After 52 years of occupying various university basements, retribution has granted the journalism department both an elevated view and a floor of its own.
The journalism department has moved out of its windowless, underground home at the Franklin building onto the third floor of the Marshall building on 845 N. Park Ave. in time for summer session.
Electricians worked through the weekend so the department's first summer courses at its new residence could begin Monday.
"It is impossible to describe how happy I am to be out of the Franklin building," said department head, Jacqueline Sharkey. The Franklin building had quartered the journalism department since 1979.
Sharkey added that the seven-day move took longer than expected because, in addition to 900 boxes, movers had to move 900 pieces of furniture and well over 100 computers and peripheral equipment.
Nostalgia for the Franklin building seems to have been lost during the fast-paced move.
"First of all, the building was a biohazard, so there was always the possibility of health problems," said student advisor, Paul Johnson of the Franklin building.
Mold infestations, along with sewage and water spills kept the department with a wary, sometimes twitching eye on the facility, which was so old it could not be wired for new equipment.
And there was that one proximity issue.
"The bathrooms were two flights up from the classrooms," Johnson said.
Students and faculty are saying positive things about the Marshall building though.
"It's nice, it's clean, and it's bright," said journalism senior, Cory Casey, who is taking an advanced reporting class for session one.
"My first impression when I walked in here was like walking through a really fancy law firm," said professor Walter Nett as he walked by Marshall's elevators towards his office.
Nett's advanced reporting students listened to him, their hands resting on matching tables, doing what advanced reporting students at the UA have not done in years: watch their instructor against a backdrop of sunlit windows.
Nett has some theories about office windows in media newsrooms and said that both the openness and natural light in the Marshall building will positively affect student performances.
"The thing that I see in my background as a journalist, as well as just a sense of my life in proportion, is newspapers have become insular," said Nett. "Newsrooms have fewer windows. They are higher windows. Sometimes they just keep them dirty all the time.
But I think the problem is reporters then forget, because they don't have the constant visual reminder that there is a world outside, and that world is people, that there are people out there. There are stories out there. I think that causes them to forget the real world - that they're accountable to the people who walk past the building everyday with the quality of their product."
The Marshall building is set up so that classrooms and hang out areas are on the outer edge of the facility, with large windows opening out into the UA community.
Sharkey said students in the fall can anticipate facilities much more conducive to learning and working.
"They can expect to be in a beautiful new space with lots of light and wonderful Internet connections," she said.
And not to worry, the third floor has its own set of bathrooms.