Robin Roberts cuts the ribbon on official opening of Robin Roberts Broadcast Media Center
Robin Roberts joined Southeastern during its Centennial Homecoming Week to cut the ribbon on the new Robin Roberts Broadcast Media Center opening.
Brock Sanders
“Thank you, Momma. Thank you, Daddy,” Robin Roberts said as she looked up at her family’s name on the side of the new Robin Roberts Broadcast Media Center.
The new facility is a 33,000-square-feet extension of the newly renovated D Vickers Hall, best known for housing the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The Media Center has three studios including a modular news studio set with monitors and furnishings that allow for customization to tell any story with the right lighting and tone.
“The Robin Roberts Broadcast Media Center represents not only transformation but the future of our university,” said President William Wainwright.
Both the News Studio and Multi-Media Studio have attached control rooms. Both systems provide a level of production quality equal to certain national broadcasts and surpassing current ESPN+ requirements.
The news studio is a 32 x 40-foot space equipped with three Sony 4k-capable studio cameras, complete with studio-grade pedestals and associated camera controls, including attached teleprompter screens.
Alongside the news studio are two other multimedia studios that offer fully customizable settings that provide students and educators with advanced production equipment and a lighting grid controlled via a digital control panel.
Other additions include open editing stations, a computer lab, public speaking classrooms with video capture capabilities, an A/V supply area and a sound stage with the highest acoustic standards, according to current STC ratings.
Outside the studios are control rooms, “the brains of the operation,” Roberts said. All fitted with the newest graphics, video playback and replay technology to provide students with the opportunity to produce at a professional level in an educational setting.
“What is most important [is] everyone who is going to walk through those doors, because you are rooted to rise,” Roberts said at the ribbon cutting ceremony on October 17 during Southeastern’s Centennial Homecoming Week.
“Dream big, but focus small.”
As Southeastern students walk through the doors of the Robin Roberts Media Center, they will be greeted by a timeline of Roberts’ achievements and accomplishments throughout her extensive career. From her arrival on campus to the groundbreaking ceremony of the new building, the timeline will inspire students to carve their own path and follow Robin’s mantra: “Dream big, but focus small.”
Roberts graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University in 1983 with a degree in communications. She rose through the ranks in the world of broadcast media before joining Good Morning America in 1995 and becoming an anchor in 2002.
