Introduction

This past summer, the Board of Regents of Louisiana approved the creation of a Department of Mass Communications at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. The new Department was formed by merging the faculty, staff and students of the former Departments of Journalism and Radio, Television, and Film.

Our decision to propose this merger was in response to changes happening in the media professions our students enter upon graduating. In the face of new technologies and channels of communication like computers and the Internet, old distinctions between media such as newspapers and television stations are diminishing in importance. In the newest media companies, they are disappearing altogether. The new Mass Comm Department eliminates administrative barriers between what are related endeavors in the professional world.

This fall the faculty of the new Department has been working very hard to revise our curricula to reflect changes in the media professions. We envision four options for Mass Comm students, as follows:

Journalism (Print, Broadcast) - prepares students for careers in news media as reporters, editors, directors and producers.

Public Relations - prepares students for careers in cultivating relationships between organizations and their many publics as spokespersons, information officers, press secretaries and integrated communications managers.

Management and Marketing - prepares students for careers as managers and marketers of telecommunications media businesses.

Media Production - prepares students for careers as photojournalists, designers, videographers, cinematographers, writers, directors, and producers.

These are times of great energy, enthusiasm and growth in Mass Communications at ULM. We hope you share our vision--and join us in making it come true!

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