When Dennis Gendron started working at Tennessee State University in 1989, he thought he was in a technology time warp. "Someone handed me a manual typewriter," said Gendron, associate vice president for academic affairs at TSU. "I had to go find an electric. That was the next step up. It was like stepping back into the Dark Ages."

Eleven years later, TSU seems to be very much in touch with the Information Age. In the past six months, the Nashville school has won big grants from Microsoft and America Online for tackling the "digital divide," the gap in technology access separating whites and many minority groups. Perhaps more significantly, TSU also has been named to Yahoo! Internet Life's list of the 100 "most wired" universities, ranking 55th this year.

Gendron and others involved in the university's technology push say the ranking proves what they've known for several years. And they continue to try to innovate. "We just really make technology easily available to students," said Quint Martin, assistant director of academic computing.

About 450 universities participated in Yahoo! Internet Life's survey. Rob Bernstein, senior editor at the magazine, said he was impressed by TSU's decision to put administrative services online, including applications for admission, registration for courses and drop/add procedures.

The university's efforts to start a wireless computer network, which is expected to be ready in the next few months, also stood out. A wireless network allows laptop users to log on without plugging in. "That's usually an indication a school is on the cutting edge," Bernstein said.

Three other Middle Tennessee schools also made the magazine's lists of "most wired" schools. Among about 500 participating two-year institutions, Motlow State Community College in Lynchburg ranked 17th, and Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin was 42nd. The University of the South in Sewanee was 62nd on the list of four-year colleges, among some 325 survey participants.

Other Midstate colleges and universities offer a variety of services online. Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, for example, offers applications for admission, course registration, drop/add and other items, as well as about 40 Web-based courses. Nashville's Lipscomb University launched four Web-based classes this spring. They're available to Lipscomb students, of course, but also to others.

Gendron, chairman of TSU's Technology Vision Committee, credited the foresight of two administrators for his university's gains. When former Gov. Ned McWherter committed to improving TSU's facilities, including tunnels for steam power, in the late 1980s, a computer services administrator named Tim Warren saw an opportunity to install high-grade fiber optic cable in the tunnels.

Then, in the mid-1990s, TSU President James Hefner began calling for a greater emphasis on technology. He established the Technology Vision Committee, which looked to some of the country's most technologically sophisticated schools for ideas.

The committee now tries to look ahead one, three and five years, though it realizes even one year "is probably long term" in the fast-moving world of technology, Gendron said.

Martin said the university also has used its money well. Students' technology access fees, which generate about $1.7 million a year, have paid for personal computers, wiring, the wireless network and other infrastructure needs.

There are 2,000 networked computers on campus. No public-access computer is more than 3 years old. Every dormitory room is wired, and students with laptops can plug in just about anywhere.

The university also is developing high-tech classrooms to enhance instruction. Some will include "smart boards," which use lasers to read a professor's handwritten notes on the board at the front of the room, no matter how sloppy, and save them in computer files. Professors then can send those files to students after class, allowing students to focus more on listening and less on scribbling notes.

TSU also plans to start a seven-day, 24-hour hot line for students who need technical assistance. Also in the works are e-mail addresses that students will be able to keep forever, space for alumni on the computer network and more Web-based courses. TSU now offers two. And a "campus pipeline" will bring together many types of student information in one place, like courses needed to graduate and money available in students' campus accounts. That could be up and running this fall.

TSU is trying to improve technological know-how off campus as well. A Microsoft grant of $40,000 in cash, plus software, will let the university assist Nashville's West End Middle School. TSU will install an exchange server that will allow teachers and staff to hold online conferences, and West End Middle faculty will receive software training. Gendron said TSU chose West End Middle for the project because "they're way on the other side of the digital divide."

That seems to have happened at TSU, according to Gendron. "We don't use a whole lot of paper here anymore," he said. "We've been kind of busy," Martin said of all the ongoing technology projects. "But it's really rewarding."

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