E.L. Wiegand Foundation Funds Teleconference Center

When the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics moves into its new facility this fall, teleconferencing, video conferencing, and Internet radio and television access will all be available, thanks to a gift of $227,000 from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation.

The Teleconference Center will be located at the heart of Santa Clara University's new Communication, Public Policy, and Applied Ethics Building, slated to open in November. With space for classes and meetings, the facility will support video teleconferencing and distance education through connections with the University's instructional television systems: the on-campus LINC system, which connects to all the residence halls, and the off-campus groups that can receive SCU's Instructional Television Fixed Service signal.

The Ethics Center's proximity to the Communication Department in the new building will allow for links between the Teleconference Center and the department's digital television studio, control rooms, and video editing facilities.

These capabilities will allow the Ethics Center to broadcast classes and events in real time to both the campus network and other cable channels in the region. Instructional videos can also be produced. "The equipment will help the University more fully meet its goal to serve as a voice of reason in society because it will be able to reach audiences outside its immediate regional boundaries," said Ethics Center Executive Director Thomas Shanks, S.J.

In addition, the Teleconference Center will bring new resources to campus, allowing distant speakers to exchange ideas with campus audiences in real time. The Internet capabilities offered by the Teleconference Center will allow faculty to integrate up-to-date online information into classroom study.

Kristen Avansino, president and executive director of the E.L. Wiegand Foundation, said her organization "has been researching and creating programs relative to ethics," and the Ethics Center's proposal was "a good fit." The teleconferencing project appealed to her organization because "it would foster the cross-pollination of ideas," she explained.

The E.L.Wiegand Foundation, Reno, Nevada, supports programs and projects of exemplary organizations in the fields of education, health and medical research, public affairs, civic and community affairs, and arts and cultural affairs. This is the third grant the University has received from the foundation.