2008 Woodie Awards
Media Center:Keeping Up With The Jones's
Tricia Mirabella
Issue date: 10/12/05 Section: Campus News
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UC was a founding member of the Public Relations Student Society of America, which now includes more than 200 chapters nationwide.
More than 50 years later, the curriculum continues to progress while maintaining its reputation as one of the finest programs of its kind.
Although Professor Simon retired in 1985, he remains active on the UC campus by mentoring students through his role as executive director of the Raymond Simon Institute for Public Relations.
Due to Simon's contributions to the UC community, he is one of the most well-known and influential professors at Utica College.
Roughly five years ago, the communications department at UC decided that students needed to have a better sense of visual communication.
They also decided that eventually, all the different mediums of communication; print, broadcast and online will no longer be defined by how they are delivered, but rather will "converge" into one, thus, the creation of the Professor Raymond Simon Convergence Media Center.
In an attempt to keep UC's public relations-journalism program competitive and technologically advanced, the Simon Multimedia Center will have a broadcast studio which will house interview sets and studio cameras with teleprompters.
Space for the half million-dollar project has been provided in the Faculty Center and will also include a control room and an editing suite.
The proposal also includes mini DV cameras to allow students to gather news stories from around the campus and the surrounding community. The center will aim at preparing students to work in any type of media environment and ready them for the field.
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urrently, in order to keep up with the addition of several new journalism and communications classes at UC, four digital cameras and five new editing systems, as well as tripods and microphones, were added to enhance the learning experience.
"It's not just about building a facility, it's about building a program," said journalism professor Dave Chanatry. "We're hopeful that the plan will not take too much longer," he said. Chanatry estimates the facility will be up and running in two years.
Several fundraising campaigns have been done in Ray Simon's name, including the celebration of Simon's 90 birthday in New York City last spring.
Chanatry also pointed out that UC has applied for grants and is continuing to meet with various outlets, such as Time Warner, regarding donations.
Some faculty members are also meeting with lobbyists from Washington who handle such educational matters, in an attempt to receive more federal money. In addition, companies who build such media studios have visited UC to evaluate the space and provide a price list of equipment.
For more information about donating, visit www.utica.edu/instadvance/development/donate.cfm or contact Laura Casamento in the Office of Institutional Advancement at extension 3219.