ATLAS Fact Sheet

ATLAS, the Alliance for Teaching, Learning and Society, is a campuswide institute that integrates information technology with multidisciplinary curricular, research and outreach programs.  ATLAS’ vision is to provide information technology for all students, not just those in technology fields, as well as to diverse communities at the university and K-12 levels.

• The 66,000-square-foot ATLAS Center features a beacon-like tower, lit at night, on the northeast corner of the building as its most prominent architectural feature.  Construction of the five-floor building began in February 2005.  The center opened for classes in fall semester 2006.
• The five-story building features technology-enhanced teaching and research facilities, which include:
  • a two-story “black-box” performance studio with video and audio control rooms, and dressing rooms
  • a broadcast-quality production studio
  • video and audio control rooms for both studios
  • one 150-student auditorium and one 75-student film screening room for instruction and campus or community events, with distance-learning capabilities in the 150-seat auditorium
  • two 40-student computer classrooms, one with distance-learning capabilities
  • two 25-student computer classrooms
  • one 25-student teaching demonstration room
  • 11 group design and group project spaces for students
  • a main-floor exhibition lobby featuring a video wall, media projection and student project kiosks, open to the public
  • student computing commons, editing rooms and production spaces
  • Kay’s Café operated by Vic’s Coffee Shop
    
• The ATLAS Center houses the ATLAS Institute, including its 250-student Technology, Arts and Media program and its Assessment and Research Center.
• The National Center for Women & Information Technology is housed in the ATLAS Center.
• Faculty and staff offices for the department of film studies are located in the ATLAS Center.
• The Faculty Teaching Excellence Program and Graduate Teacher Programs are housed in the ATLAS Center.
• Of the building’s $31 million estimated cost, $1.6 million was provided by the state of Colorado, $9 million will be raised from private donations and federal funds (of which nearly $8 million already is in hand), and about $21 million is being funded through a student fee approved in May 2004 by the student government, the University of Colorado Student Union.
• New student fees that made the construction possible are beginning this fall and will increase from $100 a year to $400 a year over a four-year period.  The new fee will be assessed for no longer than 20 years and serves as a replacement to state funding.  The fees also have funded the new Wolf Law Building, the Leeds School of Business renovation and addition, and a new Visual Arts Center.
• Jim and Becky Roser of Boulder made a $2.25 million co-naming gift for the ATLAS Center, and Comcast made the second-largest private gift, a $1 million donation.
• A multimedia groundbreaking for the ATLAS Center was held Jan. 25, 2005 on the site of the former Hunter Science Building, northeast of the University Memorial Center, at the center of the Boulder campus.