EMC Celebrates Grand Opening in New Space

The Champlain Mill in Winooski, Vermont, was once among the state’s most productive industrial sights. That tradition now continues with Champlain College’s Emergent Media Center (EMC). Governor James Douglas was among those who helped cut the ribbon on the new EMC base of operations last October, calling the center part of “the next industrial revolution.”

Such hope is well warranted, as the EMC has already surpassed many of the goals set for the center when it launched two years ago. According to EMC Project Manager Ray McCarthy Bergeron ’02, ’04, and ’07, the benefits extend both to EMC clients as well as to the Champlain students who staff the center. “We’re allowing companies to incubate their ideas at the center,” he says. “The students are getting the experience they need to put them in an industry that is hungrily looking for positions.”

The EMC currently employs roughly 65 students, of whom a group of 15 students traveled to South Africa in summer 2008 to work in conjunction with the United Nations on a “serious” game—that is, an educational game—designed to help prevent violence against women (see “Emergent Media Center Creates Serious Games” in the fall 2008 issue). Upon their return to the States, the students presented a proposal to the U.N. to advance to the next phase of the project. That proposal was accepted, and work is now under way.

The United States Army also recently became an EMC client. Working in collaboration with a game development team based in Emeryville, California, Champlain College students are helping update the popular America’s Army video game with two new missions titled “District” and “Canyon.” The game is a recruiting tool that simulates the training, technology, and experience of being a soldier in the U.S. Army. “The Champlain students really impressed the America’s Army team with their creativity, teamwork, and abilities,” says Michael Bode, America’s Army executive producer. “The District and Canyon maps are among the best that we’ve seen developed using our America’s Army Mission Editor, and we look forward to seeing future work of these talented students.”

With such momentum behind the EMC, the center’s Director Ann DeMarle is understandably optimistic about what she and her staffers may accomplish in their industry. “These projects illustrates the value our talented students bring to complex issues,” she says.

Champlain College President David Finney concurs: “The EMC is a key part of Champlain College’s commitment to provide its students with revolutionary educational opportunities in today’s rapidly evolving global fields,” he says. “It is at the cutting edge of a technology-driven future.”

—Danelle Frawley ’08