Monday afternoon in Kedzie Hall, the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the installation of its new computer lab equipment.
Faculty recognized Steve Edgerley, who contributed $10,000 toward the lab equipment. The rest of the $35,000 upgrade came from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Edgerley, a retired alumnus from Dayton, Ohio, has worked as both a sports broadcaster and public school teacher. He hopes his donation will help improve students education.
Edgerley recalled using materials such as three-quarter inch tape videotapes in his day.
“The faculties were not great,” he said. “Probably typical for a college, but I think as close as they come to what’s in the real workforce.”
The school’s new “computer buy” program requires incoming students to purchase their own laptop computer and appropriate software, which they can plug into the lab monitors.
Edgerley’s donation allowed the department to buy four new desktop computers for students who cannot afford a new computer or accommodate personal computer breakdowns.
Private donors’ donations are how programs throughout Kansas State get the equipment and tools necessary for many students to come, Steve Smethers, interim director of JMC, said.
“It is a milestone anytime we get to inaugurate new equipment, new lab facilities and so on,” Smethers said.
For many students, these improvements will be implemented to help students gain experience that helps prepare them for the real world.
Smethers said finding people who can support the program will be vital to the future of the program itself.
