The Art, Communication, and Theatre department is introducing a new major—communication and media.
The major is a combination of the two existing majors, convergent media and communication. The old majors will no longer be offered to incoming students, but students currently pursuing either major will be able to complete their current major.
Zachary Walton in his office. Photo by Olivia Daugherty.
Zachary Walton, professor of communication and chair of the Art, Communication and Theatre Department, said while the two majors may have made sense before, changes in the use of media and communication have created a blur between electronic media and everyday lives.
“There were students who were interested in media, but were not interested in the production side,” said Walton. “To follow a model that several universities we looked at had done is to bring the two together. Media is a different form of communication that is constantly changing.”
The communications and media major will be 45 credit hours and have four concentrations students may choose from—journalism, leadership communication, public relations and sport media. The change in the department also includes a new media-focused prefix, allowing for more options when choosing classes.
“There were very few choices in both the communication and convergent media majors,” said Walton. “Now there are going to be a total of 18 electives overall, nine with a COM prefix and nine with the new MED prefix. Students can then group their elective classes together to form a concentration.”
Andrew Collinsworth, a first-year convergent media major, is open to the departmental change. He found out about the new major during the fall semester in a class taught by Professor of Communication Gerald Mast.
“My initial thought was ‘How is this going to affect me? Will I have to do more hours?” said Collinsworth. “But upon learning more, I got to the realization that this will be good for the program, and this will put me where I want to be more.”
Students are currently able to change their major.
“It is all of the advantages of the previous two majors combined, along with a small major size and way more flexibility for students to explore new areas,” said Walton. “It is more concentrated and allows for more personal student tailoring and options, with the ability to add concentrations.”
Collinsworth plans to change his major, with the idea of choosing either a sports media or journalism concentration to pursue a career in sports media. He believes the changes will help the communication department.
“Incoming students do not exactly know what convergent media is,” said Collinsworth. “If they want to do something like I’m doing [sports media], they’re going to look at convergent media and think ‘That’s not what I want to do,’ when in reality, it is going to get you where you want to go. I think the rebranding was necessary to get students to come here.”
