An inside look at the new entrance to Allen Hall

by Tim Gleason

Ithe just-completed academic year will be remembered here in the School as one of the busiest and most productive in recent memory, and SOJC faculty, staff and students deserve a great deal of credit for our successes this year.

We began the year with a very full agenda. In addition to teaching more than 1000 undergraduate majors and pre-majors and more than 70 graduate students, we faced several significant tasks: In the fall, we finished the self-study for our six-year reaccreditation by the Accrediting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Beginning also in the fall and continuing throughout the spring, we reviewed applications and interviewed candidates in several tenure-related faculty searches. In addition, the new school year heralded the beginning of construction on the new entrance and plaza for Allen Hall and the Edwin L. Artzt Administrative Offices.

We report on these efforts and others in this special double issue of Flash, but I want to give you a brief overview.

In 1947, the School was among the first group of journalism programs to be nationally accredited. This year, in preparation for a visit by a team made up of distinguished journalism educators and professionals, we embarked on an exhaustive self-study of our undergraduate and professional master’s program. All members of the faculty have input into the self-study. Three faculty—Visiting Assistant Professor Kellee Weinhold, Assistant Dean Greg Kerber and Director of Operations Coleen Ebert—devoted enormous amounts of time, energy and talent to the self-study. The visiting team made a special point of praising the final product, writing “The self-study was, above all else, candid, straightforward and thorough. It also was specific—right down to the fact that the main university library is located 1,506 feet from Allen Hall. It was, in short, a solid, well-organized and readable document.”

The site team visit was equally successful. The team’s report gave a very good evaluation of our program and a strong recommendation for reaccreditation, which, as we report on page one, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications followed.

An added dimension of the site team visit was a video crew taping a training video to be used by ACEJMC. The video presents a very positive picture of the UO, and we are proud that ACEJMC selected us as the site for this endeavor. It was a vote of confidence in our faculty, staff and students.

As the accreditation report noted, the School has “an academically and professionally well-balanced faculty that students praise for their accessibility and their demanding, yet caring, style.” We are excited to be adding three new faculty members who will be joining the School in the fall. Jim Van Leuven, Julieanne Newton and Scott Maier bring high-level professional experience and outstanding teaching and research credentials to the SOJC. Our new colleagues will undoubtedly enrich the School’s focus on high-quality applied and theoretical professional journalism education.

The accreditation team’s report also made mention of our effective and successful fund-raising efforts. These efforts are the most visible in the ongoing renovation of Allen Hall. At the beginning of the spring term, we opened the new entrance and plaza as well the new dean’s office complex, which is the first phase of the Edwin L. Artzt Administrative Offices. This phase is the “signature” piece of the Allen Hall renovation and the major structural change in the building. In addition to creating a new look for the School and giving us a true “front door” (did you ever wonder about the location of Allen Hall’s front door?), the new plaza and atrium, which was in part supported by the McCoy Foundation Challenge Grant, give us wonderful public space in the building. Shortly after the opening, we held a reception for all of the School’s student organizations, which was soon followed by a reception during the Ruhl Symposium, and, most recently, the School hosted the UO Foundation Board of Trustees.

As well as a testament to our ability to fund-raise, the Allen Hall renovation stands as a tangible example of the loyalty and commitment of the School’s alumni and friends. Of the estimated $6-million cost, we expect to receive $561,000 from the State of Oregon. The balance will be met by private donors—donors whose names can be found in the new entrance atrium on a beautiful donor wall. The wall, which contains the names of more than 200 friends and alumni who have contributed at least $1,000 since the beginning of the Oregon Campaign in 1992 and which will be updated annually, provides a powerful reminder of the diverse organizations and individuals who support the School.

Please take the time to read more about these accomplishments as well as others in this issue of Flash. I hope you are as impressed as I am with the accomplishments and efforts of the SOJC students, faculty and staff.