Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology
The Ammerman Center is a community of students, faculty, staff, artists, and scholars dedicated to exploring the dynamic relationships between the arts, technology, and culture through experimentation, research and creation.
The mission of the Ammerman Center is to inspire and foster the production of creative, scholarly, collaborative, and interdisciplinary work by offering innovative educational experiences such as courses, workshops, symposia, colloquia, internships, mentoring and advising.
Each year, the Center community produces innovative and engaging exhibitions, performances, publications, and public presentations.
The Center promotes Connecticut College’s core values of inclusivity, understanding and respect across economic, environmental, and cultural identities through the creative and scholarly connections made across campus, within New London, and throughout the world.
The Center’s mission proceeds from the understanding that theory and practice are inextricably linked, and that creative work and scholarship conducted side-by-side lead to rich, responsible, innovative, and often radical critical thinking, experimentation, and problem solving.
CAT offers a wide variety of programs, including a student certificate program, interdisciplinary courses, a biennial symposium, a colloquia series, technology workshops, interactions with visiting scholars, and community engagement.
The Center has 3 facilities on the Connecticut College campus. The Center's seminar and student workspace is located at 768 Williams Street, across the street from the campus. The primary technology lab of the Center is located in the F.W. Olin Science Center, room 214. Our administrative offices and conference room are located in the historic Winslow Ames House.
The Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology
The Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology attracts international artists and researchers who work in cutting-edge areas of research related to arts and technology, and includes a keynote address, panel discussions and paper presentations, workshops, artist talks, gallery exhibitions, music concerts, installations, screenings, public interventions and live media performances.
Certificate students present their Senior Integrative Projects at the biennial symposium, center presentations and at college-wide events.
Learning Goals for the Ammerman Center
The Ammerman Center teaches students how to explore the dynamic relationships between the arts, technology, and culture through experimentation, research and creation. Our students engage with Connecticut College’s core values of inclusivity, understanding and respect across economic, environmental, and cultural identities within New London and throughout the world.
Graduating students from the Ammerman Center certificate program will be able to:
Apply critical terms and methodology from contemporary and historic studies
Critique and Analyze creative works, especially those that integrate multiple mediums, tools, and approaches
Synthesize tools and technical instrumentation in integrative ways across interdisciplinary fields of arts, technology, culture, and social responsibility
Create original work that integrates arts, culture, and technology
Communicate critically the process, creation, and context of works
Utilize professional project management and planning skills.
The Student Certificate Program
The certificate program is for students who are interested in exploring the relationship between the arts, culture, and technology through required courses, a summer internship, seminars, and an intensive, Senior Integrative Project. The Ammerman Center advises and mentors students in the development and implementation of their research and their senior project. The program is taken in addition to a major and offers a certificate in Arts and Technology upon graduation from the College. Students must apply in their sophomore year. Center requirements include the Senior Integrative Project, arts and coding courses, a center gateway course, junior and senior year seminars and 1 or 2 independent study courses. Students must also maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA, complete a 300+ hour summer internship, and complete the Career Office Internship program.
Application Process:
- Students attend informational open houses in the fall or spring semesters.
- Students meet with center advisers to assist in completing the application and to discuss ideas for interdisciplinary research
- Students submit the application by the mid-October deadline. The completed application includes a personal essay, transcript, resume, two faculty recommendations and a plan for completing required courses.
Course requirements
One approved arts and tech related course (AT 104 or 105 suggested).
A coding-focused class, such as COM 110 or the Ammerman Center's own Creative Codes class (AT 101).
The coding-focused class (COM 110 or AT 101) is ideally taken during the first or second year.
Other requirements
A technology-based course
The course should explore the experimental, programmatic, or otherwise advanced creative use of technology (can be in any field; related to the project and with approval of the center.)
Two Art courses
Courses related to the project and approved by the center.
Gateway Course
| AT 201 | HIST OF ARTS & TECHNOLOGY | 4 |
Junior Seminar
| AT 310 | AMMERMAN JUNIOR SEMINAR | 2 |
| or | |
| AT 320 | AMMERMAN JUNIOR SEMINAR | 2 |
Summer Internship
Arranged through the Career Office internship program. Internship must total a minimum of 300 hours.
Senior Integrative Project
Project is completed under the supervision of faculty through one or two independent studies, taken in the senior year: Fall: Optional independent study (AT 491) (4 credits), Spring: Required Independent study (AT 492) (4 credits)
Two senior seminars
| AT 401 | AMMERMAN SENIOR SEMINAR | 2 |
| AT 402 | AMMERMAN SENIOR SEMINAR | 2 |