Ranger Hall is about to get a major upgrade on its second and third floors. Photo by Greg Clark.
After pledging $3 million dollars in 2018, Richard J. Harrington (‘73, Hon. ‘02) and Jean Harrington have pledged another $4 million to the Harrington School of Communication and Media, which will help to complete the entire renovation of Ranger Hall.
“This donation means we are well on our way to becoming one of America’s leading schools of communication and media,” Dr. Adam Roth, director of the Harrington School said. “It is a total gamechanger.”
In 2015, a $6.3 million donation was used to begin the first phase of the renovation of Ranger Hall. The basement and first floor of the hall were transformed into what is now known as the “Harrington Hub” for the six programs of the school– communication studies, film and media, writing and rhetoric, journalism, public relations and the recently established sports communication major.
The “Harrington Hub” features interactive classrooms, editing suites, a recording studio, a film screening room and a media equipment resource center, among other labs and study spaces for students.
With this new donation, the second, third, and fourth floors will be completed, with additional learning spaces, such as more editing suites and studios, and additional opportunities for students.
“[The renovations] will help students prepare for life after university,” said Dr. Jeannette Riley, dean of the College of Arts and Science, when asked how students will benefit from the renovations. “Students will be able to use technology to really engage in the work that they do for their majors within the Harrington School.”
Not only will students be able to engage with new technology in Ranger Hall, but now students will also have access to the new state-of-the-art Broadcast Center in the Chafee Social Science Center, which is set to be unveiled with a grand opening ceremony on Friday, Sept. 27.
This broadcast center features a studio with a news desk, four cameras, an overhead lighting grid and a remodeled control room featuring a video router, audio board and video monitor wall. Renovations on the Broadcast Center began in August of 2018, and were made possible by the generous donations of the Harringtons.
“There has never been a more exciting time to be a student or an alum of the Harrington school,” Roth said. “The school might be relatively young, but we have grown in leaps and bounds in developing the physical infrastructure and capacity that a contemporary school of communication and media needs to properly train and prepare our students to enter into rewarding and successful lives and careers.”
The Harrington School has also stayed in touch with graduates. Students who graduate from the school go on to fill important positions all around the state, country and world, and then give back to the Harrington school by mentoring current students and modeling the careers and lifestyles they are striving to achieve.
The donations made by the Harrington’s have allowed for the Harrington School to continue to develop.
“The Harringtons are tremendous supporters of the school,” Riley said. “They believe in the students and believe in what the school is doing to prepare students for the 21st century media and communication world.”
Roth added that the University and the Harringtons are in constant contact and boast a mutually-beneficial and well-respected relationship.
“We welcome the Harringtons frequently to events on campus,” Roth said. “They are first at the door for the annual Christiane Amanpour lecture. They come to see screenings of student films, and they meet with students on campus. They are an integral part of the community and dear friends of the University. They are people whom I respect a great deal for their generosity, curiosity, intellectual wisdom and friendship.”