In the first of a series of posts we’ll call Unseen ACU, we thought you’d enjoy a look at a campus landmark that even the most determined, mischievous social club prankster has never seen.

At 150 feet tall, the Tower of Light, well, towers above the campus below. It was built in 1989, along with what would become known as the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building, Beauchamp Amphitheatre and Chapel on the Hill. Its face is a series of limestone slabs covering a steel infracture. At the top, carillion bells strike Westminster chimes that signal every 15 minutes and the top of the hour, and play music to call students to daily Chapel.

The Tower of Light was made possible through a gift by Bob and Cheryl Gowens.

This photo from summer 1988 also is interesting in that it shows “old” Judge Ely Boulvard fronting Sikes Hall and the Mabee Business Building. University trustees received permission from the city/state to move the busy street to the east – at ACU’s expense – on land the university already owned, helping create a new front door to the campus accessible by Teague Boulevard off of the “new” and wider Judge Ely Boulevard.

The construction project to house the College of Biblical Studies and the related re-routing of local traffic represented the most visible physical growth for ACU since the Design for Development campaign (1962-82) built 15 new buildings (including Brown Library, Moody Colisem, Don H. Morris Center, Smith-Adams Hall, Sikes Hall, Sherrod Residential Park and McGlothlin Campus Center) and renovated 10 others.

Full-time juniors and seniors will receive iPhones and iPod touches for Fall 2010

Perhaps a little lost in the hoopla surrounding the iPad announcement and related news from campus was the word last week that ACU’s mobile-learning initiative would be adding juniors and seniors to the plan.

That means all full-time students at ACU in Fall 2010 will have iPhones or iPod touches to use in and out of class. The Optimist covers the news in a story in its issue yesterday, including this quote:

“One of the biggest challenges in mobile learning has been in having classes where perhaps all but one student has an iPhone,” said Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. “That really limited what we were able to do, and knowing that we are going to have a saturation of the devices on the campus will make it possible for lots of other faculty to get involved in mobile learning.”

There are Herculean efforts and planning behind the distribution and activation of devices for about 1,000 freshmen each fall, so adding upperclassmen to the mix will be an interesting feat to follow.

The university has made higher education and technology news around the world for providing hand-held devices to the last two classes of its incoming first-year students. ACU set a record for enrollment in Fall 2009, and the pace of applications received from prospective new students for Fall 2010 has admissions officials believing that mark will be eclipsed again.

NBC Nightly News’ coverage of today’s Apple announcement of the iPad includes a spotlight on the innovative mobile-learning initiative here at Abilene Christian University, where the iPhone and iPod touch are being integrated throughout the academic environment.

Anchor Brian Williams introduces the story by George Lewis, which has footage from an Abilene Christian biology class taught by Dr. Autumn Sutherlin and a brief comment from Dr. William Rankin, ACU’s director of educational innovation.

The loud cheer at the end of the YouTube clip below does not belong to Williams, but instead to a happy Grant Rampy (’87), ACU’s new director of public relations, who quickly recorded the story on his TV after a busy day assisting local, regional and national media interested in an ACU angle to the story. The university’s growing leadership role among education technology experts is attracting more and more attention each day.

For a more clear look at NBC’s story on the network’s Web site, as well as other coverage of the big announcement at Apple, visit here.

Learn more about educational innovation at ACU by viewing its 2009 Mobile-Learning Annual Report.