by Bryan Gibel
Daily Lobo
Courtney Fletcher said it was difficult teaching a class while the communication and journalism building was being renovated.
"The classrooms we taught in last year were the bottom of the pile, because we didn't have our own building," said Fletcher, co-president of the UNM Communication Graduate Association. "We were teaching in rooms with wires hanging out of the ceiling and maybe a broken TV and VCR in the corner."
After $6 million and more than one year of construction, the Communication and Journalism Building opened to students and faculty Sunday.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Now that the renovation is complete, Fletcher can use resources previously unavailable to the department.
The building features 11 classrooms, three computer labs, office space for more than 80 instructors, a darkroom and a digital photography lab, a broadcast practice studio, student lounges and wireless Internet.
"By the time classes are done on Tuesday, 3,000 students will have walked through the doors," said John Oetzel, chairman of the department. "Our most recent graduates are very upset with all the resources they didn't have because they were born a few months too early."
Nine of the classrooms have computer systems with integrated microphones, cameras, projectors and Internet access, said Sean Solowiej, a broadcast engineer for the department.
UNM paid for the project, along with several other construction projects, by raising student fees by $56 per student per year, said Andrew Cullen, associate vice president for institutional planning.
The increase in student fees will be effective until 2010,
he said.
The state also allocated $200,000 for equipment, Cullen said.
The department is not accredited, but the renovation might change that,
Oetzel said.
"It's instrumental for getting the department accredited," he said. "Facilities are one of the key parts of the accrediting standards, as is excellence in teaching."
The equipment will be useful for students of broadcast journalism, said Richard Schaefer, a professor in the department.
"We used to sit two to three at a desk in Johnson pod," he said. "The new building has a lot more editing stations, and the audio and video equipment allows students to do things they couldn't before."
The renovated building will bring students, faculty and staff together, student Jaclynn Casta§on said.
"Instead of having all the C&J classes spread out, we have a home now," she said. "It lets students get to know faculty members and advisers more personally and will help to create a sense of community within the department."
