Mike Ziegler
-Photo Editor-
With a digital design program on par with a four year university, DATA is often unnoticed by many.
Students outside of the digital design courses and programs supported by DATA would likely know it as the class with the large monitors, dim lighting and expensive Mac-filled rooms.
“The most visible part of our activity is the Center for Visual Technology,” said Michael Burks, Ph.D., manager of DATA. “That consists of two computer classrooms and three computer labs that are all equipped with pretty much the latest in hardware and software.”
DATA is the driving force behind what should be one of Meramec’s highest selling points: providing state-of-the-art facilities unmatched by any St. Louis area college or university.
“For a long time there has been a confusion between what people know as DATA and what people know as CVT,” Burks said.
Burks explained that CVT does not offer the courses or degrees, but the art department offers degrees and staff needed. CVT hosts everything needed for digital design instruction like hardware, software and printers.
Paired with the facilities and support of DATA, Meramec’s art department is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design — of which it is one of the few accredited community college art departments in the country, according to the department web page.
“Our students produce work in two years that is better than or equal to the work done by people in the best four-year art institutes in the country.”
Recently, DATA signed an articulation agreement with the University of Missouri for Interior Design.
“When a student completes the associate degree here, they go right into the Mizzou program as a junior,” said Burks. “We’re working on more of those kinds of agreements.”
Students involved in digital design classes along with mass communication students are probably familiar with the movement toward convergence media.
“[Convergence] is the big buzz word in mass communications,” Burks said.
Courses offered by DATA help prepare students for jobs dealing with converging media, but Burks said he is working toward a formal designation of classes providing convergence media education.
Keeping up with the latest career trends within mass communications and pairing it with state-of-the-art facilities makes DATA an imperative part of Meramec’s value as a higher education facility.
After explaining everything DATA had to offer, Burks had one final point of pride.
“The most important thing is not so much the facilities, software and hardware, but the faculty and what the students do with this software and hardware,” Burks said. “We have superb faculty.”
That paired with the affordability of community colleges makes Meramec one of the “best buys in the area,” said Burks.
