CU-Boulder Chancellor Richard Byyny announced today that Jim and Becky Roser have donated $2.25 million in a campaign to assist in the construction of CU Boulder聮s new ATLAS building.
The Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) is a campus-wide initiative dedicated to preparing all students for lives and careers in the new information age. The Rosers and CU聮s ATLAS board are actively seeking a match for their personal gift.
"We聮re in the midst of a major communication revolution fueled by innovations in information technology. And we聮re very excited to be a part of CU-Boulder聮s unique response to this revolution," said Jim Roser.
"Students and faculty from any field of study 聳 for example, the arts and music, the sciences or languages 聳 can work together to develop the technical expertise and creative skills necessary to apply and evaluate information technology," added Becky Roser. "These days, there are few careers in which technology is not a requirement."
The Rosers, who are co-chairs of the ATLAS Board of Advisors, view their lead gift as a challenge for others who are considering supporting CU-Boulder聮s pioneering efforts.
"The Rosers聮 $2.25 million cash gift to ATLAS marks the largest private gift to date for the ATLAS building," said Dr. Byyny. "The university will long remember the Rosers聮 financial and executive leadership in what we hope will be the watershed event in the life of this innovative program."
Jim Roser graduated from Bucknell University with a degree in finance and received his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He is currently a member of Roser Ventures LLC, a Boulder-based venture capital firm, and has served as a director of numerous corporations. Roser is a current member of the Bucknell University Board of Trustees and a former member of the Western Maryland College Board of Trustees.
A graduate of the University of Northern Colorado in speech pathology and audiology and the CU-Boulder graduate school, Becky is a member of the CU-Boulder Music Advisory Board, the CU Foundation Board and former director of the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Clinic at CU. She is a former member of the CU-Boulder Arts and Sciences Development Council and currently is an Honorary Trustee of the Women聮s Foundation of Colorado.
In addition, both of the Rosers have been actively involved in the Boulder Philharmonic and its musician endowment program.
According to Bobby Schnabel, associate vice chancellor for Academic and campus technology and the faculty director of ATLAS, "The ATLAS building is slated for construction in 2001-2002 and will serve as the core and model for the ATLAS program, here and across the country. It will be situated at the heart of the campus, and the center will provide technology-enhanced teaching and learning facilities, design centers, multi-use performance and production studios, exhibit spaces and shared multi-media labs."
The building also will incorporate the rural Italian architectural style now seen throughout CU-Boulder.
Federal and state grants are projected to total about three-fourths of the $29 million ATLAS construction price tag. The project is being made possible by a combination of corporate, public and private funds, such as the Rosers聮 gift.
The ATLAS initiative is designated as a high priority funding effort in the $300 million "Campaign for Colorado" at Boulder. More than $150 million has been raised for all campus programs, in a campaign now in its fourth year.
The Alliance for Technology, Learning and Societyor ATLAS
What is ATLAS?
ATLAS is a campus-wide initiative whose primary goal is to prepare all students for lives and leadership careers in the new networked information age.
ATLAS is dedicated to the understanding and application of information and communication technology in curriculum, teaching, research and life-long learning.
It enables "New Renaissance" learning.
Why is ATLAS needed?
A major communication revolution is underway, fueled by innovations in information technology. This revolution requires students and faculty, whether in the Arts and Sciences, humanities or more technical disciplines, to develop the technical expertise and creative skills to understand, apply and evaluate new information technology.
Is ATLAS more than new curriculum for the networked information age?
ATLAS is much more.
ATLAS' most prominent feature to date is its Technology, Arts and Media curriculum. But ATLAS involves more than just curriculum. It addresses the needs of all students and faculty, as well as the state, with regard to:
o The development of new teaching and learning methods
o Critical research on the effectiveness of technology in education, and its societal impacts
o Sharing the university's expertise with Colorado's K-12 school systems
o The provision for an excellent technological infrastructure at CU Boulder
How does the Technology, Arts and Media Certificate work?
To receive the certificate, students take six courses, including:
o Future of Technology, Arts and Media
o Introductory Project Course
Students take one course each in:
o History and Social Implications
o Theories and Foundations
o Invention and Practice
Students also take:
o The Capstone Project Course
This certificate is available to any undergraduate student. Courses are spaced throughout the student's undergraduate program.
What is the Colorado-Tuskegee Partnership?
A major goal of ATLAS is addressing the "digital divide" and broadening the technology pipeline in terms of discipline, gender and ethnic diversity. The partnership with a historically black university, centered on ATLAS and Technology, Arts and Media, features:
o Undergraduate student exchange
o Faculty exchange
o Sharing of curriculum, research and technology
o Graduate student pipeline
o Joint programmatic assessment
Why is ATLAS so important to Colorado and the United States?
Information technology, including computing and telecommunications, is now the nation's largest industry, at almost $3 trillion annually.
ATLAS will:
o Reinforce Colorado's leadership role
o Sustain and strengthen its eminence in these burgeoning areas
o Assure a source of well-educated workers for Colorado
What is the ATLAS Center?
The ATLAS initiative will take place in every school and college on campus. A proposed 65,000 square foot, $29 million ATLAS Center will serve as the core and model for the ATLAS program, here and across the country.
Slated for construction in 2001-2002, pending the necessary funding, the ATLAS Center will be situated at the heart of the Boulder campus and will be a programmatically driven, culture-changing facility.
The ATLAS Center will provide:
o Technology-enhanced teaching and learning facilities for all disciplines
o Student-faculty design centers for education in the Technology, Arts and Media program
o Multi-use performance and production studios for creative and performing arts and journalism
o Shared multimedia labs that support audio, video, graphics, animation, virtual reality, digitization and scanning
o Instructional technology support facilities for faculty and students
o Exhibit spaces that highlight the impacts of technology