Grand Opening keynote speakers include KSU President Lester Lefton, CCI Dean Jim Gaudino and JMC Director Jeff Fruit.

Visitors in the First Energy Interactive Lecture Hall, Hirsch Convergence Lab and other venues also saw a video of former and current students, alums, staff and teachers reminiscing about Franklin Hall and JMC.

I am delighted to welcome you to Franklin Hall. As many of you know, we have been celebrating our arrival in Franklin Hall since we took partial occupancy in August.

We’ve had our first Homecoming here, welcomed the University’s Board of Trustees, the Alumni Association Board, the local Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Akron’s Media Day, and the new Ohio Scholastic Media Association’s first conference. We’ve hosted a major Public Relations Conference and a University Faculty Club reception. We’ve led tours for distinguished guests, prospective students, parents, and alumni. Today, we are honored to have with us Representatives Linda Bolon and Stephen Dyer.

Our event today marks a culmination of those celebrations and also marks a time for us to thank the many, many people who helped us reach this point, and to reflect on the importance of the grand opening.

'Converging media.

Collaborative, interactive

learning. Positioned for the

future. That’s the new

Franklin Hall Story and what

we are celebrating today.'

Our Grand Opening today is more in the “Open House” tradition, as we’ve been fully functioning since fall, and we are using several of our best classrooms throughout the building to welcome you. Following the ceremony, we are going to give you a chance to explore this marvelous new facility. You have in your packet a Tour Guide and Map. Students and faculty are also available to provide more detail and assistance.

Throughout the planning and construction process, I have marveled at the skill and expertise of those who have enabled us to make the new Franklin Hall a reality. You will find their names listed in the program.

The architectural firm Westlake Reed Leskosky, led by Ron Reed’s vision, designed a facility that matched our aspirations for a journalism program second-to-none in preparing 21st Century media-related communicators to “hit the ground running.”

Jay Frye was the School’s “inside guy,” who rarely missed a construction meeting and pushed to keep much of the building’s unique infrastructure in place – despite several rounds of budget cuts. The professionals in the University Architect’s office were superb partners throughout. Working with Beth Ruffing and Mike Bruder was a pleasure, even on those occasions when we were in “value engineering” mode.

Contractors, who are also listed in the program, overcame significant obstacles that come with renovating a historic building with the capacity for adaptability in the future. They overcame the move of 27,000 twisted pairs of telephone wires, a major roof-related collapse and water, water everywhere around the new wing. They kept a complex project on track while attending to the minor changes that make a larger impact.

Finally, I am appreciative of the School’s faculty who provided both vision and persistent lobbying through the long, long years of anticipation and planning. Many of those same folks went above and beyond the call of duty to help out as we moved in and got through the first semester. I particularly want to thank our full-time School staff, tech support team and outstanding custodial crew, all of whom had to perform their regular duties as well as undertake the extraordinary efforts related to moving to the new facility. For faculty and staff here today, you all know how much I appreciate the great work that you do.

Talking about our team and their work leads me to paraphrase Architect Reed, who said what really matters in any building is not the bricks and mortar, it’s what happens inside – “It’s about the lives and activities that occur within,” he said.

Since I began giving tours of the building, I have been struck, and often moved, by the stories of people who worked and learned in Franklin Hall and in JMC’s former homes – stories of classes taken in Franklin Hall over the decades, stories of learning and maturing in our former homes of Merrill Hall, Taylor Hall and the Music & Speech Building; stories of the very early days when Franklin served as home to the University School, used for teacher training through the College of Education.

In your packet, you’ll find a copy of the Jargon, JMC’s alumni newsletter. You can read about Fred Dubois, who went to school here in the 30s and 40s, then watched the building evolve from across the street at DuBois Bookstore. And you will hear later from Millie Kieselbach, a grade-schooler when the building opened in 1926, and whose father was the principal for many years, stories from the School’s history, like Helen Dix and Marge Block in the 1930s leading the first Kent Stater written, edited and published entirely by women.

Leading our distinguished alumni were many directors that have helped to make the School of Journalism and Mass Communication the success that it is today. Joining us are Dr. Murv Perry, Dr. Joe Harper, and Tim Smith. Their dedication and hard work has influenced the careers of many successful journalists. We are pleased to welcome back today some JMC graduates and their colleagues in the media, representing print, television, and radio.

From these and many other directors, journalists, and alumni, I have heard stories of business and math classes. Stories of teaching, doing research, working late into the night on deadline at the Stater, getting ready to go live with TV2 News, playing rock n’ roll on the predecessor to Black Squirrel Radio and surviving a crisis at the printer with the Burr.

We talk a lot in the School about engaged, hands-on learning, and you can see evidence of that in the stories students are telling today. The Jargon in your packet, for example, was produced by Burr students. The Burr is one of our student magazines.

Students have several multi-media stories about Franklin Hall on the School’s web site. They helped to produce the “Where we’ve been, where we’re going video” that just finished. They’re covering today’s event, and may be taking your picture and asking you some questions throughout the afternoon.

Converging media. Collaborative, interactive learning. Positioned for the future. That’s the new Franklin Hall Story and what we are celebrating today.

It is now my pleasure to introduce the Dean of the College of Communication and Information, Jim Gaudino. He has situated our relatively young College as a leader on campus. He was tireless in advocating for the School throughout our building process, and I am deeply appreciative for his help and guidance along the way. Dean Gaudino….

Thank all of you for coming to our open house. We are proud of this program and this facility. Thank you for making both possible.

In welcoming you, I want to call upon the remarks of Record Courier Publisher David Dix. At the recent Bowman Breakfast, David spoke of a time with the contacts between Kent the town and Kent the university were more frequent. This building sits on the corner between the two Kents. I hope all of you, whether you are townies or gownies, will consider this your building and that you will use it often.

'Those associated with KSU

know that there is no better

place to study journalism and

mass communication than in

Franklin Hall.'

I also want to echo Jeff’s statements of appreciation to those who worked on this project. Thank you all for your good work and for the many extra hours you gave and continue to give to Franklin Hall and to the School.

This project also benefited from the leadership of an outstanding executive team. That support began years ago under then President Carol Cartwright’s theme of Imagine and it continues with President Lester Lefton’s focus on Excellence in Action. I believe this new facility fulfills both visions, and I trust that our executives are as proud of it as we are.

While all the executive officers contributed, I must also single out the financial stewardship provided by Vice President Stafford and Vice President David Creamer. Kathy created the first development position within CCI. David guided this project though reduced state funding and increasing construction costs. Even when he had difficult decisions to make, David steadfastly insisted on the integrity of this project.

There is also a person that has served as advocate, as mediator, as engineer, as judge and jury, and a couple of times as the angry man with the red face. On a few occasions, he played all of those roles before lunch. That person is the School’s very able director, Jeff Fruit.

Jeff never wavered from the guiding principle behind this project: to provide a teaching and a learning space that is state-of-the-art and that has the capacity to remain so. We’re living in a time of unprecedented change in communication technologies, and none of us can predict what the next phase in the digital revolution.

The solution we took was to design flexibility into the building. When you tour the facility, you’ll see the hall ceiling tiles don’t extend to the walls, and you’ll see power strips instead of traditional outlets that are flush with the wall. Those features allow us to change wiring easily. What you cannot see are the extra wiring races that we’ve added during construction. While we admit that we do not know what we’re going to put in them, we’re ready when the time comes.

We do know that when a freshman enters this building, she is already thinking about her first job. Our challenge is that the she’ll be applying for it four or five years into the future. With accelerating changes in the professions that we serve, we cannot accurately predict what her job will be like, other than it will be different than it is today.

We believe that she will work in an environment that some media executives are calling “channel agnostic.” That means she will have to master a variety of media platforms, such as video, photo, audio, and text. She’ll have to be comfortable communicating on the World Wide Web, on front pages, on evening news, and via electronic news releases and advertisements. She will have to be an artful storyteller, a creative problem solver, and a collaborator. She will also have to be entrepreneurial in her approach to her career.

So, we designed our spaces to facilitate those challenges. We’ve built a collaborative newsroom that houses multiple media platforms and that can be reconfigured by the students. You also won’t see classroom desks, but you will see tables and chairs on wheels. On a given day in Franklin, classrooms are rarely configured in the same way two classes in a row. We have also spaces, such as the Gannett Collaborative Classroom, that allow for multiple classes to meet together and for the students with different talents to work together on a project. You might see, for example, classes in magazine, photo, and design meeting to collaborate on a story for our award winning student magazine, the Burr, for our trend setting web site, for on a project for a public relations client.

A significant portion of this building is devoted to student media. We know that our instructional success is built on our focus on the combination of classroom instruction and real-world experiences. Our student media operation is a million dollar plus business, with 70 percent of that being generated by the students. Those students’ managers are being challenged to manage economic change just like their counterparts at the Akron Beacon, at WKYC, or at Marcus-Thomas.

Those associated with KSU know that there is no better place to study journalism and mass communication than in Franklin Hall. I wouldn’t be a doing my job as dean if I did not also note that it will require continued support from our friends to keep this building at the cutting edge. So, if you see a space that catches your fancy, and if you have your checkbook with you…..

Speaking of friends of JMC, I can think of no bigger or more significant booster for this program than the person whom I have the honor of introducing to you. He has earned a national reputation as an award-winning teacher; a prolific researcher; and as an effective academic leader.

Dr. Lester A. Lefton became Kent State University’s 11th president in 2006 and immediately made academic excellence and student success the university’s top priorities. He is working to enhance and support excellence in faculty teaching and research.

In keeping with Kent State’s strong support of regional and state economic development, Dr. Lefton is active on the boards of NorTech and the Greater Akron Chamber. He is also a member of Leadership Cleveland’s Class of 2008.
President Lefton works to enhance the university’s role as a cultural resource through his service on the boards of public television station Channels 45/49 and the Musical Arts Association of the Cleveland Orchestra.

The experience, the energy and the enthusiasm that he brings to Kent State forecasts an exciting future for the University, and especially for our college and for this school. It is my pleasure to bring to the podium, our President, Lester Lefton.

What a great day for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and for Kent State as a whole. It’s a day that affirms the saying, “The future is now.”

The new capacity for teaching and learning we gain with this facility helps make Kent State’s future blindingly bright. It’s one in which our School of Journalism and Mass Communication will:

• expand its role as a national leader in multi-media teaching, research and outreach;

• take full advantage of a facility that is unrivaled among our peers; and, most important,

• it’s a future that will give our aspiring reporters, editors, producers, photographers, videographers and designers a stronger and more flexible springboard to success.

I’m here — we’re all here — because we believe in Kent State’s top — and inextricably linked — priorities: reaching new heights of student success and academic excellence. These pursuits must include providing students, faculty and staff with 21st-century facilities. I’m committed to making that happen across our campuses, as it has happened so successfully here.

No one familiar with the new Franklin Hall can doubt that the work taking place within its walls — creative, collaborative and cutting-edge work — will further academic excellence and student success in a big way. I can’t think of a better reason for our community to rejoice.

But in fact, the reinvention of this stately structure merits celebration for another reason: When we completed the ambitious transformation of Franklin Hall, we completed the massive project to renovate all of the university’s oldest buildings. And we met the goal of restoring our historic front campus to its former stature in time for Kent State’s centennial in 2010.

Speaking of history, most of you know that the School has maintained strong bonds among its students and faculty – bonds that span decades and generations.

'There’s an almost tangible synergy as students and faculty from print, broadcast and online disciplines join journalistic forces'

It’s wonderful that a number of alumni and emeriti could be here today. On behalf of the entire university community, I thank you for your commitment to your professions, and to those who hope to follow in your large and indelible footsteps.

I also thank you for your support of the Franklin Hall project. It’s a testament to the quality of the school — to the caliber of its leadership, its faculty and staff, and its students — that more than two million private dollars were raised in support of learning spaces in the building.

For example, support from professional organizations and foundations allowed us to create:

• the Plain Dealer Classroom;
• the Gannett Foundation Collaborative Classroom;
• and this magnificent space, the FirstEnergy Interactive Auditorium.

And then there are the many alumni and other friends who wanted to help “make the future now.” These generous friends include:

• Gale and Linda Urda;
• David and Janet Dix;
• Tom and Kathy Welsh;
• John and Alan Block;
• and the remarkable alumnus for whom the Carl E. Hirsch Media Convergence Laboratory is named.

In the spaces I’ve just mentioned — and in every corner of Franklin Hall — there’s an almost-tangible synergy as students and faculty from print, broadcast and online disciplines join journalistic forces. And I don’t have to tell anyone here that there’s an equally perceptible sense of pride.

Personal and professional pride have always been hallmarks of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Given the impressive number of state and national awards that its students capture every year; given the stellar accomplishments of so many of its graduates; and given the many ways that the School reaches out to the larger community, that pride is fully justifiable.

With the re-opening of Franklin Hall — complete with state-of-the-art technology and the long-awaited remarriage of our print and broadcast programs — we have even more reason to feel proud; to appreciate the teamwork that led to this day; and to move full speed ahead toward an exciting future for journalism education.

As we do so, it’s worth remembering how we got here. Earlier, Jeff Fruit mentioned the many stories he heard about Franklin Hall and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Senior faculty member Fred Endres and his students recently captured some of those stories on videotape. Students from Teleproductions joined the process by providing production elements. Then colleague Joe Murray edited those stories for you to watch today.

What they found is that Franklin Hall and JMC each share a proud past, but together, are poised for the future.

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