Spring 1997
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Spring 1997 |
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Completion of the new Center achieves a Vision to be the Best campaign goal to provide additional flexible learning space that can also be used to enhance curriculum development, says Ron Reeves, vice president for development and external affairs.
Even though overall support to the $100 million Vision to be the Best Campaign has put the campaign ahead of schedule, Reeves said donations are still needed to achieve specific campaign goals. Cash gifts and pledges to the campaign now total $86 million. "Gifts are being sought to reach our goals for financial aid, laboratory equipment and plant improvements," he stated. A video link Yoder recently used to connect the Rose-Hulman and Georgia Tech campuses is an example of how faculty and students will benefit from the new classrooms. Yoder, professor of electrical and computer engineering, utilized new equipment to allow students in his digital signal processing course to interact with a professor who teaches a similar course at Georgia Tech. The design for the new center was developed after seeking ideas from the entire faculty. A team of 20-25 faculty and staff studied campus input and information from other campuses and vendors for nearly eight months to determine how the center could best meet current and future education needs. Civil Engineering Professor and Department Head Jim McKinney chaired the committee and said flexibility in design and use was a key factor in the building’s development.
"Even though it’s difficult to anticipate future educational technologies, we have designed the classrooms so that they can be easily upgraded with new audio, computer or video systems as technology advances," McKinney noted. The Olin Advanced Learning Center will enable faculty to project images from student laptops, as well as from their own computer screens, for viewing by all students. The Center is also linked to the campus computing system via a new optic fiber system. A listing of spring quarter classes in the Center illustrates that the goal to create educational space for a variety of uses has been accomplished. The first classes in the new building range from civil, chemical, electrical and mechancial engineering, to humanities and social sciences classes. The Center will be officially dedicated on May 24 when members of the F.W. Olin Foundation Board of Directors will tour the new facility. by David Piker   |
The new facility was made possible by a $3.5 million grant from the F.W. Olin Foundation. The two-story, 18,500-square-foot addition to Olin Hall houses eight classrooms equipped with state-of-the-art educational technologies. 
"The classrooms provide space that can be used for a variety of educational purposes," he explained. "The center will more effectively accommodate students working in teams, and expand the use of laptop computers by faculty and students," he said.