Mac attack

Students in the fastest-growing undergraduate program in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences have a new tool to prepare them for life after graduation.

The Department of English's journalism program opened a program-specific computer lab featuring Macintosh computers, a move program director Jon Hughes said reflects the state of the art in the industry.

"It was a matter of determining what is the standard in the profession and what do our partner colleges use," he said, referring to the program's relationship with the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and the College-Conservatory of Music's electronic media programs.

Hughes said staff and faculty worked with Sean Hughes, art director and photo editor at local alternative weekly CityBeat, to ensure the 18 student and one instructor workstations reflect the technology in use in modern newsrooms.

Hughes estimated the lab's cost at about $80,000 and said that it has been in use about 40 hours a week since it opened in McMicken Hall at the start of the fall quarter.

"I think [the students] welcome it, because they know they have to be familiar with the hardware and software we've provided," he said.

Third-year journalism major Taylor Dungjen said that the lab means more students have access to high-end publishing and design programs, such as the Adobe CS3 suite she uses at The News Record, UC's student newspaper.

"Without the Mac lab, if I wasn't also involved in The News Record, I wouldn't have access to the software – it's outrageously expensive," she said.

She also noted that the new lab helps students prepare for careers in an industry that now demands news professionals be familiar with multimedia reporting and production.

Hughes said the Mac lab will also serve to help grow the program, which has already expanded from 75 students in 2005 to 230 this academic year.

"It's a valuable recruiting tool," he said. "It provides us the opportunity to do the kind of instruction students need."

Dungjen agreed, adding that the new lab has already influenced her impression of the department.

"We're such a new program, and we're trying to make a name for ourselves," she said. "I think this says a lot about [the department's] integrity and the desire to keep improving ourselves."