|
It's been a long time coming.
But, for the first time since academic programs
were merged in 1987, all JMC units should be under one roof
by Fall 2006.
The Office of Student Media and the Department
of Teleproductions will join Kent JMC in a new home on east
campus, Franklin Hall. The renovated building will serve as
a symbol of the school's vision and an expression of its future.
Jeff Fruit, the director of the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication, said it hasn't made sense
for the programs to be split, with print in Taylor Hall and
broadcast in Music and Speech.
University officials anticipate Franklin
Hall will be renovated by the fall of 2006, 80 years after
it was built.
"It's hard to run a school well and serve
students well from separate facilities," Fruit said. "We're
not building bricks and mortar here -- we're building a program.
This is something that has been in people's minds for a long
time."
The "new" Franklin Hall will have high-tech
classrooms, places for students to practice their work and
extensive student media areas, including a combined convergence
newsroom for the Daily Kent Stater, TV-2 and other
media. Flexibility will be a key concept throughout the building.
A
blazer waits for a TV2 anchor to wear on the next broadcast.
"We don't know exactly how that's going
to take form," Fruit said. "The editors and directors will
make that decision, but we're giving them the capabilities."
He said this is an essential learning environment
for journalism students because convergence is the direction
the professional world is heading.
Mandy Jenkins, a journalism graduate student
who works for WKSU, the Stater and Fusion
magazine, said the change is a sign of the times.
"We have the technology and the know-how
to make news more interesting and more user-friendly," she
said. "Why not use it? I find it to be an exciting venture
that will bookmark my generation in the overall scheme of
how people communicate."
|
Journalism
students have the opportunity to work with NewsOhio, an example
of convergence already going on in the program.
And she said the program's changes will
make its students more marketable in the profession.
Mark Pike, director of library and media
services, said he anticipates new partnerships forming within
journalism and teleproductions, which provides basic video
support for academic and non-academic programs on campus and
currently operates out of the university library.
The biggest change for teleproductions will
be switching from an analog system to a digital system.
"We'll be able to blend all these varieties
of digital media seamlessly," Pike said. "Everyone will be
digital. The potential exists for there to be outlets for
the Stater -- if the Stater wanted to
experiment with digital and web-streaming, they could do that."
Fruit said university officials have spent
a lot of time researching similar programs, as well as getting
feedback from students on their needs.
The hall will have wireless internet access
for students with laptop computers and have space for digital
video, audio and photo editing, high-end technology labs and
a 150-seat lecture hall. He said students will have areas
to relax between classes and lockers to put their things in,
as well as a substantial vending area.
"That has been a significant priority,"
he said, adding that this is because Franklin Hall is so much
farther from cafeterias on campus than either Taylor Hall
or Music and Speech.
Read more:
Fruit said the
hall’s design already has been started, and construction
is expected to start next March and be completed by the fall
of 2006.
University officials await funding
for Franklin Hall renovations and construction
Go to JMC home page
Story
by Meghan Moravcik
Photos by Erin Galletta
|
