From Dreams to Reality — Our Plan for the Center

Growing from the dreams and discussions of faculty, students, administrators, trustees, parents and alumni over many years, the vision for the Landrum Bolling Center is envigorating. Ground will be broken in March 2001 for the 40,000-square foot, red brick structure to be built along the main drive. Motorists and campus visitors will notice its welcoming Meetinghouse style porches along the College’s National Road frontage. As long as a football stadium, the three-story building will amply support current educational approaches, combining technology with interpersonal collaboration.

The open, spacious building includes both large and small classroom configurations supporting a variety of teaching styles from large lectures to seminars as well as informal gathering places for conversations, refreshments and close interactions. A computer laboratory providing 20-24 microcomputers in a tiered arrangement will greatly augment campus computing resources. Classrooms will be outfitted for technology enabling faculty to incorporate electronic and digital resources into classroom presentations and discussions. The large lecture hall will even contain 35 specially wired seats to encourage students to use their own laptop computers. Seminar rooms will support the latest wireless technologies with Internet access.

Not only will the faculty from the social science and interdisciplinary study programs work in close proximity, but they will also be near offices which facilitate students’ experiential learning. Within the Landrum Bolling Center, students will experience the close relationships between academics, off-campus experiences and community service which Earlham values so highly. They will easily move from a classroom or seminar setting to a faculty office to talk with a professor about coursework or walk downstairs to seek advice from Career Services staff about outcomes. After working on an assignment in the computer lab, students can easily contact a professor with a question. And they’ll find it convenient to talk with International Programs Office staff about enrolling for next year’s Borders Program, just one of Earlham’s many off-campus opportunities. Students can even access the EVE Office (Earlham Volunteer Exchange) to volunteer for community service.

"Increasingly over many years, a new social science and interdisciplinary facility has been an imperative for the College. Consequently, the Board of Trustees has made the Landrum Bolling Center our highest priority capital project. Through the generosity of the Lilly Endowment, the trustees themselves, and other friends of Earlham, we are coming close to making this project a reality. With this new Center, the faculty will finally and deservedly have a facility worthy of the teaching excellence long associated with social science education at Earlham."
Tom Gottschalk, Class of 1964
National Fund-Raising Chair