Future of computing, technology program is bright with official opening of new facility
Kim Chaudoin | 615.966.6494 |
2022 Update: The College of Computing and Technology is now the School of Computing and the School of Data Analytics and Technology.
Take one step into the College of Computing & Technology’s facility in the Swang Business Center and you can hear a buzz. A literal buzz of equipment, but also the buzz of excitement as students and professors collaborate to learn and discover new things.
On Tuesday, March 24, the Lipscomb University community along with several key partners from the Nashville business sector gathered to celebrate the official opening of the College of Computing & Technology’s 7,000-square-foot classroom, lab and office space. The center has been constructed and outfitted with the latest technology due to donations from Jackson National Life, Cigna-HealthSpring and Peak 10. The facility was developed with the goal of adding depth to student knowledge as well as providing skilled information technology professionals to the Middle Tennessee workforce.
“At Lipscomb University, we believe that space, whether literal or virtual, is important,” said Provost W. Craig Bledsoe at the opening ceremony. “As we add new academic programs and develop facilities and learning environments for them, our focus has been to understand what companies need and to look ahead to what the future trends and demands are in our communities. Then, we develop programs to provide students with relevant experience that they need to successfully enter the workforce. The facility that we celebrate today helps bridge the gap between learning and the workplace.”
Fortune Mhlanga, dean of the College of Computing & Technology, said the facility reflects the efforts of many in the Nashville community as well as at Lipscomb to develop a space that will prepare students for their future careers.
“What we do here in the College of Computing & Technology is to serve, connect and innovate,” he said. “It reflects our involvement in the Nashville technology community. Many of you here today have rolled up your sleeves to work with us to prepare the next generation of IT professionals. We recognize that is takes a team effort to shape our strategic compass.”
The College of Computing & Technology space includes a media lounge sponsored by Jackson National Life, a data center donated by Cigna-HealthSpring and production-level data storage facilities provided through a partnership with Peak 10, an IT infrastructure and cloud services provider.
“Every time I’m at Lipscomb I get the feeling that there is something about this school that is unique,” said Michael Wells, president and CEO of Jackson National Life. “I learn something new every time. There is value in this alignment for me personally and for Jackson National Life. Lipscomb continues to play a big role in this community and is more involved in Nashville than any other university. We appreciate the partnership and look forward to the impact it will make on the lives not only of our students, but to the success of the tech community in Nashville.”
The new facility allows Lipscomb students to collaborate with each other, expert faculty and industry advisors through a flexible furniture and open classroom design; clusters of seating and power outlets with plenty of technical connectivity for group work; glass walls intended to serve as writing surfaces; a media lounge and a conference room designed as a community meeting space.
More than $500,000 in construction took place in 2014 including the refashioning of two large traditional tiered classrooms into modern spaces with numerous USB ports and a “bar” for up to 12 student workers and teaching assistants to work together simultaneously as well as glass walls that not only can be used as whiteboards for instant brainstorming sessions but can also be reconfigured easily as the college grows.
The media lounge, sponsored by Jackson National, seats up to 18 people around a U-shaped couch and features an 80-inch HDTV monitor for hands-on computing classes in such courses as game development. Equipment such as Xbox One technology is available for students to learn to program the latest generation in gaming devices. A conference room is available for industry and community use with digital displays outside each meeting space displaying its schedule.
The center also includes a data facility with more than 50 terabytes of storage, networking equipment, switches and other computer equipment, thanks to a donation by Cigna-HealthSpring. The data center also allows students and faculty to stage advanced projects for the community. An example is a current ongoing project that builds predictive models of the socio-economic interactions of autonomous population units pertaining to the spread of infectious diseases and strategies for combating interpersonal violence.
“These opportunities to learn in such great facilities wouldn’t be possible without the support of these businesses and so many others who have made this a reality,” said Lauren Gardiner, a sophomore data science major from Lexington, Ky. “On behalf of the students in this college I want to say thank you to the Lipscomb board for its acknowledgement of the importance of technology.”
David Scobey, chair of Lipscomb’s board of trustees, agreed.
“Your partnership with our university is greatly appreciated,” Scobey, former president and CEO of AT&T Southeastern Region, told the business partners gathered for the ceremony. “We could not do what we do without you.”
Andy Flatt, chief information officer for Nashville’s Corizon Health and chair of the College of Computing & Technology Board of Visitors, said as a student at Lipscomb in the 1980s he never could have imagined the technology industry growing into what it is today.
“Today marks a significant day for computing and technology at Lipscomb University,” said Flatt, a 1984 Lipscomb graduate. “None of us back in 1984 had any idea how much technology would advance and how much business would come to depend on technology. Thank you for helping make today a reality. It is important to recognize the past and the foundation laid by professors who taught computing and technology in previous years as we look to the future to blaze trails in technology.”
Having state-of-the-art facilities will help grow Lipscomb’s reputation for training students to enter the technology field.
“We are thankful to have Fortune’s vision and character to get us to this day,” said L. Randolph Lowry, Lipscomb president. “This is a university that a decade or so ago was not known for its hard sciences. Now we have a college that will be a central part of who we are. And by putting these skills in the context of a liberal arts education that we have at Lipscomb and we will produce professionals with the ability to work cross culturally and with the ability to communicate well.
“Lipscomb is focused not only on competence, but also on character. Those who are looking to hire IT professionals will be very attracted to the kind of student we graduate.”
The College of Computing & Technology was established in 2015, growing from an academic department to a school to a college just since 2011. In that time the program has grown from three undergraduate majors to ten and has added five graduate degrees. Led by Dean Fortune Mhlanga, the college strives to prepare students to meet the needs of the information technology industry for the long-term, encouraging each student to use their technical knowledge to serve, connect and innovate. To achieve this goal, the college offers study in computer science, information technology, software engineering, information security, data science and game development.
For more information visit technology.lipscomb.edu.
—Photos by Kristi Jones; video by Josh Shaw