AMIGA Ph.D.

Commodore has bulked up its marketing muscle in the higher-education arena by hiring Dr. John H. Harrison IV to fill the new position of manager of Higher Education Markets.

"We're pushing the Amiga 2500," Harrison said. "Because of its graphics and sound capabilities, it's a natural for doing the things that higher-education people are doing—classroom presentation and desktop publishing, for example."

One of Harrison's first moves was to head for EDUCOM's yearly conference, a gathering of academic computing czars. In a hospitality suite, the education team planned to demonstrate X Windows and UNIX for the Amiga, as well as multimedia applications.

Improved communication is another goal for Harrison. "My major concern was the lack of information from campus to campus about what people are doing," he said.

"One thing I've learned is that if you put computers out there, the students will figure out what to do with them," Harrison said. Possible academic discounts and the Amiga's low price should help link students with Commodore's computers. "We think the price point is in our favor," he said. "And everybody's still talking about how students can afford their own microcomputers."

—HEIDI E. H. AYCOCK