Clarke to Create New Technology Commons; Opening Summer 2012

posted on January 27, 2012

This summer, the currently unfinished lower level of Clarke University’s Nicholas J. Schrup Library will be transformed into a new technology-rich learning space as part of the university’s plan to seamlessly incorporate technology into learning. The new space will be named Lingen Technology Commons in honor of Joan Lingen, BVM, Ph.D., who currently serves as provost and vice president for academic affairs at Clarke. She has served in various roles on campus for the past 44 years and has been instrumental to the university’s progress during that time. The naming comes at the request of Lingen’s classmates in the Clarke Class of 1961 who have significantly supported this project and chose to honor Joan in doing so. At a cost of $750,000, the Lingen Technology Commons will be designed to provide a collaborative space for both students and faculty. It will feature two classrooms with 24-32 computers for instruction as well as technology to record and deliver video lectures for online courses using streaming video. It will also include a collaboration and video conferencing room as well as an information commons with a centrally located e-learning support desk, 20 computer workstations, scanners and printers. A multi-year $1.98 million grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s Strengthening Institutions Program is helping provide cutting-edge technology for the facility and across campus as well as training resources and collaboration tools that prepare students for the new demands of today’s work world. “Technology continues to influence how our professors teach and how students learn,” said Clarke President Sister Joanne Burrows. “The new Lingen Technology Commons will foster learning in a way that enhances teamwork, collaboration, communication and information literacy skills while incorporating the technology tools our students rely on today and into the future.” For more information, contact the Clarke University Marketing and Communication Office at (563)588-6318.