Comm Department Overhaul

Beginning in Fall 2015, the Department of Communication will be offering students a newly developed curriculum.

The department previously offered only two concentrations to Communication majors but have recently expanded that number to eight, thanks to the growing interest in both health and sport communication.

“It’s just a growing area of interest and there’s certainly lots of work to be done in that area,” said Professor Brad Mello, Chair of the Department of Communication. “It was an easier way of explaining to folks what they were studying, what they were learning. So ‘sports’ rather than just ‘communication’ at large.”

Other than offering more courses and concentrations, Mello explained that the entire curriculum will be overhauled.

Instead of requiring students to do 51 hours of major coursework, communication students will now be required to only do 36, giving students the opportunity to take on a minor or enroll in electives.

These changes will affect all current communication majors. However, students with a minor will not be affected.

The department hopes to expand in more than one way. Over the next four years, Mello hopes to add three to four new faculty members.

“Right now, we’re in the process of doing the search, and we hope to hire one new faculty member to join,” Mello said. “I think next year, we’ll have another search.”

In addition to having a new faculty member join the Chicago campus, Mello said that the department is also establishing a presence at Saint Xavier’s new campus in Gilbert, Arizona.

The department also has plans to relaunch the University’s chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, a communication honor society.

Mello hopes to have the organization available to students this semester, as it offers many benefits such as career opportunities.

Students who major in communication have many career options available to them.

“There’s a lot of different things that people go into [with health communication], anywhere from pharmaceutical sales to working in hospitals and public relations offices,” said Mello. “A lot of people in sports [communication] go into sports management, sports promotion.”

Mello also plans on bringing speech competitions to the University this spring.

“Each section [of Communication 101] is going to nominate from them the best persuasive speech from that particular section so the students will pick the person who they thought gave the best speech and they’ll come together and we’ll have a night where we meet and all those folks give that speech,” he said.

Judges from the local Toastmasters club, a public speaking organization, will choose who gave the best speech.

Winners will be awarded with prizes, which are yet to be determined.

Among all of these changes and additions, more will be coming next year. These changes are not only exciting for faculty, but for students as well.

Freshman communications major Ian Hand said, “I believe the expansion to the department is nice. Even though the concentrations […] don’t appeal to me, it’s always nice to see it gain more popularity.”

Katharine Arvia
Senior News Editor