New Chicago Campus Reflects the Adler School Vision: Social Responsibility, Collaboration, Innovation

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The Adler School of Professional Psychology's New Campus

The design is creative, but more importantly, it inventively meets our needs and reflects our values as we continue the School's work at the forefront of socially responsible practice, community engagement and social justice.

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) March 8, 2010

The Adler School of Professional Psychology is making a transformational campus move this summer, officially taking up residence July 26, 2010, in an innovative new space that was one of the biggest new downtown leases of 2009. Double the size of the current space, the new campus is designed to be aesthetically striking, academically progressive and environmentally responsible. The increased space is necessary to accommodate the School's burgeoning enrollment. In the past six years, the campus' student enrollment has nearly tripled. Applications have nearly tripled in the past three years, and new programs, partnerships and initiatives have put additional pressure on space.

"This is an ideal time for the School to transition to a space that is not only larger and more accommodating, but is as innovative as we are," said Ray Crossman, Ph.D., President of the Adler School. "The design is creative, but more importantly, it inventively meets our needs and reflects our values as we continue the School's work at the forefront of socially responsible practice, community engagement and social justice."

Designed by an architectural firm internationally renowned for the creation of forward-thinking educational spaces, the new central Loop campus reflects the Adler School's values: progressive yet pragmatic, high-tech yet holistic, intellectually rigorous yet compassionate.
Flooded by warm, natural light, and featuring floor-to-ceiling windows, the new campus will be connected by multi-floor open atriums that create a "town square" feel and serve as hubs to a mix of social, work, and academic areas. Students will be given the priority space, with the perimeter reserved for classrooms and work areas, while faculty and administrative offices will be located in the interior. With their skyline views, the student work areas are intended to inspire students to look out across the city, and to stimulate the brain, encourage inquiry, and prompt creativity.

The Chicago architectural firm OWP/P Cannon Design created the campus design after receiving input a broad array of campus constituents, including students, alumni, faculty, and community partners. The mixed-space floor plan was developed to promote interactive learning, to foster immersion and collaboration and to cultivate a strong sense of community by facilitating fluid movement between floors and between faculty, staff, and student spaces.
Students will attend classes at the new campus this fall. The 58-year-old Adler School and its learning community will celebrate the move with a Grand Opening event planned for January 11, 2011.

The Adler School will be located at 17 N. Dearborn St., in a vintage building nestled in the heart of Chicago's Loop and within walking distance of City Hall, Millennium Park, museums, theaters, the commerce district - and the current campus. The location also is appealing because it is close to public transportation and expressways. The Adler School will occupy more than 100,000 square feet on the 15th and 16th floors, with a floor plan that extends the full length of the building, from Dearborn to State streets.

The new campus will provide the School's learning community with a much more cohesive space as well as a visually striking street-level entrance that will give the School a more prominent physical presence.

The new campus also provides double the classroom and computing space. The new campus will feature three classroom sizes, each seating from 14 to 27 students. Located in the southeast corner of the new campus with prime views of the city, the 60-seat library is double the size of the current library space, and will include areas for individual, small-group and larger collaborative efforts. Adjacent to the library, a computer teaching lab will be equipped with new computer work stations and will be available for research assistance and online library resource instruction.

Additionally, the new campus will be:

• High tech: All of the classrooms will include SMART Boards™, interactive white boards that enable anything written on the board to be saved to an electronic document, as well as built-in projectors. To streamline the collaborative process, work areas on each floor will be equipped with media:scape® technology, which will allow groups working together on a project to connect their laptop computers or electronic devices and quickly and easily share and edit electronic information, while viewing it on an LCD screen.
• Environmentally responsible: The campus is designed and will be built to meet standards for LEED-Silver certification, an internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. The many green aspects of the new campus include: the recycling or environmentally friendly disposal of old materials removed during demolition; installation of carpeting made of 100-percent post-consumer material; and the design of classrooms to feature interior glass walls, allowing light to filter into the interior. Classroom lights also will automatically dim when adequate sunlight is available.
• Amenable to a holistic lifestyle: The new campus will feature a student-suggested feature, a Wellness Studio for yoga, meditation and other wellness activities, as well as a café, and street level bike storage and showers to encourage green commuting.

More about the Adler School of Professional Psychology:

The Adler School of Professional Psychology has provided quality education through a Scholar/Practitioner model for over 50 years. The Adler School's mission is to train socially responsible graduates who practice psychology throughout the world. The Adler School has ten graduate-level programs with approximately 900 students enrolled at the main campus in Chicago and a second campus in Vancouver, British Columbia.

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