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Arts and Technology faculty Drs. Thomas Linehan and Mihai Nadin will be among 14 faculty honored by the University with an Investiture Ceremony on Monday, Oct. 22.

Dr. Thomas Linehan

A chair or professorship is among the highest academic honors that the University can bestow on a faculty member, and it lasts as long as the University exists.

It is also an enduring tribute to the donor who establishes it. Endowed chairs and professorships are filled by faculty members who are recognized industry leaders, perform groundbreaking research, mentor PhD candidates and junior faculty, and attract talented undergraduates.

Dr. Mihai Nadin

“The endowed professorships and chairs are important to the entire community and crucial to the success of the University,” said UT Dallas President David E. Daniel. “It’s all about discovery, change and innovation. The very best scholars want to be at those institutions where they’re constantly re-inventing the future. The endowed professorships and chairs are crucial to attracting and retaining the best talent.”

Linehan is director of the Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering as well as Arts and Humanities Distinguished Chair. He has a background in both corporate management and educational administration. He has served as a college president, a corporate vice president, an associate dean, a research laboratory director, a professor and a public school teacher.

“UT Dallas students are the smartest I’ve taught,” Linehan said. “Most of them write very well, so it gives me great hope that the stories of the future will come out of this generation. They’ve got good, fresh ideas. This university is a university for this century.”

Nadin is Professor of Computer Science and Interactive Media and Ashbel Smith Professor. He is credited with introducing various terms and phrases that have found wide usage throughout society, including “semiotic machine,” “the civilization of illiteracy” and “anticipatory computing.”

“I am teaching because it gives me a chance to continue learning, and boy, do I learn at UT Dallas,” said Nadin.

The Investiture Ceremony will be held on Monday, Oct. 22 at 2:30 p.m. in Naveen Jindal SOM Davidson’s Auditorium.

The UT System Board of Regents has approved construction of a 155,000-square-foot facility at UT Dallas that will house programs in visual arts, emerging media technology and multimedia communications, as well as a 1,200-seat auditorium.

The Arts and Technology building will be near the center of campus, facing the newly renovated mall.

Designed as a showcase to the visual arts and a highly adaptable technology hub for the Arts and Technology program, the $60 million building is slated for completion in 2013.

Dr. David E. Daniel, president of UT Dallas, said: “We are in a growth phase, and there has been a chokepoint for us in terms of new facilities.  The building, with its 2,150 new classroom seats and 50 faculty offices, will aid our effort to meet our strategic growth goals.”

Dr. Calvin Jamison, senior vice president for business affairs, said, “Bar none, this is the most comprehensive team effort for a major project resulting in an extraordinary iconic building.  The UT Dallas academic leadership, Business Affairs, Facilities, the UT System Office of Facilities Planning and Construction, and the architect all engaged in a complex process resulting in this achievement.”

Dr. Dennis Kratz, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, described the building design as “seductive,” with open public spaces and window views along its perimeter.

“It’s a departure from the usual building layout with offices and classrooms surrounding the perimeter,” he said. “We wanted to move the offices to the center of the building and make the perimeter a showcase for our students’ work.”

The building will house 2,150 new classroom seats, 50 faculty offices and a 1,200-seat auditorium.

Dr. Tom Linehan, head of the ATEC program and director of the Institute for Interactive Arts and Engineering at UT Dallas, said there was a real need for an open building design that could meet the demands of fast-changing technology.

“We did not want to construct a building around old technology,” Linehan said. “This building will help us address the changes in technology and help us fulfill our mission – while simultaneously showcasing our unique program.”

The Arts and Technology building will be near the center of campus, adjacent to the library and facing the newly renovated mall and reflecting pools. It will include an exterior courtyard next to the new auditorium. Inside features include classes for game design, visual arts, conference rooms, 2D drawing and painting art studios, 3D art studios, and photography and print-making labs, among others.

“This is such a well-designed, integrated and coherent building,” Kratz said. “With all of the room for exhibition space around the exterior, people walking by can be lured into visual arts exhibits and lots of exciting choices.”

The building’s design presented opportunities to find an architect who could accurately express the design concepts needed for the project. In the end, UT Dallas chose Studios Architecture – the same firm that designed Google Headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Kratz said the ultimate goal was to create a building modeled similarly to a website with stunning visual appeal and access to many different choices.

“We told them we wanted the building to be an architectural representation of the values of the program,” Kratz said. “Moreover, we wanted it to be accessible to everyone.”

In that spirit, the building will have an exterior video screen showcasing ATEC projects and other visual arts.

Groundbreaking is slated for August 2011.