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Chriss Swaney
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For immediate release:
April 13, 2004

Carnegie Mellon's Successful Collaboration with Greek Institution Culminates with Commencement for First Graduating Class

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Athens Information Technology (AIT), will award diplomas April 17 in Greece to its first graduating class.

A gala celebration, with a multimedia show about Carnegie Mellon technology and research, will honor the program's first 19 graduates.

"This is an exciting time for both the graduates and our new program because this inaugural class provides an important benchmark for the university's presence internationally and our strong commitment to promoting educational excellence worldwide," said Carnegie Mellon Provost Mark Kamlet. "The new graduating class enters the marketplace with competitive problem-solving skills and the technical savvy so essential for success in today's fluid job market."

Kostas Stamatis, a member of the graduating class, agrees. "The whole program seems to be an innovative way of producing future engineers ready to fulfill their mission."

Carnegie Mellon and AIT began offering a four-semester program in September 2002 culminating in a master of science degree in information networking from Carnegie Mellon's Information Networking Institute. The Information Networking Institute was founded in 1989 by three of Carnegie Mellon's colleges: The Carnegie Institute of Technology (engineering), the School of Computer Science and the Tepper School of Business.

Classes ranging from the principles of broadband networking and managerial economics to software engineering are taught by faculty from Carnegie Mellon and AIT at a sprawling 100,000-square-foot building in Peania, a few miles from downtown Athens.

According to Aphrodite Sevasti, another graduating student, the program "has been the most challenging educational experience of my life. Both the knowledge obtained as well as the principles of working and collaboration and the high-quality interaction with professors and advisors have made this demanding degree a significant achievement. I am proud to have received it."

The program is led by Christos Halkias, AIT dean, and Pradeep K. Khosla, head of Carnegie Mellon's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the Information Networking Institute.

Khosla said the program is designed to tap the interest of mid-level professionals seeking to improve job skills and economic status. "Our vision is to offer courses with the right mix of technical specialization spanning such important business sectors as telecommunications, wireless computing, systems integration, computing and financial services," Khosla said.

Officials from both Carnegie Mellon and Greece said the collaboration aims to create a center for excellence in research and education in information technologies and to become a magnet for talented and ambitious graduate students and professionals in Europe.