Proposal

Narrative

The goal of this proposal is to update a shared Mac classroom lab on the Ft Lauderdale campus to bring the classroom to current standards and enhance the resources available to undergraduate and graduate students in Visual Arts and Art History-Graphic Design (GD) and School of Communication Multimedia Studies-Film & Media (F&M). The College of Arts and Letters is home to 354 students on the Fort Lauderdale campus across 3 departments. The GD BFA degree program in Ft Lauderdale supports the majority of the upper division and graduate courses and elective and pre-portfolio review coursework. For 13 lab classes, GD relies on 1 department classroom, and this shared classroom. F&M is also housed on the Ft Lauderdale campus. F&M teaches 12 lab classes with 1 dedicated Mac lab, a PC lab shared with Architecture, and this Mac lab shared with GD. In Spring 2025, GD courses in Ft Lauderdale supported 218 undergraduate student seats. During the same semester, F&M supported 208 students in seats. The current computers (2017) are at the end of their useful life. Both GD and F&M teach motion work which requires higher processing power than these computers offer. Most critically, software upgrades make use of intensive AI processing, rendering this lab unable to upgrade. The students can't receive adequate preparation for the workforce. 15 full computer stations are proposed + 5 large monitors to accommodate students with laptops. In the interest of accessibility, an increasing number of students are coping with repetitive use injuries including Carpal Tunnel and Radial Tunnel stress injuries. Creative careers spent at the computer screen compromise physical well-being. We hope to make students aware of alternatives that prevent injury or ease current injuries. We are seeking to support students by providing a limited number of alternative mouse models and support pads for check out during class.

Facilities

None required. The room is currently a computer classroom.

Hardware Requirements

VENDOR APPLE 15 iMacs: M4 core chip 10-Core CPU 10-Core GPU 32GB Unified Memory 2TB SSD Storage¹ 16-core Neural Engine 24-inch 4.5K Retina display² Four Thunderbolt 4 ports Gigabit Ethernet Magic Keyboard with Touch ID w/ apple intelligence + 4 years apple care $40,770 VENDOR B&H 5 Monitors 4K BenQ PD3225U 5 Logitech MX Vertical Mouse 5 Logitech Lift Vertical Mouse 10 Wrist Pads +cords $6622 TOTAL $47,392

Software Requirements

None

Personnel Costs

None

Other Costs

None

Timeline

Summer 2026 purchase and install. Ready for fall 2026 semester.

Sustainability

Apple products are typically in use for 7-years.

Resource Matching

None

Implementing Organization

College of Arts and Letters: Department of Visual Arts and Art History-Graphics Design & Communication MultiMedia-Film & Media with Broward OIT