Syracuse University’s Newhouse School to add building, expand programs with $15-million grant

Syracuse University’s Newhouse School to add building, expand programs with $15-million grantApril 10, 2003Nicci Brownnicbrown@syr.edu

Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications is set to extend its role as an international leader in communications education with a $15-million grant from the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation.

The grant-which was formally announced April 9 during a joint appearance by Donald E. Newhouse, president of Advance Publications Inc.; SU Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw; and David M. Rubin, dean of the Newhouse School-will be used for the construction of a third building, Newhouse III, in the Newhouse Communications Complex. It is one of the largest private donations in SU’s history.

“The Newhouse School has reached a point at which it must expand to fulfill its mission,” says Newhouse. “The ever-changing, ever-increasing forms of public communications that new technologies engender have greatly multiplied the areas of expertise needed by professionals.”

“The creation of Newhouse III will allow the school to intensify its mission to educate the next generation of professionals who aspire to careers in the media,” says Shaw. “It will also enable the school to expand into new areas of leadership in communications education, research and service.”

The announcement was made before a crowd of around 200 people who packed the atrium of the Newhouse I building. It was followed by an invitation-only lunch for about 60 guests including Jeff Licata, an international fashion photographer who attended Newhouse in the 80s; Eric Mower G’68, CEO and chairman, Eric Mower and Associates; and Mary Cotter, president, Time Warner Cable Syracuse Division.

Construction of the new building is expected to begin in Fall 2004-the 40-year anniversary of the school’s opening-and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2006.

Highlights of the expansion will include:

• An executive education suite, which will allow the school to reach media professionals through continuing education courses, workshops, distance learning programs and training programs for foreign visitors. The space will also be available for professional groups and industry competitions. Already, the Newhouse School hosts the annual Society for News Design international competition and oversees the Alexia Competition, which encourages the use of photography to further the goal of world peace.
• A research center to increase collaboration between faculty and students, and attract research contracts from industry clients. Two new areas for research include the media and politics, to be headed by the School’s new Knight Chair in Political Reporting; and the Center for Convergence, which examines the trends toward convergence taking place in the nation’s newsrooms. The research center will also provide added space for already-established Newhouse programs such as TRAC (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse), which has distinguished itself as the leading proponent of computer-based investigative reporting focusing on the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service; and the Center for the Study of Popular Television, directed by Robert Thompson, who regularly provides commentary on the impact of television on popular culture.
• Two modern newsrooms, one for Web-based news reporting and the other for broadcast journalism. Each will be designed to allow students to produce content for the outside world, and to give students and faculty a chance to experiment with computer-based, interactive media content.

Rubin says these features and other improvements brought by Newhouse III will enable the Newhouse School to build on its strong reputation for attracting a diverse, high-achieving and fiercely motivated student body. “We do not intend to change our student focus,” he says, “but a third building in the Newhouse complex will permit us to serve our students in ways that have not been possible because of the space demands of the past 15 years.”

The Newhouse School is among the largest and most widely respected communications schools in the nation, with a mission of educating young professionals who will work in all areas of the communications industry. The school regularly receives more than 2,800 applications for 320 spots in each freshman class and is highly selective in its admissions policy. Overall, the School enrolls 1,800 undergraduates, 180 master’s degree candidates, and 15 Ph.D. candidates. Its alumni hold positions of leadership throughout the industry.

The Newhouse Fellowship and Apprenticeship for Minorities, which supports master’s degree students in the newspaper program and is funded by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, has trained more than 60 minority students who are now working in the nation’s newsrooms. It is among the most successful programs of its kind at improving newsroom diversity.

The school’s students are widely recognized for their high achievement. Its broadcast journalism students regularly win the national Hearst Foundation competition for excellence in reporting. In 1996, one if its photography students, Stephanie L. Walsh, won the Pulitzer Prize for photography while working on an internship in Africa. Walsh was nominated by the Newhouse News Service, which distributed her work in the U.S.

The Newhouse School was dedicated on August 5, 1964 in a ceremony attended by President Lyndon Baines Johnson and S.I. Newhouse, founder of Advance Publications, and father of S.I. Newhouse Jr. and Donald Newhouse. http://sunews.syr.edu/newhouse/