Tech Central: despite all the talk about wireless, Temple University leaders found it made sense to centralize its technology equipment on campus.

IF WE BUILD IT, WILL THEY COME? THAT WAS THE $16 million question Temple University (Pa.) executives, administrators, and trustees pondered before they gave the go-ahead to construct the largest student computer center in the country.

"It wasn't a slam dunk," recalls Timothy O'Rourke, vice president of Computer and Information Services at Temple, a public research university. "Nobody was going in this direction. The trend has been to equip students with laptops and wireless connections. I would get questions from faculty and the trustees on the order of 'Why would you do this?'"

However, after rounds of discussions and presentations to the Board of Trustees, the consensus moved to, "Why not do it?"

Construction started in March 2005. "We didn't go into this blind," O'Rourke says. "We did student surveys and found that only about 5 percent of students carried laptops to school, so we did believe there was a need for such a facility." Still, O'Rourke remembers his angst up until the day the TECH (Teaching, Education, Collaboration, Help) Center opened its doors on January 6. "I feared no one would come," he recalls.

But they did come--in droves. During the 2006 spring semester, the center recorded more than 432,000 visits from 20,000 individuals. The busiest day occurred on April 26 when 8,000 people entered the center. This fall semester, the daily attendance is expected to average 6,000 visits per day.

"The numbers have blown us away," O'Rourke remarks. "The traffic has far exceeded anything we could have imagined. It has been a tremendous success."

TECH Center 101

The 75,000-square-foot TECH Center sits in the heart of Temple's main campus in North Philadelphia, which serves 25,000 students. The building, which once served as a mainframe center for Bell Atlantic, met the needs for conversion because of its footprint and location.

The two-story facility also houses Temple's new 4,200-squarefoot Welcome Center on the first floor, which tacked on another $1 million to the project (see "The Wow Factor," p. 46). The first floor also consists of various breakout rooms where students can collaborate on projects. Equipment includes flat-panel wall displays and desks with computers set up for group interaction. In addition, the campus Help Desk is located here, offering 24-hour support for the entire campus community. A Teaching and Learning Center offers training and technology support for faculty and teaching assistants, coupled with a faculty breakout room and lounge. Finally, the first floor houses the WHIP internet radio station (staffed by students) and, of course, a Starbucks cafe that's open 24 hours a day Monday through Thursday, with limited hours on weekends.

The second floor consists of an information desk staffed by a librarian to assist students, an internet lounge, and a service desk where students can go for support, reserve breakout rooms, and rent loaner laptops. There is a section solely for print operations consisting of high-speed laser printers, color printers, and plotters.

General computer areas are subdivided by different color schemes, each housing PCs and Macs, print stations, and popular software programs. In addition, the center offers free music and cable TV feeds. Various specialty labs house computers, special applications, and ancillary equipment. A video editing lab, a music lab with keyboards, a graphics/CAD lab, and a language lab round out the second floor's technology offerings. Moreover, there are two quiet rooms, as well as various breakout rooms reserved for collaborative work. Each room contains a flat-panel wall display and desks set up for group/computer interaction. Some labs are equipped for multimedia presentations, with surround sound and large screens.

Finally, various couches, coffee tables, and cozy chairs are scattered throughout the floor, so students can read, use a laptop (the building is wireless), or even nap between classes.

Even the sole vending machine is unique. Rather than containing the basic student food staples--snacks, candy, and gum--this machine dispenses memory sticks, ear buds, pens, paper clips, batteries, and, of course, Excedrin and NoDoz for those late-night term paper deadlines.

A side note: Food and beverages are allowed in the Internet Zone area, and beverages (with lids) are allowed in the computer areas. "We haven't had any problems with spillage on keyboards, and no stains on the carpet," says David Matthews, a lab manager. He attributes the success of the beverage policy to the large work stations and adequate spacing between stations that give students more room for the business at hand and less opportunity to knock over drinks.

View from the Top

According to Clarence Armbrister, senior vice president of the university, the idea of a large computer facility was born from various discussions throughout the university examining what the university needed to do to equip students for the 21st century.

"The TECH Center is the outgrowth of forward thinking from Tim O'Rourke," Armbrister says. "When we initially went to the trustees with the idea, we were questioned if the university really needed the facility--considering the investment and the changing pace of technology. We went back and I got together with the academic side of the house and Tim examined the technology side, and we finally came back with a plan that encompassed what we thought would be a facility for 21st-century teaching, collaboration, and technology. And that's how the TECH--Teaching, Education, Collaboration, and Help--acronym came about."

Armbrister notes that other factors contributed to the idea of the center, including the knowledge that students--both campus residents and commuters--did not want to bring their laptops to class. Also, because students can't afford specialty software, the university wanted to give them access to high-end applications. And since previous computer labs were dispersed throughout the campus, consolidating the labs into one facility opened up those labs for additional classroom space.

Armbrister adds, "We also realized that students change majors all the time, and technology and applications cross over various disciplines, so now all students have access to all applications."

Tom Halligan is the former editor in chief of University Business and an alumnus of Temple University.

RELATED ARTICLE: The "Wow" factor.

How the TECH Center spurs prospective students and parents to view Temple in a whole new light

JEFF MCDEVITT IS A SENIOR AT Conestoga High School, located on the affluent Main Line in suburban Philadelphia, where 95 percent of students go on to college and the average SAT score is 1180. McDevitt, like many of his peers applying to college, has visited numerous top campuses during the past six months in Boston as well as in Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Temple was not on his list.

At Conestoga, which is part of the Tredyffrin/ Easttown School District and is often ranked as one of the top high schools in the state, "decal envy" often is a motivating factor that pushes parents and students to seek out the Ivies and other name-brand schools. But McDevitt, a solid student with high SAT scores who intends to major in broadcast journalism, was urged by family and friends to take a look at Temple.

"My mom told me that Temple has a top communications school and that I should at least check it out ... so I thought, 'Here we go to North Philly,'" he laughs. After visiting the Welcome Center and touring the TECH Center, the first stop on the campus tour, McDevitt came away "impressed" with Temple and the center in particular.

"Temple definitely stood out from the other schools I visited because it was really modern, with cutting-edge computer labs," McDevitt explains. "At the other schools I visited, it looked like they just tossed some computers into a room." After his visit, McDevitt has included Temple on his A-list of potential schools.

Chris Stover, a sophomore journalism major who works part time at the Welcome Center, says people are amazed when they take the tour. "They come back and say 'Wow!' because it's state of the art and a fun place to be. The center's an awesome asset for the students and university," he says.

Admissions Driver

Historically, Temple University's mission has been to educate the children of Philadelphia's blue-collar neighborhoods. Situated in a depressed section of the city, Temple has up until recently been mostly a commuter school. Students would take subways to class, and then later to jobs, and then later back to row-home neighborhoods such as Fishtown, Overbrook, Olney, and Germantown.

Frankly, Temple was considered a second-tier school in a metro area where the kingpins of higher education are the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University in the city, and suburban Main Line stalwarts such as St. Joseph's University, Villanova University, Haverford College, and Bryn Mawr College, plus many other nationally known schools peppered throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

But through massive new construction projects and a drive to attract top faculty coupled with an emphasis on more on-campus housing and social activities, Temple has been attracting record applications from high-end students who see the value of the institution, coupled with its in-state tuition rate of $9,500 per year. In fact, 4,000 freshmen enrolled this semester--an all-time record.

Mary Beth Kurilko, associate director of Admissions, views the new combined Welcome Center and TECH Center as central to Temple being more competitive in reaching "millennials" and their parents. "Middle-class suburban millennials don't want to share rooms and bathrooms because they never have, and they expect schools to have more than a computer lab," she says.

Although it is too early for Kurilko to gather data to examine how the TECH Center is spurring admissions, she adds that there is enough anecdotal evidence that the center is definitely increasing interest in Temple.

Kurilko uses words such as "new vibe" and "cool" when she talks about how both prospective students and the campus community now view the school because of the center. "The center just adds to a more robust residential life on campus because it is a place to socialize," she says.

Kurilko (who often is at the Welcome Center) says she recently spoke with a parent from New Hampshire who felt in love with Temple, specifically mentioning how "incredible" the TECH Center was. The TECH Center surpasses prospective students' expectations because it is more than just computer labs, Kurilko says, adding that "the center is a place to hang out, to have coffee and drinks, and to have fun."

Freshman Mark Wojdylo agrees. "I see my tuition going to good use," says the anthropology major who lives on campus. "The center is a place to come and relax, listen to music, and use the computers."

Lyndsey Shaw, a sophomore business major who lives off campus, explains that she likes the center being open 24 hours. "I come to the center to do work anytime and I don't have to drag my laptop with me," she says. In addition, Shaw makes the point that she views her personal computer as more of a communication and entertainment tool because it's in her apartment, while she views the PCs in the center as designed for work with no distractions. "When I come to the center it's to do work and I can use their printers, but I can still socialize on the couches or at Starbucks if I want," she adds.

Senior John Weisman, an advertising major who utilizes the breakout rooms for group projects, also likes that the center is open all day; it makes for easier room scheduling. He adds that, because the computers are new and equipped with Flash, Photoshop, and other multimedia applications, groups of advertising majors can work on projects with the latest tools.

TECH Center Quick Facts

SIZE: 75,000 square feet

COMPUTERS: 700 (500 PCs, 100 Macs, 100 laptops)

SOFTWARE: 150 applications

BREAKOUT ROOMS: 13 for collaboration

QUIET ROOMS: Two

LABS: Five

WIRELESS: Throughout the building

MUSIC: Free feed to desktops

TV: Stations streamed to desktops

MONITORS: 32 flat-screen monitors

COFFEE TABLES: 26, with four outlets each

CAFFEINE: Starbucks cafe (open 24 hours, Mon.-Thurs.)