The Atrium, as seen from the William and Anita Newman Library
(Photo by Peter Aaron/Esto)

The Twenty First Century may have arrived early at CUNY. Anyone wanting a glimpse of the future from a technological standpoint is advised to see the new 25th Street Building at Baruch College, which houses the William and Anita Newman Library, the college's Computing and Technology Centers, the Multimedia Resource Center and a variety of information-intensive student service units such as the Admissions and Registrar's offices.

In an ironic recycling of land resources, the site which will be used as an innovative laboratory to explore the latest in technological progress is housed in a building constructed in the 1890's to hold the Third Avenue cable car turntable. The building is currently being considered for status on the National Register of Historic Places.

A Baruch College technology planning committee defined the building's requirements through a multi-year intensive process coordinated by the college's Department of Campus Planning and Facilities. The process involved the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, along with a number of consultants and contractors.

The result of the committee's labors is a sophisticated building, designed to serve the college's needs well into the next century, with the primary technological goal of creating "seamless" access to all available computing services from every workstation.

The building has over 1800 universal outlets that will allow any configuration of hardware to plug-in virtually in every room. Each outlet contains shielded twisted pair cable for a data network, unshielded twisted pair cable for voice, and fiber cable. Each outlet in turn is wired to one of four strategically-located telecommunications control rooms which are interconnected by fiber running through the building like a vertical backbone.

A variety of hardware and software was used in the installation. Apple Power PCs, IBM-compatible desktop computers, and Unix workstations are abundantly available. All devices are Novell networked. Each of the LANS will have both its own unique configuration as well as the ability to reach all of the applications, all of the gateways, and all of the software in use at the college in accordance with security requirements. Therefore any individual will be able to use a workstation in accordance with his or her immediate needs and at the same time will be able to reach all appropriate applications within the campus, the University, and on the Internet.

Academic computing for most students is done at individual carrels. A variety of workstations, each with a printer, is available. A number of bullpen-like areas have been built for group use by faculty and graduate students, featuring high-end, powerful equipment for more specialized applications. Classrooms equipped with a variety of workstations for use on an ad-hoc basis by faculty and for formal training are also available. The Center will include multimedia rooms to be used by faculty for development of specialized materials and courseware.

In addition, students will have access to a complete multimedia resource laboratory with over one hundred Power PCs for research and curriculum assignments, housed in a separate area on the building's first floor.

A separate area of student computing features Baruch College's unique Computer Center for the Visually Impaired, consisting of classrooms equipped with adaptive hardware and software. The technology planners worked closely with Center Director Karen Luxton-Gourgey to create this very specialized facility.

The four floors of the William and Anita Newman Library are connected by a dramatically beautiful cylindrical staircase, and elevators. The library is a combined reading room and technology center. Each of the internal floors contains publicly available PCs. As mentioned above, each PC is capable of accessing all of the college's systems and gateways, limited only by traffic and security. Thus an individual in the library can use a device to access CUNY+, the CD ROM collection or the Internet via gopher or Mosaic, or can insert a floppy to download.

Those services for which the college incurs timed charges, such as LEXIS/NEXIS, DIALOG, or Dow Jones Retrieval services are available in staffed labs. Just as the academic computing area elsewhere in the building has planned for specialized graduate student and faculty work, the library has made several rooms available for high-end application work. These rooms will include scanners and laser printers.

Computer carrels are available in the library, each with wiring to accommodate laptops. Students or faculty who own laptops will be able to obtain Xircom cards which will allow the laptop to become Baruch-networked.

An additional technological feature of the building is its Access Control System. The ACS is a combination student, faculty and staff ID system. The card has a digitized image, a barcode for the library and a magnetic strip for access control. A specialized computer system controls turnstiles and doors for authorized access. Baruch is working with the Central Office in an effort to expand this system's usefulness by interfacing to the university-wide library system, CUNY+.

The total network approach conceptualized by the planners appears to have been achieved. Once tested in the new building, it is envisioned that the network, and its concomitant technological advances will be expanded to the entire college. Although the building opened for summer session and was dedicated this Fall, it is not yet completely finished. Nonetheless, it is already clear that it represents both technological marvels and dazzling design: electronic kiosks side-by-side with Art Deco architectural details; Power Macs near rich wooden tables and elegant but functional reading lamps; meeting and conference rooms with electronic wizardry not far from Mies Van Der Rohe chairs.

Susan Kliavkoff, director of the Baruch Computing and Technology Center, credits the role of the Office of Budget, Finance and Information Services and the New York State Dormitory Authority for working together with Baruch to bring the building to fruition, and expediting its connections to the CUNY network and the Internet. Above all the new site represents the success of significant planning and teamwork within all parts of the Baruch College community and the University.

Baruch's pride in the new site is best summed up in the words of its president, Matthew Goldstein: "No event I can remember has done more to lift Baruch College's spirits than the completion of the 25th Street Building. Think of what a facility like this conveys to our students - and to prospective students. This new building tells the world that we value the 15,000 young men and women who meet our standards and who choose to be with us, and that we intend to make their experience at Baruch a time of high quality."

Note: The planning committee included Senior Vice President for Administration, Michael Zavelle; Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Planning, Marilyn Mikulsky; Kenmore Watson who served as coordinator for the systems integration; Associate Dean Barry Dumas of the Office of the Provost; Susan Kliavkoff, Director of the Baruch Computing and Technology Center; Professor Ida Lowe who coordinated technology for Baruch's library system; and Computing and Technology Center staffers Michelle Epstein, Robert Klotzback, Phil Tejera, and Frank Werber.

-- by Arthur Plutzer