A television studio in Harrison Hall has been named the Alison B. Parker Television Studio in honor of the slain JMU alumna.
The announcement of the new name was made Thursday, April 14 during the annual School of Media Arts and Design banquet.
Parker, a 2012 graduate, was shot and killed on air in August 2015 while working on a story as a reporter for WDBJ TV in Roanoke.
While at JMU, Parker was an editor at The Breeze, JMU’s student newspaper; a news anchor for JMU Today; a tutor in the Science and Math Learning Center; and an intern for WDBJ, her hometown news station. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in media arts and design.
Ryan Parkhurst, an assistant professor of media arts and design who helped spearhead the renaming, said, “Alison embodied the best qualities of what we want out of our students. The Madison Vision is a living and breathing idea. Alison was exactly what the Madison Vision is all about.”
A scholarship, the Alison Bailey Parker (’12) Memorial Journalism Scholarship, also has been established. The scholarship provides $4,000 to a rising senior and $1,000 to a rising junior. The winners of this year’s scholarships are Caroline Brandt, a sophomore media arts and design major and senior news writer for The Breeze; and Kathryn Potter, a junior media arts and design major.
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