About 80 students, professors and alumni attended the grand opening of a new digital media lab in Weimer Hall on Monday night.
AHA! The Innovation CoLab is a complement to the building’s basement 21st Century News Laboratory, which opened in 2010. Both are part of the Center for Media Innovation and Research in the College of Journalism and Communications.
“The central theme behind both of them is collaboration, teamwork, working together,” said professor David Carlson, executive director for the center.
The new facility cost about $250,000, which was funded by a start-up package of university funds from President Bernie Machen, Carlson said.
The 2,500-square-foot facility, located in the Flanagan Wing of Weimer Hall, features a central working area and four breakout suites. The suites, which can seat 28 students collectively, are equipped with whiteboards, a high-tech conference table and two LCD screens each.
Carlson said the new lab was created for all students but is geared toward advertising and public relations majors.
Participants in Saturday’s Ad Dash event presented advertisement group projects they had created in the new lab.
Jason Meneely, an assistant professor of interior design and the hired consultant for the lab’s design, called the lab a “creative-era” classroom intended to encourage student collaboration.
Professors can schedule classes in the facility, but it was intentionally placed in a high-traffic area of the building.
“It was about creating a space for collision of people and ideas,” Meneely said.
The Innovation CoLab’s grand opening on Monday afternoon in Weimer Hall allowed faculty, staff and students to take a look at the remodeling of the College of Journalism and Communications. The lab is designed to feel like a real-world PR and advertising firm, said Lindsey Stevens, 28-year-old director of Alumni Affairs for the college.
