Athenaeum
Established in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS), Athenaeum is a suite of rooms in Newman Library dedicated to cultivating and supporting Digital Humanities teaching, learning, research, and publication at Virginia Tech.
The suite consists of four rooms:
- a modular Classroom,
- an intimate Collaboration Room,
- the Media Den production studio,
- and a Consultation Office.
In these spaces, Athenaeum staff work with a diversity of faculty, students, librarians, technology specialists, and other campus partners to develop media projects and publications, and to plan classes, activities, and events devoted, in one way or another, to the Digital Humanities.
In all Athenaeum activities we work with our partners to explore hands-on, experiential enterprises such as podcast development, livestream or recorded video production, or mixed-media web publication, as well as more traditional scholarly activities such as in-person seminars and speaker series featuring scholars and practitioners of local, regional, national, and international renown.
The space is managed by Joe Forte (joeforte@vt.edu), Athenaeum Coordinator and Media Projects Manager.
The Athenaeum suite is flexible, dynamic, and ever-evolving in its production capabilities and in the breadth of its functional purview. If you wish to tour the suite, learn more, develop a media project, or schedule an event, class, or meeting, you may contact the Athenaeum Coordinatoror directly to schedule a consultation.
Some of the spaces and capabilities associated with the suite are detailed below, as are the current schedules for all public-facing rooms and studios.
The Classroom is a modular space that supports class sizes up to 36 as well as a range of events and activities for up to 45 people. The Classroom is set up for courses with a digital lab component, conferences, seminars, workshops, rehearsals, idea incubation, hackathons, researchathons, tech meet-ups, or whatever else you can imagine. The space includes tables and whiteboards on wheels, 7 large screens with speakers, digital projection, 4 wireless microphones, and may also be outfitted, in cooperation with the Athenaeum staff, for livestream event production including multiple camera switching and isolated audio capture.
The Collaboration Room is designed for small-scale, active collaboration for up to 10 participants. The space is available to the community for agile digital engagement, dynamic problem-solving, consultation, and teleconferencing. The room is prioritized for use by faculty, students, and affiliates of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, who can schedule the room up to 24 hours in advance. An individual from a CLAHS discipline must be associated with a meeting for advanced scheduling.
The Media Den is a purpose-built, managed, and intentionally isolated media studio designed for dynamic digital capture of all manner of oral histories, personal narratives, spoken facts, and tall tales. The room is prioritized for use by faculty, students, and affiliates of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, who are in active project collaboration with Virginia Tech Publishing or the University Libraries. The Media Den requires orientation for the equipment in the room, which is supported by the Media Projects Manager.
Contact
athenaeum@vt.edu
To Request Scheduling for a Single Session Event
To Request Scheduling for a Semester Course or a Multiple Session Event