More than 200 faculty, staff, students and guests joined the journalism school as it celebrated its new building and a new era of journalism last night in John S. and James L. Knight Hall.
Yesterday’s event was the official dedication of the $30 million facility, although students have been using the building the entire semester. The building is named after the late Knight brothers, whose foundation donated $10 million to its construction.
Speakers included university President Dan Mote, journalism Dean Kevin Klose and university alumna and former CNN anchor Connie Chung.
“It is a most impressive building,” Mote said. “It will inspire great work from our students and our faculty.”
Klose spoke to the audience about the challenges facing journalism today, commenting on the importance of the industry to the university and the nation as a whole.
“Journalism is a companion and a nurturer of liberty and independence and democratic, multiparty, multiple views coming together to find the paths forward,” he said. “The way forward is not so clear, but we are up to the challenges of change and up to the challenge of diversity in new ways.”
— Text by Jessica Bauer, photos by Jaclyn Borowski
