ATLAS[T]!
High-tech digs move School forward in real time and space

By Joanie Kindblade

(Photo/Casey A. Cass)

School of Journalism and Mass Communication broadcast students jumped into the 21st century this fall with the opening of the $31 million Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Center, which houses a state-of-the-art, 1,000-square-foot broadcast studio.

The School unveiled the new production studio during an open house in October. It replaces the 1960s-era studio in Folsom Stadium, where broadcast students struggled to create modern videos using antiquated equipment.

"There really isn't a comparison between the old studio and this studio," said Steve Jones, assistant dean. "The ATLAS studio has all new equipment, including new lights, and there's twice as much floor space in the ATLAS studio as in the stadium."

The ATLAS Center is a campuswide learning and teaching center at the heart of the CU-Boulder campus. The total design, construction and equipment budget for the ATLAS Center was $34 million, with more than $20 million coming from a special student fee and $11 million from private, industrial and federal sources.

CU students participating in "NewsTeam" or the "CU Sports Magazine" show now gain valuable hands-on experience using the latest digital, television technology that can be enhanced for HDTV.

Students run the production studio from a control room outfitted with a 16-input EchoLab Nova switcher and a 24-input Mackie audio console.

"All of this is state-of-the-art, digital format and gives the student experience on equipment similar to what they will use in professional television," Jones said.

Students at the director's board during a "CU SportsMag" taping. (Photo/Casey A. Cass)

In addition, there are teleprompters, light-control units, a graphics-character generator and a computer playback for video.

"I have only been in the old stadium studio once, but the ATLAS studio for NewsTeam is more than I ever expected," said Mike Hill, a master's Newsgathering student and "NewsTeam" member.

Students can edit audio tracks in the soundproofed recording studio equipped with Avid ProTools software to digitally record and edit audio files.

"Being in the studio and having access to all of the equipment will serve me well when I enter the journalism job market," Hill said. "For example, I used Avid News last spring when I interned at 7News (KMGH-Channel 7 in Denver), and having more hands-on experience can only help down the road."

In addition, the School will use the new studio as a recruiting tool.

"The look and feel of the studio and control room is a big plus in recruiting new students," Jones said. "When a potential student sees how students are using and working in these rooms – and the energy in the rooms – it creates a big draw for potential students."

Not only will the new studio help prepare students for broadcast careers, it's also something the department can use for various fund-raising activities.

"We've already had numerous donations from Denver television stations and an alum, along with Boulder Cable Channel 54," Jones said. "As you show donors what you're capable of doing and encourage them to help keep us state-of-the-art, it helps in getting the donations."

The five-story ATLAS Center is dedicated to multidisciplinary collaboration in teaching, research, creative work and the effective use of modern technology. More than 5,000 students will take a course in the ATLAS Center each semester. The main components of the center include: Technology-enhanced, active-learning classrooms for use by all disciplines in onsite and distance education, including two 40-student classrooms two 25-student classrooms. Eleven student design spaces, a student computer commons and shared computer editing and graphics facilities. A 150-seat, distance-learning-equipped auditorium, a 75-seat film-screening room, the exhibition lobby and the Post-Modern Café. A 3,000-square-foot, two-story performance studios supporting teaching and creative work in the creative and performing arts including art, dance, film, journalism, music and theater.