President Pat McGuire Announces Campus Improvements and Initiatives

President Pat McGuire Announces Campus Improvements and Initiatives

New Deli and New Lounges in Main Hall, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Initiative, and Laptop Purchase Program

President McGuire sent the following e-mail to the Trinity Community on June 26, 2013, highlighting campus enhancements and initiatives underway this summer that will benefit students, faculty and staff.

TO: The Trinity Community

FROM: President Pat McGuire

RE: New Deli, Basement Lounges, Laptop Program “BYOD”

As the summer gets into full swing, several important changes are taking place in the basement of Main Hall that will improve services for everyone in our campus community. Some of these changes affect student lounges and also the computer labs.

Learn More
Trinity’s Laptop Purchase Program

Trinity’s Bookstore – Computers

Minimum standards for computers @ Trinity

Google Apps – Free for all Trinity students

Software Purchasing Options

Printing Services/Paper Cut

Tech Services

Along with reorganizing the basement space for a better Deli and better student lounges, we are also launching a program to encourage all students to “BYOD” which means “Bring Your Own Devices” which is now fairly standard on most university campuses. Having your own laptop will improve your ability to access the internet and social media, and to do your academic work just about anywhere on campus.

Students, please pay particular attention to the announcements below concerning computers.

We plan to have these changes operational in time for the start of the Fall 2013 semester. While they will require some disruption in the short-term, in the long-run these changes will make all services better for everyone at Trinity.

New Deli in Main Basement

To improve the quality of Deli service for the many patrons who need a quick meal in Main Hall, we are relocating and expanding the Deli operation! We are building an entirely new, much larger Deli in the area formerly occupied by lounges on the “T” wing section of Main basement, right between the two main staircases. This Deli will have more seating, more fresh menu items and more quick selections. Sodexho will roll out the new Deli program at the start of the new school year.

New Student Lounges in Main Basement

Never fear, the student lounges are not going away! We are relocating the student lounges in two locations: one lounge will be located in the space formerly occupied by the computer lab (more on that below). A second lounge will be located in the space currently occupied by the Deli. These two areas will provide great space for our many students who need to study, hang out and work together throughout the day and evening. We will also maintain the corridor seating areas that have been available all along.

Public Access Computers

We will continue to provide some public access computers in the two lounges and on the corridor. We know that these public access terminals are important. However, we are also launching an affirmative program to urge all students to acquire your own laptop computers, which is just essential for college students today. See more on this below.

Computer Lab Moves to the Library, Second Floor

The academic computer lab computers are moving to the second floor of the library. Students will still be able to use these computers at all times that the library is open.

Printing

Trinity will continue to provide printing services through the “PaperCut” service that has already been available. For more information on how to use the printing service, see the instructions at http://www.trinitydc.edu/it/papercut/

Students: “BYOD” = “Bring Your Own Device” Program: Laptops and Laptop Purchasing

At universities throughout DC and around the country, students today have their own laptops and other devices that travel with them to do research, write papers, read books, follow the news, engage social media, etc. Trinity students should not be different from any other college students when it comes to acquiring the tools necessary for academic success today.

Having your own laptops has become as essential for today’s academic work as having textbooks — maybe more so, since you can often get the texts digitally. Investing in your own computer is an integral part of investing in your higher education.

So, starting in Fall 2013, Trinity is urging all students to acquire your own portable devices that you can use all over campus — we provide pervasive wi-fi, and are upgrading the wi-fi continuously. We are also looking into expansion of electrical outlets to improve the number of places for charging your devices.

We also provide the printing service described above. But we expect students to plan on acquiring your own computers, preferably laptops, so that you can use them all over campus in all of the myriad ways that college students everywhere use computers today.

You can purchase your own computer independently, or use Trinity’s Laptop Purchase Program, or go through the bookstore. These purchase programs provide options for acquiring good quality laptops for $500 or less.

If you go through the bookstore, you can also use your financial aid vouchers.

You should pay attention to the minimum standards that Trinity requires for all computers.

For software, you can use the free Google Apps web service available to all Trinity students, or take advantage of the inexpensive software purchasing options that Trinity provides.

As indicated above in this message, Trinity will maintain some public access computers in the student lounges in Main Hall, and more computers will also be available on the second floor of the Library. But your greatest convenience and ease-of-access will come from acquiring your own portable device — preferably a laptop that is most useful for all of your academic needs.

If you have questions or would like to learn more about the laptop purchase program, our colleagues in Tech Services will be happy to help you.

I am also happy to receive your comments about these changes and to help you with any questions you might have about them. Feel free to email me at president@trinitydc.edu

As we get closer to the start of the new academic year, we will provide more information about all of these changes. We look forward to enjoying the “new look” in Main basement very soon!