Community gathers to celebrate launch of the project
Students, faculty, staff and alumni packed The Burrow March 18 for the project launch of the Student Life and Technology Center. Dr. Joyce Hardin played an Oprah-style emcee for the event with her special guests: President J. Timothy Cloyd, Trustee Dan Peregrin ’80, Dr. Mark Schantz, professor of history and director of the Odyssey Program; B.J. Fogelman ’09, Student Senate president-elect, and Dr. Aubrey Hough ’66, speaking on behalf of Hendrix alumni. Congressman Vic Snyder even made an impromptu appearance during the event.
The Student Life and Technology Center is under construction on the former site of Grove Gymnasium, and is expected to open in Spring 2010.
The Center will include a state of the art “Educational Technology Center” designed for interactive group work, offices and work space for student organizations, programming areas for the Hendrix community, a café, game and recreation space, and a post office on the first floor of the building. The second floor will house a new dining hall, kitchen, servery, and small dining rooms, as well as offices for Student Affairs and the Odyssey Program.
The Educational Technology Center or ETC will be a vibrant, open computer center for both work and play. The plan includes computer workstations with space for several individuals to work together. The stations will be configured in various ways from soft, comfortable seating with large flat panel displays mounted on the wall to more traditional desktop computers with widescreen monitors. The software available will include creative suites for creating presentations and videos, and the workstations can also be used for electronic gaming.
Technology will also be distributed throughout the building, so that small groups of students may gather for work or games in various locations on both floors.
The ETC will include a small seminar room housing the latest technology in a classroom designed so that students can create and practice presentations. The ETC Video conference room will be equipped with technology for video conferencing that will be used to link Hendrix faculty and students with their counterparts around the globe.
In addition, conference rooms and seminar rooms will be scattered throughout the building. Offices will be located on both floors and will include spaces for Academic Support Services, Career Services, Religious Life, and more.
Click here to see photos or listen to a podcast of the event.