Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham, Provost Bahman Ghorashi and hundreds of students filled the hallways of the ground floor of the Roaden University Center Thursday, Feb. 4 for the unveiling of the new Tech Wall and logo.
Cookeville Mayor Ricky Shelton and former Tech President Angelo Volpe also attended the ceremony.
The nine-screen, interactive Tech Wall is designed to be a virtual brochure about programs Tech offers in order to help prospect students and undecided majors learn more about Tech.
“The building of the Tech Wall all goes back to student success. We wanted to make sure our students are successful and that they have chosen the right discipline and will be happy with it. That was the motivation,” said Ghorashi.
The wall will not only feature undergraduate programs offered here at Tech, but will also provide information about graduate programs, social life on campus, and interviews with alumni.
“We wanted this project to be much more than a bulletin board. It’s designed to be something that will help in terms of career development for our students and prepare them for while they are here at Tech and life beyond college as well,” said Ghorashi.
The wall has been in the development process for over two years and was installed by Verizon Communications.
“These are our stories on our campus put together by our people and told by us. That is what this wall is all about. And we have a lot of great stories to tell,” said Oldham during the ceremony.
The project was funded by the Provost’s office, Marc Burnett, vice president of student affairs, and Claire Stinson, vice president for planning and finance. The project cost over $150,000, including the cost of servers, software and content produced for the wall.
“I think the new Tech Wall is very cool. It’s neat to see all the different things Tech has to offer right here at your fingertips,” said Ayla Jones, a junior human ecology major.
Along with the unveiling of the Tech Wall, a new Tech logo debuted for the first time as well.
“This was not an overnight decision or process to obtain a new logo. During my two and a half years here, various meetings have taken place and a new logo has always been discussed to represent a new day here at Tech,” said Ghorashi.
Although many design firms submitted designs for the new logo, the winning logo was designed by Cookeville business WD Stone & Associates.
“As we embark on the future of Tennessee Tech, we want to have a logo that presents the future. The new logo is embedded with the tradition of our past, the eagle, but designed in a way that is futuristic. It’s a bridge connecting the past to the future, and the new logo represents that very well” said Ghorashi.
As the Centennial year comes to a close this spring, the message at the unveiling ceremony was full of excitement for the future.
