“Engineering is about people. It’s about listening to people, moving people toward common goals, and delivering products and services for people,” Weinkauf said. “The need for a liberal arts education is the need to understand humanity, which engineers ultimately will serve. Listening, empathic design and understanding the voice of customers and the needs of society manifest in a liberal arts education.” As part of emphasizing the intersectionality of communication and technology, the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Emerging Media (journalism, digital media arts, and strategic communication majors) will be housed in the STEAM complex. “We need to make storytellers out of every one of us,” said Weinkauf, who noted that the School of Engineering also offers a course of study in communications through its data visualization offerings. Bringing several disciplines together under one roof is one way that St. Thomas will innovate, grow and excel in ways that align with its educational mission and vision to provide relevant and continuous learning and strategic connections for Tommie leaders of today and tomorrow. n
external groups, including students, alumni and 17 different industry partners. “Spontaneous interaction and collaboration between people are critical to the emergence of creative, practical ideas that work in the real world,” said Ashish Khandpur, executive vice president of the Transportation and Electronics Group at 3M and a member of the St. Thomas Board of Trustees. “We’ve found that for people to work differently, they need a different environment ... one that inspires creativity, collaboration and experimentation.” Designed for collaboration The STEAM complex’s open floor design will put learning on display, which, in addition to the complex’s flexible collaboration spaces, will help students to grow their appreciation of other disciplines. Expected to add more than 130,000 square feet of facilities to the university, the building will feature five levels of modular, multipurpose spaces and wide corridors. It will include an emerging media newsroom, studios and classrooms, science and engineering labs and offices; an art gallery; a 250- seat choral rehearsal and performance space; an instrumental rehearsal space and storage; visitor lobbies, café and community spaces. The community space may host local K-12 schools, community gatherings and STEM and music partnerships. This hub of hands-on innovation will connect to O’Shaughnessy Science Hall, which in turn is linked to Owens Science Hall. The numerous labs and studios in the complex will provide ample opportunities for hands-on learning and collaboration. It will host an array of academic disciplines from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering, the largest private engineering school in Minnesota. Don Weinkauf, dean of the School of Engineering, said that students in the school benefit by tapping into what they have learned from their nonengineering courses as part of their St. Thomas liberal arts education.
STEAMCOMPLEX Home to three academic areas: • Arts (art history, emerging media, music) • Engineering (computer, civil, electrical and mechanical)
• Sciences (biology, chemistry, physics and earth, environment and society) Provides infrastructure for a new central utility plant Building size 130,000 square feet Designed to achieve LEED Gold Total project cost – $100 million
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