The Business Journal of Phoenix - 4:34 PM MST Wednesday, February 21, 2007
by Chris Casacchia
The Business Journal
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoen...ml?jst=b_ln_hl
The Walter Cronkite School of Mass Communication at Arizona State University broke ground Wednesday morning on a six-story, 223,000-square-foot complex at Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix.
Cronkite, long-time anchor of the "CBS Evening News" and dubbed "the most trusted man on television," was joined by Arizona State University President Michael Crow, Gov. Janet Napolitano, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, Dean Christopher Callahan and KAET General Manager Greg Giczi for the journalism school's historic launch.
"Michael Crow is a true visionary of our time. He took the reins of this university and gave it a new direction and energy beyond anyone's imagination," Cronkite said. "Together with Dean Callahan, these two inspiring leaders are working to make our journalism school the best in the land. I'm grateful beyond measure to those who made this dream a reality."
The facility at 411 N. Central Ave. will open in fall 2008. The Cronkite School's portion of the building will be five times the size of its current home at the Tempe campus. The 100,000-square-foot space will be equipped with four digital newsrooms, seven multimedia computer labs, two TV studios, four classrooms and a 150-seat auditorium for large public forums. It also will house offices for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and the New Media Innovation Lab -- two recent additions to the Cronkite School.
"Having the Cronkite School in Phoenix makes so much sense and offers so many educational opportunities," Gordon said. "Locating right in the middle of the government corridor and most of the major media outlets will allow journalism students to essentially have a laboratory that is as big as downtown Phoenix itself."
More than 200 people attended the event.