About the Don Morris Center Renovation and JMC/network Newsroom Project

In the Fall of 2000 as the faculty of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at ACU continued its ongoing discussion about the future of journalism education, it started discussing the necessary curricular changes that would take the department into the 21st Century. As the faculty considered the changes in the ways journalism was changing and converging, it decided to pursue the construction of a multimedia newsroom -- one that would combine the efforts of print, broadcast and online journalists. During the next seven years, the department perfected the plan, folding in new technologies and systems as they became relevant and considering the pedagogical implications of this innovative journalism education lab. From the beginning the plan included common spaces and floor plans that would encourage collaboration among the students and faculty, as well as a space for the department's first advertising and public relations agency. The university finalized the funding for the $1.1 million project in early 2007 and completed construction of the facility in December of that year.

Early planning documents

White paper on Media Convergence (pdf) (Susan Lewis, 2001) - Provides ideological support for the renovation

Katia Scenario (pdf) (Susan Lewis, 2001) - Provides a futuristic vision of journalism education; instrumental in selling the idea to university planners

Curriculum Changes (pdf) (Susan Lewis, 2001) - Continues department's trajectory toward a converged curriculum

First Construction Proposal (Susan Lewis, 2003) - Outlines the plans for the renovation

Peer-reviewed scholarly works regarding the renovation

Black, White and Viewed All Over: The Practical Challenges of Expanding College Newspaper Coverage into Online Video (pdf), Kenneth R. Pybus, J.D. and R. Cade White (2006), presented at the Conference on Convergence and Society: Ethics, Religion, and New Media, University of South Carolina.

Educating Journalists for the 21st Century: Constructing a Student Multimedia Environment (pdf), Susan L. Lewis, Ed.D. (2008), International Journal of Learning.

Contact: Dr. Cheryl Bacon, chair Department of Journalism and Mass Communication Abilene Christian University, Box 27892 Don Morris Center, Room 301 Abilene, Texas 79699 Phone: 325-674-2296 Email: baconc@acu.edu

Related Links: Grand Opening of the Student Media News Lab About the Project History of ACU Student Media Multimedia Gallery

The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

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