100 Years of Student Media
The University of Southern Mississippi’s official launch of student media began January 1927 with the first edition of the campus newspaper, The Student Printz, named after a wildly popular operetta at the time (the Student Prince) that overwhelmed the campus vote for a name. Since then, campus media has transformed from a handful of students tapping away on clattering typewriters to more than 50 students working across five divisions.
Over the years, we’ve changed locations, added and abandoned platforms, and wrestled with industry trends. What we never lost was our mission: To be the voice of students and the training ground for new professionals across dozens of career paths.
Serving Students for the Next Century
Even as we celebrate the past 100 years, we are planning for the next 100. Our 100 for 100 campaign invites all those with an interest in the next generation of journalists, advertising and public relations professionals, production masters, and creators and communicators of all types to help us support and advance our Student Media Center for the next 100 years by contributing at least $100.
100 for 100 Priorities
You can designate your contribution to one of four priorities:
Over the years, we have added functionality to the control room, including foot-controlled teleprompters and live graphics. This project will set the stage for the next 100 years by upgrading all the technology in the control room and introducing automation software that so many professional stations now rely on.
Giving goal: $120,000
We currently serve students with more than $42,000 a year in scholarships, for which we are enormously grateful to our alumni and supporters. This new fund, dispensed through faculty recommendations to the school director, is dedicated to supporting students across the spectrum of needs. These include travel for training or getting settled in internships, clothes for professional situations, and unique financial circumstances affecting tuition that arise through changes in family situations or other factors. The main guideline is that students would only be eligible if they spent at least one successful semester in the Student Media Center.
Giving goal: $100,000
A portion of the current open computer laboratory on the Third Floor will be renovated into a sole-use podcast studio to support the industry’s and students’ increased interest in creating original podcasts.
Giving goal: $50,000
The newsroom on the Third Floor of College Hall serves as the planning and primary production area for the newspaper, radio news shows, and television broadcast. The project will knock down a few walls and equip the newsroom to more efficiently achieve its cross-platform focus.
Giving goal: $20,000
These priorities were determined by faculty and the Student Media staff, who have spent years in the industry themselves and working with students. The priorities reflect not just where we have been, but where we need to go.
Student Media Today
In 2021, a reorganization of the Southern Miss Student Media Center resulted in the creation of five divisions and a philosophy of cross-platform production. Television news is now produced weekly during the school year. The five divisions are WUSM, The Printz, SMTV, Creative, and Strategic Communication, all working under the umbrella of SM2.
Students from more than a dozen majors work across platform in the Center, creating a variety of content and performing a number of business applications.
Support the Next Generation
Over the decades, hundreds of students used the Student Media Center to amplify the student voice and to launch their own careers. That core mission will never change. With your help and guidance, we look forward to the next 100 years of serving generations of new professionals!