The William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas will dedicate the new Stan and Madeline Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom Friday, Oct. 1, at noon. The two-hour event will feature an open house, reception and tours of the newsroom, and a ceremony honoring the generous contributions of Stan and Madeline Stauffer.

The Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom is designed to give students real-world experience by merging print, broadcast and online news in one newsroom. The newsroom provides a space for students from the different campus media, The University Daily Kansan, KUJH-TV and KJHK radio, to work together and exchange story ideas and formulate various methods for telling those stories. The newsroom also provides multiple workstations for students to complete classroom work, and it features a training lab, as well as broadcast and editing facilities for KUJH and KJHK.

“This is a great addition to the School of Journalism and offers our students many new, unique opportunities,” Interim Dean Ann Brill said. “We are known as a school grounded in teaching the traditional values of journalism, as well as offering a cutting-edge multimedia curriculum to our students. The Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom is the perfect example of today’s newsroom environment.”

Construction began this summer, supported by a $200,000 donation from Stan and Madeline Stauffer. Construction crews gutted the second floor lobby of the Dole Center to transform it into the multimedia news showroom.

“My wife Madeline and I were anxious to do what we could for the School of Journalism,” Stan Stauffer said. “I feel a close relationship with the School, having graduated with journalism training in 1942. I believe the multimedia newsroom is the future of journalism. We consider ourselves very fortunate to help the cause.”

This glassed-in facility will eventually boast a plasma split screen TV, high-definition video monitors, news desks and additional broadcasting equipment.

“The new newsroom is probably the biggest thing to happen around the School in 20 years,” said Rick Musser, professor and manager of the newsroom.

For more information about the Stauffer Multimedia Newsroom and other School of Journalism programs, visit the School’s Web site at www.journalism.ku.edu, or contact Jennifer Kinnard, Communications Coordinator, at jkinnard@ku.edu or 785-864-7644.