Dean Reviews Recent Growth, Details Future Goals For The College Of Communications

March 17, 2000
Hershey, Pa. – The College of Communications at Penn State has expanded significantly in recent years and University officials have responded with plans and actions to help accommodate this growth, keep pace with evolving technology, and further enhance the excellent national reputation of the college.

Such was the focus of an informational report by College of Communications Dean Douglas A. Anderson to the Penn State Board of Trustees at their meeting in Hershey today (Mar. 17). His report stressed several statistics that define Penn State’s place among the 109 accredited communications programs nationwide.

"The College of Communications has enjoyed unparalleled growth over the past several years, and we’ve been able to maintain that progress without sacrificing our standards for students, while simultaneously hiring several talented new faculty members," said Anderson, who has served as dean of the College of Communications since last July. "In fact, we’re proud of the educational experience our students receive and our reputation nationwide."

Among the numbers cited by Anderson was the college’s Fall 1999 enrollment of 2921 undergraduate students – an increase of 63 percent over the Fall 1994 enrollment. The college also enrolls 67 graduate students, making it the largest accredited ACEJMC (Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications) program in the country.

As a testament to the success of its minority recruiting and retention initiatives, the college also enrolled 288 students of color last fall – a 100 percent increase from six years ago – and has consistently retained between 90 and 100 percent of minority students between their freshman and sophomore years.

Growing enrollment and retention, according to Anderson, is a reflection of the quality of the professional curriculum offered by the college. In addition to its five majors, the college coordinates an array of special programs, including the Institute for Information Policy, the Pennsylvania Center for the First Amendment, The Foster Conference of Distinguished Writers, and the Washington, D.C. Communications and Democracy Semester. In the classroom, more than half of the fall course sections used technology for instruction and 64 percent of all sections enrolled 20 or fewer students, allowing for more individualized instruction in the latest tools and methods of communication.

"We are a comprehensive, broad-based, one-stop shopping communications college," said Anderson. "In this day and age of media convergence, we are well-positioned to prepare our students for the fields they hope to enter."

However, Anderson cautioned against complacency resulting from good progress, and noted specific areas that need improvement.

Targeted improvement goals include using evolving technologies in the curriculum, increasing external research funding, and enhancing faculty scholarship and the graduate program. Other goals are developing distance learning opportunities, continuing to make improvements in diversity and climate issues, and increasing external relations and fundraising efforts.

Anderson believes balance within the curriculum and faculty is vital to meeting these aspirations.

"We can meet our goals by offering a balanced program with a three-prong instructional approach," said Anderson. "Part of that approach is classroom instruction; part is encouraging participation in on-campus media opportunities; and part is encouraging strong student participation in internships and off-campus media jobs."

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Contact: Tysen Kendig, Department of Public Information, (814) 865-7517 or .