Moravian students gained a fast-track to the Information Age when the Zinczenko New Media Center opened its doors in the lower level of Reeves Library last December.

The Center was named after David Zinczenko, a Moravian alumnus (class of ’91) and founder of the media company Galvanized, the center contains a video studio with fixed lighting, a green screen, eight 27-inch Apple desktop computers, and a soundproof recording booth, all of which  are available to every Moravian student.

About 60 students, professors, employees of Galvanized’s New York City office, and Zinczenko family members attended the December 6 dedication ceremony.

“The Zinczenko New Media center is the next phase of our offering to give students that New York-feel marketing experience right here in the Lehigh Valley,” said President Bryon Grigsby, a friend and classmate of Zinczenko.

Others who spoke at the event were Dr. Joyce Hinnefeld, chair of Moravian’s English Department, and student Sara Weidner, who was an intern at the Galvanized branch near Moravian.

The center will be useful for the English department, and it has sparked a resurgence in media studies. Already, courses are using the center, and The Comenian has also been holding its weekly meetings there.

“I definitely think that students will benefit from having all of this innovative technology at their fingertips,” said Weidner. “There is so much to learn nowadays, and Moravian is lucky to be able to have this opportunity,”

The space was created  to help the College further develop its Media Studies program and to give students the opportunity to produce audio, visual, digital, and print projects using the industry’s latest technology.

At the opening, Zinczenko discussed the goal of the media center when he said, “No one builds a house alone and no one builds one from the roof down. You start with a foundation and the foundation has to be solid, it has to be strong to withstand anything that you place on top of it.”

After the speeches, the ribbon on the center was cut by Zinczenko and President Grigsby, and the crowd had the opportunity to explore the space, including the inner workings of the new recording studio and green screen.

Inside, Jeff Csatari greeted the visitors. Csatari, a close friend of Zinczenko’s since 1992 and one of the people running the Galvanized office in Bethlehem, expressed how happy and proud he was that Zinczenko had been honored this way.

Csatari knew that he would one day work for Zinczenko when they met while working together at Men’s Health, the fitness magazine. Csatari said that it was Zinczenko’s ambition and optimism that cemented his appreciation for him.

“The creation of this center will allow others to recognize that writing and editing are an important communication skill in any job,” Csatari said.

Zinczenko said that it was an honor to have helped create the center. He believes that the space will be benefit the student body as a whole. He wanted to give back to the school that allowed him to develop as a writer, he said, recalling his time as a reporter for The Comenian.

Zinczenko hopes the center will jump-start students in their careers, helping them “build a footprint, both in their personal and professional lives,” he said.