Known as the only place except the library
where students from all disciplines converge
to study and the place on campus for arts
and technology collaboration, CU-Boulder’s
new ATLAS building has become a bustling
hub since it opened in August 2006.
Built primarily with private donations and student fees approved in 2004 by the University of Colorado Student Union, ATLAS boasts a 2,700-square-foot black box theater, a state-of-the-art production studio, a 10-foot-by-6-foot signature video wall and several video screens on the building’s exterior, clear indications this is not your typical academic structure.
“A key aspect of the ATLAS building is its design, which serves to draw people into the building and shares with them what is occurring inside, and at CU more generally,” said Robert Schnabel, vice provost for academic affairs and campus technology, and director of the ATLAS Institute.
ATLAS, which stands for Alliance for Teaching, Learning and Society, was launched in 1997 as a campus initiative to help integrate technology in all academic disciplines, especially those in the arts and humanities. It is now an institute in a new building located in the heart of the campus north and east of the student union. The ATLAS Center’s 66,000 square feet of classroom, performance, study and broadcast production space hosts about 52 classes per semester, serving approximately 5,000 students in 50 fields of study.
ATLAS also is home to the National Center for Women and Information Technology; the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program; the Technology, Arts and the Media certificate program; the Assessment and Research Center; and the Arts, Media and Performance program.
The film studies department’s faculty and staff offices occupy the third floor of the five-story building, two stories of which are underground where the black box theater and broadcast production studio are located. A 75-seat film-screening room off the building’s lobby boasts state-of-the-art equipment, which has enhanced coursework for film studies students.
Theater, dance, music and film students have been able to push the boundaries of artistic expression in the black box theater, which has one permanent and six portable high-end projectors, a cyclorama that supports “infinite space” scene compositions, and full soundproofing with multi-track recording and HD-TV capability. Wireless and wired broadband Internet access is available throughout the black box theater and wireless throughout the ATLAS building.
Equipment in the black box has greatly simplified collaborative productions, according to Michael Theodore, associate professor of music.
“After years of hauling equipment from the music college to the theater building for our Interdisciplinary Performance class, we now have this cutting-edge facility with six mobile projectors, one high-quality projector and a computer-controlled acoustic Yamaha grand piano, which is connected to the light board. That means a trill can be reflected in the stage lighting if we want it to be,” he said. Theodore co-teaches the Interdisciplinary Performance class with Assistant Professor Michelle Ellsworth of the theater and dance department.
The availability of new technology for broadcast journalism students marks a transformation in the learning experience for students, said Assistant Dean of journalism Steve Jones. The former broadcast studio’s black-and-white monitors and old video production equipment has been replaced with Serial Digital Interface Standard Definition Television equipment, which can be easily upgraded to high definition. Students now have a soundproofed audio recording studio with a professional editing and sound design system to digitally record, “sweeten,” edit and process all forms of audio content.
Journalism students control the production studio from a self-contained room equipped with a professional level switcher, Chyron character generator and a 24-input Mackie audio console. Jones and Assistant Professor of journalism Lee Hood plan eventually to expand the NewsTeam’s twice weekly broadcasts. The production studio “will help us become a news source on campus rather than primarily a lab where students practice broadcasting news,” said Hood.
According to Schnabel, “While we view the ATLAS building as a technology hub for the CU-Boulder campus, it’s also a place for interdisciplinary study. Several thousand students from a range of disciplines are taking courses here each semester. For many of them, the ability to apply modern technology to myriad academic problems may become one of the highlights of their academic careers.”
For more information on the ATLAS Institute and its programs visit the Web site at www.colorado.edu/ATLAS/general/.
