Learning Resources
Many facilities and programs support Guilford's academic curriculum. Descriptions follow of the library, computing and information technology, Learning Commons, first-year program, science and language laboratories, classroom buildings, physical education building, performing arts spaces, and Guilford's art studios and galleries.
Hege Library
Hege Library is a complex of facilities that comprises 53,000 square feet of space in a modern addition and 27,000 square feet of renovated area. Constructed in four phases beginning with a matching grant of $9,000 in 1908 from Andrew Carnegie of New York, the library has grown to offer numerous study spaces, house the College Art Collection, and provide print, audio-visual, and electronic resources.
The library collection includes about 250,000 books, periodicals, and non-print media, and the library provides study space for 400 users. The Hege Library includes a complete array of library services, the Friends Historical Collection, the Friends Center at Guilford College, the Learning Commons, the Betty Place Digital Classroom, and the nine-room Guilford College Art Gallery. Library functions are automated with the catalog holdings of Guilford and other area colleges available via computers at many campus locations. In addition to standard desktop computers located in the Information/Reference Department and the Betty Place Classroom, laptop computers may be borrowed for use in any public area of the library via wireless network. Community members have Internet access to all the library's digital resources from any computer on or off campus.
Several special endowed collections give the library a distinctive strength. Of special note are collections supported by Friends of the Library focused on science fiction, poetry, and simple living. Endowed collections also exist in the areas of science, history, fine arts, religion, English, women's studies, foreign languages, international/intercultural studies, and Quakerism.
Hege Library also provides a wide range of services for the college community, including general circulation, reserves, reference assistance, and bibliographic instruction. Interlibrary loan is available by mail, fax, and Internet delivery. Students, faculty and staff can use the online catalog to initiate requests from our partners in the NC-PALS Library Consortium. The library also participates in the Greater Greensboro Consortium, which facilitates mutual borrowing for the communities of city colleges and universities.
Friends Historical Collection. The Friends Historical Collection, located in Hege Library, is a comprehensive research collection of materials pertaining to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) worldwide. The collection is open to Guilford students and faculty, Friends, visiting scholars, and genealogical researchers. At its core are more than 600 manuscript books of Carolina Quaker records dating from 1680. The collection also includes rare books and periodicals, manuscript collections of personal papers and correspondence, files, Quaker costumes and artifacts, student theses, the college archives, and genealogical resources. The Friends Center Office is adjacent to the collection.
Computing & Information Technology
Computing Resources. Guilford features a fully networked campus with connectivity to academic and administrative buildings and residence halls. The campus has fiber-optic connectivity between most buildings with a Gigabit Ethernet backbone. Additionally, all connections are transitioning from a 10 Mb/s network to a 100 Mb/s connection. Each residence hall and most of the student houses have a data connection per resident, phone and voice mail per resident, and cable TV connection per room. The campus has a 30 mb connection to the internet and is expanding its wireless infrastructure across campus.
Computer labs are available to Guilford students and community in the Bauman Telecommunications Center, Hege Library, Frank Family Science Center, and other campus buildings. There are two public labs and three computer classrooms located in Bauman. These labs are equipped with 50 Windows and Macintosh systems that are installed with the college set of standard software, including Microsoft Office and Web browsers. Another computer lab/classroom in Bauman, equipped with 15 Windows and Macintosh computers, is available for group projects and work with advanced computer applications. Students have access to high-speed networked printer-copiers and scanners in these labs. The Guilford College Web site provides up-to-date information on the computer labs and the college standard hardware and software.
Other campus technologies include: the Hege Library Infovillage with Windows systems for electronic and Internet research, the Betty Place classroom with 20 Windows desktops, 36 wireless laptops, and the Duke Memorial hall AT&T Multimedia Learning Center with 20 systems emphasizing foreign language learning. The Learning Commons resource room in Hege Library contains both Windows and Macintosh systems with the college standard software for general student use. The Chemistry, Geology, and Physics Departments host the Guilford Scientific Computation and Visualization Facility, which is equipped with a Silicon Graphics server and more than 20 Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations, running Unix. Students, ranging from first-year students to seniors, use these computers for class work, independent projects, and senior theses. Specific uses include molecular modeling, geographical information system work, numerical modeling, development of computer graphics, and computationally intensive calculations. Computer labs are also present in the Biology Department and the Art Department and focus on applications in those fields, and a number of laboratories in the new Frank Family Science Center are equipped with Windows and/or Macintosh computers.
Guilford maintains computer classrooms and computer training rooms in Bauman and multimedia classrooms in Bauman, King Hall, Dana Auditorium, Frank Family Science Center, Ragan Brown Field House and Duke Hall.
All computers on the college network have access to network servers managed by the Department of Information Technology and Services. Every student, staff and faculty member has an account on the network servers with private disk space that is accessible from all networked computers.
Guilford uses Lotus Notes as its primary means of electronic communication. E-mail, personal and group calendars, and on-line conferencing are some of the features that this integrated package provides. Faculty use the on-line conference capability in many of their classes. All students, staff and faculty, receive their Lotus Notes and network accounts when they arrive on campus.
Information Technology and Services. This department is located in the Bauman Telecommunications Center, which houses the campus network and servers, the telephone and voice mail systems, the cable TV systems, the Information Technology & Services Support Center, three computer labs, one multimedia classroom, one computer training room, and three computer classrooms. IT&S provides support for academic computing, all college standard software and hardware, the Guilford network, and the college's connection to the Internet. The Support Center is located in Bauman 101 and is the home of the IT&S Help Desk. The Help Desk provides technical support for campus computer hardware and software issues. Requests for assistance can be made by phone, e-mail, voicemail or just walking in. Both professional staff and student workers staff the Help Desk. Students also work for IT&S as lab workers, providing support in the computer labs, and Resnet workers, providing assistance to students in the residence halls. IT&S provides training in the use of the college standard software and hardware through scheduled workshops and classes. Faculty may work with IT&S to provide training in specific information technology areas for their classes.
Multimedia Equipment. Information Technology and Services also provides the campus with multimedia resources. These consist of digital and analog video and still cameras, data projectors, laptops, for classroom presentations, and video editing and duplication. These services are provided by contacting the Help Desk and either reserving the equipment for pickup or for classroom setup.
Learning Commons
The
First Year Program
The First Year Program assists entering students from the point of admission to the college through the declaration of the major. Components include:
Summer Contact. After a student is admitted to the college, the First Year Program provides information and serves as a resource to answer questions. During the summer, students receive course registration materials, arrival procedures, and other mailings designed to make their entrance to Guilford as smooth as possible. Any questions from new or transfer students can be directed to the First Year Center (x2425).
CHAOS (New Student Orientation). Designed to assist students with the logistical and social transition to Guilford, CHAOS (community, health, advisement, orientation and services) takes place immediately prior to the opening of school. Upon arrival, students will check into the college (including all business and financial aid procedures) and receive Smart Cards (a student's college ID, which also functions as a meal card and residence hall exterior door entrance key) and then commence their CHAOS experience. Beginning with the Avanti programs, all students will participate in a 2-3 day small group experience, providing them with an opportunity for experiential learning and community-building with current Guilford students, faculty and staff. These programs range from whitewater rafting and sea kayaking to service projects, Guilford College and Greensboro history, and multicultural awareness. Students will then combine as a class to participate in several group activities with peer leaders, meet with their academic advisor, complete placement testing and participate in fun activities with other students.
First Year Center. Located on the second floor of Founders Hall, the First Year Center (FYC) houses the offices of the Director and the staff of the First Year Program. The center provides a resource for new and transfer students to get questions answered. The FYC is also the home of the First Year Advisory Board, usually comprised of one representative from each First Year Experience course. The center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. Telephone: (336) 316-2425.
CHAOS Continues. In order to better assist students with the academic and social transition to college, the First Year Program provides a co-curricular program for all entering students. New students meet weekly to discuss their transition, time management, study skills, and campus resources as well as to get acquainted with the complexity of college life. New students receive one credit for participation in the course.
Science Center
The laboratory wing of the Frank Family Science Center houses the four science departments at Guilford. In addition to providing modern laboratory facilities, the new science center serves as a popular teaching facility for the entire academic community. It provides computerized multimedia classrooms, a computer visualization facility, a multi-function auditorium, an observatory, and formal and informal meeting facilities. The new science building was named The Frank Family Science Center to honor Stanley Frank - a local community leader and a trustee of the College from 1969-2006 - and his family.
The 54,000-square-foot facility was planned "from the inside out" to support Guilford's unique vision of science education. Laboratory design consultants worked with each member of the science faculty to design laboratories which would enable hands-on learning with intense student-teacher interaction. These facilities were then combined with student work spaces, classrooms, and easily accessible faculty offices to design learning communities for each discipline- biology and life sciences, chemistry, geology and earth sciences, and physics and astronomy. The result is a building that facilitates interactions among the disciplines and so encourages the growth of interdisciplinary programs such as environmental science and health professions.
Scientific Computation and Visualization Facility. The Chemistry, Geology, and Physics Departments host the Guilford Scientific Computation and Visualization Facility, which was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. This facility is equipped with a Silicon Graphics server and more than 20 Sun and Silicon Graphics workstations, running Unix. Students, ranging from first-year students to seniors, use these computers for class work, independent projects, and senior theses. Specific uses include molecular modeling, geographical information system work, numerical modeling, development of computer graphics, and computationally intensive calculations.
Biology. The Biology Department has six large, well-equipped laboratories on the first and lower floors of the Frank Family Science Center, a greenhouse, several instrument/prep rooms and faculty research space. A seventh laboratory in the Frank Center is designed specifically for biology majors who are conducting individual research projects. All of the teaching laboratories in the Frank Center are fully wired and equipped with computer projection facilities, audio-visual equipment, and multiple computer terminals for student use. The student research lab and the teaching laboratories are furnished with modern molecular biology equipment that give students practical experience in research methods. The forensic biology laboratory is furnished with a GC-MS and a wide variety of new instrumentation used both in teaching and research. In addition, modern crime scene software and a collection of BoneClone replicas are available for student use. The physiology laboratory provides equipment and computer hardware and software for studies of animal and human functions. The Bailes Greenhouse provides opportunities for student and faculty research and also serves as a depository of typical vascular plants for observation and study. An herbarium is also available for botanical reference. An ornithological collection housed in the field biology laboratory dates back over a century to the work of Guilford alumnus T. Gilbert Pearson, one of the first presidents of the National Audubon Society. The department maintains a collection of specimens of vertebrates from North Carolina. The college woods and lake serve as a "living laboratory" with over 240 acres for research and study in forest ecology, ornithology, herpetology, and limnology.
Chemistry. The Chemistry Department has recently occupied the new Frank Family Science Center. The laboratories and other department facilities were designed by the faculty to allow students in all chemistry courses, including the introductory courses, access to state of the art instructional and research facilities. The General Chemistry lab is equipped with downdraft hoods for each student, as well as data ports at each station. The Organic Chemistry lab provides individual access to research-grade fume hoods that allow modern experiments to be performed safely. Both labs are equipped with computer projection systems to facilitate demonstration of laboratory techniques and concepts. The Advanced Chemistry lab is a flexible space that can be used by junior and senior chemistry students to perform more advanced procedures in Physical, Analytical and Inorganic and Materials Chemistry. A Research lab permits students to pursue thesis research under the direction of a faculty member. Instrumentation available to students in these laboratories includes double beam UV-visible spectrophotometers, an FT-IR spectrophotometer, high-performance liquid chromatographs, calorimeters for solutions and polymer analysis, a potentiostat-galvanostat, and an ion chromatograph. Most instruments are interfaced with computers to facilitate collection and processing of data. Student offices give chemistry students spaces within the department to study, read journals or analyze data in a comfortable setting, with easy access to faculty.
Geology. Geology facilities support a complete field and laboratory program and complement Guilford's student research program in geology. The Frank Family Science Center has eight state-of-the-art geology classrooms and laboratories, including ample and comfortable student research and study space, with excellent access to faculty.
The department owns an extensive map, rock, mineral, and fossil collection. We are equipped with rock and mineral analysis capabilities, including polarizing petrographic microscopes, photomicrographic facilities, dissecting microscopes, sample preparation facilities, gem analysis equipment, and basic sedimentation equipment. Field studies are enhanced by a portable magnetometer, gravimeter, and a 12-channel seismograph. The department has outstanding facilities for hydrologic studies, including eight monitoring wells that have been installed on campus, dataloggers, pumps, water level tapes, and other standard equipment. A small lake on campus is also available for study, and a permanent weir has been installed on the college creek for surface water studies. The department also maintains a geochemistry lab and has field equipment for environmental investigations, including a portable spectrophotometer for contaminant analysis. These are complemented by Geographic Positioning System hardware and software, and excellent computer facilities (UNIX and PC), image-processing capabilities (computer, software, and images), and computer graphics and mapping capabilities, digitizing pad and color plotter.
Physics. The physics curriculum helps students to learn the science of physics and become physicists. To accomplish these goals, the Physics Department emphasizes undergraduate research - especially projects initiated and designed by students - as a critical element in the physics learning process. Beginning in the first year, students are asked to initiate and design their own investigations. More than 3,000 square feet of laboratory space within the department supports undergraduate research. Many of the experiments that students conduct here are independent projects that are not associated with any particular course. Equipment for these experiments is constructed and modified in the modern shop facilities in the basement of the Frank Family Science Center. The department offers two endowed physics awards, the Jeglinski Physics Award, in memory of Boleslaw Jeglinksi and Michael Jeglinski, and the Helen and Winslow Womack Physics Research Award. These awards are given annually to students to support their research and fund their travel to professional scientific meetings such as the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
The department's introductory laboratories rely on a microcomputer-based data gathering and analysis system connected to the campus network. The advanced laboratories, created with support from the National Science Foundation, focus on experimental modern physics and include cryogenics, optics, atomic and nuclear physics, electronics centers, and modern astronomical observing tools in the visible, Infra-red and 14 MHz radio frequencies. Students learn to control the sophisticated equipment in these centers using LabVIEW ™ programs running on the department's many personal computers. For more complicated computational studies, students use Sun and Silicon Graphics Unix workstations from Guilford's Scientific, Computation, and Visualization Facility.
In addition to the laboratory space, the Physics Department houses two rooms of student office space. Each physics major is given a desk and may use this space as a place to study or to store books. These rooms, provided by gifts from the physics alumni, are wired to the campus network and contain a personal computer and a Sun workstation for student use. The department also operates a ham radio station that is housed in the basement of King Hall.
Observatory
The Frank Family Science Center houses the J. Donald Cline Observatory and an astronomy lab, a photographic darkroom, and an observatory support room. The principal instruments are a 16-inch Ritchey-Chretien optical telescope on a robotic mount and a seven-foot diameter radio telescope on a fully motorized altazimuth mount. Instrumentation for the optical telescope includes CCD cameras, photometers, and a spectrometer. This facility is used in the introductory astronomy and physics classes, for public viewing, and for undergraduate student research. The college also shares a research-grade 32-inch telescope at the Three-College Observatory that is located about 33 miles from campus.
Language Laboratory
An important gift from the Price Family of Greensboro established the Price Language Laboratory in 1965. In 1995, AT&T generously contributed the Computer Laboratory Classroom through its University Equipment Donation Program. The lab space, on the third floor of Duke Memorial Hall, allows individual and group work with multimedia CD-ROMs, Internet access, and large-screen projection capabilities for both computer and video programs.
Classroom Buildings
The three main classroom buildings are Duke Memorial Hall, King Hall, and the Frank Family Science Center. In addition to classrooms and offices, Duke Hall also houses the foreign languages laboratory. Film viewing and demonstration lectures for groups up to 75 can be accommodated in Duke Hall's C. Elmer Leak Audiovisual Center, with equipment for video projection of both computer graphics and videotape on a large screen.
King Hall is the location for general classroom and office space.
Classes are also held in Bauman Telecommunications Center, Dana Auditorium, Founders Hall, Hege-Cox Hall, and the Physical Education Center.
The Frank Family Science Center houses a 135-seat domed auditorium that is a video, audio, and computer multimedia facility used for lectures, films, concerts, and student theater productions.
Physical Education Center
All students are encouraged to participate in intercollegiate and intramural sports. Guilford College's Physical Education Center, dedicated in 1980, affords students the opportunity for physical development, recreation, and athletic competition. The center consists of:
- Alumni Gym, built in 1940, which has one basketball court as well as offices for coaches and some faculty members.
- Ragan Brown Field House, which has a 2,500 seating capacity and three full-size basketball courts. Classrooms for physical education studies are also housed here.
- Swimming pool and dive tank.
- Weight room, featuring Hammer Strength equipment.
Adjacent outdoor athletic areas to the PE Center include:
- Fields for baseball, football and a running track, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball and ultimate Frisbee.
- Tennis courts (8).
Practicing, Performing & Meeting Space
Charles A. Dana Auditorium, completed in 1961, is a proscenium theatre that seats 1,000 and is used for major musical events as well as for lectures and conferences. The south wing houses teaching classrooms, music practice rooms, and a large choir room for rehearsals and small informal concerts. The Mary Pemberton Moon Room is suitable in size and arrangement for worship, informal lectures, and monthly faculty meetings. Dana Auditorium hosts classes from a variety of disciplines and houses offices for the Music and Religious Studies Departments. In the summer, Dana is home to the Eastern Music Festival and the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sternberger Auditorium, adjacent to Founders Hall, is a flexible performance space that seats up to 250 and is equipped for stage productions, concerts, lectures, and dances.
Studios & Galleries
Hege-Cox Hall contains the Art department offices, outdoor kilns for firing ceramics, darkroom, and studios for wood and mixed-media sculpture, welding, ceramics, printmaking, painting, and drawing. There is a hallway gallery for the exhibition of student work. Gallery spaces in Founders Hall also exhibit work by students. In the Hege Library, the Guilford College Art Gallery houses a permanent teaching art collection and features exhibitions emphasizing modern and contemporary art reflecting social and cultural issues congruent with the college's Quaker tradition. Art history classes are taught in the Bauman, Frank, and Duke classrooms.
The Guilford College Art Gallery. Housed in Hege Library, the Guilford College Art Gallery opened in 1990 with more than 3,500 square feet devoted to exhibiting the college's permanent art collection and occasional temporary exhibitions. In addition to an enclosed main gallery, there are eight atrium galleries, vitrines, and an art storage area utilized by the college's art curator.
As the "scholarly crossroads" of the Guilford campus, Hege Library offers an ideal location for the gallery. The addition of visual arts to the library enriches the environment for students who may view fine works of art while pursuing their studies. The original works of art on display function as a primary source of knowledge for faculty, students, and the community at large. Students analyze and study these objects in a variety of contexts; creative artists draw inspiration from them; and faculty use them to reinforce their interdisciplinary approach to teaching. The Gallery's exhibitions emphasize modern and contemporary art reflecting social and cultural issues congruent with the college's Quaker tradition.
The college seeks to collect works of art representing a broad range of periods, styles, and cultures. Formed in 1973, the permanent collection was significantly expanded in 1986 with generous contributions by Rachel and Allen Weller and by Ruth and Ira Julian, dedicated art collectors. The collection was further enhanced with a gift of important 19th and 20th century traditional African sculptures from Dr. A. Kelly Maness, Jr.
Spanning more than 40 centuries and four continents, the collection now includes more than 1,100 objects by more than 450 artists, with an emphasis on 19th and 20th century American and European paintings, prints, and drawings. The collection includes original works by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Dali as well as an impressive selection of 20th-century American artists, featuring works by Grant Wood, Leon Golub, Sue Coe, Miriam Schapiro, Robert Bechtle, Josef Albers, Roger Brown, Joseph Stella, and Abraham Rattner.