FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 9, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 DRAKE DEDICATES EVANS LANGUAGE LEARNING CENTER The Jane E. Evans Language Learning Center in Meredith Hall was formally dedicated today by Drake University officials who praised the state-of-the-art facility and thanked the Drake alumna who made it possible. Jane E. Evans, a 1959 Drake graduate who now lives in Pebble Beach, Calif., funded the center with a gift to Campaign Drake. She attended the dedication with her husband, John, the retired president, CEO and chairman of Allied Insurance. It was the first time the couple has visited Drake since the facility opened last fall. "We are deeply indebted to Jane Evans for her generous support of the language learning center," said Drake President David Maxwell. "The facility that she has provided for us will serve as an essential component of the foundation of Drake's exciting new initiative in foreign language learning." With a 25-station computer network and the latest digital audio and video equipment, the Evans Language Learning Center in room 232 of Meredith Hall is one of the most modern language laboratories in the country. "This center has permitted Drake University to provide students with the latest technological enhancements for language learning on an American college campus," said Drake Provost Ronald Troyer. "This learning center will be the centerpiece of our future approach to acquiring competency in a second language. It was Jane who first gave us the hope that we could create a first-rate language learning center at Drake." Evans, a former teacher, has served as vice chair of the College of Arts and Sciences National Advisory Board. She also has been very supportive of Drake students through the Evans Scholarship, which helps to underwrite the costs of students taking part in travel seminars to Latin American countries. The Evans Language Learning Center enables faculty members to make multimedia presentations and to organize students into several activity groups, all at the same time. At each computer station, students can connect to the Internet and search for cultural material, write compositions, participate in group discussions, as well as communicate one-on-one with the instructor. "This facility is a very important asset for Drake," said Arthur Hughes, assistant professor of Spanish and director of the Evans Language Learning Center. "Language labs used to be places where students went to watch a video or listen to tapes and practices drills- pretty boring stuff. Here at Drake, thanks to our digital state-of-the-art equipment, we can do all those lab activities as well as incorporate the essential instructor-student interaction that goes on in a normal language classroom. Students can respond to audio and video input, discuss it with their colleagues and invite the instructor's input at the same time. It's a much more collaborative way of teaching and learning." Sheila McCoy, a Truman scholar and a senior in a Spanish composition class taught by Hughes, said her experience as a language student has been enhanced by the new language learning center. "The computer technology made available in the lab is most helpful," she added. "As Spanish students, we are able to utilize a word processing program that contains necessary features that most software is not able to offer. Comprehensive dictionaries, audio recordings of pronunciation, and easily insertable characters, such as accent marks and tildes, make the software extremely student-friendly. We are therefore able to gain extra experience with writing during most class sessions. The language lab certainly has the potential to create more well-rounded language students who are able to both write and speak with fluency and clarity."