Roy O. West Library’s facelift was announced to include the Tenzer Technology Center, but the plans for the new technology center are still underway.
Tenzer will be built into the library during Roy’s renovation scheduled to take place during the academic year of 2018-2019. The new technology center is being funded through the donation of Lee and Marian Tenzer as part of the $10 million Tenzer Technology Initiative.
However, Dave Berque, dean of academics, said aspects of Tenzer will be available starting in the Fall, until Roy classes for renovation, but what exactly will be available is yet to be determined. Roy. “This is a new center that will be opening over time at DePauw. We expect some initial programming activity to start as early as this fall,” Berque said.
The actual center that will be in the new Roy will be similar to other centers on campus, such as the McDermmot Center and the Pulliam Center. “The centers are specialized areas to help students develop skills and abilities to help them outside of the classroom,” said Berque, “ so the Tenzer Center will focus on technology, particularly visualization.” Berque hopes Tenzer will work in the same capacity of other centers to help students prepare for internships and jobs outside of DePauw University.
Dean of Libraries Rick Provine said the goal is to teach students to visualize. “Students will be able to go into the center and look at their images closer than they have been,” said Provine, “For example, art students will be able to pull up a piece of artwork and view individual brush strokes because of the larger displays.”
First-year Jeremy Konzen is excited that Roy will become more innovative with the new technology center. “I think it’s really cool because Roy is pretty outdated,” said Konzen. “You always need more technology.”
The students will have access to a variety of new technologies, such as three-dimensional printers, high resolution displays, and virtual and augmented reality sets. “One of the goals of Tenzer is to give students more access to less traditional forms of technology,” Provine said.
Konzen said he would like to see more of what Roy already offers. “We have a lot already that Roy offers, but I want to see more access to what we have,” said Konzen. “3-D printers would be nice and I know art students would love having access to them because Peeler is outdated in the same way Roy is.”
Tenzer will also help support current programs like the Information Technology Associates Program (ITAP). “ITAP will get a little bit of a rebranding,” said Berque. “The hope is that the students who apply to ITAP will want to take advantage of the new technology on campus.”
When Tenzer opens, it will be available to all students who wish to use the technology. “We want the space to be taken advantage of,” said Berque. “Eventually we would like to develop workshops and Winter Term courses for students to learn about what is now available to them.”