{"id":6856,"date":"2021-08-11T08:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T12:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=6856"},"modified":"2021-08-16T11:27:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T15:27:02","slug":"the-nexus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2021\/08\/11\/the-nexus\/","title":{"rendered":"The Nexus: Innovation, Creation, and Hands-on Exploration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colgate\u2019s Middle Campus will bring together design, computer science, digital creativity, the arts, and entrepreneurship.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Brian W. Casey\u2019s vision for Colgate, as he\u2019s outlined in The Third-Century Plan<\/a><\/em>, is taking shape. As the University grows, it will coalesce, both physically and academically. Next on the horizon: developing the Middle Campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Artistic
Illustration by Dan Page<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Venn<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Below the traditional academic quad, Case-Geyer Library, James C. Colgate Hall, Little Hall, and the Dana Arts Center sit as separate entities. As outlined in The<\/em> Third-Century Plan<\/em>, this section called Middle Campus will be developed and become more cohesive. \u201cColgate will address long-standing needs in arts and creative facilities and set a new standard for the teaching and creation of the arts, creativity, and innovation within a liberal arts context,\u201d the plan states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Middle Campus will form an intentional, physical gateway between west campus and the academic quadrangle,\u201d Casey says. \u201cAs the home of the Initiative in Arts, Creativity, and Innovation, it will be a hub of liberal arts activity, where new methods of teaching and learning encourage new modes of thought.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is \u201cin response to a new generation of student learners,\u201d says Lesleigh Cushing, special advisor to the president for strategic initiatives. \u201cIt\u2019s a unique intellectual program that connects a number of growing academic units and broadens reach to a wide swath of the student body.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll give you a glimpse of the proposed campus changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A Complex for the Arts, Creativity, and Technology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Student
Student dance performance presented by the Department of Theater<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What:<\/strong> The Benton Center for Creativity and Innovation \u2014 thanks to a $20 million gift from Dan Benton \u201980, H\u201910, P\u201910<\/a> \u2014 will be the anchor of a two-building complex totaling 36,800 gross square feet.
Who: <\/strong>computer science, film and media studies, theater, and dance
Why:<\/strong> Arts and technology are becoming increasingly collaborative and multimodal. This complex will help build on existing strengths in digital creativity. And, further integrating arts and technology will
allow students to develop fluency in the newest phenomena.
Providing:<\/strong>
\u2022 computer science student research hub
\u2022 flexible performance space, such as a black box theater
\u2022 interactive performance and exhibition space equipped for events that involve virtual\/augmented reality, immersive reality, and telematic performance (imagine dancers who wear sensors, and their dancing is projected onto the walls)
\u2022 Media archaeology lab: Students can tinker with old equipment like a Steenbeck editing machine to edit film or a stereoscope (think View-Master) to see the origin of 3D images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Dana Center for Curricular and Co-Curricular Innovation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The
The Department of Theater presented Antigone<\/em> at Brehmer Theater in the Dana Arts Center in March 2020. Photo by Andrew Daddio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What: <\/strong>the Dana Arts Center, renamed
and reimagined
Who:<\/strong> theater, design, Thought Into Action (TIA), music
Why:<\/strong>
\u2022 weaving together new and traditional design modes in the curriculum: architecture, scenic, lighting, costume design, coding, and virtual and augmented reality
\u2022 colocating TIA and other student entrepreneurial, maker, and design programs with academics
Highlights: <\/strong>design labs, collaborative spaces with creativity nooks, innovation commons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d like to let the building [Dana] flow more than it does right now, and become much more inviting \u2014 and accessible.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> \u2014 Lesleigh Cushing, special advisor to the president for strategic initiatives<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

University Collections and Material Labs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Providing:<\/strong>
\u2022 art galleries, visible storage, object study labs, and a lecture hall
Inspiring:<\/strong>
\u2022 integration of object-based learning across the disciplines, reorientation of collections toward the curriculum, and student-driven exhibitions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Colgate's
Colgate’s Natural History Museums. Program and lecture that  looks at Colgate\u2019s Natural History Museums and Collections, including the role of Albert S. Bickmore, then a professor at Madison University (now Colgate) and his subsequent founding of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 1869, one of the first dinosaur eggs ever discovered (which can be seen in the Linsley Geology Museum), the special exhibit The Beauty of Mineral Sculptures, currently in the Robert M. Linsley Geology Museum in the Ho Science Center, and the recent multi-departmental cooperative efforts by the art department and biology department for the  renovations of the display cases in the basement of Olin Hall. Remarks were given by Rich April, geology; Di Keller, geology, Tim McCay, biology; Elizabeth Marlowe, art and art history; and Eddie Watkins, biology.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Museum\/Lab\/Classroom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Challenging the notion that art is simply to be looked at from a distance, a new storage facility will enable students to engage with art in a more interactive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colgate has been working with the architectural teams to develop short- and long-term space solutions that will not merely solve some of our significant art storage issues, but also ensure that students have the opportunity to engage closely with exhibitions, to conduct research on University collections, and to take courses centered around the objects that have been entrusted to Colgate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ethos of museums is really shifting to make them not just places where things are on display, and a passive learner comes in and stands in front of them, but instead, enables more hands-on learning,\u201d Cushing says. Students can, for example, turn a painting around in their hands and look at it to try to understand it, not just in terms of what the painting is depicting, but also thinking about the first time it was framed and how it got in the frame. Museum study spaces will become a lot like labs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cushing adds that there is also a change in the perception that museums are the experts that inform the visitors about the art, sometimes failing to acknowledge cultural misrepresentations in the art. In addition to looking at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in museums, there is also strategic planning around making them more accessible (e.g., easier to move around in). \u201cThere is a broader kind of impulse around accessibility and museums, along with DEI and decolonizing efforts,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University is not alone in this new approach. For the past few years, several institutions ranging from the San Diego Museum of Man to the Australian Museum in Sydney have been working to improve cultural competency.        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRather than thinking about art as something that stands alone, we are now paying more attention to the institutions through which we access these objects and how that has framed our perceptions,\u201d says Professor of Art and Art History Elizabeth Marlowe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Colgate proceeds with moving its arts initiatives into the future, every last detail \u2014 including what, to the untrained eye, may look like just storage space \u2014 will be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University began offering an interdisciplinary minor in museum studies in 2017. This spring semester\u2019s course offerings included Introduction to Archaeology, Visual Rhetorics, and Mineralogy and Geochemistry.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Music<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While Colgate considers longer-term plans for music, vastly improved spaces will be built to accommodate acoustic upgrades. Future ideas may include areas for sound and storytelling, recitals and concerts, and integrating cultural programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ryan
Ryan Chase, assistant professor of music, teaches a class in digital music production in the digital music studio in Dana. Photo by Andrew Daddio<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

55%<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The percentage of students taking a course in a Middle Campus program or department during academic year 2020\u201321<\/p>\n\n\n\n

158<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Number of graduated majors\/minors in Middle Campus departments or programs in 2020<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colgate\u2019s Middle Campus will bring together design, computer science, digital creativity, the arts, and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":7391,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[385,38,350,204,53],"coauthors":[388],"class_list":["post-6856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-features","tag-architecture","tag-arts","tag-computer-science","tag-design","tag-entrepreneurship"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-1MA","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2021\/08\/Middle-Campus_Proposed_Feature2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6856"}],"version-history":[{"count":59,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8232,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6856\/revisions\/8232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6856"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}