Hofstra University Unveils the Future of the Media
Nassau News Staff Writers
Hofstra University has celebrated the future of its 10-year-old School of Communication by unveiling NewsHub, a state-of-the-art newsroom and multimedia classroom.
“Newsrooms around the country would kill to have this facility,” guest speaker Carol Jenkins, an Emmy Award-winning former television anchor said. “This will put Hofstra on the map, not just nationally, but internationally.”
Jenkins was joined by Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz and School of Communication Dean Sybil DelGaudio for NewsHub’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, which took place outside of the new newsroom. The area designated for the event was too small to fit all the attendees, with roughly 30 folding chairs provided. Those who weren’t fortunate enough to snag chairs gathered around, standing in the back, in aisles, and spilling out into the two connecting hallways.
“Students will be able to learn new media and share content,” DelGaudio said. Following the ceremony, attendees were invited to enter NewsHub, located in the School of Communication’s Dempster Hall, for a demonstration of the various tools and new technologies presented by students. Avid, i-News and NewsCutter, programs that will allow students to write and produce top-of-the-line news stories and media, are just a few of the programs available to those who will make use of the new facility.
“It will simplify a lot of my busy life,” Jackie Hlavenka, a Hofstra junior and managing editor of the school newspaper said of NewsHub.
Also in attendance was James Quinn, a Hofstra alum and president of the famous jeweler Tiffany Co., who almost anyone can recognize by the signature teal box their jewelry comes in. Quinn, who graduated in 1974, just one year before journalism became a major at Hofstra, seemed amazed by how much the school had advanced. The School of Communication didn’t exist when Quinn was an undergrad. He said his daughter is in the process of looking at potential colleges, and the idea of attending the same school as her father did not appeal to her in the least. However, upon hearing about how advanced Hofstra’s new media room made the school as compared to other colleges, her opinion quickly changed.
“If the reputation has been strong enough to overcome her resistance, that’s saying a lot about the program,” Quinn said.
