Anne Kibbler | May 13, 2010
From Newswire, Spring 2010| “As the media world is changing rapidly, it’s an appropriate time for the university to consider the best structure for IU to be a national leader in these areas.” Brad Hamm, dean of the IU School of Journalism |
The examination of the three units is part of a broader move initiated by IU President Michael McRobbie to reevaluate the university’s organization, its academic mission and its methods.
It’s not the first time the similar missions of the journalism school and telecommunications have been examined.
“Closer collaboration between these two units has been discussed for more than four decades at IU, and many schools nationwide already have a similar structure with journalism combined with communications,” said journalism dean Brad Hamm. “As the media world is changing rapidly, it’s an appropriate time for the university to consider the best structure for IU to be a national leader in these areas.”
The University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications are two examples of schools with comprehensive communications programs.
At IU, discussion of a possible merger between telecommunications and journalism arose in the late 1960s. According to the February 1973 issue of The Communicator, a journalism department publication, when journalism chairman John Stempel retired in 1968, top university administrators began to talk about uniting journalism and Radio-TV, as telecommunications was then known. Under the direction of Hubert Heffner of the Department of Theatre and Drama, a campus-wide committee began in late 1970 to explore the possibility of a merger. The committee spent about two-and-a-half years assessing the academic and administrative impact of a combining the two departments.
The merger was approved in fall 1972, and in November of that year a search committee was named to seek a new chair of a joint department under the College of Arts and Sciences, according to documents in the IU Office of Archives and Records Management. The search drew 76 applicants, and half-a-dozen candidates came to Bloomington in spring 1973 for interviews.
But the merger never came to pass.
“At the point of uniting, both sides backed away from the altar” when the political realities of the proposed program emerged, Professor Ralph Holsinger told the Indiana Daily Student in October, 1974.
The issue of combining journalism and telecommunications surfaced again intermittently in the 1980s and 1990s, said journalism professor Jon Dilts, formerly an associate dean in the school. At the time, Dilts said, the two units had different goals, and a merger was never pursued.
The latest discussion arose initially among the IU Board of Trustees. In response, Hanson formed the communication studies task force, issuing a directive that said, in part:
“I would like you to consider whether the current academic organization of these units best serves our students, faculty and campus. You should consider the teaching missions of each, as well as the research interests and professional alignments of the involved faculty. Is the current organization the most effective use of school and university resources? The internal and external profiles of each unit should also be considered. Does the current organization help or hinder the activities, the visibility, and the status of the various degree programs, schools and departments?”
The directive parallels a university-wide initiative requested by McRobbie in his State of the University address early in the spring semester. McRobbie asked Hanson and IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz to co-chair the New Academic Directions Committee, tasked with examining the structure and organization of all academic units on the two campuses, their degrees and other educational opportunities, the possibility of new schools or departments and the possible transformation of existing schools to better reflect world trends.
The president also asked each campus to establish a New Directions in Learning Committee to study the quality, currency and relevance of academic offerings.
The communication studies task force, chaired by law professor Fred Cate, includes faculty from the Kelley School of Business, the School of Education, the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and the Office of Admissions. Hanson has requested the group’s recommendations by the end of the semester. The recommendations will be presented to Hanson and to the three units for their reactions.
Any reorganization, once reviewed by Hanson and the units, would be sent to the Bloomington Faculty Council’s Merger/Reorganization/Elimination Committee for further review. Final decisions would rest with IU President Michael McRobbie and the IU Board of Trustees.
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