Donors Recognized in New Building

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications has raised more than $2.6 million to help fund digital equipment and specialized student programs in the school’s newly opened home on Arizona State University’s downtown Phoenix campus.

In recognition of the gifts from foundations, corporations and individuals, the Cronkite School named, in perpetuity, rooms in the new building in honor of the donors.

Traditionally, such gifts help pay for the construction of new university buildings. But the $71 million cost of the Cronkite School was paid for by a bond that Phoenix voters approved by a 2-1 margin in 2006.

“We are enormously fortunate that – due to the vision of Mayor Phil Gordon, the Phoenix City Council and the residents of the city – we could use these generous gifts for state-of-the-art digital media equipment and special hands-on programs for our students,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan.

The newly named rooms include:

• The Marguerite and Jack Clifford Gallery, a glass-enclosed display area where the public can view artifacts representing the history of the news media, the Cronkite School and the career of the school’s namesake, longtime CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite
• The Sony Television Studio, a state-of-the-art, high-definition facility open to all Cronkite students on the sixth floor of the new building
• The Donald W. Reynolds Leadership Suite, an area that includes the school’s main reception area and 11 offices of the school’s deans and directors
• The Gannett New Media Innovation Suite, a research and development lab located in the digital media wing on the building’s second floor
• The Azcentral.com Classroom, a 65-seat tiered and fully mediated classroom adjacent to the First Amendment Forum
• The Weather Central Terrace, an open-air space inside the Cronkite NewsWatch newsroom where students can air live shots
• The Thomson Grass Valley TV Engineering Suite, which houses the school’s engineering team and sophisticated broadcast news technology infrastructure
• The Christine Devine Conference Room, located inside the Cronkite News Service multi-platform newsroom
• The Autoscript Equipment Room, where students will check out digital video cameras and gear, audio recorders and photography equipment
• The Dotts Family Dean’s Office
• KNXV-TV/Scripps Howard Foundation News Director’s Office.
• ClearCom Communications Cronkite News Service TV Director’s Office
• The Cody and Casey Callahan Editing Bay
• The Andrew Leckey Editing Bay