$500K Keck award to support classroom technology

A $500,000 grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation of Los Angeles awarded to Bates College will support the construction of an innovative “kaleidoscope” classroom in the college’s new $18-million academic building, scheduled for completion in the summer of 1999.

The new academic building will include a 125-seat lecture hall, known as the “kaleidoscope” classroom because of its multiple and flexible seating arrangements complemented by computer-controlled capabilities, including state-of-the art video conferencing and computer display.

“The college is honored to receive this distinguished award which enables Bates to build a critical component in its new academic building,” Bates College President Donald W. Harward said.

A five-level structure of 91,000 square feet, the new academic building will provide teaching spaces, faculty offices, laboratories and other facilities required by 11 departments and interdisciplinary programs. The building will link programs and departments now physically dispersed and inadequately housed on the outskirts of campus, promoting a new level of faculty and student interaction.

W.M. Keck established the W.M. Keck Foundation in 1954 as a philanthropic institution that would apply creativity and imagination to provide far reaching benefits for humanity in the disciplines of science, engineering, medical research and higher education. Since its creation, the Los Angeles-based foundation’s top priority has been identifying and supporting endeavors which, if successful, could lead to breakthrough discoveries and the development of new technologies.