From: Phil deHaan (dehp@calvin.edu)
Date: Thu Aug 29 2002 - 11:45:30 EDT
August 30, 2002 == FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Technology is central to the new DeVos Communication Center at Calvin College.
Home to the school's burgeoning communication arts and sciences department,
which has gone from less than 30 majors in 1982 to about 350 in 2002, and the
Calvin political science department, which continues to turn out public servants
for West Michigan and beyond, the DeVos Center is filled with the technology
that students need to contribute effectively to society after graduation.
But technology without sage guidance is an empty promise. So Calvin faculty
members in the new building stand ready to help students make sense of the
proper role of technology in society.
It is that combination of superb professors and a state-of-the-art facility,
producing graduates ready to make a difference in the region, that led to a
recent gift of $500,000 to Calvin from the Steelcase Foundation.
"This is certainly an important project for Calvin College," says Susan Broman,
executive director of the Steelcase Foundation, "but it's also an important
project for West Michigan. Calvin communication graduates are already making a
significant impact in our community. Calvin's new effort will expand that
impact. And so we're pleased to be able to support the continued development of
the communication arts and sciences department at the new DeVos Center."
The gift from Steelcase will be used toward the almost $3 million in technology
costs for the 55,000-square-foot DeVos Communication Center. That technology
includes:
*four plasma screens near the Center's main entrance
*a new audiology booth to for conducting hearing tests
*a video and film theater with seating for 150 people
*a distance learning classroom
*an audio studio with a "teaching" control room
*a video studio with a "teaching" control room
*numerous audio and video editing suites for personal and group production
*servers and networking capabilities among all the classrooms, offices and
public spaces
Calvin communication arts and sciences professor Quentin Schultze, author of
the recently released Habits of the High-Tech Heart, says students need to learn
technology as undergrads in order to prepare for either a profession or graduate
school. But, he adds, students need to be both technologically savvy and
thoughtfully reflective. "At Calvin, with this new building," he says, "they
will gain both virtue and technological ability. And they will be able to
answer the crucial questions about how we can use the technology to serve real
human needs in West Michigan and beyond."
Calvin students and graduates are already serving needs in West Michigan,
something Steelcase found compelling in making its decision to give the school
half a million dollars. They looked at such things as Calvin's low-cost stroke
rehab clinic, which serves patients who otherwise would go without needed care,
and the many projects done at no cost by Calvin students for local non-profits,
including such things as website development and training videos. The new
building will allow for even more community-connected projects and for an
expansion of the stroke clinic and other areas of Calvin's communications
disorders program.
In fact, communication arts and sciences is one of the school's fastest-growing
programs. This year the department will serve some 900 students, including
about 350 CAS majors, but also majors in business, education, political science
and more.
-end-
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