LITTLE ROCK — After nearly reaching its fundraising goals, Hendrix College is increasing its capital campaign from $70 million to $100 million to fund the construction of a one-of-a-kind Student Life and Technology Center.
Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd, who announced the campaign goal increase Monday, said the new $20 million centerwill be designed for students of the "YouTube generation."
About $12 million will be used to fully endow the college's Odyssey program, along with 12 new Odyssey professorships. In 2004, Hendrix created the Odyssey Program, which requires students to participate in three hands-on projects selected from six categories: artistic creativity, global awareness, professionaland leadership development, service to the world, undergraduate research and special projects.
"We had a real outpouring of support and very generous gifts from our alumni," Cloyd said.
Hendrix, a private institution with an enrollment of 1,200 students located in Conway, has nearly met the $70 million goal it set in 2004 more than 14 months before the campaign was scheduled to conclude at the end of 2008. The new campaign has been extended through 2010.
The state-of-the-art technology center will include computer workstations with large flat-panel interactive whiteboards to facilitate group projects as well as more traditional individual computer desks with widescreen monitors; software for preparing video and digital media presentations; a video conference room; a practice classroom where students can create audio and video recordings of rehearsal presentations;and flat-panel displays throughout the building that accept student lap-top and hand-held devices to allow for collaboration.
"You see a lot more students using this type of technology in the production of presentations for the classroom," Cloyd said. "In addition to a paper they might write, they might have a digitally produced CD that goes with their paper."
He said the concentration of this type of technology in an 80,000-square-foot center will set the school apart from other colleges and universities. Construction is scheduled to begin in February.
Joyce Hardin, vice president for student affairs, said the new center will give students the opportunity to use technology in a social setting.
"We have pretty much right now the traditional computer labs - we have several of those - and we have wireless, but we don't have a place that's designed to accommodate group work," Hardin said. "It's meant to be noisy. It's meant to be a real active, vibrant space.
"So that's a new dimension we'll be adding with all sorts of equipment that currently students don't have access to," she said.
The facility will be constructed on the former site of Hendrix's Grove Gymnasium, adjacent to Harkrider Avenue on the east side of the campus. It will include a dining hall, cafe, game room, post office and a 5,000-square-foot programming space. It will also house offices for student affairs and academic support services, along with offices for student organizations and student media.
The increased funding for the Odyssey program will allow more students to pursue research projects. For example, if a student wanted to study immigration in border cultures, the program could award $4,000 to $5,000 so the student could live in a Texas border city for a summer and conduct research, Cloyd said.
Hendrix awards $500,000 a year in competitive grants to students and faculty to pursue Odyssey projects, he said.
Arkansas, Pages 7, 9 on 10/30/2007