BSC College Catalog
Birmingham-Southern College Catalog

CAMPUS FACILITIES


Administrative Offices

Administrative offices are located in a number of buildings, including Munger Hall, Phillips Administration, Stockham, and the Norton Campus Center. In Munger are the offices of the President, Academic Affairs, Business Affairs, Interim and Contract Learning, Finance, and Human Resources. These and the cashier's window are on the second floor. Munger also houses classrooms, faculty offices, and an auditorium. In Phillips Administration are the offices of Admission, Financial Aid, and Academic Records and Research.

Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center

Located near the center of the campus, this building houses the N.E. Miles Library, seminar rooms, the Foreign Language Laboratory, an auditorium with video and computer projection facilities, a media center, and an electronic classroom. The recently remodeled and renovated Learning Center/Library utilizes up-to-date technology to meet the information needs of students and faculty and to support the intellectual life of the campus. In addition to open stacks and reading areas the varied individual and group facilities for study and research create an excellent environment for study.

Library services are available seven days a week, permitting ample opportunity for use of the varied resources available. Professional librarians offer personalized assistance to augment the physical facilities and the print and electronic resources of the Learning Center/Library. Please consult one of the library staff any time assistance is needed.

Doris Wainwright Kennedy Art Building and Azar Art Studios

Located just south of the College Theatre, the Kennedy Art Center is home of the visual arts program at Birmingham Southern College. This facility provides well lighted, spacious classroom-studios for painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and photography. Also included are a projection-lecture room, the Azar Seminar Room, and the 1,500 square foot Durbin Gallery. The recent Azar Art Studios addition to the facility has resulted in a 100% increase in studio space as well as major exterior remodeling.

The College Theatre

Between the Rush Learning Center and the Kennedy Art Building stands the theatre building. The large theatre, with its split revolve lift stage, offers opportunities for a variety of set designs. Theatre One, located below, provides an intimate "black box" environment for smaller productions. Also housed in the building are makeup rooms, dressing rooms, classrooms, and faculty offices

James Blaine Hill Music Building

The music building houses classrooms, practice rooms, teaching studios, ensemble rehearsal rooms, and a 285-seat recital hall. The building contains a fully-equipped electronic/computer music studio; pipe organs by Möller, Schantz, Ruhland, and Casavant; Steinway grands in the teaching studios; four more concert grand Steinways; three Disklaviers; and a new Yamaha upright or grand piano in each of the practice rooms. The state-of-the-art Taylor Recording and Computer Analysis Studio, funded by a gift from Crawford and Marlene Taylor and installed in the summer of 1997, provides computerized feedback for voice students in rehearsal as well as high-quality studio and recital-hall recording facilities.

Marguerite Jones Harbert Building

Replacing Ramsay Hall, which was one of the original College buildings, the Harbert complex, funded by a major gift in honor of the alumna and longtime supporter of the College, houses the Divisions of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Business and Graduate Programs, and Education. The facility includes a computer classroom, a computer laboratory, and education laboratory, a 98 seat auditorium, a conference center, and a behavioral science research center with both human performance and animal laboratories.

The M. Paul Phillips Science Building and Annex, and the
Elton Bryson Stephens Science Laboratory Center

(This section has been updated. Click here for details.)

The disciplines of biology, chemistry, and physics are currently housed in a science complex consisting of the M. Paul Phillips Science Building, the M. Paul Phillips Science Annex, and the Elton Bryson Stephens Science Laboratory Center. Thanks to the continuing generosity of Mr. Elton B. Stephens and his family, construction of the new 99,500 square foot, $26 million Elton Bryson Stephens Science Center is scheduled for completion in May of 2002. This facility will be the new home of the disciplines of biology, chemistry, physics, environmental studies, and neuroscience.

Olin Computer Science and Mathematics Center

This facility on the hillside south of the dorm quad houses a Hewlett Packard 9000 system and two computer laboratories containing thirty eight personal computers. In addition, the Olin Center houses classrooms, faculty offices, the mathematics laboratory, and a multimedia auditorium.

Robert R. Meyer Planetarium

Close to the Olin Center, this facility houses a Spitz A 3P star projector used in academic courses and in special public programs open to organized groups and school children.

Yeilding Chapel

Located between the Olin Center and the Meyer Planetarium, this round structure, highlighted by a central altar and vivid stained glass windows, serves as the center of religious life on campus. Services are held weekly in the Chapel and reflect the diversity of the Christian tradition. Service projects, Bible studies, small group discussions, and retreats are all a part of religious life at the College, which encourages the development of a mature faith and an understanding of the varieties of religious experience.

Edward L. Norton United Methodist Center

This complex, located next to the Rush Learning Center on the north side of campus, houses the headquarters of the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church. It also houses the Bill Battle Coliseum, which can seat up to 2,000.

Edward L. and Corinne Norton Campus Center

In the middle of campus, between the residence halls and Academic Quad-rangle and across the Alumni Plaza from the Rush Learning Center, stands the Norton Campus Center, named in recognition of the funding provided by the Norton family. This new facility, completed in 1998, is more than twice the size of the Snavely Student Center and provides dining facilities for everyday and special events, an expanded bookstore and post office, student lounge areas, and offices for Student Affairs, Student Government, Service Learning, Leadership Studies, the Black Student Union, student publications, Residence Life, Health Services, Counseling and Career Services, and the Career Library. The Norton Campus Center also is home to a 200-seat, state-of-the-art theatre, the multi-function Bruno Great Hall, various meeting rooms, a computer laboratory, the President's Dining Room, and the Executive Dining Room.

Edwards Bell Tower

The Edwards Bell Tower is located in the center of the Academic Quad-drangle and contains four tower clock movements as well as four large bronze bells and a complete carillon instrument with 61 bell range, all controlled by a touch screen computer system. It is named in honor of Trustee Bill Edwards and his wife Julia.

Elton B. Stephens Science Center

(This section has been updated. Click here for details.)

The College broke ground in May 2000 on a new $26 million, 99,500 square foot Elton B. Stephens Science Center. This state of the art center has a "science on display" design concept. When completed in May 2002, it will be one of the leading undergraduate science facilities at a liberal arts institution in the nation. It is named in honor of alumnus and Trustee Elton B. Stephens.


Computer Facilities

The College recognizes the importance of computers in assisting college level learning. Students in all disciplines at the college use computers extensively for writing, research, and presentation development purposes. Six facilities present in the Olin, Harbert, and Rush Learning Center buildings provide general purpose access to computers. In addition, all residence halls have a computer lab. Media development facilities are present in Munger, Harbert, Olin, Kennedy, and the Rush Learning Center. Music composition and typesetting facilities are present in Hill. Science labs have a wide variety of computer controlled instrumentation and department specific computer labs as well. All facilities and systems have access to networked laser printers, the Internet, and shared access file storage.

Each dormitory, sorority house, and fraternity house offers per pillow ethernet based network access in addition to the computer lab present in each dormitory. A reasonable one time charge provides network access as long as the student is enrolled at the College. In addition to introductory courses in computer science, more informal workshops on computer use are offered free of charge each term.

In addition to on campus facilities, a full time Internet connection allows access to external resources such as the World Wide Web, library card catalogs for the College and other institutions, a wide variety of research databases, and electronic mail. Each student is provided with an e mail account by the College.

Sports Facilities

A provisional member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the College will compete as a full member of the NCAA Division I in 2003, after the successful completion of provisional membership. The College recognizes that physical activity is important for everyone's health and not just for intercollegiate athletics. The College sponsors intercollegiate teams in cross country, baseball, basketball, golf, rifle, soccer, softball, tennis, and volleyball as well as a full range of intramural sports for both men and women.

Athletic facilities include the Bill Battle Coliseum, site of home basketball contests and the women's basketball and women's soccer offices; the Scrushy Striplin Baseball Field; and The Gymnasium, which houses the men's basketball and men's soccer offices as well as strength training facilities for student athletes. Also, 12 lighted tennis courts and a softball complex were completed during the summer of 2000. The Larry D. Striplin Physical Fitness and Recreation Building, completed in 1998 and intended for student use, is home to two basketball/volleyball courts, a suspended indoor running track, a combination weight and cardiovascular workout room, two racquetball courts, a swimming pool, and an aerobics room, as well as locker rooms and offices.



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