S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications - History

History

The roots of the Newhouse School are found in Syracuse University’s former School of Journalism, which was founded in 1934. That year, Syracuse University became the first university in the nation to offer a college credit radio course. In 1947, SU launched WAER, one of the nation’s first college radio stations. With the emergence of television, SU was the first to offer instruction in the field.

In 1964, supported by a gift from Samuel I. Newhouse, the Newhouse Communications Complex was officially inaugurated in Newhouse 1, an award-winning building designed by architect I. M. Pei, which housed the School of Journalism. (A year later, the building would be cited as one of the top four honor award winners of the American Institute of Architects.) The building was dedicated by President Lyndon B. Johnson, who delivered his famous “Gulf of Tonkin Speech” on the Newhouse Plaza.

Further growth came in 1971 when the School of Journalism merged with the Television and Radio Department, which had been located in the School of Speech and Dramatic Art. This merger marked the birth of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, named in honor of its main benefactor, and prompted the construction of a second building, Newhouse 2, which was dedicated in 1974 with a keynote address by William S. Paley, chairman of the board of CBS. The school became the most comprehensive, stand-alone school of its type in the nation—and remains so today.

In 2003, the Newhouse School received a $15 million gift from the S.I. Newhouse Foundation and the Newhouse family to fund the construction of the third building in the Newhouse Communications Complex. The $31.6 million 74,000-square-foot (6,900 m2) modern structure, designed by the former Polshek Partnership, features the First Amendment etched in six-foot-high letters on its curving glass windows. Newhouse 3 was dedicated on September 19, 2007, with a keynote address from Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. The event was attended by the Newhouse family.