Facilities
The School of Journalism and Strategic Media has come a long way from our roots on
the first floor of Old Main in the north wing. The Journalism department was founded
in 1930 by Walter J Lemke. A dance hall and ROTC were moved out of first floor, north
wing of Old Main to accommodate the new department. Years later, Journalism was moved
into an old dorm —Hill Hall. In the early 1970s, Journalism was moved to the general
classroom building now known as Kimpel Hall.
Currently located on the first floor of Kimpel Hall, SJSM strives to immerse students
in a learning environment that inspires and trains highly employable graduates. We
can accomplished this through high functioning multimedia classrooms, computer labs,
a professional television news production facility and more —our new journalism and
student media center will deliver state-of-the-art equipment and even more learn &
work spaces for SJSM students and faculty alike to thrive.
Our current facilities include:
- 3 multimedia computer labs for teaching skills classes
- Three-camera television studio and control room
- Ten video editing suites
- 30 high-definition video camcorder packages
Other campus spaces
The J.B. Hunt Transport/Information Technology building, next door to Kimpel Hall, includes 8 digital video editing suites and a 40-seat screening room to support classes in documentary film production.
Outside of the school, journalism students have access to the Student Technology Center, a lab and support staff that provides software, hardware, and expert training, and any general access computer lab on campus.
Sue Walk Burnett Journalism and Student Media Center

For the first time in our history, SJSM will be housed in a space designed solely for our use. The total cost of renovated journalism classrooms, offices and edit suites on the first and second floor of Kimpel Hall is $5,336,486. The new Sue Walk Burnett Center for Journalism and Student Media is a $2,460,316 state-of-the-art building that will propel the SJSM program to its greatest potential.
The new studio features a window backdrop to one of the busiest hubs on campus, allowing
students — for the first time— to truly see what student media is. Journalism is no
longer in the basement. The newsroom is a converged space with a digital environment
for both the Arkansas Traveler student newspaper and UATV to work together. SJSM will
model this setup for future student media programs.
University of Arkansas
205 Kimpel Hall
Fayetteville AR 72701
Email: jour@uark.edu
Larry Foley, Department Chair
Dr. Jan Wicks, Vice Department Chair