IU dedicates Franklin Hall as new home of Media School
Over one hundred years ago my grandfather and Henry Sherman Adams, a Monroe County farmer and a stonecutter, helped lay the foundation for a new campus library. Now known as Franklin Hall, this is its story. For the first sixty years, this beautiful limestone building played a central role in the lives of thousands of students.
This room, Presidents Hall, was once the grand reading room of the main library. In the late 1960s when I was a student, it housed one and a half million books in what were then the library stacks. When the library moved in 1969, this building found a new role as our campus student services building. Many of you may remember it as a place you registered for classes and paid your bursar bill.
In October 2014, construction began to make Franklin Hall the new home of The Media School. When you look at Franklin Hall from the outside, you’ll see that the facade hasn’t changed much over time, but the interior has been transformed. Inside, you’ll find the most technologically advanced facilities in one of the most historic buildings on campus. Students will continue to learn within the walls of Franklin Hall.
And they’ll be telling their own stories, using all the tools of the modern media.
‘Stand by.’ ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘Can we change the headline?’ ‘Test, one, two.’ ‘Move it up some.’ ‘Pan left just a touch.’ ‘If you look at the Johnson and Johnson case, you’ll see that they represented the company well.’ ‘Now let’s switch up that anchor read on the next segment.’ ‘Once we have these censors connected, we’ll be able to watch your heart rate.’ ‘Standby.’ ‘I think you could boost the immersion in your game if you use the dynamic material, like this.’ ‘And, five, four, three, two, one.’
The arch around the front door points to the inscription of a quote from poet John Milton added by limestone carvers in 1934 ‘A good book is the precious life blood of a master spirit.’
Franklin Hall has moved on from its origins as a library, but the inscriptions will stay as a reminder of the building’s original purpose as the heart of campus learning. Welcome to the new Franklin Hall, where the ideas of the next generation will be built.
IU formally re-dedicated Franklin Hall as the home of The Media School in ceremonies featuring President Michael McRobbie and other IU dignitaries, including members of the IU Board of Trustees, Tuesday afternoon in Presidents Hall in Franklin Hall.
“We’re here in this state-of-the-art home of The Media School, a historic and iconic landmark of the Old Crescent,” McRobbie said. “Today, we officially mark its role as home to one of IU’s newest schools.”
For more than a year, workers gutted and renovated Franklin Hall, built as a library in 1907 and converted to offices after the Wells Library was built in 1969. Today, the building features a glass skylight that illuminates a commons area, the centerpiece of which is a 24-foot-by-12-foot TV screen. Focus on technology extends to the Beckley Studio, a cutting-edge production facility, and classrooms outfitted with large screens to interact with student laptops and tablets, among other features.
The camera shows the outside of Franklin Hall. It moves into the Commons, where IU Media School students Griffin Weinberg and Nicole Krasean are seated. They start talking about the new home of The Media School.
Welcome to Franklin Hall, the new home for Indiana University’s Media School. This building dates back to 1907, but it’s got a whole new look now.
When you walk in here, the first thing you see is the commons area. It’s a space to meet up with friends, to study or to catch the news on this 24-by-12-foot screen behind us. Let’s go check out the rest of the building.
The students move into classroom 114.
With all of its new high-tech classrooms, Franklin Hall is ready for the future.
The students move to the ICR, Room 009-019.
This building is also home to the Institute for Communication Research, where students and faculty can conduct social scientific research.
The students move to a game design room, Room 035.
For all those gamers out there, Franklin Hall has a brand-new facility for designing and developing video games.
The students move to the Multimedia Lab in Room 073. There are other students working on computers in the lab.
The multimedia lab is the perfect place to work on all of your photo, video and audio projects.
The students move to the editing bays in the basement.
Ready to take your editing projects to the next level? Franklin Hall has multiple private editing bays available to all students. Let’s go check out the screening room. Let’s go.
The students move to the screening room, in Room 304.
You can appreciate all your hard work by watching your finished films in the brand-new screening room.
The students move to the newsroom. There are editors and reporters working at computers.
All student media groups now have one home. Here, you can find the Indiana Daily Student, Inside magazine and Arbutus.
The students walk through the newsroom.
We finally made it to the Ken and Audrey Beckley Studio where we have state-of-the-art broadcast equipment.
The Beckley Studio is in Room 116/118.
As you can see, our new Media School has so much to offer, whether it’s a new class, a new program, a new room or even just messing around in the studio here, everyone will find something they love about Franklin Hall. So come check it out, and try not to get lost.
Produced by Emelie Flower. Music by Josh Sites.
“The magnificently renovated building we celebrate today is now an appropriate home for The Media School as it continues to grow,” McRobbie said of the school, launched in 2014 and comprising the established journalism, telecommunications and film studies programs at IU. “This 109-year-old building is now home to state-of-the-art technologies that provide our students and faculty with the resources they need to meet the evolving challenges of today’s media landscape.”
Founding Media School Dean James Shanahan talked about student experiences, including the use of the commons TV screen, which has become a location for students to watch and critique everything from soccer broadcasts to political debates.
“Entering the building, you see a transition from wood paneled chambers to airy space dominated by two things: a magnificent screen and students who have made the place their home, congregating and experiencing things together,” he said. “This is the living room of campus.”
During the ceremony, Fox broadcaster Joe Buck, who attended IU in the late ’80s and early ’90s, was awarded an honorary doctorate. In his remarks, he recalled registering for classes in what is now Presidents Hall, attending classes and taking advantage of a job offer in St. Louis that prompted him to leave IU for a professional career at age 20.
“Picking IU was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life,” said Buck, who won his first of seven Emmys as a play-by-play broadcaster in 2000 and has been nominated almost every year, receiving the honor again most recently in 2014. “I’m proud to say I went here, too.”
Buck arrived at Franklin Hall a bit earlier in the day and took time to record some promos for IU in the school’s new Beckley Studio, which he pronounced “fantastic.” He also watched and chatted with current students eager to meet the sports broadcasting veteran.
“There have never been more opportunities for students,” Buck said. “It’s unbelievable how good young people are at what I’ve spent my life doing or watched my dad (sportscast legend Jack Buck) do. I can’t tell you how big of a weapon it is to have this facility here.”
Touring the building
After the ceremony, attendees filled the commons area for cookies sporting a Media School logo, and many toured the building directed by Media School ambassadors and staff.
Some, including Ken Beckley himself, took the chance to stand in front of the green screen in the Ken and Audrey Beckley Studio to deliver a mock weather report. The green screen provides a neutral background so that graphics can be displayed behind the speaker. Others walked through the game lab and visited the student media offices.
“The university did a wonderful job renovating the building,” said former Herald-Times publisher Mayer Maloney. “They did particularly well preserving the older parts of the building and bringing them back to life.”
Annabeth Pfafflin, of the VPS Architecture team that oversaw the renovations, said she was amazed by the ceremony and proud of the final results of her work.
“We work on these projects for years,” Pfafflin said, “so to see it finally come to fruition is very satisfying and exciting.”
George Vlahakis, senior news and media specialist at IU, is a 1985 graduate of the journalism program.
“As someone who spent many hours as a student at Ernie Pyle Hall, I really appreciate how this program brings everything together and shows how fitting it is to have a Media School here,” he said. “Franklin Hall was the home of knowledge, and now our students are creating knowledge.”
The tours were self-guided, allowing guests to take their time viewing the building and everything it has to offer. Several recent graduates explored what had come to replace the buildings they had attended classes in throughout their college careers.
“I’m kind of jealous,” said Lindsay Wimmer, BAJ’10. “It’s such a nice building, and the technology is going to be life-changing for the students. I wish I could come back and be a student all over again.”
— reported by Taylor Haggerty and Zoe Spilker
Chatting over ice cream
After the rededication ceremony and tours, people strolled outside for an ice cream social in Dunn Meadow. Students, faculty and special guests mingled and networked over ice cream from the Chocolate Moose.
“During the self tour, everyone was just blown away by the screen, the studio and the technology,” said Media School Ambassador Carrie Latimer. “And now we get Chocolate Moose, so what else can you ask for?”
As Media School Dean James Shanahan enjoyed fresh vanilla ice cream, he took a minute to respond to a reporter.
“Tell everyone I said a huge thank you,” he said. “It was a great turnout altogether.”
— reported by Sarah Peters
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