2008 Woodie Awards
Morton's vision for UMKC - the 'Decision Theater'
Interim chancellor envisions UMKC's future in 3-D
Derek Simons
Issue date: 8/25/08 Section: News
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"Leo's [Interim Chancellor Morton] already off and running with it," Hackett said. "He'll probably have the money to build it before we've even finished talking about it."
Described in the promotional video shown to the Faculty Senate as a "collaborative decision-making tool," it consists of "seven state-of-the-art projectors tied into a high-performance mass-computing cluster, capable of moving massive 3-D images over the 360 degree image surface."
Hackett said university officials were discussing the nature of UMKC's urban mission, "something which we are still puzzling over, trying to coalesce around," when the idea came up.
Hackett, former Chancellor Guy Bailey, University of Missouri President Gary Forsee and Morton (as chair of the UMKC Board of Trustees) visited the Arizona State University (ASU) campus, where Hackett was previously employed, to see a demonstration.
Morton said ASU President Michael Crow, who is also on the board of Morton's ex-company, Aquila, Inc., offered to host them.
"One of the demonstrations was a 3-D demonstration where they were trying to figure out exactly how to place buildings," Morton said. "… They could spot a building and then you could fly in and fly around and look at it, and just as I was thinking about whether or not you could go below ground with this thing, they went below ground and you could see the infrastructure."
Morton was visibly enthusiastic about the Decision Theater.
"We sit in a city with $3 billion of deferred maintenance," he said. "We have huge problems with education. We can't even make a decision about rapid transit."
He said a system like this could help solve all of those problems, but would be even more important for the university.
"Raising money becomes easier when people have a greater opinion of you because you help solve some problems," Morton said. "You've got the talent here to do it. This could be one of the tools that makes that happen. …I think this could make everything that we're trying to do easier."
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Mortonwashesafriendshand
posted 8/26/08 @ 12:04 AM CST
I think most members of the UMKC community have a crazy idea that UMKC should devote their resources toward their primary mission of educating students. (Continued…)
Jill DeWitt
posted 8/26/08 @ 4:46 PM CST
Special gifts can catalyze both interest and previously untapped community support. This campus is unique in the dedication of a growing number of faculty and schools to programs that benefit the city and region through education, architecture, urban planning and design, policy and professional programs. (Continued…)
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