Among classes now being taught in the F.W. Olin Center is
one that may seem a bit unusual for a high-technology center: “Genre Studies: The Art
of Poetry” with Prof. Ruth Stevenson.
“Using the technology of today – PowerPoint
presentation software for example – students are able to take a detailed look, with
microscopic precision, of the great works in poetry,” said Stevenson, professor of
English. “Much like biologists observing a specimen, we can examine the minute
elements that make up the body of famous pieces.”
On Friday, Oct. 23, at 4:30 p.m., Stevenson and her
students will join other members of the Union community and officers of the F.W. Olin
Foundation to celebrate the opening of the latest addition to the 204 year-old campus
– the F.W. Olin Center, a high-technology classroom and laboratory building.
The dedication will feature a presentation by the only
scientist to walk on the moon, geologist Harrison Schmitt on Friday, Oct. 23, at 5 p.m.
in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium. He will discuss “The Business of Returning to
Deep Space: The Interlune-Intermars Initiative.” Schmitt, a member of the 1972 Apollo
17 mission and the last person to walk on the moon, will discuss his career and research
on the use of resources from space, including the moon's helium-3 as a potential
energy supply on Earth. The address will be shown live in rooms throughout the building
via closed-circuit television.
“For more than 200 years, Union has been at the
forefront of change and technology,” said President Roger H. Hull. “The F.W.
Olin Foundation, by providing this state-of-the-art technology center, has provided an
important vehicle for Union to continue this emphasis as it begins its third century of
service.”
The new 53,640 square-foot Olin Center supports
computer-aided instruction throughout the College's science and mathematics
departments as well as in non-science programs. It also serves as the home of the
Department of Geology and the College's growing Environmental Studies program. The
building will be used by nearly all Union students at some time in their undergraduate
careers.
Building features include:
- Two “collaborative computer classrooms;”
- Laboratories and classrooms equipped for computer-intensive
instruction; - A multi-media auditorium equipped with satellite
conferencing, CD-ROM, VCR, videodisk, and large-format video-data display; - Laboratories outfitted for instruction in physics, biology,
geology, chemistry, engineering, and mathematics. The Environmental Studies “clean
lab” is the type of facility usually exclusive to laboratories at the graduate level.
The high-tech learning center provides campus-wide use
of computers and study spaces with 24-hour-per-day access to Schaffer Library's
instructional technology center.
The F.W. Olin Foundation, Inc., of New York City awarded
the $9 million grant to Union in 1996 to construct and equip a high-technology classroom
and laboratory building. The grant remains the single largest gift in the College's
history.