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Dedication of new Student Life Complex at Belmont University.

The Rev. Dr. James Forbes Jr., right, with Elon chaplain Richard McBride.

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Therese Kiley discusses an innovative program in teacher education at Hamline University during Summer Institute 2003.

• Belmont University Opens $52 Million Arena, Atrium, and Student Life Complex
• Hampton University Opens College of Virginia Beach
  
• Hamline University Announces $7 Million Gift for Stadium/Classrooms
  
• Drake University and Simmons College Receive Workplace Awards
  
• Elon University Receives $1 Million to Endow Spiritual Life Programs
  
• North Central College Pictorial History
  
• Hamline Creates "Education Evolving" Project
  
• Drury University "Creativity, Exploration and Discovery" Convocation Series
  
• Elon University Poll Mirrors National Concerns
  
• Hamline College of Law Receives Three-Year US-European Community Grant

Belmont University Opens $52 Million Arena, Atrium, and Student Life Complex

September 8 was a big day at Belmont University—a very big day! That was the day President Robert Fisher cut the ribbon to dedicate the University's largest construction project in its history. The three-building $52 million complex includes the Beaman Student Life Center which features a variety of spaces—a centerpiece rock-climbing wall, a full-court basketball gymnasium, two indoor racquetball courts, aerobics room, weight rooms, student organization offices and meeting rooms, student locker rooms, a convenience store, and informal spaces for casual relaxation and study.

The Curb Event Center has a 5,000 permanent seat arena with adjacent locker rooms, training rooms, weight rooms and other facilities for Belmont athletic teams. It is also designed to host major music and entertainment events, is wired for live television broadcast, and includes spaces for student-run retail businesses, a restaurant, and a penthouse meeting room offering outdoor rooftop dining.

The Maddox Grand Atrium is an expansive anteroom between the Beaman and Curb centers finished with polished terrazzo flooring, rich cherry-stained wood and moldings, ceramic tiles, and elegant arts works. It will be used for receptions, dinners, and concerts. Declared President Fisher, "We have opened the door to the next chapter of Belmont's history.... We believe our students and our community will find that these facilities rate among the finest in the world."

The Maddox Grand Atrium.

Hampton University Opens College of Virginia Beach

Over the summer, Hampton University dedicated its new College of Virginia Beach campus, located in a state-of-the-art facility in the city's newly constructed Town Center. Hampton's newest college will offer programs in areas such as nursing, education, and hotel/resort management, including several graduate programs. The new facility has real-time video/audio connectivity with the main Hampton campus, including the library, and offers such space amenities as mediated classrooms and labs, mediated conference and seminar rooms, a 100-seat mediated lecture hall, and a large computer lab, plus commuter/visitor lounge and on-site catering services.

Hamline University Announces $7 Million Gift for Stadium/Classrooms

In September Hamline announced the largest gift in the University's history to construct a multi-use stadium that will integrate athletics and academic life and is slated to be completed in August 2004. In addition to the stadium proper, the 27,000 square-foot facility will have a large reception and exhibit area, classrooms and meeting spaces, a large events hall, locker rooms, and a press box.

With this gift Hamline has raised $132 million towards its goal of $150 million by the time of the University's sesquicentennial observance in 2004. When Hamline's "New American University Campaign" was initiated in 1996, its original goal was $100 million. When this goal was achieved last year, the Campaign target was raised to $150 million.

New North Central College stadium/classroom structure in the heart of Naperville, IL.

Drake University and Simmons College Receive Workplace Awards

What goes into a good place to work? Ask Drake University and Simmons College. These two ANAC members recently received awards for providing good working environments. Drake has been designated a Silver Well Workplace by the Wellness Councils of America for supporting employee efforts to reduce health risks and to improve overall health and well-being-both in terms of the organizational environment and institutional policies. Simmons was chosen as one of only three educational institutions to receive the Boston Business Journal's award as one of the "Best Places to Work" for 2003. A wide range of workplace issues are taken into consideration in the Boston Business Journal recognition.

Elon University Receives $1 Million to Endow Spiritual Life Program

Elon University has received a $1 million gift to fund programs and spiritual life internships at Elon's new Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. The programs will include a spiritual leaders-in-residence program, an interfaith speaker series, student retreats and workshops related to spiritual values and life skills, and a study abroad course focusing on important pilgrimage sites. Each spiritual life intern will receive a stipend and a grant to participate in the study abroad pilgrimage course.

North Central College Pictorial History

North Central College and nationally-known photographer Chuck Savage have collaborated on a recently published pictorial history, A College in its Community, tracing the relationship of the College and the surrounding Naperville community. Savage, who has photographed the College for more than a decade, gives special attention to the changing look of the campus landscape, as new buildings have appeared over the years and the campus master plan has been implemented. He captures the changing styles and seasons, fires the imagination, and pleases the viewer's aesthetic soul. President Hal Wilde distributed copies of the work to his fellow ANAC member presidents.

Old Main Plaza at North Central College from A College in its Community.

Hamline Creates "Education Evolving" Project

The Hamline University Graduate School of Education is collaborating with the St. Paul-based nonprofit Center for Policy Studies to create Education Evolving, a project to analyze educational problems, track national trends, conduct studies, sponsor conferences, develop reports, and recommend policies addressing the issues and challenges facing K-12 education. Education Evolving has established a website (www.educationevolving.org) to articulate its goals, post ideas and papers, and provide connections with those engaged in educational reform.

Drury University "Creativity, Exploration, Discovery" Convocation Program

As a centerpiece of its nationally-recognized integrated core general education curriculum Global Perspectives 21, Drury University offers a year-long convocation series. The 2003-04 convocation theme "Creativity, Exploration, Discovery" commemorates the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition. The series expresses the ideas, events, and significance of the expedition through history, literature, science, art, music, fiction, film, and folklore. Many of the convocation speakers, well-known leaders in their fields, will expand on the theme by exploring cutting-edge advances in understanding space, science, and global politics, religions, and cultures. To learn more about the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, visit www.lewisandclark200.gov.

Elon University Poll Mirrors National Concerns

College and university public opinion polling is becoming increasingly significant, both as an applied social science educational experience for students and as an important source for monitoring the public pulse. The Elon University Poll is becoming increasingly recognized for its measures of the public pulse in North Carolina, as Quinnipiac University Poll has over a longer period of time in Connecticut and the larger New York region. In a poll conducted over the September 22-25 period (margin of error plus or minus 4.1%), Elon Poll detected trends in North Carolina on the economy and Bush administration handling of Iraq that national polling has since discovered for the nation as a whole. Elon Poll uncovered a decline in public support for the president's handling of Iraq (52% approve compared with 75% in May), an increase to 67% desiring the UN Security Council to take the lead in rebuilding Iraq (up from 53% in May), and only 35% strongly approving or approving the president's handling of the economy (down from 48% in May). Since it was established in 2000, Elon Poll has conducted 19 polls from its 27 telephone polling stations on campus.

Hamline College of Law Receives Three-Year US-European Community Grant

The Hamline University College of Law has received a three-year $204,000 FIPSE grant to work with two other American law schools (Benjamin N. Cordozo in NY and Moritz at Ohio State) and three European universities (La Sapienza in Italy, Deusto in Spain, and Catholic University of Paris) to develop international, interdisciplinary alternative dispute resolution curricula, support transatlantic student exchanges, and establish Web-based dispute resolution education and practice. Among the grant's larger purposes are fostering US-European understanding, improving the quality of human resource development for lawyers and other professionals, and encouraging sustainable innovation in graduate level education in a field central to global cooperation in the twenty-first century.

Fall colors abound on Pacific Lutheran campus.