The School of Communication and Media

J. Duane Meeks, Ph.D., Dean
Stephanie Bennett, Ph.D., Associate Dean

Faculty

Professors

Charles Lester, Ph.D.
Tom St. Antoine, Ph.D.
Stephanie Bennett, Ph.D.

Associate Professors

Alex Wainer, Jr., Ph.D.
Wes Jamison, Ph.D.
Don Piper, M.A.
Don Butler, M.F.A.
Ann Cadaret, M.F.A.
Antonio Zarro, M.A.

Assistant Professors

Beth Hallquist, M.A.
Susan H. Edgar, M.A.
Jaseline Johnson-Isaac, M.A.
Allen McCoy, M.F.A

The School of Communication and Media is the home to an eclectic community of scholars, artists, and media professionals, who are committed to helping students discover and prepare for their life’s calling in human and organizational communication, the media, and the dramatic arts. Students will find a learning environment that is rigorous yet caring; exciting artistically yet thoroughly grounded in scholarship and a Christian worldview; and technologically state-of-the-art yet built upon age-old aesthetic, ethical, and rhetorical principles. In addition, those who desire to study the art and science of communication, various forms of public storytelling, and media technology will encounter programs of study designed to help them become dynamic and effective in their communication skills.

Our School exists to equip students studying communication, the media, and the dramatic arts to live fulfilling lives through learning, leadership, and service within the context of a liberal arts education and thoroughly grounded on a Christian worldview.

The vision for our School is to offer premiere programs of study of exceptional quality, whose graduates are intellectually and ethically prepared to enter the public sphere, aspiring to high moral character and outstanding citizenship as servant leaders in their communities, the nation and the world. Our goal is for the School of Communication and Media to become the premier center for the study, teaching, and practice of redemptive storytelling.

Our mission is to prepare students for lifelong learning and leadership by offering excellent undergraduate programs of study in communication, journalism, public relations, television broadcasting, and the cinematic and dramatic arts. Our School is dedicated to the intentional integration of Christian principles into our scholarship, professional endeavors, and artistic activities. As a community of learners, the School provides students with a rigorous educational environment that leads to intellectual, spiritual and personal character development.

The School of Communication and Media offers five majors with multiple tracks and nine minors.

Internships in Communication, Media, Public Relations and Theatre

The School of Communication and Media encourages students in our major areas of study to consider undertaking a professional internship as part of their course of studies. The majors in Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations require an internship. Students must be enrolled in the internship course concurrently with the job site experience. Integral to the course is a classroom component that requires 1.5 in-class contact hours per week with the instructor or the equivalent in an online version of the course. Students who fail to complete the academic portion of the course will not receive academic credit for the site work segment of the class. Students must match the appropriate professional experience with their major and with the course number. The appropriate internship courses are COMV 4711 -COMV 4714 for Communication majors, COMV 4733 for Public Relations majors, JEMV 4713 for Journalism and Cinema-Television majors, or THEV 4713 -THEV 4716 for Theatre majors.

Before a student makes arrangements for an internship position at an organization, he or she must first seek the approval of the instructor of the appropriate internship course. To do this, the student should complete an Internship Prospectus Form, which may be obtained from the Office of the Dean. Once the instructor grants that permission, and only then, the student may conclude arrangements with the proposed organization. While the School of Communication and Media will assist where and when appropriate, it is primarily the student’s responsibility to arrange for the industry position.

An internship requires at least 30 hours of site work over the course of the semester for each credit hour granted. For example, a student registered for the COMV 4713 must perform 90 hours of supervised work at the job site spread out over the course of the semester.

Media Productions

Students and faculty in the Cinema-Television and Journalism programs collaborate in the creation of television programs, music videos, short narrative motion pictures, documentaries, commercials, broadcast news reports, sports broadcasting, and writing for student publications. The faculty desire to engage students in mentoring relationships in which students apprentice with faculty to learn production skills and techniques. Faculty design these experiences to mirror as much as possible the standards, practices and procedures employed on professional productions and publications. Students who show themselves faithful and skilled in carrying out responsibilities in lower-level production positions can expect, as they matriculate through the program, promotion to higher-level opportunities. Productions that the faculty judge of sufficient quality are regularly submitted to various film and video festivals and contests, which in the past have resulted in numerous awards. The School of Communication and Media is also responsible for the publication of the student newspaper, The Beacon.

Equipment and Facilities

The School of Communication and Media uses state-of-the-art media production equipment. Students in lower-division broadcast journalism, television and film courses learn basic camera skills on professional formats. Depending upon their track, upper-division students perfect their technique on broadcast quality, high definition video and/or film cameras. Production experiences include instruction in the use of professional lighting and grip equipment. Students use Avid systems for editing video before moving to a ProTools suite for sound postproduction. A television studio of approximately 2,300 square feet with a state-of-the-art control room serves as a home for classroom exercises, as well as for the production of ongoing news and entertainment television shows. Students can capture images on professional–grade, digital still cameras and edit their images on industry standard software in a recently upgraded Mac Computer Lab.

Theatre majors have the opportunity to design and perform plays in our newly renovated performance venue known as the Fern Street Theatre, which is located next to the vibrant City Place shopping and entertainment district and within walking distance of our main campus.