Austin College president Marjorie Hass welcomed trustees, distinguished alumni, and other guests at a June 3 groundbreaking ceremony for the IDEA Center, the Sherman, Texas, college’s new science and technology complex.

Twelve years in the planning, the 103,000 s.f. Center will emphasize breaking down boundaries between disciplines, housing the departments of physics, chemistry, biology, environmental studies, math, and computer science in one facility. A centerpiece of the new academic building is a domed observatory, with a 24” telescope that will be among the best among the country’s liberal arts institutions.

The IDEA ...[more]

Philadelphia University broke ground Friday on the new home of the College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce. The $20 million academic building is designed to support the innovative curriculum of the new college, which emphasizes interdisciplinary, project-based learning and collaborative problem-solving.

“The College of Design, Engineering and Commerce is unique and this striking new building that will support and enhance the powerful academic experience,” said Philadelphia University president Stephen Spinelli. “Students gain expertise in their disciplines and a fluency in the transdisciplinary ways of the 21st-century work world on a much larger scale than what we’ve seen in higher ...[more]

The robotics lab at Johns Hopkins’ School of Computer Science and Engineering gets a shout-out in the January 17 issue of Time magazine. The article, “Where the jobs are,” discusses the sectors for job growth in the current economy. Johns Hopkins has established training programs to better match the skills of Baltimore residents with the requirement of the sophisticated bioengineering jobs now being created.

The photo in the article shows Professor Russ Taylor’s robotics lab at Hackermann Hall on Johns Hopkins Homewood campus. The building, with its open bays ...[more]

Shepley Bulfinch is designing a home for Philadelphia University’s new College of Design, Engineering, and Commerce, which has just been announced.

The new academic building will house an ambitious program, defined by the university as a “revolutionary, transdisciplinary curriculum that retains the core learning of each discipline while forging new collaborations between the fields of design, engineering, and business.”

The new 40,000 s.f. building will be located near two other Shepley Bulfinch projects on the Philadelphia University campus: Gutman Library (1993) and Kanbar Campus Center (2006). The firm’s other recent cross-disciplinary learning environments in higher education ...[more]

Think you know what goes on here? Look again. Step inside Hackerman Hall, home to Johns Hopkins’ Computational Sciences program and a remarkable intellectual crossroads.

Courtney (Stern) Janes, an interior designer with Shepley Bulfinch, is profiled in the latest issue of Suffolk University’s alumni magazine.

In the article, Interior Motives, Courtney (Suffolk MAID ’08) discusses interior design, her work at Shepley Bulfinch; and what it means to have a personal commitment to sustainability and to work in a firm that makes it a priority.

Suffolk magazine article

In a celebration today attended by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and other dignitaries, the Atlanta University Center (AUC) rededicated the renovated Robert W. Woodruff Library, unveiling its interactive and technology-rich 21st century learning environment.

Shepley Bulfinch’s completion of the first phase of this major renovation included more than 130,000 square feet of the Woodruff Library’s 220,000 square foot facility. The renovation replaced many solid interior walls with glass panels, drawing natural light deep into the space.

The inviting and dynamic main floor, with its media creation and presentation space ...[more]