October 23, 1998: Volume 44, Number 7

Olin Dedication is Friday; Harrison Schmitt to Speak

They are much too young to remember Tang, moon rocks or splashdowns.

But on Friday about 80 students from Birchwood, Zoller and Elmer Avenue elementary schools will learn what it was like to walk on the moon as Harrison Schmitt, the last person to set foot on the lunar surface, talks about his Apollo adventures.

Schmitt is speaking to the children in a special program on Friday, Oct. 23, at 9:30 a.m. in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium.

Schmitt, a geologist, will be on campus Friday at 4:30 p.m. for the dedication of the F.W. Olin Center.

A member of the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, Schmitt will discuss his career and research on the use of resources from space (including the moon's helium-3 as a potential energy supply on Earth) in a lecture titled "The Business of Returning to Deep Space: The Interlune-Intermars Initiative" after the dedication (at about 5 p.m.) in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium.

Most seats are reserved for Schmitt's 5 p.m. presentation, but the talk will be broadcast live in other rooms throughout the building.

Schmitt also is to deliver a technical talk titled "A Field Trip to the Moon" on Friday, Oct. 23, at 12:15 p.m., also in the F.W. Olin Center Auditorium.

The dedication

Union students, staff and faculty will join leaders from the F.W. Olin Foundation of New York City to formally unveil the latest addition to the 204 year-old campus – the F.W. Olin Center, on Friday, Oct. 23. The event kicks off at 4:30 p.m. with welcome remarks by President Roger Hull.

"For more than 200 years, Union has been at the forefront of change and technology," said Hull. "The F.W. Olin Foundation, by providing this state-of-the-art technology center, has provided an important vehicle for Union to continue this emphasis as it begins its third century of service."

The building

The new 53,640 square-foot Olin Center supports computer-aided instruction throughout the College's science and mathematics departments as well as in non-science programs. It also serves as the home of the Department of Geology and the College's growing Environmental Studies Program. The building will be used by nearly all Union students at some time in their undergraduate careers.

Building features include:

-- Two "collaborative computer classrooms;"

-- Laboratories and classrooms equipped for computer-intensive instruction;

-- A multi-media auditorium;

-- An Environmental Studies "clean lab, " usually exclusive to laboratories at the graduate level.

The high-tech learning center provides campus-wide use of computers and study spaces with 24-hour-per-day access to Schaffer Library's instructional technology center.

To Union faculty, the Olin Center represents a bridge between the arts and sciences. "Using the technology of today – Power Point presentation software for example – students are able to take a detailed look, with microscopic precision, of the great works in poetry," said Ruth Stevenson, professor of English. "Much like biologists observing a specimen, we can examine the minute elements that make up the body of famous pieces."

'Compelling case'

The F.W. Olin Foundation, Inc., of New York City awarded the $9 million grant to Union in 1996 to construct and equip a high-technology classroom and laboratory building.

"Union College presented a compelling case for our support. The very high quality of its academic programs and faculty were evident throughout our review of its proposal," said Lawrence W. Milas, Olin Foundation president at the announcement of the grant.

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