MONDAY, MAY 3, 1999

Gift inspires new building

By Tyler Hemstreet

Daily Forty-Niner

When Luster and Audrey Hauth donated $1 million dollars to Cal State Long Beach, they wanted the money to be a gift that everyone could benefit from.

Communications department officials plan to make that dream come true by building The Luster E. and Audrey Nichol Hauth Center for Communications Skills.

The Hauth Center will use state-of-the-art video and audio technology to provide individualized assistance for those who need help in their oral presentation or interpersonal and group communication skills.

"There is no place in the CSU system that is exactly like the Center as we foresee it and, as far as we know, none in the nation," says Communication Studies' development officer, Pat Kearney who was responsible, in part, for brokering the gift.

Despite the hefty donation, more money will be needed to complete the Center, though Kearney did not have an estimate for the total cost of construction. Kearney hopes the $1 million dollars, which is in an irrevocable trust that is solely for use by the Center, will spark more donations and grants.

The Hauth Center will enhance individuals' communication skills by serving as a resource for all students and faculty.

Kearney also hopes that the Center will serve as a bridge for the community and the school.

"We want to focus not on our own students, but all students," Kearney said. "This is one resource that we can use to bring the community to our campus as well as bringing our students to the community."

Video cameras, playback equipment, and full-time staff of graduate students and faculty, all will assist those who attend the Center.

It will offer a variety of focused training modules in managing stage fright, employment interviewing skills, parliamentary procedure, and improving conversational skills.

Until the new center is built, an interim Center will open in September of 1999 in LAB-202. Plans for the new center will include a focus group suite and an observation room, where viewers can watch presentations and critique them.

There has been no location determined yet for the construction of the new center.