In the 1960s, students walking past the brownstone on Broad Street that was then home to the journalism department often saw the headlines of the day posted in a plate glass window. On the day of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, people crowded around the window as headlines from the Associated Press ticker reported the grim news out of Dallas.

Fifty-one years later, the School of Media and Communication will provide the latest news with the Oct. 17 installation of a news ticker on the 13th Street side of Annenberg Hall.

Sponsored by KYW Newsradio, the news ticker is 40 feet long and 2 feet tall. Dean David Boardman said it gives Annenberg Hall a signature look.

“The exterior of the building is rather generic otherwise, but this will make it clear that news and public-affairs communication are at the heart of what we do,” Boardman said. “The ticker will also help our students and the campus at large stay on top of what’s happening in the Philadelphia region, the nation and the world.”

In addition to up-to-the-minute news events, the ticker will feature important announcements from SMC and Temple.

According to Assistant Dean Donald Heller, the installation of the ticker is part of a larger project to enhance the aesthetics of Annenberg Hall in the coming year. New furniture, new hallway ceilings, expanded office space to accommodate for a growth in the faculty and staff and a new outdoor seating area in the rear of the building are also planned. Additionally, offices will be reorganized, with hallways and signage color-coded for each academic department to help students and visitors navigate the building.

- Logan Beck