Provost John Etchemendy thanked HRH Princess Christina of Sweden and Peter Wallenberg, Sr. for their generosity and presented them with keepsake keys to the Wallenberg Center at the center’s opening Oct. 24. Photo: L.A. Cicero

During the opening ceremony, Peter Wallenberg, chair of the two Wallenberg foundations, said his family was motivated to find a way to improve educational methods that have remained essentially unchanged since the clergy -- emulating traditional preaching methods -- began teaching by standing in front of a class of pupils and speaking down to them. "Our schooling system remains basically the same," Wallenberg said. "Clearly, this is not very practical. There had to be a new way, a completely new way for teaching -- a modern way."

Wallenberg said his family turned to Stanford because it shares similar values and goals as an institution of higher learning that supports innovation. In return, former President Gerhard Casper praised the Wallenberg family for acting on their insight into education. "[They realized] that learning would be global and that somebody had to do something about it and not just talk about it," Casper said in a video about the project that was shown during the opening ceremony.

The video, titled "From Sandstone to Silicon," highlighted the building's state-of-the-art features and focused on some of the projects supported by the Wallenberg grant. "The goal was to have a building that not only allowed us to conduct research about teaching and learning but translate that research to production mode," Etchemendy said.

For example, Stanford University Medical Media and Information Technologies (SUMMIT) includes Wallenberg-funded projects that develop simulation-based courses for medical education in collaboration with Sweden's Karolinska Institute. "With the simulations we get a chance to actually train people and let them make mistakes," said Parvati Dev, director of SUMMIT and associate dean of learning technologies. "The Wallenberg grant allowed us to do something that simply was not possible before -- and that was to reach out beyond this country. That concept of global learning, which Wallenberg brought us, has changed how we think." The university hopes to use what it learns from such projects to help design a new building for the School of Medicine, Dev added.

English Professor Andrea Lunsford, director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric, said Wallenberg Hall will support looking at education in a fundamentally new way. "What I would expect in 10 years is [that] what is taking place is completely unexpected," she said.

Professor John Bravman, vice provost for undergraduate education, echoed Lunsford's vision. "I'm hoping ... that out of the work in Wallenberg Hall some very significant, almost paradigm-changing methodologies or technologies will eventuate that really allow us to leave behind at least some of the traditional modes of education and move onto something better," he said. "And better is the only thing we're seeking."

Visiting researcher Jay Pfaffman leads Teresa Cameron, of the Ed School staff, through a demo of a “teachable agent.” Photo: L.A. Cicero

• Officials laud reopening of Building 160 as Wallenberg Hall
  
  
• New center on Quad to test the boundaries of learning (07/10/02)
  
  
• Historic building adapted for teaching tools of the future (07/10/02)
  
  
• Construction on Quad hits upon long-forgotten time capsule (07/11/01)
  
  
• $15 million for Learning Lab: Wallenberg gift to help Stanford 're-imagine itself' (03/10/99)
  
  
• Wallenberg Global Learning Network

Provost John Etchemendy spoke to a crowd of invited guests at a ceremony marking the reopening of Building 160 as Wallenberg Hall on Oct. 24. Photo: L.A. Cicero