Center for Media Innovation and Research

The latest issue of the College’s alumni magazine, Communigator, prompted several former students to contact me to ask what the status is on the new center — the Center for Media Innovation and Research (CMIR). The cover story is on the center. [I’d provide a link but the magazine isn’t online yet.]

Most of us in the college are wondering about the status of the center, too. This project certainly has been kept under wraps — literally. All the windows that run the length of the center continue to be covered in brown wrapping paper with the doors locked.

I did manage a second unofficial personal tour at the end of the semester when the door was unlocked during construction work.

The multi-screen flat panel television now is working. PBS WordWorld was playing at the time, but we’ll be moving beyond the animals spelling out words in a kettle of alphabet soup. Something else will be simmering in the CMIR.

The room has five pods — tables, each with one hard drive and computer monitor. In the rear right corner is a sound booth. New additions to the room are this television camera and a wall-size world map that can work for standups.

This fall, the Senate encouraged the dean to establish a committee to help determine how the CMIR will be used. The committee was established and has started collecting input from the faculty. The committee did get a tour of the center before the end of the semester. The only other group I know of that has been given a tour is the Journalism Department’s Advisory Council.

Stay tuned in for more news developments on the CMIR — as we on faculty receive news.