Giving Opportunities

• Labs, Technology and Scholarship
• Technology and the Liberal Arts
• Student Scholarship Funds
• Plans for the Theatre/Music Building
• Cal Poly Theatre Project
• Study Abroad

The GrC and Journalism complex, shared by Industrial Engineering, is one of the most lab-intensive facilities in the CLA. GrC's labs are maintained excellently by industry partnerships. Right now, the department is in the midst of a campaign to update these labs and provide additional scholarship support. Contact Chair Harvey Levenson for information on these efforts.

Likewise, Journalism works with industry and media to turn out work-ready graduates. As partners, industry and media have provided scholarships, internships, and lab support. Chair George Ramos has all the information. Because Journalism is in demand by students and affected by constant change in communication technologies, its studios for television and radio both need expansion, as well as technological updating. Further, the Mustang Daily newsroom can benefit from remodeling so that it shares technology with TV and radio.

Building Needs: Student Enterprise GrC Education Center
Major remodeling and additions must be done to the GrC components in the building. Right now, some truly amazing showpieces are essentially hidden from public view. We want to build a frontispiece for this building that accentuates learn-by-doing in GrC, especially:

• Together GrC and the student-run University Graphics Systems print the Mustang Daily daily with computer-to-plate digital technology on the marvelous Goss press. (See the third picture.) The press, though, is removed from view, in the rear of Engineering South. Since UGS itself is a required experience for all GrC students, we intend to centralize these two operations in one space.
• Partnering with industry, GrC has developed the Graphic Communications Institute in which faculty and students will do applied research and testing on paper, other substrates, inks, toner, plates, and other technologies and work sequences. We anticipate new research labs conjoined to the facilities for UGS and the Goss Press.
• In the basement of the GrC facility is yet another treasure: the Shakespeare Museum. This is a collection of printing tools and machines that date back to the nineteenth century. Essentially, the room documents—exemplifies—the history of printing. But it, too, is out of view and should be moved to the upper-level of the new complex.

Projected is an enclosed space in this building that can show off the Goss press, UGS, the GrC Institute, and other equipment. Ideally, the Shakespeare Museum can be situated nearby. If transparent walls can enclose these spaces, then our learn-by-doing can be exhibited publicly. The building—a student enterprise GrC education center—would be a visible link between past and present technologies.

No longer is it the case that computer technology in liberal arts is utilized only in "applied" programs like Graphic Design, Graphic Communication, and Technical Communication.

This year, significant gifts to Modern Languages and Literatures as well as to Psychology and Human Development enabled us to create unusual lab spaces in which:

• the traditional lectern still permits students and faculty to exchange ideas face-to-face
• digital projectors create a common desktop for everyone in the class
• and PCs along an outside perimeter permit students to work alone or in groups.

Internet to the world, intranet in the virtual class, and interpersonal talk in the actual classroom each enriches learning by maximizing the use of time and space. Language students learn to speak and read in multiple formats. Psychology students observe how young children adjust to technology. And future teachers learn how to use the tools of the digital world.

To keep our labs up-to-date and versatile, the CLA invites:

• gifts-in-kind of current computer technology and software
• endowments for maintenance and faculty/staff training
• gifts for innovative classroom design.

Throughout its history, the departments in the College have been fortunate to have outstanding staff and faculty. That is why, of course, the CLA has graduated such successful students.

We have remained competitive because, while the students learn by doing, their teachers improve their craft by researching, practicing, performing, and retraining in industry and/or the field.

Since the College's programs mix an applied focus with the breadth of a liberal arts perspective, we are challenged to remain both current and well rounded. As a result, we ask you to help us endow:

• lectureships/professorships for visiting scholars, teachers, and artists
• professorships/lectureships from industry and the arts
• re-training and research funds for current faculty and staff
• awards for teaching, service, research, performance, and creative work
• study-abroad and exchange funds to supervise Cal Poly students
• professorships/chairs in areas of specialization within our departments.

See the Honor Roll of Outstanding Teachers whom the CLA has honored.

Cal Poly's College of Liberal Arts is one of the most competitive arts, humanities, and social sciences units in the state. Each year, less than 30% of the applicants to it are admitted and then enroll.

Over the years, more than 25,000 students have graduated from the departments that now are in the CLA. And each year, of course, with the additional expenses incurred by the rising costs of books, new technologies, and gas (!), college gets more expensive.

Still, more students from families with incomes under $25,000 are gaining admission. This bodes well, promising to bridge the "digital divide" that separates rich from poor in California.

But at the same time, state and federal funds are tilted toward student loan programs, not grants. This approach, though understandable, often encourages bright students who otherwise might choose less -remunerative but socially productive careers like teaching or the performing arts to go for the "golden" career.

Truth is, we do not have sufficient scholarship dollars in liberal studies, social sciences, the arts, and the humanities. We can work with you to endow or contribute to scholarships that:

• reward academic promise/achievement
• target socioeconomic and/or geographic criteria
• recognize citizenship and/or service
• focus on a specific major, minor, certificate, etc.

A dollar given to a scholarship helps to build a person. Can there be a nobler gift?

The Theatre/Music Building—Davidson Hall—needs updating and extension. The building was erected several decades before Cal Poly instituted majors in Theatre/Dance and Music. As these programs have matured and grown, the building has strained to contain students, staff, and faculty. Many details of the building plans can be elaborated on here; however, we will only mention a few key indicators:

The choir and band rooms on the second floor are similar spaces. As you can see, the seating in the choir room (see pictures) is considerably out of date. And the music Department has not had the resources to stock the sound room (behind the glass in the second picture). Curtains cover modest storage space.

Note that both the choir and band rooms (third picture) are not properly soundproofed. Also, the revival of the Mustang Band has made storage cramped in the rehearsal room itself.

Other improvements needed in the building include larger and more student storage lockers, more faculty offices, a small performance/recital space, a new black box (for growth), an audio library, and an electronic music studio.

In 1999 - 2000, the College invested over $50,000 in a refurbishing of Theatre/Dance's black box studio in Room 212. Also, Theatre/Dance received a donation to air-condition Crandal Dance Studio.

Current plans call for an extension onto Davidson, along Perimeter Road, across from the Student Union, and in the rear of the building. The main extension would fit in the apex of Davidson and the Cal Poly Theatre. With a curving glass front, running toward the Cal Poly Theatre entrance on Grand and Perimeter, the structure would echo the entry facade of the Performing Arts Center

The Cal Poly Theatre is a functionally sized space for performances by academic departments—principally Theatre/Dance and Music. Occasionally, Cal Poly Arts also books the venue for visiting artists and local groups. The room also serves as a large lecture hall since it seats approximately 490 - 500 patrons. However, major projects in the front of the house that require work and repair are the proscenium, the curtain, the rigging, and the lights.

As one can see in Picture 2, looking from the stage onto the audience, the sound paneling on the sidewalls is inadequate for buffering musical events. Six makeshift panels in this auditorium are not sufficient. Additionally, the seats need refurbishing and sound buffering from squeaks. The control booth, running the breadth of the house, should be refitted to support the digital arts. Since the building has been on the campus network since 1998, this project makes sense now.

Picture 3 is a detail of the stage floor, which has been painted over (black) countless times. Since the stage also serves Dance, its rugged quality can detract seriously from performances. For a full list of needed work in the facility, see the naming opportunities page, under Theatre.

Did you know that Cal Poly sends more students abroad each year than any other CSU campus? That over 2,300 students and 100 faculty members have participated in the London Study program? That faculty in the College, often working with International Programs, direct studies in Thailand, Japan, and Mexico, among other countries?

But studying and teaching abroad is expensive, even though students pay CSU fees and faculty receive salary. Over the 16 years of the London program, for instance, the cost of living in London has increased significantly. Thus, London Study is establishing scholarships for students and residencies for our faculty to live and travel with Cal Poly students.

Already, Jon Ericson, the former CLA dean who founded London Study, has funded an endowment. Another new endowment, the Michael Koehn Memorial Scholarship, honors a l997 London participant who died in the following year.