Program Review
Self-Study
2008- 2009
I. Introduction
A. Mission Statement
The Department of Communication of Central Washington University prepares students to
become active participants in a global society. The department emphasizes student-centered
instruction in gathering and disseminating written, spoken and visual information, as well as
coursework in the processes, effects and theories of human communication. The department
is committed to a liberal education in written, oral, visual communication, situated in an
appreciation and understanding of diverse cultures, and the interaction between culture and
communication. Media convergence, as well as skills in broadcast, film and video and print,
is emphasized as part of the departmentճ commitment to hands-on learning experiences. The
curriculum is intended to prepare students for careers in a range of professional fields
including journalism, online media, public relations and advertising.
B. Brief Description
The Communication Department is a hybrid department of speech communication and mass
communication and comprises three majors (Communication Studies, Journalism and Public
Relations) and three minors (Communication, Organizational Communication and
Advertising). It is also the host department for the interdisciplinary program in Film and
Video Studies (not reviewed in this document), and for a proposed interdisciplinary minor in
Non-Profit Organization Administration. The department currently has 12 full-time, tenuretrack positions, three full-time lecturers, and six part-time lecturers. It also has four support
staff.
In addition to the academic curriculum, the department is home to a variety of student media,
and student chapters of professional organizations. The student media includes a weekly
campus newspaper, The Observer, an online daily counterpart, Observer Online, an online
magazine, The Pulse, and a weekly news broadcast, NewsWatch. In spring 2008, a student
media board charter was approved by the university to provide oversight and support for the
student-run media. The department continues to provide faculty advising, administrative
support, as well as credits for student work. (See media board charter in Tab 10.)
The department has a grant-funded outreach program, the Bridges Project, that uses
mentoring and media making to reach out to K-12 schools in the region. Bridges has been a
partner in bringing two federal grants through GEAR UP to CWU for more than $15 million,
a portion of which has funded Bridges activities. In addition, during the last 12 years, the
Bridges Project has brought in more than twelve other grants. The Bridges Project focuses
on working with students of color, particularly the Latino community and the American
Indian tribes in central Washington. More than 200 college students participate in a Bridges
program each year, allowing them to experience a multicultural community and to use their
academic discipline within a public setting. (A recent review of the program is included in
Tab 10.)
The department’s last program review was in 2003-2004.
C. Departmental Governance
The department works collaboratively through committees: personnel, curriculum and
student admissions. The chair is a .5 position, elected by the faculty to a four-year term.
Committee recommendations are presented to the department as a whole for adoption.
Implementation is done by the chair and other faculty as appropriate. The department meets
twice a month to discuss business, and holds a half-day retreat each term to work on
departmental goals, curriculum and implementation strategies.
A Faculty Senator represents the department to the Faculty Senate. The Chair represents the
department within the College of Arts and Humanities, and at ADCO, the organization of
university chairs.
D. Department Goals
The outside reviewer in 2004 was able to articulate several challenges facing the department
that allowed us to move toward a more cohesive, focused department.
Challenges identified in 2004 Review
Our outside review, conducted Gerald Baldasty, chair of Communication at the University
Washington, had many good things to say about the department: hard-working, enthusiastic
faculty, positive response from students. But it also identified some key problems that
clustered into two areas, relationships, and focus:
Relationships
Foremost is an overriding sense that the campus in general, and the administration of the
college and the University in particular, do not appreciate the hard work of the faculty or
the many successes of Communication students.
The Department needs to engage much more with administrators and with the university in
general.
Difficult issues of personal and professional trust
Focus and planning
This lack of setting priorities—basically, this lack of long-range planning -- is one of the
most pressing challenges the Department faces.
The Department needs to develop a clear sense of its core focus
The Department needs to define its core strengths. If it cannot do everything it has outlined –
then, what can it do? What can it do well? What things are not done particularly well?
What are its core goals? How should it implement those?
After the 2004 program review, the department focused on improving relationships among the
faculty and bridging the gap between oral communication and mass communication perspectives.
We used a consultant to facilitate improved relationships among faculty. We then had a retreat
with members of the Communication Department at University of Washington who had just
gone through a merger of oral and mass communication. Finally the summer of 2006 we met
informally almost weekly to discuss the future of the department and to establish what we valued
about our programs:
Shared Values
We value the hands-on experiential learning that we provide our students.
We value our reputation in the professions we serve.
We value the small classes and personal relationships between faculty and
students that encourage learning.
We value interdisciplinary approaches to our fields.
We value diversity and global perspectives.
In the fall of 2006, the chair drafted a growth plan that synthesized the summer discussions and
created a growth plan for the department that emphasized the commonality of department
programs as well as identified needs for additional faculty, potential for expansion in programs
including finishing the Film and Video Studies interdisciplinary program, bringing back the
Advertising minor, serving the university centers, addressing general education goals, and a
master’s program. The plan also called for a revised curriculum that would emphasize the
department’s strengths: a commitment to diversity and global approaches, and a growing
emphasis on convergence as the future of media. The department committed to a complete
overhaul of its curriculum, leading to a two-year discussion of the curriculum. The curriculum
has been revised to emphasize cultural diversity and media convergence across all majors, and to
make our commitment to these two themes more explicit to future students as well as the
university and larger community. The revised curriculum will be submitted to the Faculty Senate
in February 2009. (See Tab 2 for the 2004 outside review, interim reports in the Fall 2006, Fall
2007, and the Growth Plan. See Tab 3 for new curriculum.)
E. Department Assessment
The growth plan was revised in Winter 2008, when new department goals were developed as part
of the assessment plan for the department. Student learning outcomes for each major were
reviewed and revised. (See Table 1). The department has had a senior portfolio course (COM
489) in place for more than a decade. Beginning Spring 2008, students were asked to self-assess
how well they had acquired the new SLOs. Faculty also summarized findings from the students’
self-reflective essays. (See Tab 4 for both a summation of SLO assessment and findings from the
essays.)
A survey of alumni was administered in Fall 2008 by the University Testing Office. (See Tab 5
for results from the survey.) Overall the alumni rated their experiences very high. Public
Relations majors did note some of the turmoil in the department during their tenure here caused
by a complete changeover in faculty in that discipline. More recent alumni and current students
have reacted positively to the new faculty and direction for the major. Students stressed the
importance of the hands-on learning that occurred in the classes, and many singled out the
Observer for the writing and deadline experience it provided. Students also praised the
mandatory internship program. Alumni suggested that even more time be given to career
planning. Given the upheavals in media, journalism, public relations and advertising, students
not only need advising for academics and job searches, they need to know how to plan and
develop their own careers.
The department has had a strong commitment to assessment since the mid-1990s, led by Dr. Phil
Backlund, who is nationally known for his work on assessing communication education. A
curriculum revision in 1997 developed learning outcomes for all courses and programs, and
created the COM 489 course where students complete portfolios of their work, which are used to
assess the appropriateness of the curricula for each major. Because students also are required to
complete internships, their final reports as well as the feedback from internship supervisors, as
been used to form curriculum and programmatic goals for some time. During this program
review, the department developed instruments that would allow for the quantification of the data
gained through the portfolio and internship reviews.
F. Challenges and Recommendations for the Future
II. Description of Degree Programs and Curricula.
Table 2A summarizes the current majors and minors offered by the department. Table 2B includes the
proposed changes to departments majors and minors.
Table 3 shows the current general education and service courses provided to the university. See narrative
below for changes caused by the 2009 curriculum revisions still under consideration by the Faculty Senate.
A. The Communication Department majors are high demand. We graduate approximately 80
students each year, one of the largest departments for majors in the College of Arts and
Humanities. Students who graduate from our programs find jobs easily – even in this market –
because of the department’s reputation for a solid, hands-on curriculum and because of the
required practicum experience and internships. Faculty members work hard to stay current in
their fields, which are rapidly changing given the technologically driven changes in the media
and media-related professions.
To address these changes and to address the concerns from the 2004 review, the department
Growth Plan set the following goals for its new curriculum:
1. Finish the interdisciplinary Film and Video Studies major.
This had been in the works since 2000, and seemed to be stymied by the need for interdepartment collaboration. A partnership formed between Michael Ogden in our
department and Toni Culjak of English, and the program was finally approved by the
Higher Education Coordinating Board in 2006. The program now has 38 majors.
2. Restore the Advertising minor.
Until 2004, the Communication Department had an interdisciplinary minor in
conjunction with the Information Technology and Administrative Management (ITAM)
department. ITAM was asked to reorganize and redefine its mission, and dropped their
participation in advertising. The minor was put on hold until the Communication
Department could offer the minor alone. The minor was restored this year, and revised as
part of the major curriculum revision for 2009.
3. Communication Studies needed a better-defined focus.
Much of the discussion in the last four years has been how could Communication Studies
have a more visible focus that would attract students to the program, and establish itself
as a leader in intercultural and multicultural approaches on campus. The result was a
major that has a study abroad option (supporting one of the main goals of the College of
Arts and Humanities), as well as options for interpersonal communication and for
organizational communication. That focus also allows the department to continue to
weave multicultural approaches throughout its curriculum.
4. Reduce the number of required courses so that students would have more choice, and so
that we could develop and offer elective courses that emphasized multicultural and global
approaches.
The new curriculum reduced the department core to 9 credits rather than 27. Each major
has electives built in, so that students can tailor their program to suit their needs. The
next step will be to develop specific courses that provide choice and allow faculty to
present topics that are current.
5. The Journalism faculty proposed to strengthen the online media specialization, renaming
it convergent media. Additional coursework would be needed as well as an additional
faculty member. That faculty member began work Fall 2008, and the curriculum update
is included in the curriculum proposed to begin Fall 2009.
6. Our Public Relations major needed new hires. The major had been through some hard
times because of the loss of both key faculty members in a two-year period. New faculty
members have now been hired, including an additional tenure track line, and the
curriculum has been updated in the new curriculum.
B. General Education and Service Courses
The Communication Department has a limited role in general education and provides one service
course, COM 345 Business and Professional Speaking. Our 2006 Growth Plan called for an
examination of a larger role in general education, as well as a bigger presence at the University
Centers. The department had once had an oral communication class that was a part of the basic
general education. The experience was not a positive one – it was under-funded, under-staffed,
and finally collapsed. Faculty who were here then remain skeptical that the university would
truly fund an oral communication program if it were proposed again. At the same time, oral
communication remains a learning outcome for general education – one that isn’t actually
addressed in the general education curriculum. This remains a discussion item in the department,
and we are watching the revisions to general education for an indication of whether an oral
communication proposal should be sent forward.
In revising the curriculum, however, the department did change its one-credit Communication
Orientation course from a 200 level course to a 100 level, and has proposed that it be approved
as a substitute for UNIV 101, a similar course for all freshmen. One concern has been that
students often come to the university interested in Communication majors, but do not connect
with the department until the end of their sophomore or even their junior year. By targeting our
entry courses at freshmen and sophomores we hope to aid in retention, and to better track the
students into our majors.
We currently have one course, COM 302 Intercultural Communication, in a breadth category of
General Education. The curriculum revision will propose a second course COM 201 Media and
Culture, as a general education course. Media literacy is an important element in information
literacy – students are taught to be better consumers of media information. In addition, the
course helps students to understand the link between media and culture, how different cultures
are perceived through the media, and how those media images affect them. This is also a
required foundation course for all majors in the department.
We have wanted to have a presence on the University Centers for some time; however, there has
never been funding allocated for it. Communication courses are in high demand at the Centers,
and the department has promoted the Organizational Communication minor as an appropriate
vehicle to meet the needs of students at the Center. We have begun to offer a few more sections
for the Centers through DE, and this year hired our first lecturer to be based at the Des Moines
Center. We also have a couple of courses that originate a Center and are then broadcast back to
the main campus. DE courses however are not always well received by students in the courses,
who find the technology distracting and often unreliable. Coupled with a lack of a dedicated
funding source, we continue to be skeptical about the viability of a program at the Centers. This
will be a topic of discussion for the department and administration in the future.
In addition to academic curriculum at the Centers, the Bridges Project has begun to establish
chapters at the Centers through the Sparks Foundation grant. The chapters hope to assist
students in transitioning from K-12 to community colleges to four-year universities, while
meeting the outreach and mentoring goals of the Bridges Project. We are just beginning to see
the successes of this endeavor.
C. Measures of Efficiency for Department for the Last Five Years
The Communication Department has been a high demand department, increasing its student
FTE by 15 percent each year. The department has an admissions process to control the flow of
students into the majors, but we have struggled to meet demand. As you can see from the
accompanying table, tenure-track faculty lines had failed to keep pace with student demand.
Much of our course load was handled by lecturers. The lecturers in the Communication
Department are excellent, but lecturers generally do not advise students nor provide department
leadership. (In reality, our department could not have functioned without the contributions of
lecturers.) In 2007-2008, the University administration recognized that the Department was a
growth center and provided additional tenure-track lines. One new faculty member began in Fall
2007, three new faculty (2 new FTE, one replacement) started in Fall 2008, and we will have one
more in Fall 2009 for whom we are currently conducting a search. We hope to search in 2009-
10 for a faculty member to replace Corwin King who will be retiring in June 2009. The
department has determined that a communication studies faculty member with an
intercultural/organizational communication focus will meet our needs in that area.
Student FTE Generation
Department
Communication
Communication
Communication
Course
Level
Lower
Division
Upper
Division
All Courses
Division Total: CAH* Upper
Division
University Total*
Upper
Division
FTE
FTE Fall
Fall
2006
2007
70.40 80.30
FTE
Fall
2008
82.90
Percent Percent Percent
Change Change Change
06-07
07-08
06-08
14.1%
3.2% 17.8%
112.90 127.70
160.00
13.1%
25.3%
41.7%
183.30 208.10
242.90
13.5%
16.8%
32.5%
657.20 652.90
674.80
-0.7%
3.4%
2.7%
4601.40 4474.1 4441.20
0
-2.8%
-0.7%
-3.5%
*Upper Division is the most significant credit generation for Com and used here for comparisons
Number of Majors
03-04
04-05
05-06
06-07
07-08
Communication Studies
30
41
48
38
43
Public Relations
Journalism – Print
Journalism -- Broadcast
Journalism -- Online
J-total
Total
97
18
28
72
18
21
1
39
160
56
26
27
1
54
164
71
26
27
83
23
26
53
170
49
186
46
176
Tenure-Track Lines/Actual Faculty by Field of Study
Fields
Communication Studies
Journalism
Public Relations
Film and Video Studies
Total
2006-07
2
2
3.5
3.5
2
1
.5
.5
8
7
2007-08
2
2
3.5 3.5
2
1**
.5
.5
8
7
2008-09
2
2
4.5
4.5
3
2
1.5
1.5
11
10
*A retirement. We hope to search for the replacement in 2009-10.
**A new faculty member replacing the person in 2006-07. Second line remains vacant.
***Search is underway currently for this person.
2009-10
2
4.5
3
1.5
11
1*
4.5
3***
1.5
10
Average class size: disaggregate upper and lower division and graduate courses
Most of our courses are writing intensive. In addition, many are skills-based studio/lab courses,
and others are speech intensive. Class size is restricted in order to meet those pedagogical goals.
The following principles are observed:
COM 189 Communication Orientation and COM 201 Media and Culture are our only large
class and are capped at 70 students.
Theory and discussion based courses at the 200 and 300 level are capped at 30 students.
Although this is not ideal, it does allow us to generate appropriate FTES so that we can
keep our skills courses to a manageable level.
Writing intensive courses are capped at 20, oral presentation intensive courses are capped at
24, and computer lab courses in media design, advertising, and public relations are
capped at 24.
Broadcast studio courses are capped at 15 because of studio capacity.
400 level seminars are capped at 25.
However, in recent years, we have often over-enrolled our courses in order to meet student
demand with limited faculty resources. Our writing courses have often hit 25, our 300 level
discussion courses have been reaching 35 and even 40. To resolve this, we have focused our
current search for a public relations faculty member to be someone who can teach writingintensive courses. With the addition of tenure-track faculty, we are beginning to stay to the
enrollment caps.
D. Describe Currency of Curricula in Discipline.
Because we are a hybrid department, we look to several professional organizations, National
Communication Association (NCA), Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication (AEJMC), and more recently, International Communication Association (ICA).
We are also active in a variety of associations that serve both academics and professionals in the
field, Public Relations Society of American (PRSA), Broadcast Educators Association (BEA)
and Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
Participation in these as well as regional organizations, helps our faculty stay current in a rapidly
changing field. In designing our new curriculum, we looked to these and other sources for
counsel in designing courses and curricula.
We have chosen not to seek accreditation. Because we are a hybrid department, would be
difficult for us to seek one accreditation, although the majority of the department would be
comfortable with AEJMC. Indeed, we chose our last outside reviewer because was active in
accreditation review for AEJMC. While we meet and exceed many of the standards for
accreditation in ACEJMC, we would find two problematic – one is an emphasis on liberal arts
education that requires 112 credits to be outside the major, the majority of which needs to be
liberal arts. We agree in principle that communicators must be well-rounded students. We
require an outside minor for all of our students (which becomes an approved 20-credit outside
cognate in our new curriculum). Our program does have 105 credits outside our majors (our
three majors are 75 credits each, and students are required to have 180 credits to graduate), not
far off from the recommendation. However, we do not limit students in what those credits might
be – and many choose to minor in business or other professional programs. Programs with
broadcast majors/specializations have a hard time meeting these recommendations because of the
number of skill courses the discipline requires. This has always been a controversial requirement
in ACEJMC, and we have chosen to permit students more choice than would meet the letter of
the requirements for accreditation. The second is one we would like to adhere to, but do not
have the necessary resources: ACEJMC recommends that writing and other skills courses be
limited to enrollments of 15. We currently range between 20 and 24 for those courses. We
would need to add at least two more faculty members to be able to meet that requirement – a
worthy goal, but unlikely during this economic climate.
E. Effectiveness of Instruction.
The Communication Department has always emphasized effective instruction and has a
reputation for being student centered. Faculty members are encouraged to try innovative
techniques in the classroom. Almost all of our 300 and 400 level courses use service learning
projects or other projects that give students Ҳeal worldӠexperience. Faculty members have been
early adopters for new technology to assist with their teaching. Faculty members often have
class Web sites (Breedlove, Ogden and Jackson), use Blackboard (Mitchell, Sanders and
Fordan). Professor Backlund was one of the faculty to experiment with clickers in classes. All
of the faculty use films, panel discussions, team projects and service learning projects to aid in
student learning. Faculty members are asked to show evidence of such innovation during their
probationary years, and again during their post-tenure reviews.
Our commitment to teaching extends outside the classroom. We emphasize student
organizations for learning opportunities, and faculty receive workload units to work with
students in organizations such as Public Relations Student Society of America, National
Broadcasting Society or Society of Professional Journalists. Faculty/student collaborations are
common.
Our promotion and tenure guidelines emphasize our commitment to good teaching. Teaching
represents 60 percent of the evaluation of probationary faculty and in post-tenure review. The
department has a set minimum for student evaluations of 3.75 on two items, the course overall
and teacher effectiveness. Faculty who drop below the minimum work with the chair or their
department mentor to develop a teaching improvement plan to bring up the scores. The
department also requires additional teaching assessment. Faculty receive classroom visits at
least three times during their probationary period, and at least once every three years afterward.
Faculty are supported financially to attend workshops and conferences to improve teaching
skills. While the university provides each tenure-track faculty member with $700 for
professional development, the department uses it summer revenues to provide additional funds
for faculty to attend conferences, upgrade skills and buy equipment, books or supplies. This is
particularly necessary in skills-based courses where it is easy to become out of date.
(See Tab 6 for our promotion-tenure guidelines.)
F. Distance Education.
While the Communication Department faculty have been leaders in technology-assisted
teaching, we have been slower to use distance education – either through ITV or completely
online courses. ITV has been particularly problematic. Students do not respond well to the
technology, and it is challenging to use in our many skill-based, writing intensive or oralpresentation courses.
We are currently offering COM 460 Communication Law from the Wenatchee center because
our instructor, Scott Volyn, has his law practice there. The course is then broadcast back to
Central as well as to other Centers upon request. Using this as a model, we have added courses
from the Des Moines Center, primarily COM 345 Business and Professional Speaking, and
COM 302 Intercultural Communication, taught by Yong Cao, a new lecturer who is based at the
Des Moines Center. We are slowly considering additional courses to be done in a similar
fashion. This allows us to fill the course on the main campus; students at the Centers are given
first priority, and then the seats are opened to Ellensburg students.
Last summer we offered our first online course, FVS 250 Introduction to Film, taught by
Professor Maria Sanders who had had previous experience teaching online courses. This was
very successful, and we repeated the course online during Winter 2009. We are currently
designing online versions of COM 370 Writing for Public Relations and COM 347 Copyediting
for a certificate program that will be available through Continuing Education. Our majors will
also be able to take the classes during the summer, which will help with time-to-degree issues for
our students who havenմ been able to get into the classes.
G. Assessment of Programs and Student Learning.
The Department has had student-learning outcomes for each major since 1997. Each course also
has learning outcomes. The course learning outcomes were established to ensure that all students
receive the same preparation for the next class, regardless of teacher. Courses that may be
taught by more than one professor during the year have an agreed upon textbook, and faculty
work collaboratively so that students are equally prepared for the next level of instruction. In
2008, the Department revised the learning outcomes for the three majors. (See Tab 4. SLOs are
established, along with assessment tool, and populations assessed) Each learning outcome was
given a particular assignment in a particular course(s) that assessed the student’s
accomplishment. In the COM 489 Portfolio course, graduating seniors compile a portfolio of all
of their academic and related work. In the first section of the portfolio, students display work
that demonstrates that they have met that outcome. Faculty teaching the course rate the work as
exceeds expectations, meets expectations, for is below expectation. That is summarized by
major and presented to the department the following term.
Students also write a reflective essay about their experiences in the department. The faculty
member also summarizes common themes among the students’ essays. All of the findings are
then discussed at the first faculty meeting in the subsequent term. Teaching responsibilities
rotate among faculty so that all faculty become familiar with the student assessments across all
majors.
Because we have been doing portfolio assessments for more than ten years, the findings have
been routinely incorporated into curriculum development, both at the course level and at the
program level. Equally important in their influence of curriculum, are the final reports written
by students after their internships, and the conversations and evaluations of the internship
supervisors. Faculty also maintain relationships with professionals and professional
organizations in the field to remain current in the expectations of our graduates. While we have
always assessed and used data qualitatively, the university has demanded a quantitative report
beginning in 2008. The above process was instituted to meet that requirement; however, the
richness of the student essays, internship reports, and internship supervisor conversations and
evaluations go beyond the quantative summaries in informing our work as teachers and in
developing curriculum. (For one thing the quantative summaries are limited to three to five items
per major. However, students may provide information on a wide variety of items that go
beyond those items. As well, the learning outcomes for most courses are eight to twelve items,
alone. The value of the quantative summary remains in doubt.) The 2008 report and
administrative response is under Tab 4 as well as the reports for Fall 2008.
The result of all the input, of course, is the revised curriculum submitted February 2009. We
continue to emphasize good written, oral and visual communication skills. At the same time,
weնe increased choice for students to specialize within their chosen majors, emphasize
convergence within journalism and have streamlined some of the oral communication courses.
Most of all we have emphasized the context of a diverse and interconnected world throughout
the curriculum – all the result of the feedback we receive on an ongoing basis.
The SLOs established for each major in Winter 2008 are congruent with the new curriculum.
SLOs for the minors were established in Fall 2008 and Winter 2009 so that curriculum could be
established. (See Tab 4.)
III. Faculty
One of the concerns expressed in the department’s last program review was that we were spread
too thin: Eight tenured/tenure-track faculty could not run a full-service communication
department. We have addressed that in two ways during the last five years:
II. Find ways to integrate common themes across the curriculum and share expertise to
provide better experiences for our students. By emphasizing diversity and media
convergence, all three majors have been strengthened, and faculty have become more
interdisciplinary within the department. Our revised curriculum will allow for even more
curriculum convergence by requiring fewer courses and allowing students to utilize other
program offerings to develop their own interests.
A. Hire more faculty. We have gone from 8 FTE to 11 FTE in tenure-track positions
during this past review period. This support from the administration recognizes the
student FTE the department is generating and can generate in the future. These
faculty have been strategic hires based on the 2006 Growth Plan. We increased the
FTE to Public Relations, our largest major, and were able to hire international faculty
that also helped up meet our goal for more globalized curriculum. We also hired a
faculty member in film and video studies, and one in convergent media. Our next
hire will be a replacement for a faculty member who retired last spring, and we have
identified the needs for public relations with an emphasis on writing. We will have a
retirement this spring in Communication Studies and have identified
intercultural/organizational communication as the best specialization for the
department. Not only will it strengthen the Communication Studies major, but will
also contribute to diversity and globalization education in the other majors as well.
At one point, we had only 4.5 tenure track faculty actually available in the
department’s courses. Being able to fill our positions, and increase the number of
faculty lines, has made the department a less stressful place to be.
B. Develop a cadre of lecturers who bring needed expertise in specific areas. We have
had lecturers who have had long-term commitments to the department, and have been
particularly helpful in meeting increasing student demand. Kate Horowitz and Greg
Kummer have taught in the department for more than a decade, picking up extra
courses at the last minute, filling in for faculty who were out on medical leave or
sabbaticals, and taking on additional sections of popular classes to meet student need.
In recent years, we have also recruited and retained faculty who have particular
expertise that enriches our department: Scott Volyn who has a law degree and a
master’s in communication has been teaching our Communication Law course. Toby
Staab, a graduate of this program, came back to advise the student newspaper and
teach writing courses after five years of professional experience, and a master’s
degree. Patrick Deffenbaugh, also a CWU graduate in art, has returned to his alma
mater to help with our public relations and advertising courses after a successful
career in advertising and marketing in New York City. Jennifer Green, a journalist
with international experience, is teaching our introduction writing courses, as well as
a class in global media.
Having so many new tenure-track faculty has brought new challenges to the department. We’ve
been fortunate in our hires, and have excellent new colleagues. However, we currently have
three first-year faculty, one second-year faculty member, and we expect another new faculty
member in the fall. A senior professor retires this spring, leaving us with two full professors and
two associate professors with tenure. Another faculty member is being reviewed for tenure this
winter. The department policy is to provide a mentor for junior faculty until they receive tenure;
at this point we actually do not have enough senior professors to do so. (One faculty member is
serving as a mentor for two.) This also means that the most senior PR faculty member is in his
second year. We have gone from a department scrambling to cover courses to one where
mentoring and development of collegial relationships is the focus. We have developed a strategy
of a personal mentor, plus pairing new faculty with someone who has taught their courses
previously (if possible) so that student-learning outcomes continue to be met, and new faculty do
not have to invent the course from scratch. We also rotate faculty mentors so that junior faculty
connect with all of the faculty over the course of their probationary period, and so that they can
utilize the expertise of different faculty in teaching, scholarship or service. We are committed to
mentoring faculty and making sure that they succeed as faculty in this department.
We have excellent senior faculty as well as new faculty. For instance:
Phil Backlund, professor in Communication Studies, is a recognized authority on
communication education assessment, and has been tapped to lead the University’s accreditation
review in 2007-09. His interests in intercultural and global communication has led him to teach
in Hong Kong and Pakistan. He is the co-author of a textbook in gender communication; his
current research interests look at the intersection of culture and gender with a paper about gender
in Chinese culture.
Corwin King, professor in Communication Studies, will be retiring this spring. He has received
the university’s Outstanding Professor for Service Award in 2004, and spent last year on
sabbatical as the regional governor for Rotary International.
Michael Ogden, was promoted to full professor last year. He is a faculty member in the
Broadcast and Convergent Journalism, and is the director of the new interdisciplinary major in
Film and Video Studies. Dr. Ogden’s promotion dossier demonstrated his success both as a
documentary maker, (The Canoe Maker), and as a scholar with numerous publications in
telecommunication policy, film and documentaries, and in his particular expertise in media and
policy in Micronesia.
Robert Fordan, associate professor in Broadcast Journalism, is a highly regarded mentor for
many of the broadcast journalists in the state. His ability to train young broadcast journalists has
resulted in numerous student awards at the regional and national level. He also publishes on
media and political media history.
Lois Breedlove, is an associate professor in Print and Convergent Journalism and chair of the
department. Her expertise is in multicultural training for journalists and in using media as an
empowerment vehicle for marginalized groups. She is the founder and director of the Bridges
Project, and has written and co-written nearly 20 grants totaling over $18 million.
Cynthia Mitchell, is currently under review for tenure and promotion. She is an assistant
professor in Print Journalism, and has ten years of professional experience at the Atlanta Journal
Constitution and the Wall Street Journalism. Her research and service interest is in the First
Amendment, and how to prepare not only journalism students but all students to be participants
in a democratic society. She recently created and directed the First Amendment Festival, an 18month extravaganza of events and programs to educate students, K-12 teachers and other faculty
on the importance of the First Amendment.
Our junior faculty include:
Cesar Garcia Munoz, assistant professor in Public Relations, is in his second year. He has both
professional and academic experience in Madrid before joining our department. He recently
published the book Una democracia sin libertad (A Democracy without Freedom), and has
several other articles and papers in publication.
Xiaodong Kuang, assistant professor in Public Relations and Advertising, is in his first year.
His research interest is in advertising in health-related issues; his dissertation concerned antismoking advertising in China.
Maria Sanders, assistant professor in Film and Video Studies, is in her first year as a tenuretrack faculty member, but she has been a lecturer here for two years. One of our most
outstanding classroom instructors, Ms. Sanders is also a film maker and editor. Her current films
projects are Ordinary Moments and The Dancer.
Steve Jackson, assistant professor in Convergent Media, is in his first year in this department,
but has more than 10 years of teaching experience as well as professional experience. He has
already become a co-author of a NSF grant for $5 million over the next three years, is a fellow at
the Marlin Fitzwater Center, and has helped revised the Convergent Media specialization in the
new curriculum.
(All CVs are available in Tab 6; Performance criteria for the department, college and university
are available in Tab 4.)
IV. Students
A. Student Accomplishments
Our students accomplish a lot. They win awards. They get jobs. And they stay in touch.
We graduate 80 students a year across the three majors. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible
for us to get accurate data from Career Services or Alumni Relations about where our students go
after graduation. We do try to stay in touch, and as the lists below indicate, we do pretty well at
that. But we would like a more systematic way of tracking students. It seems inconceivable to
me in this day, that the university cannot provide more data than it does to departments.
Most of students are career-bound when they graduate. Only a few go directly to a master’s or
professional school, but many do later on. (Iխ currently writing a letter for Elizabeth Betts for
grad school in journalism. She graduated in public relations in 2005.) Pat Lewis, a 2007
graduate in print journalism, did go directly into a master’s program in public policy. We have
had other students go to law school, divinity school as well as master’s programs.
Recent Student Awards
Print Journalism:
Chelsea Krotzer, 2nd place news, 2008 SPJ Mark of Excellence Region 10 Award
Rachel Thomson, features, 2006 SPJ Mark of Excellence Region 10 Award
Pat Lewis, 2nd place news, 2007 SPJ Mark of Excellence Award
Rachel Guillermo, 2nd place news, 2006 SPJ Mark of Excellence Award
Broadcast Journalism
The year 2008 marked the eleventh year out of the last 13 that Central Washington University
Communication students received finalist honors in the National Broadcasting Society's Student
Video and Audio Production Awards Competition and the sixth time they have won first place
awards. In 2008 a student (Ryan Fudacz) won in the Video Ҏews FeatureӍcategory (he shared
the title with a student from the University of North Carolina) for his submission, Ҋail LifeӠthe
story of what it is like in a typical day for an inmate in the Kittitas county jail. Ryan went behind
bars, dressing in prisoner garb, eating the food, and going through the daily routine of those
locked up. In 2007 two students won first place in the nation. One for the television interviewpublic affairs category and in audio the station-imaging category.
As of Fall quarter, 2008, Communication Department students had won a broadcast news or
video production award in eleven out of last 13 years in the National Broadcasting Society’s
Western Regional Student Video Competition.
Recent Graduates in Careers
Print Journalism
Ben Davis, page designer, Skagit County Herald
Conor Glassey, reporter, Baseball America
Bob Kirkpatrick, Editor in Chief, Othello Outlook
Marqise Allen, reporter, The Chronicle (Centralia)
Clare Jensen, reporter, Tacoma Weekly
Curtis Crabtree, reporter KJR Sports Radio/stringer Associated Press
Casey Donovan, sports clerk, Everett Herald
Michael Johnson, sports, Seattle Times
Teddy Feinberg, sports editor, Las Cruces Sun-News
Melanie Lockhart, reporter, Port Townsend Leader
Megan Hansen, assistant editor, Nisqually Valley News
Paul Balcerak, assistant editor, Sound Publishing's Dynamic Media Division
Joanna Horowitz, publicity/community education Seattle Repertory Theater, freelance, Seattle
Times
Chelsea Krotzer, reporter, Daily Record
Rachel Thomson, reporter, The Daily World (Aberdeen)
Joe Whiteside, staff photographer, Daily Record
Kim Nowacki, ON editor, Yakima Herald Republic
Broadcast Journalism
Tim Williams became senior producer at the CBS owned and operated station, KCBS-TV in Los
Angeles in October, 2007 (but he graduated in 2000 so he falls outside the five year date for
graduation. But itճ a big promotion within the time frame)
Jonel Jodock was hired as a writer at KING-TV,
Five graduates are at KHQ-TV: Mark Billings, Ryan Coe, Justin Paulsen, Matt Rogers, and
Joslyn Meyers.
Others went to Spokaneɠlike Mike Fessler
And Microsoft hired four of our students now (e.g. Josh Gaertner, Ryan Fudacz, Mick Para),
working on the X-Box 360.
And Jordan Youngs went to KNDO-TV, Yakima-Tri Cities, and Crystal Stahl to KVEW.
Lander Sholdt got into the billboard advertising division with Clear Channel.
B. Master’s Program
The Communication Department currently does not have a master’s degree program. However,
we have begun to co-sponsor individualized study master’s programs; our first student began his
program this year. We currently have four others who expressed an interest in doing similar
programs. The Department is well-aware that the student demand is there for a master’s program
in communication, and have plans for one in our 2006 Growth Plan. (This is discussed more
under VIII.)
C. Student Advising
The Communication Department has a strong advising program, something we consider to be
essential to our students academic success, future career success, and for their loyalty to Central
and to the Department. Advising happens in three stages:
Pre-major status: Students are required to take four courses before they can apply to the major.
The chair serves as their advisor during that time. One of the courses is COM 289,
Communication Orientation, a 1-credit course that introduces students to all the majors, the
requirements for each and career opportunities. Taught by one faculty member each term, all
faculty participate in the course.
Admission process: Students must average a 3.0 in the four mandatory courses, as well as have a
2.4 over all GPA in order to apply to a major. They then complete an application, write an essay
and take a writing test. Those results are reviewed by a faculty committee for admission. The
process has two purposes: one, it manages the number of majors so that we can meet their needs,
and two, we identify students who are not ready to advance to majors only courses, usually
because their writing skills are not adequate. Students who are not admitted continue to work
with the chair to improve grades, work on writing skills or other issues until they are admitted.
While most students are admitted eventually, this allows us to make sure that students are ready
to be successful in upper division courses.
Major Status: Upon admission to a major, all students are assigned an advisor in their major.
(Faculty receive reassigned time from teaching to do advising.) Advising is required. Faculty
advisors assist the students with choosing classes, deciding upon a minor, developing practicum
experiences, and career planning. At the end of the studentճ program, he/she will complete an
internship with a faculty advisor (not always the same as their major advisor).
End of Major: At the end of the major, students are required to take COM 489 Portfolio. (This
class was also discussed under assessment.) While we do use the course for program assessment,
from the student point of view, the course is aimed at preparing them for a career search.
Students work on resumes, cover letters, appropriate work portfolios and demo tapes, and the
process of a job hunt. In addition, most students remain in touch with their major advisor
throughout their job search and into their first, and often subsequent jobs.
D. Student Services and Department-Sponsored Activities
Student Media
In addition to the academic curriculum, the department is home to a variety of student media,
including a weekly campus newspaper, The Observer, an online daily counterpart, Observer
Online, an online magazine, The Pulse, and a weekly news broadcast, NewsWatch. In spring
2008, a student media board charter was approved by the university to provide oversight and
support for the student-run media. The department continues to provide faculty advising,
administrative support, as well as credits for student work. (See media board charter in Tab
10.)
Student Organizations
The department sponsors chapters of professional organizations for each of the majors:
Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) is advised by Professor Cesar
Garcia, and is very active with usually 35-40 members. Each year, a dozen or so students go
to the national conference. The chapter has strong relationships with the public relations
professionals in the Seattle area that provide professional mentors, field trips and internship
opportunities.
Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is advised by Professor Cynthia Mitchell. This a
relatively new chapter with about 15 members. Students attend conferences, host field trips
and guest speakers, and compete in the SPJ contest at the state and national level.
National Broadcast Society (NBS) is advised by Professor Robert Fordan. Students host
guest speakers, attend conferences and compete in national contests. CWU students have
been very successful in national competition: usually one or more students win a national
award each year.
Motion Picture Club is advised by Professor Maria Sanders. It was formed two years ago
by students in Film and Video Studies, and hosts film screenings, sponsors speakers, and
helps with the Ellensburg Film Festival.
Lambda Pi Eta is the department’s honor society and is advised by Professors Corwin King
and Kate Horowitz. It promotes academic success, community service, and usually sends
students to the regional National Communication Association to present papers. It has about
20 members.
With the revitalization of the advertising minor, we are discussing a chapter of the
Advertising Federation to sponsor participation in the national competition. We have also
begun recruiting for a chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, an
outgrowth of the Bridges Project.
The Bridges Project
The department has a grant-funded outreach program, the Bridges Project, that uses mentoring
and media making to reach out to K-12 schools in the region. Bridges has been a partner in
bringing two federal grants through GEAR UP to CWU for more than $15 million, a portion of
which has funded Bridges activities. In addition, during the last 12 years, the Bridges Project has
brought in more than twelve other grants. The Bridges Project focuses on working with students
of color, particularly the Latino community and the American Indian tribes in central
Washington. More than 200 college students participate in a Bridges program each year,
allowing them to experience a multicultural community and to use their academic discipline
within a public setting.
Project Goals
To empower students to see a future for themselves that includes education.
To give voice to students of marginalized communities.
To appreciate the power of students telling their own stories.
To give students the tools and skills to tell their stories in a variety of ways: mediamaking, theater, writing, art, technology music among them.
To help students achieve academically and prepare themselves for college.
To demonstrate a multicultural community in action, to value and celebrate the cultures
of our students and our mentors, and to teach respect and tolerance.
To be a mentor and a role model for younger students.
(A recent review by one of our grantors and a presentation of the underlying principles are
included in Tab 10.)
V. Facilities and Equipment Needs
The Communication Department occupies one corner of the second floor of Bouillon Hall with
the television studio located on the first floor. We are cramped, spilling out of the space, with
inadequate lab and teaching space. We have not had an increase in space since the mid-1990s
until the addition of one office in Jan. 2009. During that time we have had a 50 percent increase
in majors, and a 40 percent increase in tenure-track faculty. Almost all of our courses are taught
outside our building, and faculty may teach in more than one building in any give term (or day
for that matter.) We have a small video-editing lab that needs upgrading, as does the television
studio. There is a PC lab in the building, which we share with the Math Department, but many
of our courses are best taught on Macs, which requires teachers and students to move to other
buildings. The Observerճ space is too small for the 50 students who work on it each term, and
the broadcast NewsWatch team has no newsroom at all. What meeting space we had has been
converted into offices.
Our programs, especially Journalism, but also Public Relations and Advertising, require state-ofthe art equipment. Changes in technology, in media distribution, in federal requirements for
HDTV – all effect our programs and require additional technological resources. While we have
spent some department funds each year for upgrades, it has never been quite enough.
However, all of that is starting to change, in part because of stronger advocacy from the college
Dean and Provost. We received $45,000 in fall 2008 in equipment funds to upgrade cameras and
equipment for the television studio. We were able to use summer revenues and Observer
revenues to purchase digital cameras for the Observer and for students in our Visual
Communication course. We have crafted a space needs assessment that documents our needs that
has resulted in a remodeling project this summer to make two major changes: one, create a
convergent media lab out of our current video editing lab, an underused classroom, and the
Observer editing space, and two, convert the old darkroom into a meeting space, much needed by
both faculty and students. (See Tab 7 for space needs assessment and equipment requests.)
While the university is funding the remodeling project, and the teaching console for the
convergent media lab, no money has been allocated for the computer workstations. We are
seeking outside grant funding, however, at this time, given the economic climate, will probably
have to fund it internally. We have developed a plan that combines department summer
revenues and Observer advertising sales funding, to pay for 16 workstations that will meet the
needs of the high-end video and convergent editing courses. We will then seek additional
funding for expansion of the lab facility.
As a long-term solution, we have been notified that the Communication Department has been
included in the capital projects proposal for a new wing when the old student union building is
remodeled. The planning funds have been approved for 09-10, with actual building to begin as
early as 12-13. This is most certainly in a preliminary stage, but it recognizes the growth and
needs of the Communication Department. One fear is that the university may not truly
understand how much growth is possible in the next five years, and that the building will be too
small by the time it’s built. One of the continuing points for advocacy will be exactly that: to
make sure that our actual growth is acknowledged and supported with adequate space and
equipment.
Des Moines Center and other University Centers
This year, we have our first lecturer with an office at a University Center – the Des Moines
campus. Yong Cao is teaching a variety of courses at the Center and uses DE technology to
broadcast those courses to other campuses. The Center has been very supportive, and provided
an office and computer for him. However, some of our courses require high-end software that is
not available in the DesMoines computer lab. Additional resources will probably be needed for
the Center as we expand our offerings to the University Centers.
We have also expanded the Bridges Project to the Wenatchee Center and are seeking space there
for the students to meet and work. The Associate Vice Provost for University Centers has been
very supportive of both expansions – academics and student services – and is seeking space for
us in Wenatchee.
VI Library and Technological Resources
It is the perception of the department faculty that the Library is out of date in its holdings in
journalism. Most of us supplement book resources with our own library, or use Summit to
request books. Public Relations and Communication Studies are more current, although more
resources would be beneficial. One area in particular, professional magazines and journals is
particularly weak. Students in introduction courses often cannot find the most basic of
magazines in current events and political commentary. World newspapers are also unavailable.
The bright spot in information resources are the online resources. The library has established a
fine collection of online databases that do meet the research and teaching needs of our faculty,
and they are to be commended for their efforts in that area.
VII. Accomplishments of the Last Five Years
The last five years have seen an incredible change in the Communication Department. We’ve
addressed the key concerns of our program review in 2004 to create a sound department that can
attract outstanding new faculty, become campus leaders in the area of diversity, and move into
the next five years. First, an examination of the problems identified in the 2004 report, followed
by progress on our growth plan, and finally, a description of some of the accomplishments within
the department in the areas weնe identified as key: diversity and convergence media.
Changes in Relationships
We have been able to change how we relate to one another, to the point that people single us out
as a collegial department: Its been commented on by administrators, new faculty, and candidates
for our positions. The work the department faculty did in 2004-06 has paid off in a better
understanding of each other and our disciplinary approaches, and that has resolved some of the
trust issues that existed in 2004. The department and the department chair have worked hard to
articulate the needs and the successes of the department to the administration. New
administrative leadership have been very supportive of the department, and as student FTE
generation has become essential to the health of the institution, the Communication Department
has been perceived in a very positive light.
҉ believe that the Communication Department is, in many ways, a model for others
in the College. I also believe that the Department has the greatest potential to
grow of any in the College–perhaps of any at the University–given workplace
demand and size of comparable departments across the country. The Department
clearly has many strengths, including a very dedicated faculty, enthusiastic
students and active student organizations, a curriculum with the sort of
combination of theory and practice that is now being emphasized in all the liberal
arts (the Department is the only one in the College to have a required internship,
which is something all students should experience), career advice in a capstone
course, a core of courses required of all students that helps to give the curriculum
a focus, outreach programs (Gear-Up and Bridges) that are two of the strongest at
the University, and participation in the most impressive grant getting endeavors in
the history of the University. All CAH departments should look to
Communication as a model when it comes to internships, outreach, and grant
getting. Ҡ-- Marji Morgan, Dean of CAH, 2005 progress report (see complete
report in Tab 2)
Focus and Planning
In addition to some of the relationship meetings already described, the Department has held
quarterly retreats to discuss its mission and focus. We’ve clarified our shared values, established
common themes across disciplines, and agreed to a plan for growth. We’ve come to appreciate
the strengths we have as a department, and have made strategic hires that build on those
strengths (rather than hire people to expand our reach). We’ve produced a revised curriculum
that allows for more flexibility for our students and faculty; more diversity, intercultural and
multicultural perspectives across the curriculum, and a stronger program in convergent media
that will strengthen all of the specializations in Journalism as well as the Public Relations and
Advertising programs.
Progress on the Growth Plan
Stage 1 Goals
 Rescue the Advertising Minor
 Design FVS
 Redefine Com Studies
Done Fall 2008
Done Fall 2007
Done for Fall 2009
Stage 2 Goals
 Develop new minors
o Developed 2 new minors with FVS
o Leadership minor is in progress
o New: A minor in non-profit administration is being developed
o Still undeveloped: Online media
 Serve University Centers
o We new offer courses at every University Center
o We have a permanent, part-time lecturer at Des Moines
o Expanding Org Com as a minor to all campuses has seen progress
 Strengthen Department Core in Writing
o We have expanded our lecturers to include a FTNT person in writing and as the
Observer advisor
o Our current PR search specifies writing as a key requirement
Stage 3 Goals
 Develop offerings in general education
o This has been discussed but postponed pending a complete revision of the general
education program at Central.
o COM 201 Media and Culture has been proposed as a GEN ED class in the new
curriculum.
o COM 189 Orientation has been proposed to GEN ED as a substitute for UNIV
101.
Stage 4 Goals
 Strengthen Student Media (Target date, 2011)
o We have hired a FTNT lecturer to advise the Observer and to teach additional
journalism courses
o We have developed a new online magazine, the Pulse for additional student media
experience
o We have had the Student Media charter approved, and awaiting implementation
(Spring 2008)
Stage 5 Goals
 Grow advertising into a major (Target date, 2013)
o We have hired an additional faculty member in PR who also has experience in
advertising
o We have hired an part-time lecturer in advertising
o We have hired a business-manager for the Observer who has a strong advertising
background to assist with an advertising major
Stage 6 Goals
 Develop Master’s Degree program (Target date, 2013)
o We have our first interdisciplinary master’s student approved
o We have had interest from an additional 5-6 students in pursuing interdisciplinary
master’s degrees. Two are actually in the application stage for Fall 2009.
Faculty Resources
 We projected we would need to hire an additional FVS faculty to start Fall 2006.
Although we were able to hire a full-time lecturer that Fall, it was fall 2008 before the
position became tenure track.
 We have been able to hire two people in PR, one a new TT line, who have strengthened
our abilities to globalize our programs.
 We have an additional person, in a new TT line, hired in convergent media to strengthen
that program.
 We are in the process of searching a third PR faculty member with a writing emphasis to
add strength to our writing programs.
 We now have 11 FTE in tenure/tenure track positions, and three strong annual contract
faculty members.
Accomplishments
Globalization and Multiculturalism across the Curriculum. Some of the activities in this
area include:
Cynthia Mitchell attended the Poynter Institute seminar on Diversity in the Curriuclum in 2006
and came back and revised many of the journalism courses to be more inclusive of diversity.
Phil Backlund taught for a year in Hong Kong, and has made two trips to Pakistan to conduct
communication seminars in a PhD program there. A Pakistan colleague will be visiting spring
term 2009 and will do a reciprocal seminar here.
Cesar Garcia and Jennifer Green will lead our first study abroad trip in Summer 2009 to Spain to
look at public relations and journalism in the business sector.
Lois Breedlove was proposed a Living Learning Community for students interested in Latino
heritage and culture. It opened its doors in 2007 to 30 students. She also sits on the advisory
committee for Latino and Latin American Studies, and was a founding member of the board for
the African and Black Studies program. She designed a new course Civil Rights, Black Identity
and the Media taught as a topic course in COM 369 Winter 2009 to be part of the ABS minor.
She is working on a course in Latin American media for 2010-11, and is forming relationships
that will result in the third study abroad trip in 2011 to examine journalism along both sides of
the Mexican border.
Michael Ogden is on the American Indian Studies faculty board, and teaches in the
interdisciplinary introduction sequence each year. He is establishing a relationship with Exeter
Unviersity in the UK that will result in the next study abroad seminar in 2010.
The department has hired two new faculty whose international interests are adding new
perspectives to curriculum, and additional research interests. Cesar Garcia publishes both in
American and Spanish journals and teaches an international public relations course each year;
Xiaodong Kuang’s recent research centers around anti-smoking campaigns in China. He will
offer an international advertising course this Spring term.
Convergence Media
In addition to a new faculty TT line in convergent media and the revisions to the curriculum, the
department has seen the following accomplishments:
A Convergent Media Lab will be installed in Summer 2009. The Lab will combine facilities to
provide a combine newsroom for the student newspaper, NewsWatch and online magazine. It
will have a 16-seat teaching lab for video editing, multimedia creation, and Web design. An
additional workspace will provide eight high-end workstations for individualized instruction.
The Department has increased the student media to include more online platforms for student
work, including the Observer Online and The Pulse. NewsWatch will be expanding to online
delivery in the near future.
Steve Jackson, a new faculty member in Convergent Media, is forming partnerships across
campus for interdisciplinary approaches to documentaries and digital humanities, including coauthoring an NSF grant for $3 million over 5 years.
More Visibility and Recognition across Campus
Faculty members have accepted leadership roles across campus and are being recognized for
their expertise in a variety of areas. In addition, the Communication Department has become
acknowledged for its ability to generate student FTE and increase its majors. In spring 2008, the
department chair advocated for an additional 12 sections to meet student demand, arguing that
one reason student FTE was down across campus was the lack of sections to meet the needs of
existing students. The University reopened registration to allow students to add courses for
spring term. The Communication sections were funded and filled; 40 percent of the resulting
bump in student FTE for spring term came from the Communication Department. As the
university responds to budget cuts and demands for accountability measures, the Communication
Department’s ability to generate student FTE has become more valued, and the department has
seen its faculty TT lines increase. Department faculty, therefore, feel that the university values
its accomplishments as a result. Accomplishments of individual faculty include:
Corwin King received the award for Outstanding Faculty Service in 2004 (post program review).
He also received a sabbatical in 2007-08 to serve as district governor for Rotary International, a
very visible position that brought recognition to the university and the department.
Michael Ogden served as Faculty Senate President in 2005-06, during the stressful time when the
faculty Union was recognized. He has continued to serve on the Faculty Senate executive
committee, and also as a steward in the United Faculty of Central.
Phil Backlund was asked to chair the Accreditation Team for the universityճ 2009-10
accreditation visit. He has had release time from the department for the last two years to lead the
self-study and creation of the report.
VIII. Future Directions
As we look toward the next five years, the Department’s 2006 growth plan identifies three key
goals:
1. Establish a TT position to advise the editorial side of student media. This position would
allow for more development in this key area of the department curriculum. The faculty
member would also teach in the writing sequences of journalism and public relations. In
addition, the Observer business manager position should be increased in status and FTE
to support all student media’s efforts in advertising and other business-side functions.
III. Increase the Advertising minor to a major. This is one of the fastest growing areas of the
mass communication professions, and is identified as a high-demand profession by the
Washington state Labor Board. It is not available as a major at other state institutions. It
would require additional FTE in advertising. Our most recent hire in public relations has
scholarly interests in advertising. Coupled with our current annual contract faculty
member who has extensive professional expertise, we are able to meet the demands of the
minor. An additional TT position with expertise in advertising and convergent
media/social media would provide the resources for an advertising major and strengthen
the Convergent Media program as well.
IV. Expand to the University Centers. The department needs an increase in dedicated lecturer
funds to allow us to plan for two or three years, rather than term by term, to build student
demand and sustain a program.
V. Develop a master’s degree in Communication with a specialization in convergent media
and one in intercultural communication. In the 2006 Growth Plan we estimated that we
would require 12 TT faculty to be in a position to propose a master’s degree, stipulating a
new hire in intercultural communication, and a mass communication faculty member
with a doctorate. When we are allowed to search to replace Professor King who retires
this spring, we will seek someone with the intercultural expertise. We’ve begun
developing individualized master’s programs for students, demonstrating student demand
for this. An additional faculty member with a doctorate in mass communication, with a
preference in media or journalism would allow us to move forward with a master’s
program. (The university recognizes a master’s degree plus professional experience as a
terminal degree in journalism and public relations; currently most journalism faculty have
MAs. However, the department feels that a master’s program would benefit from
someone with the additional qualifications of a doctorate.)
VI. Lead a university conversation about the role of oral communication in General
Education. General Education has always stated that oral communication skills are
essential skills, yet there are no courses designed to meet that goal. While the General
Education redesign is not finished, the oral communication goal remains, and remains
unimplemented and unfunded. This needs to be addressed, and the department needs to
find a way to lead the university toward a solution.
In addition to the goals already identified for the next five years, the following have also
emerged as goals:
A. Increase faculty-led study abroad trips during the summer. Not only is this essential to
the department’s desire to provide more global perspectives for our students, it is a goal
of the College of Arts and Humanities as well. To build this program, faculty need
release time to develop the trips and promote them as well as support to lead them. In
order to build this component, the department may have to underwrite some costs until
students are able to sustain the costs of the programs.
2. Prepare to move into a new building. The prospect of a new building for Communication
is an exciting one. We need to ensure that the building meets the needs of the
department, and provides for its continued growth.
3. Develop funding relationships with major media foundations. While the Bridges Project
has been a grant-funded endeavor from its beginning, we have not tapped into the
resources available to us, especially in the area of Convergent Media. One of the
challenges is that time is needed to establish relationships with Foundations, and to
develop fundable and sustainable proposals. This may require release time for a faculty
member, or allocation of funds for an exempt position (such as the Bridges Project
coordinator) to build and maintain such relationships.
4. Define the future of the Bridges Project. The Bridges Project needs better integration
with the Communication Department and with the Center for Latino and Latin American
Studies. A new faculty advisory committee has been established to provide guidance to
the Bridges Project for its future. The Bridges Project coordinator, now funded from a
combination of grants, needs to be funded by state funds to allow for more flexibility and
to seek out other grant sources.
5. Develop more career building skills into the curriculum. One of the most often repeated
comments in the alumni surveys was the need for even more career information. While
the department already provides more career information than most departments, this
need continues to surface. In part, it is because careers in mass communication fields are
changing so much. We need to develop a course that examines media careers from a
societal perspective rather than just as a job hunt, emphasizing entrepreneurial skills,
flexibility, etc.
6. Improve student preparation in technology. Technology literacy is a problem for our
students, surprisingly. We have been discussing the need for a computer literacy course
that would satisfy General Education requirements that provides the computer literacy
needed for creative majors. (Current courses are designed with more business functions
than creative functions.)