St. John Fisher University Designated as Apple Distinguished School for Second Term

Recognized for innovation, leadership, and educational excellence using technology

St. John Fisher University is pleased to announce it has been recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for the 2026-2029 program term. Schools apply and are selected for this distinction based on their commitment to continuous innovation in education and using Apple products to inspire, imagine, and impact teaching and learning. This is Fisher’s second term, having first received this distinction in 2022.

Apple Distinguished Schools are centers of leadership and educational excellence, with a clear vision for how technology-rich environments support learning goals. In Apple Distinguished Schools, forward-thinking leaders and their communities work to inspire, imagine, and impact teaching and learning, and they have documented results of academic accomplishments. Schools all over the world are using iPad and Mac to transform learning. As teachers incorporate technology into their lessons, they empower students to lead, learn, and thrive, to discover new opportunities, and to make their world a better place.

“I am proud to see St. John Fisher University recognized as an Apple Distinguished School for the second time. Today iPads, Apple Pencils, and Apple TVs are seamless parts of our daily environment, empowering our faculty, staff, coaches, and especially our students, to transform how we teach, learn, and work. This technology serves as the backbone of the innovation that has flourished at Fisher over the past five years,” said Katie Sabourin, assistant vice president of digital learning.

In fall 2020, The DePeters Family Center for Innovation and Teaching Excellence was created to provide the Fisher community with collaborative leadership for the design and delivery of innovative teaching and learning activities. That same year, the University piloted the iFisher: Next Generation Learning Initiative, which would provide an iPad, keyboard case, and Apple Pencil to every undergraduate student on campus. The initiative rolled out to faculty first, and to students in 2021. To date, more than 480 faculty and staff have engaged in Fisher Apple Academy training and over 300 are now Apple Certified Teachers on campus, enhancing the use of Apple technology in the classroom.

A major component of the initiative was the renovation of the spaces where learning takes place to support the types of active and mobile learning that faculty and students want to create and participate in during their classes. Since earning the Apple Distinguished recognition in 2022, the University has also improved one-third of all learning spaces across campus to facilitate active learning techniques and remain adaptable to new technologies, totaling more than 18,000 square feet of renovated spaces for teaching and learning. One recent example of renovated spaces since the first Apple Distinguished term was supported by a grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation which enabled the redesign of classrooms in the Wegmans School of Nursing with modular furniture for AR/VR technology. Using their iPads, nursing students practice interacting with avatar patients in augmented reality.

By the 2022-2023 academic year, use of the technology expanded into Fisher Athletics programs, with several coaches using iPads during practices to keep track of team stats. Many also use the technology as a recruiting tool for prospective student-athletes and to monitor student-athlete performance and conditioning both on and off the field.

In the last academic year, the newly renovated and modernized Lavery Library now also includes technology-rich spaces to facilitate group study and collaborative work. In addition, iPad use has been extended into graduate offerings including the Doctor of Pharmacy and Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist programs.

Finally, the University also invested into expanding iFisher for staff access to iPads to support daily mobility of work as well as staff who support students with the same devices they are using.

Learn more about iFisher.