faculty mini-grant recipient, Spring 2000, Teaching and Learning Online at the Colleges of the Fenway.
• Faculty Associate, Project Success. A pre-college program in intensive language, math, and technology training for selected students entering Emmanuel College, Summer 2000.
• "Teaching in the .com Generation." Paper presented to the New England Faculty Development Consortium, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester (Nov. 12, 1999).
• Davis Education Foundation faculty mini-grant recipient, January 1999, Teaching and Learning in the .com Generation.