SYRACUSE — The late Dick Clark, a 1951 graduate of Syracuse University (SU), “loved” Syracuse and often told stories about his days on the SU hill. That’s according to his widow, Kari Clark, who also noted he “loved” show business and never thought of it as work. “I think his wish for all you students […]
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SYRACUSE — The late Dick Clark, a 1951 graduate of Syracuse University (SU), “loved” Syracuse and often told stories about his days on the SU hill.
That’s according to his widow, Kari Clark, who also noted he “loved” show business and never thought of it as work.
“I think his wish for all you students … [is] to find your chosen profession and enjoy it as much as he did and then make a living at it, too,” Clark told SU students at the Sept. 29 dedication ceremony for the new Studio and Innovation Center at the university’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
“He was a big fan of the school and annually hosted a group of our students who visited him in L.A. I know Dick would’ve loved this moment,” Lorraine Branham, dean of the Newhouse School, said in her remarks prior to introducing Kari Clark.
The new facility, which is part of an $18 million renovation of Newhouse 2, features the Dick Clark Studios and the Alan Gerry Center for Media Innovation.
The event also launched the beginning of celebrations acknowledging the Newhouse School’s 50th anniversary.
Oprah Winfrey, the media icon who hosted her own TV talk show from 1986 to 2011 and now operates her own television network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), accepted an invitation to help the school dedicate its new facility.
“Now what matters … that you have received this extraordinary gift is that you match the gift with your excellence. Energy for energy, excellence to excellence. Let the new generation of innovation come forth,” Winfrey said, just before the official ribbon cutting.
Prior to her brief comments during the dedication ceremony, Winfrey earlier attended and spoke during a dedication program in the Goldstein Auditorium in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center.
Both Branham and Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud also spoke at the same event.
In the outdoor ceremony, Syverud noted that the current “world of communications is so different” than it was in 1964 when the Newhouse School opened.
Through the years, the school’s commitment to ensuring student success has been “steadfast,” he added.
“The school has consistently expanded programs and facilities as needs and practices in this field have evolved. This state-of-the-art media facility is built on that commitment,” said Syverud.
The Newhouse Studio and Innovation Center will provide the school with a “cutting edge” media facility that gives students the “best possible” preparation for careers in the communications industry, according to an online news release at the Newhouse School website.
The Dick Clark Studios are named in honor of the entertainer, TV and radio personality, and 1951 SU alumnus Dick Clark. The studios are described as a “high-tech entertainment-production environment rivaling many Hollywood studios,” the school said.
The Alan Gerry Center for Media Innovation is named for Alan Gerry, the founder of Cablevision Industries.
Gerry and his wife, Saundra, made the gift that allowed SU to create the Gerry Center for Media Innovation, which is “an important part of this studio project,” said Branham.
The Newhouse School describes the center as the “creative hub where Newhouse expertise in content development and production will meet the latest media technology and programming trends.”
It also includes a digital-news center, a newsroom dedicated primarily to news, talk, and magazine-style production with multimedia capabilities and a file-based, digital-media environment, the school said.
In his remarks, Gerry told the students gathered that many of them enrolled at Syracuse because they’re “dreamers.”
“Make a wish … Make a promise to yourself. This is the place where wishes come true. This is the place where promises are fulfilled, and it’s up to you,” said Gerry.
Prior to the outdoor dedication ceremony, SU hosted a symposium on “The Future of Digital Media” in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium of Newhouse 3, SU said. The event explored how data, branding, and experience are reshaping storytelling in the digital age.
The panelists included Mitch Gelman, vice president at Gannett Digital; Kristina Hahn, head of consumer packaged goods at Mountainview, Calif.–based Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and a 1998 SU graduate; and Larry Hryb, director of Xbox programming at Redmond, Wash.–based Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MFST) and a 1989 SU graduate, according to the school.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com