Filed Under: President's Post

I was honored to participate on April 12 in the Grand Opening of the Center for Innovation in Media of the College of Mass Communication. This new center — a premier facility sure to attract the best and brightest students from Tennessee and the region — reasserts the University’s commitment to maintaining that strong brand.

This facility also represents the hard work by Dean Roy Moore and Stephan Foust, the director of the new center, in getting it up and running. I would like to thank you both for your efforts and results.

It wasn’t so long ago that mainstream media — print, television, and radio — were separated.

It was also true that universities reflected the divisions between journalism and radio-television schools in their academic departments.

Technology has changed all that, blurring those divisions and changing the way journalists and students across the disciplines conduct business.

This new center reflect this new world of media convergence .

In today’s highly competitive digital environment, a graduate must have a working knowledge of web and print writing, video and still photography, nonlinear editing, podcasting, graphics, and social media.

Those well-trained and diversified students are the job applicants that are being hired in this challenging career field.

Visitors who pass through the Mass Communication Building can look through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows to see media students at work. It gives passers-by a sense of the excitement within – and will encourage other students to join what is going on inside.

At its core is the “egg room” – the first time I’ve ever heard of such a thing! – which was patterned from examples found in professional media newsrooms. It is the central gathering point, where our students will collaborate and contribute to our campus media outlets.

Finally, my thanks to the Cornerstone Donors we recognized at the opening. I am grateful for the individual gifts from friends and supporters, as well as the grants from media outlets and associations. We appreciate your investment in our students.

Leon Alligood, a former reporter for The Tennessean and now assistant professor of journalism, said it best: “We’re trailblazing, and that’s exciting.”