Syracuse, N. Y. (NCC News) – Syracuse University faculty, students, and friends alike gathered today at Hendricks Chapel to honor the late S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Dean Lorraine Branham. She passd away Tuesday April 2nd, 2019 following a battle with cancer.
At the vigil, Syracuse University Senior Kelsey Davis took the podium to share the impact Branham has had on her personal, academic, as well as professional growth, “Dean Branham was able to bestow a legacy in me by opening doors for me in innovative ways as long as I was committed to walking through them with my vision clear, my heart pure, and my head held high.”
Since her appointment in 2009, Branham successfully led a $18 million fundraising campaign to renovate the building Newhouse II, helped to create the student-run news site TheNewsHouse, and cut the ribbon of Newhouse’s newest Studio and Innovation Center alongside American icon Oprah Winfrey.
In a statement to the Syracuse University Community, SU Chancellor Kent Syverud remembered Branham with the following words, “Dean Branham was many things, most importantly a pillar in the Syracuse University community and beyond, an icon in the media industry, an academic innovator, a mentor, an educator, an inspiration and a friend”
Those who attended the vigil gathered in front of Newhouse III after to tie orange ribbons– her favorite color– on trees. The facade of the building and its homage to the First Amendment only served as a reminder to the legacy Branham leaves behind in the communications industry.
