YOUND PROFESSOR SPEARHEADS USD MEDIA PSYCH LAB

USD professor Brandon Nutting in the university's COMPARE research lab, located in the basement of the Al Neuharth Media Center. 

The Al Neuharth Media at the University of South Dakota center houses all the facilities expected of an accredited media & journalism department. Newspaper stands. Computer labs. A student newsroom. An underground psycho-physiology laboratory.
Wait, what?
Yep, you read right. 
A selection of professors and students have joined forces to conduct research on people's media consumption and habits, and their physiological reactions thereto - and they're willing to quite literally go underground to do so.
Since 2013, the basement of the building has been home to the COMPARE (Communication, Media Psychology and Related Effects) Lab. 
Brandon Nutting, an adjunct professor in the M&J department, has spearheaded the concept since his arrival at the university in 2012. Nutting uses the lab to conduct research quantifying involuntary physiological responses to different forms of media.
"I don't like things you can't measure," he said. "And in this field, a lot of the stuff we do is on intuition, where you can't count or measure it. So this allows you to count and measure things that you ordinarily wouldn't be able to, which is fascinating to me because you get an answer - real, hard answers."
If a psycho-physiology lab in the basement of a media building sounds complex or even slightly creepy, rest assured that the actual research is absolutely harmless, and about as uncomplicated as your typical Tuesday night - with a few extra wires involved. Subjects must simply sit in a cushy recliner and take in the researchers' media of choice while hooked up to the lab's equipment. 
Also, know that those who choose to have their media-addled minds picked are in good hands. Nutting has an extensive background in both communications and psychology, having received his Ph.D. in mass communications with a cognate in psychology from research-heavy Texas Tech University in 2012.
Nutting says he ultimately hopes the research (and the increasingly fruitful results thereof) will put USD on "the map," so to speak, in an increasingly competitive academic world.
"It's a unique selling position for us," he said. "The hope is to bring money to the department.... [We envision] us being a leader in media research for the entire state."

OCTOBER 9, 2014

Dusk at the University of South Dakota on the eve of the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media. As the day — crisp autumn air, glorious blue skies, rays of sunlight streaming through half-bare branches dotted with clusters of red, orange, yellow — draws to a close, people move toward the smart brick building on the northwestern corner of campus for an event that feels, paradoxically, the same as every year and profoundly different than ever before.

A pleasant hum of conversation and the occasional tinkering laugh sounds among attendees, who are bustling in the foyer over bottles of imported beer, glasses of unspectacular wine, and assorted appetizers. A speech is made. Someone is thanked. People smile, nod, laugh. Eventually guests are ushered into the conference room — imported beer and unspectacular wine in hand—and seated around a small stage. Everyone is still smiling, and the room is filled to the brim, but something feels wrong — someone is missing. 

The namesake. The founder. The self-professed S.O.B., in a bright red suit with side-swept grey curls and a cheeky grin on his face. 

Al Neuharth is missing. 

"Gone, but not forgotten. Forever missed," 2014 award recipient Peter Prichard gruffly utters, attempting to control the emotion in his voice as he touches on Neuharth's passing in his acceptance speech (see below).

Prichard, Neuharth's USA Today editor in chief from 1988 to 1995, was awarded the 25th annual Neuharth Award on Thursday, Oct. 9, almost eighteen months after Neuharth's death at 89 in 2013. It is the first award on campus not handed out by Neuharth himself. 

The building, the award being given within its walls — they all carry his name, and his absence is glaringly obvious. Throughout the course of the ceremony, various other speakers take turns at the microphone: Mr. Neuharth's daughter, Jan; university president Jim Abbott; Freedom Forum president James Duff. Although the speeches range in content, it seems that each person on stage cannot help but return to the subject of Mr. Neuharth and his tremendous impact in the world and on USD. 

From smattered laughs by the audience at recollections of Neuharth's seemingly endless quirks to tears shed by his daughter on stage, it is unquestionably an evening of heightened emotions. The tipsy camaraderie of the modest audience; the undeniable sense of loss, the quiet grief that accompanies it; the comforting continuation of the tradition despite such immense change; and the spirit of Al — present in everything from his living descendants to the plaque on the award perched on stage. 

Mr. Prichard was right — Al Neuharth may be gone, but he will not be forgotten. 

See Peter Prichard summarize Al Neuharth's life, career, and legacy above.