For more than a decade, the Donald Reichardt Center for Publishing and Literary Arts has served as a creative hub for Emporia State University students to pursue and practice the craft of writing.
On Friday, Feb.14, students, faculty, staff and community members gathered on the fourth floor of Plumb Hall for the ribbon-cutting and rededication ceremony of the expanded and relocated Reichardt Center.
“The newly relocated Donald Reichardt Center for Literary and Publishing Arts offers opportunities and amenities that today’s students want and need, including a new podcasting studio, a new cinematography studio where students can make films and improved editing stations to produce Flint Hills Review, a national literary magazine, and Quivira, Emporia State’s student literary magazine,” said Kevin Rabas, director of the Donald Reichardt Center for Publishing and Literary Arts and professor of English. “The center also includes a hip, contemporary classroom where students can study film and filmmaking, podcasting and creative writing in a variety of genres including fiction and nonfiction, writing which includes novels, memoirs and short stories, poetry writing, playwriting and screenwriting.”
The Reichardt Center suite, located in 407 Plumb Hall, includes the studio and spaces that are available to ESU students, employees and the Emporia Community. Next door, in 404 Plumb, is an attractive lounge area containing student publications dating back to 1955.
Originally created in 2014 through a generous donation from ESU distinguished alumnus Donald G. Reichardt, a successful novelist and public relations professional with a deep commitment to literary arts and community, the Center has connected students with internships and fostered collaborations and partnerships in publishing and literary arts. Editing stations have allowed students to learn how to create print publications, write scripts and edit video. A diverse collection of student groups – Quivira Creative Writing club, Black Artists Club, SLAM Poetry Society, Sigma Tau Delta English Honorary Society and more – has used the space for meetings and performances.
“This new Donald Reichardt Center we are rededicating today continues and broadens the trajectory we started in 2014,” said Amy Sage Webb-Baza, interim dean of the School of Humanities + Social Sciences and professor of English.
She counted off the five core goals from the center’s creation in 2014 that also drove the current changes. “One, to eliminate barriers and create student-forward spaces for collaboration and community. Two, to strengthen professional and community partnerships. Three, to provide students with professional training beyond the classroom. Four, to provide state-of-the-art equipment and training. Five, to give students the mentorship and autonomy to create and pursue their own publishing and literary arts project in any of a variety of media.”
The Webb-Rabas fund, established by Webb-Baza and Rabas for the support of the Creative Writing Program and projects with students, provided much of the funding for the podcasting and filmmaking additions, including the audio and film equipment. ESU’s PACE (project and classroom enhancement) funding helped with space renovations.
Winter weather kept Reichardt away from the ribbon cutting, but he sent remarks that Webb-Baza read.
“So here we are,” Reichardt wrote. “What at the outset was primarily a writing and publishing center now features an array of communications disciplines I didn’t anticipate when we cut that first ribbon. Having said that, no matter where the future takes the Reichardt Center, I’m confident we won’t ever lose sight of the importance of solid, professional writing at the heart of its activities.”