Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 385.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 08:55:11 +0100
From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org>
Subject: UVA receives $25 million to integrate IT & humanities
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
October 19, 2000
Halsey Minor Gives $25 Million to University of Virginia
To Create 21st-century Digital Academical Village
Includes funding for research center to foster meaningful
intellectual partnerships between computer scientists and humanists
<http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2000/minorgift-oct-18-2000.html>http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2000/minorgift-oct-18-2000.html
This news release from the University of Virginia is very encouraging.
David Green
===========
>Oct. 18, 2000 -- Halsey M.Minor, founder and chairman of CNET Inc.,
>will give $25 million to the University of Virginia to
>integrate digital technology with the humanities and social sciences in
>ways that promise to redefine a liberal arts education in the Internet Age.
>
>University President John T. Casteen III called Minor's gift extraordinary
>in its foresight. "His creative thinking and generosity will help us to
>infuse new ways of teaching and learning into our classrooms and our
>libraries so that we can play a key role in transforming higher education
>more broadly through innovative uses of digital technology," Casteen said.
>
>Minor's challenge gift is designed to encourage other donors --
>individuals, corporations, foundations and governmental entities - to
>match his commitment in both funds and support for the project. The gift
>is the largest ever to U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences, and will help
>create a 21st-century Digital Academical Village, modeled on Thomas
>Jefferson's original Academical Village, where faculty and students live
>and learn in proximity to one another.
>
>The Digital Academical Village will comprise:
>* a research center that will foster meaningful intellectual partnerships
>between computer scientists and humanists, as well as integrate technology
>into traditional forms of teaching and scholarship;
>* new multi-disciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs in media
>studies and digital media that emphasize the understanding and imaginative
>uses of new technology;
>* a cutting-edge academic facility to house these programs, other existing
>digital initiatives, and related academic departments and programs.
>
>"Our aim will be to make the University the world leader in using
>technology and in assessing its role in human affairs," said Melvyn P.
>Leffler, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. "We have been pioneers in
>using digital technology for humanities research, teaching and outreach.
>This gift enables us to reach a new level of sophistication in our efforts
>to analyze, preserve, and transmit human culture."
>
>Minor, who graduated in 1987 with a degree in anthropology, has been
>fascinated with technology since his youth. This passion has inspired each
>of Minor's entrepreneurial ventures, from a database driven
>apartment-locating business in Charlottesville, to CNET Networks, today
>one of the world's leading new media companies. Minor founded CNET in 1992
>to provide trusted information about technology and pioneered new ways to
>use the Internet and digital technology to deliver that information in
>more efficient, useful ways than had ever been done before. Today, CNET
>Networks is one of the top 10 destinations on the Internet, with
>award-winning Web sites, television and radio programming that reaches
>millions of people around the world every day.
>
>Minor hopes his gift will be a catalyst for the University to evolve and
>improve higher education through the innovative use of new technology.
>"Education will inevitably be transformed by the force of the Internet and
>digital technology. There is an opportunity now to propel that
>transformation with private philanthropy and generate a leveraged benefit.
>My goal is to facilitate the University's work in developing programs and
>practices that will become models for teaching and learning in the 21st
>century and will be shared among other institutions of higher learning,
>and ultimately in K-12 classrooms here and around the world."
>
>Some of the ultimate goals of the project include:
>* establishing the University as a world leader in integrating computer
>and information sciences with the humanities and social sciences;
>* sharing new models of teaching and research with other universities and
>constituencies around the globe;
>* redefining a liberal arts education in America to reflect the impact of
>digital technology;
>* educating a new generation of young people who understand technology,
>its practical applications, and its social and economic implications;
>* promoting innovative uses of digital education to help close the digital
>divide;
>* disseminating Jeffersonian ideals in a global community of knowledge.
>
>
>The implications of these initiatives embody Jefferson's original vision
>for the University, Leffler said. It is the hope of all involved that they
>reach beyond the physical boundaries of the Academical Village to link the
>day's most advanced scientific and scholarly thinking to the civic and
>cultural life of democratic societies worldwide.
>
>Minor's gift offers unprecedented opportunities to help the University
>realize the aims of Virginia 2020, a long-term planning process that is
>focused on achieving higher standards of excellence in four key areas,
>including science and technology. It represents the first of a series of
>"bridge centers" at U.Va. envisioned to integrate technology into research
>and teaching throughout the University's curriculum.
>
>Minor's gift will be counted in the Campaign for the University of
>Virginia, which to date has raised $1.2 billion.
>
>FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: please contact the Office of University
>Relations at (804) 924-7116. Television reporters should contact the TV
>News Office at (804) 924-7550. SOURCE: U.Va. News Services
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