MURFREESBORO
— MTSU’s College of Mass Communications is updating
its name to better reflect the 24-hour media cycle and the growing demand for
content that informs, engages and entertains.
Effective with the new 2015-16 academic year, which
kicks off Aug. 24 with the first day of fall classes, the college will become
the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment.
“It’s a clear and
contemporary name that reflects the way media work today,” said
Ken Paulson, dean of the college since July 2013. “The media world isn’t driven
by mass communication anymore; it’s now all about targeted audiences, tailored
content and strategic audience-building.
“Though traditional media have been buffeted by
digital technology, there’s more media being consumed around the world today
than at any other time in history. The
four channels on a TV 50 years ago have been replaced by tens of
thousands of content providers.”
Paulson said that the college, first established as
a department in 1972, then elevated to school and finally college status by
1989, has always focused on preparing students to perform every facet of
communicating news and information within
their specialties: journalism, electronic media and the recording
industry.
This name change, he said, reflects the college’s
goal of giving students skills across
multiple media to ready them for their futures as well as providing a solid, broad-based education.
“The rebooted College of Media and Entertainment
will strive to give students the skills and insights they’ll need to engage,
inform and entertain audiences on multiple platforms,” he said. “That means
learning to communicate effectively through words, audio and video.
“It also means coming to grips with change. The
most important traits we can instill in our students are a receptivity to
change and a comfort level with technology. Colleges need to be as contemporary
as possible, incorporating the latest technology, encouraging innovation and
fostering an entrepreneurial spirit.”
The fifth largest communication program in the
nation, the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment offers degree
concentrations in 14 major areas — ranging
from the recording industry to journalism to filmmaking and animation—
and is accredited by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication.
The college also is home to three unique and nationally
recognized operations:
- the John
Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies, which
supports a variety of activities related to free speech, free press rights
and other topics of concern for contemporary journalism.
- the Center for Popular
Music, devoted to the study and scholarship of popular music in America
and one of only 16 Centers of Excellence across the Tennessee Board of
Regents system.
- the Center for Innovation in Media, which unites student-run media
and MTSU's National Public Radio affiliate, WMOT 89.5 FM, in a single site
to facilitate convergence.
For more information about MTSU’s College of Media
and Entertainment and its departments and majors, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/media.
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