The academic program consists of four separate yet interrelated areas: 1) Science, technology, and Math/CS; 2) Humanities; 3) Social Science; and 4) The Graduate Program. In addition, AUW provides a pre-matriculation program to prepare students for success in their pursuit of a University education.
Although the Science departments are distinct disciplines, teaching and research will blur the disciplinary boundaries and interdisciplinary teaching and research will be prominent; proximity of these departments to each other is essential. The curriculum in the Humanities is varied as are the facility requirements which range from basic technology enhanced classrooms to space for music and theater. As with the Sciences, interdisciplinary interaction will be prominent – not only within the Humanities, but with the Sciences and the Social Sciences as well. Over time, the number of grad students will grow to 1,000 students; it will be important not to isolate the graduate students from the undergrads. Obviously research will be an important and essential component of the academic experience – but research will not be limited to the graduate program.
The campus plan will site academic buildings so that expansion beyond the current program will not be constrained. It is inevitable that all academic programs will evolve and change. Some will grow, some decrease, but all will change – pedagogy, curricular, technology, research, enrollment, and the number of faculty and staff will all be different. The campus plan will accommodate this dynamic.
Classrooms will be a University resource, available for general scheduling. The numbers and sizes of the classroom spaces are based on the projected hours and enrollment. Those disciplines that are taught primarily in a laboratory setting generate fewer classrooms than disciplines that rely on classrooms for all teaching.
The classrooms will be wired for technology-based teaching. Audio-visual devices such as demonstration computers and video projectors will be common to these spaces, and there will be computer ports for students to connect laptops to the network. The rooms will accommodate flexible furniture arrangements that can be adapted to various teaching styles, and will allow both lecture and group work to occur. It is assumed that these rooms, as well as the whole campus, will be wireless.
Leadership for women in developing countries of South and Southeast Asia and the Middle East requires fluency in how to locate, access, evaluate and apply relevant information of the highest quality for the tasks and decisions at hand. Building a new library from the ground up offers unusual opportunities to rethink learning resources and leverage the best of global technologies. Bold vision is demanded within a country that regularly faces natural disasters, a monsoon climate inimical to paper, and a host of persistent problems of economic underdevelopment. The AUW Library and Information Commons will become an exemplary regional model, increasing women’s equity in access to information, and building skills for lifelong learning and membership in a global “knowledge society.”
The Library will be the center for information delivery in all formats, including print, electronic, and multi-media; the center for instruction and support in the use of information in all formats; and a cultural as well as a social center on the new campus. It will accommodate a collection of 300,000 volumes and a seating capacity commensurate with the 2,750 student enrollment. The Library will be less of a warehouse for books and more a facility for small-group collaboration, providing a variety of reference and research services through the Information Commons and the Writing/Research Resource Center. During the early phases of the campus development, the Library will temporarily house general classrooms and administrative offices.
The Muhammed Yunus Center for Development of Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Innovation will be a flagship program of AUW. Its mission is to promote entrepreneurship among women as a key element to advance economic development and address social problems of poverty in an innovative and effective manner. The programs of the Yunus Center focus on transforming attitudes and creating an enabling environment within which students can voice their dreams, refine them through realistic self-assessment, peer workshops, and advice from experienced entrepreneurs, and then acquire the particular skills and resources needed to realize their projects. Partnerships with businesses, NGOs, schools and public agencies will provide students with a progression of increasingly responsible internships and opportunities for community service.
The Conference and Entrepreneurship Center will be both a University and public resource. It will contain a variety of flexible meeting rooms from 12 person breakout rooms to meetings for 700 people. Moveable walls will provide diversity of spaces and flexibility. There will also be a food service facility for catering. TV and radio studios will provide dual support for both the meetings and convention events, but also a resource for the academic program. The Center will have a variety of gallery and exhibition space.
