The new project rooms in the 3F wing were officially inaugurated on February 9 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the Director General Richard Filion in the company of a cross-disciplinary group of Dawson faculty and staff.

Concept designers Kurt Holfeld and Anne Marie Legault (co-chairs of Interior Design) were on hand to explain the design elements that make the space so attractive and functional. They were joined by members of the Office of Academic Development, particularly Dean Barbara Freedman and Assistant Dean Robert Cassidy, to elaborate on the pedagogical approaches that led to the conceptualization of the spaces.

Special thanks were also extended to Plant and Facilities for meeting the many challenges of construction, to Information Systems and Technology for installing all the new technology to make the room super-functional and to Chris Adam for his sustainability expertise in helping the room come alive, literally, with the installation of a living wall, plant life that will purify the air in the room for the purest air in the College.

In keeping with the College’s priorities for the enrichment of the learning environment, this collaborative effort has resulted in a most impressive addition to the Dawson landscape.

The CoLab (3F.43), MediaLab (3F.36) and SmartLab (3F.34) are meant to promote a culture of collaboration and to enable the Dawson Community to provide the highest quality of education to our students.

The labs are spaces designed to:

• Foster community-based, project-driven work.
• Serve as an environment that supports academic development by providing Dawson educators a location to come together without boundaries.
• Promote an exchange among persons, initiatives and projects that may otherwise never connect.
• Provide the opportunity to unite the broader Dawson Community in the learning experience and to serve as a venue in which Faculty, Professionals, Support Staff and Managers can collaborate on projects that impact student success.

Our staff and students — their ideas, expertise, perspectives, energy, creativity, enthusiasm and diversity — are the resources that enable Dawson College to stand out.

For more information, email Debra Gil in the Office of Academic Development at dgill@dawsoncollege.qc.ca.