A new technology center that will benefit all Franklin College students is set to open this fall.
Renovations to the more than $400,000 Center for Tech Innovation (CTI) started last year, at the former athletics annex at Grizzly Drive and First Street.
The center will be an open, collaborative workspace for students and staff to explore new technologies and partner for innovative projects. The college’s new Director of Digital Fluency Andrew Rosner will head up the center, and his office will be based there.
The center’s opening will tie together the college’s efforts to integrate technology into the curriculum and prepare students for life after graduation, said Kerry Prather, Franklin College president.
The center will be home to the college’s Esports team, a podcast and music production studio, a lab to study human movement, and rows and rows of computers equipped with software to serve a wide array of study areas.
Alumni informed decision-making on which technologies should be included in the center, based on the tools and competencies needed to succeed in today’s job market, Prather said.
“It is almost an unlimited array of digital applications that are evolving,” he said. “There is no academic discipline that is excluded.”
Though the college had been working on the idea for the center for years, the pandemic underscored the need for technological competency in the post-graduate world, Prather said.
Grant funds and alumni gifts fully funded the still-ongoing renovations to the center which has served multiple purposes over the years, including as an athletics annex and a residence.
Interior improvements were funded with a $71,060 gift from John and Nancy Peterson and a portion of the $200,000 first-year installment of the five-year $1 million Lilly Endowment Charting the Future grant, said Dana Cummings, vice president of development and alumni engagement.
With a recent $200,000 gift from Franklin College Trustee Rob Brown and his wife, Ruth, the center is now fully funded.
“Ruth and I are thrilled to assist (in) bringing this digital fluency project to life. Sometimes technology can feel like the antithesis of a liberal arts education,” Brown said in a statement. “This initiative bridges a gap that enables the critical-thinking skills developed in the Franklin College classrooms to merge with the ever-changing digital landscape graduates will encounter.”
The $200,000 gift will fully fund exterior improvements with a goal to update the outside of the building to match the tech-focused modern aesthetic found inside, Prather said.
“Our digital fluency initiative has generated exciting momentum among our faculty, students and external constituents,” Prather said in a statement. “The Browns’ gift will enable the transformation of the facility to reflect the cutting-edge innovation of the program it houses.”
Interior work is nearly completed, and exterior work on the façade will take place this summer. Design work is underway but not yet completed, he said.
