Posted on Oct 23, 1998
They are much too young to remember
Tang, moon rocks or splashdowns.
But on Friday about 80 students from Birchwood, Zoller and
Elmer Avenue elementary schools will learn what it was like to walk on the moon as
Harrison Schmitt, the last person to set foot on the lunar surface, talks about his Apollo
adventures.
Schmitt is speaking to the children in a special program
on Friday, Oct. 23, at 9:30 a.m. in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium.
Schmitt, a geologist, will be on campus Friday at 4:30
p.m. for the dedication of the F.W. Olin Center.
A member of the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, Schmitt 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) in a lecture titled “The
Business of Returning to Deep Space: The Interlune-Intermars Initiative” after the
dedication (at about 5 p.m.) in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium.
Most seats are reserved for Schmitt's 5 p.m.
presentation, but the talk will be broadcast live in other rooms throughout the building.
Schmitt also is to deliver a technical talk titled “A
Field Trip to the Moon” on Friday, Oct. 23, at 12:15 p.m., also in the F.W. Olin
Center Auditorium.
The dedication
Union students, staff and faculty will join leaders from
the F.W. Olin Foundation of New York City to formally unveil the latest addition to the
204 year-old campus – the F.W. Olin Center, on Friday, Oct. 23. The event kicks off
at 4:30 p.m. with welcome remarks by President Roger Hull.
“For more than 200 years, Union has been at the
forefront of change and technology,” said 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 building
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;
— An Environmental Studies “clean lab, ”
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.
To Union faculty, the Olin Center represents a bridge
between the arts and sciences. “Using the technology of today – Power Point
presentation software for example – students are able to take a detailed look, with
microscopic precision, of the great works in poetry,” said Ruth Stevenson, professor
of English. “Much like biologists observing a specimen, we can examine the minute
elements that make up the body of famous pieces.”
'Compelling case'
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.
“Union College presented a compelling case for our
support. The very high quality of its academic programs and faculty were evident
throughout our review of its proposal,” said Lawrence W. Milas, Olin Foundation
president at the announcement of the grant.
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