The University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is a private college for the technologically friendly people of the world. It is a university that offers schooling for geeks and those wanting to be geeks. Face it, if you are technologically advanced in the tech field you have probably been called a geek, nerd, or techy once or twice in your life. That’s what this geek university is full of. Amazing, smart, wonderful “geeks” that are paving the way of technology, graphics, and gaming for our future.
UAT is in Tempe, Arizona. It is close by to where I live, so I got the chance to take a tour of the campus. UAT is an accredited school with over 1200 students on campus and online. They offer 20 degrees in advancing technology to suit every student enrolled. The campus is on a busy street next to a lot of food and shopping. I think that is wonderful due to quickly tiring of cafeteria food. Most cafeterias look the same wherever you go.
At UAT there is something different to be said about their cafeteria… gaming. That is right, they have ultimately every console lined up for play in their cafeteria. You know what that means? You don’t have to run home on your lunch to get 5 mins of game-play in before your lunch is over. Students at UAT get to play against each other in what I can only imagine be epic death matches and tournaments.
Gaming on your lunch break is only one of the amazing things students get to enjoy at UAT. Students have an area called “The Commons” where there are many different types of computers for use. I noticed the students have Wacom screens for drawing and graphics. That totally made my day since I am waiting on my Wacom “Inkling” to review. The students definitely have access to some of the latest and greatest computer hardware and technology to do amazing things with. The whole main building of the campus was like an art museum of projects that the students have created. It was awesome.
The students also have all the materials they need at no cost for printing any of their projects out. A 3D printer is available to the students which blew my mind away. I saw a replica of the Portal Gun that a student created in that machine.
Students also have the luxury of having some of the best networking and servers keeping them online at all times. UAT houses one of the cleanest and organized server rooms I have seen in long time. Located on the second floor of the main building, students can see the server room and practice network security in the classroom next to it. This “Geek University” has so many classes and clubs to offer students. I saw some of the “Fencing Club” getting ready and heading to what seemed to be some sort of practice or meeting, swords in hand. UAT has these large dry-erase boards all over the wall in the hallways to the classrooms too. Projects, messages and even drawings of Pokemon were seen on these boards. It is one of the most intuitive ideas I have ever seen on a college campus. It helps draw students together in a great community.
One of my favorite experiences at UAT was checking out the robotics lab. They have created so many amazing things in there and even have had some experience with NASA robots. Jealous? I am. The robotics lab was filled with all different tools, wires, and mechanisms. Aaron my tour guide got to go in there and fix up R2-D2 since he was needing a tune-up. Luckily for this Star Wars nerd it was a simple fix and The Force was not needed this time.
There are so many endless things creative minds can create when the parts and tools are there for them. I am excited to see what comes out of that robotics lab. Hopefully, the students at UAT will create amazing things to help us out and not try to take over the world like Skynet. Did I mention that the students at UAT have access to utilizing the “Green Screen” room that the college has for student use? The room was the vibrant lime green color that I have seen on TV before. Seeing one first hand is a great experience since you can see how all the “behind the scene” stuff works!
Over all the experience I had at UAT was well worth the fire drill in the middle of a thunderstorm. Thunder scares me! Actually, it was one of the best tours of any college campus I have gone on. The campus is clean. The students are well-mannered; it is in a great place where on days students don’t have class they aren’t stuck in the dorms behind the main building. I hope I get the chance to attend more events at UAT and share the experiences I have there.
If you are interested in more information about going to school at The University of Advancing Technology, click the link and check out what they have to offer. From my amazing time and experience there it is a school anyone in the tech, graphics, design, and IT fields should look into. Also, you can hit them up on their Twitter or Facebook for more information on the school, events, and contests.
