GINA software to profit CSU

Meet GINA, the first product marketed commercially by the California State University system.

GINA (Graphical Interface for Network Access) is a new software program designed to provide students and educators with user-friendly access to the Inter net.

Introduced in Septe mber by CSU Chancellor Barry Munitz and CSU Institute President Molly Corbett Broad, GINA is available for $12.95 in California and $19.95 in other states.

"The profits of GINA sales will go mainly toward royalties," said Mangia Pane, GINA market ing director. "They go to vendors and different organizations that have developed pieces of code that GINA uses."

GINA was conceived and funded by the California Technical Project and the California Department of Education. The State Board of Educat ion approved GINA because of the program's easy access to many different colleges and grade schools.

"One of the major objectives in developing GINA is to facilitate a greater working collaboration between the CSU and [grammar and high schools]," s aid Broad, who is also executive vice chancellor of the CSU system.

Broad added that 70 percent of public school teachers in California are prepared by the CSU system, emphasizing the importance of these two systems to the state's educational fut ure. Many libraries in California that are using the Internet are also interested in switching over to GINA.

GINA includes Adobe Acrobat Reader software, which allows users to view and print a variety of documents, including memos and spreadsheets. GINA also supports other programs for sending and receiving mail, accessing NetNews and accommodating Internet information.

GINA can be ordered through the on-line order system. CSULB students can access the system by dialing (310) 985-9540 with th eir modem, and entering the following action code: COREPLUS.

For more information about GINA, call 1-800-272-8743.

Tino Poti contributed to this article.