From the chair:
I am often amazed and humbled by your generosity and affection for the learning experience you had in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications at Murray State University.
During our most recent Phonathon, our alumni pledged the largest amount of any department in the College of Business, beating programs such as Accounting, Finance, and Management. That was truly impressive, and we are grateful.
Many of you have contributed to our project to create a digital archive of The Murray State News, from its inception back in the 1920's to the present day. The University Libraries gave that effort a boost this year by including it in a larger archival endeavor in conjunction with the Kentucky State Library and the University of Kentucky to preserve as many newspaper collections as possible for their historical value.
As far as I can tell, we have the only university paper in the collection so far. The positive impact of this collaboration is it reduces the cost of the project substantially. The downside is it will take more time, probably mid-2011, before our archive is complete and available on line.
We have now moved the program in Graphic Communications to Wilson Hall and are looking into ways to integrate that curriculum with our other four majors.
Beginning next fall, all our incoming students will take a basic digital media class from the Graphic Communication faculty. And we are looking ahead to more elaborate joint ventures, such as a program in electronic publishing.
There are more changes ahead in our curriculum.
Incoming students this fall will take the digital media class, our foundation digital audio and video production class, and a class from computer science in web page design.
These tools along with our existing strong emphasis on written communication will allow the students in all majors – Advertising, Journalism, Public Relations, and Television Production – to advance more rapidly to become mass communication professionals in the near future. It's an exciting challenge.
Many thanks again for your interest and generous contributions. We all wish you a Happy New Year 2011.
Bob Lochte
chair