Clearly the program tapped into a strong vein of interest on campuses across the continent. The New Media Centers office received over 700 requests for the request for proposals package. Over 140 institutions submitted detailed proposals that included major financial and other resource commitments for the 15 sites planned for the first year of the program. Based on this overwhelming response, the consortium's board expanded the number of sites to be created in the first year of the program to 22. The schools selected to host the initial set of New Media Centers include Stanford University, California Polytechnic at Pomona, California State University at Long Beach, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Lewis-Clark State College, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, Princeton University, University of New Mexico, Cornell University, Hostos Community College of the City University of New York system, New York University, Elizabeth City State University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Houston Community College, Bennington College, Virginia Tech, University of Wisconsin, and University of Calgary.
Students can gain new insights into their academic studies from new-media course materials.
The program is unique, requiring mutual commitments from both corporate and academic partners. Intrigued by the educational benefits and economic potential of multimedia, many leading publishing houses have begun to extend the reach of their product lines by adding new-media enhancement to their textbooks. The New Media Centers initiative differs on several counts. Practical and stable economic model. Because they don't rely on donations, seed programs, or one-time grants, the New Media Centers are less subject to the vagaries of corporate largesse.