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Wheaton College
Now Everyone's a FileMaker Pro!
Founded in 1834 as a private women's seminary, Wheaton evolved over
the years into a highly selective, co-ed, liberal-arts college.
Located in a quiet, rural setting about 35 miles south of Boston,
today Wheaton's historic campus plays host to plenty of
technological tools including FileMaker Pro. In fact, you can't
talk FileMaker at Wheaton without talking to Brenda Molden, the
college Support Center Supervisor. Brenda is an active FileMaker
enthusiast -- but that wasn't always the case. As Brenda tells it,
she had to be convinced. "When I first came here, there were no
Windows machines," she recalls. "I was a full-bred Access user, and
Access isn't available for the Mac. So when I first saw FileMaker
Pro, I said 'What is this?'"
But Brenda soon learned how easy FileMaker is to use -- and when
relational features were added to the software, she became an
enthusiastic convert. "I can solve any problem with FileMaker Pro,"
she enthuses. "It's just so flexible -- and people aren't afraid to
use it!" FileMaker is a fixture in Wheaton's administrative
offices, handling all sorts of routine functions from inventory
control to running the campus Support Center. But where the
software's making a real difference is the classroom, where
professors and students alike echo Brenda's excitement.
One of the most innovative applications is found in Wheaton's Art
Department -- where the Integrated Slide and Information Source
database provides an ever-growing catalog of art images for
classroom study or independent research. Built around a system
purchased from Brown University, the application has been expanded
to include a wide range of search and sort functions -- and even a
"self-quiz" component.
Then there's the English Department -- where English Professor
Michael Drout's J. R. R. Tolkien Database offers students the most
comprehensive index ever assembled of articles and criticism about
the creator of Middle Earth, Gandalf, and "The Hobbit” . Or,
consider "King Alfred," Professor Drout's software for teaching the
basics of "Old English," the tongue that Anglo-Saxons spoke over a
thousand years ago, built on a modern complex set of linked
FileMaker Pro databases.
Anywhere and everywhere on campus from Anthropology to Sociology to
a Videolog -- you'll find FileMaker Pro. Wheaton's making solid use
of FileMaker's Box Set package -- the company-wide site licensing
program that allows any combination of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Pro
Unlimited and FileMaker Server to be installed anywhere in the
organization. Hundreds of databases are in use -- with millions of
records. And Brenda Molden is still spreading the word to anyone
who'll listen. "With faculty you have to earn credibility," she
says, "and that's not easy. But now, they talk it up among
themselves! My goal is to have a FileMaker database in every
department!"
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Brenda Molden
Support Center Supervisor
Wheaton College
508-286-3925
bmolden@wheatonma.edu
http://www.wheatonma.edu
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- From Anthropology to Sociology, at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts -- you'll find FileMaker Pro everywhere!
- Higher Education