Facilities

Come see for yourself. CT State Norwalk keeps track of the latest changes in the businesses and industries for which our facilities prepare students. But that does not mean that we have ignored more traditional disciplines. We also use the latest technology and teaching aids to assist students’ understanding of English, History, Mathematics and the Sciences. Listed below are the facilities available at CT State Norwalk.

As a high-technology training center and learning institution from which students can either enter the workforce or proceed to four-year colleges, CT State Norwalk possesses an outstanding physical plant and modern, up-to-date facilities. We believe in providing students with hands-on experience in a variety of real-world settings, all of which have been faithfully replicated at the College. From computer labs to electrical engineering laboratories, fine arts and graphic design studios to television studios, culinary arts kitchens to hospitality suites, CT State Norwalk has the latest and most modern class environments in which to learn.

Of course, colleges are more than just buildings, and CT State Norwalk provides more than just outstanding physical facilities. It provides a warm and nurturing environment in which students can learn. The faculty and staff are friendly and supportive, and other students are helpful and considerate.

Art Collection

The College Art Collection, housed throughout CT State Norwalk, contains more than 350 prints, drawings, paintings and photographs by nationally and internationally known artists on permanent display in classrooms, corridors, offices and common spaces. The collection focuses on contemporary art and has been acquired primarily through generous donations by alumni, CT State Norwalk Foundation members and prominent members of the community. A student activities fund also provides an annual allocation, which the Visual Art Club contributes towards new acquisitions.

Art permeates everyday life at the college, exposing students and the community to new artistic views and sensibilities and emphasizing the role visual literacy plays in a college education. The CT State Norwalk Art Collection enriches the lives of everyone studying and working at the College. As with everything at CT State Norwalk, our Art Collection is not viewed as something too precious to be out in the open, but as part of the learning experience to be freely shared by all.

Art Gallery

The CT State Norwalk Gallery is a large, open space on the East Campus next to the Art classrooms at the college. An extended foyer, the Gallery reflects the creativity and vision that make CT State Norwalk’s Arts program special. Five full exhibitions are on display in the Gallery each year, with student work exhibited there between the professional exhibitions. The Gallery has exhibited works ranging from charcoal to oil, photography to sculpture, infusing the entire wing of the school with a sense of harmony between aesthetic education and professional accomplishment.

The Gallery serves as a magnet for accomplished regional artists to display their work, and it provides continuous exposure to the work of professional artists for students, faculty and the community.

Art Studios

The Arts program offers courses in art history, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, painting and graphic design, giving students a solid foundation in the visual arts for both transfer and career purposes.

CT State Norwalk has three basic studio classrooms, all of which are large, open spaces with ambient overhead lighting, high ceilings and proper ventilation. The classrooms have been designed with an eye towards versatility, allowing students to study various art forms and mediums. Students are offered three levels of drawing, as well as courses in the proper use of color, basic design, sculpture, ceramics, painting and art history in an earnest attempt to nurture their artistic and aesthetic sensibilities.

The Arts program includes a kiln room for ceramics, an extensive video, slide and book collection, easels, painting materials, sculpting tools, graphic design tools, copying machines, and mounting and pressing facilities. Students in CT State Norwalk’s Arts program have transferred to such prestigious institutions as Parsons School of Design, The Art Institute of Chicago, Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, School of Visual Arts, Hunter College, Northeastern University and Otis College of Art.

Computer Labs

CT State Norwalk has state-of-the-art computer labs on both campuses in Norwalk. Labs include individual computer stations for students. Instructors use projectors to display content and students are able to follow the instruction at their own workstation.  Almost all classrooms include a projector for the instructor to demonstrated digital content to the entire class.

Every computer at CT State Norwalk is updated with current software, and all are connected to the internet. Labs are monitored and maintained by the College’s Information Technology Department to ensure the highest level of accessibility and stability.

Culinary Arts Lab

CT State Norwalk’s Culinary Arts Lab boasts a full kitchen that can accommodate 16 students at a time. The kitchen is equipped with Vulcan heavy duty gas ranges, an assortment of stainless steel sauce pans, sauté pans, mixing bowls, broilers, fryers, roast pans, cookie sheets, and their accompanying cooking utensils. Kitchen-Aid stand-mixers, two two-door and two four-door Beverage Air reach-in refrigerators, one four-door and one one-door full length freezer are also available for student use.

In the Lab, students get hands-on experience doing prep work, stock and sauce preparation, ingredient stocking, pan and utensil selection, and menu creation. They learn about nutrition, basic and advanced food preparation, sanitation, safety and maintenance, and organization and showmanship. Students actually prepare meals for a variety of college-sponsored luncheons, dinners and banquets, and the Culinary Arts Department has working relationships with area hotels, motels, restaurants and country clubs where students apply the art they have acquired in the Culinary Arts Lab.

Hospitality Suite

CT State Norwalk’s Hospitality Suite, connected to our Culinary Arts Lab, serves as the venue in which students display the results of the creation and preparation done in the Culinary Arts Lab. Students work as waiters, captains and Maitre D’s of the Hospitality Suite, and they cater a wide variety of breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, buffets and banquets. CT State Norwalk administrative staff, faculty and students are allowed to buy tickets to selected culinary events hosted in the Hospitality Suite by the Culinary Arts Program, while other events are reserved for legislators, Foundation members, Trustees or community groups. In both sets of events, the Culinary Arts Program oversees the entire process, from menu creation and preparation to visual display and service.

Students master a range of skills working in the Hospitality Suite, and they become trained in the efficient and professional management of a restaurant dining room. Stress is placed on preparation, setting, food service, courtesy, and presentation. Whether students are training for a job in a restaurant or in hotel management, CT State Norwalk’s Hospitality Suite helps them get a keener grasp of the basics in the business.

Language Learning Facilities

There are two interactive language learning facilities for use by students learning English as a Second Language (ESL) and by English-speaking students learning foreign languages at CT State Norwalk. The first is a 22-station listening language lab with a master control panel that allows lab instructors to help students with listening and pronunciation. The focus is on improving communicative competence in an interactive environment. The language learning facility concentrates on listening and speech and is used to supplement and support the skills ESL students are learning in their writing classes. Foreign language students generally use the lab for independent listening work.

The “smart classroom” for ESL and foreign language learning started operation over the Fall 2001 semester, and is state-of-the-art. For use by both ESL and foreign language students, it is a multimedia learning environment, with classical language learning tools in addition to the latest digital audio, video and screen-based technologies. While it still is used to teach listening and speech, this new language learning facility also is used to enhance reading and writing skills. Students are able to use this new facility to improve reading, writing, listening and speech skills in one venue. The lab serves as CT State Norwalk’s new ‘high-tech, high-touch’ Communications Center to help improve communication in the 21st Century.

David Levinson Theater

The PepsiCo Theater, a 298 seat capacity, Internet-capable facility with a professional stage boasts a fully retractable projection screen and rear projection capability for LCD PowerPoint presentations. It has theatrical lighting, an audio and video control booth, sound reinforcement, and wireless microphones. It is used primarily for presentations and reviews.

The Forum

For smaller, more intimate presentations in a formal setting, CT State Norwalk also has the Forum. It comfortably seats 80 persons and has DVD and VHS capability. It is equipped with its own computer workstation and the full range of Microsoft Office Suite software applications. The Forum is sound reinforced and is perfect for smaller and more sharply focused conferences.

Television Studio

CT State Norwalk’s state-of-the-art, live television production studio has a 23 by 40 foot studio, four analog tape to tape editing systems, one digital tape editing system, seven Avid nonlinear editors, live production switcher, three studio cameras, two teleprompters, one character generator, one graphics generator, one frame store device, and a 24 input audio mixer.

In the studio, students practice live productions in the form of interviews, narratives, instructional programs, news reports and music videos. While taking courses in TV production, students can serve as interns at several broadcast and production facilities in the area. Many of our graduates are already working in the industry and credit CT State Norwalk’s television studio facility with giving them the ground work for their new careers.