Department of Communications

Dr. Robert Nanney, Chair
305 Gooch Hall
731-881-7546
fax 731-881-7550

Faculty

Andrew B. Brown, Teresa Y. Collard, Rodney L. Freed, Stacy A. Freed, Henrietta Giles, Angela L. Glunz, Arthur W. Hunt, III, Tomi M. McCutchen, Robert Nanney, E. Jerald Ogg, Richard C. Robinson, Tracy M. Rutledge, Chara K. Van Horn

Mission

Our mission is to prepare students to become effective thinkers, creators, and communicators. Students will learn to use current technologies, to understand global diversity, and to apply professional ethics and practices in the workplace. Students are further equipped for successful careers through student media, internships, and experiential learning.

Expected Outcomes

Communications graduates should know:

the history and development of mass communication
the current working relationships and establishments of the modern mass communication industries
the role of business/management principles in media organizations
the principles of and basic procedures for media production
the laws and regulations governing mass communications
the ethics of the profession
basic communication theory as it applies to informative and persuasive speaking

Broadcasting graduates should be able to:

develop and write copy and scripts for all forms of electronic media
produce all forms of electronic media products
intelligently discuss the principles of management and programming of broadcast/cable media
perform as talent or direct the performances of talent in broadcast media productions
once employed, develop additional skills to respond to changes in media and related/integrated industries
prepare and deliver informative and persuasive oral presentations.

News-Editorial graduates should be able to:

write professional-quality news and feature stories, commentary and editorials for the mass media
edit and produce newspapers and magazines
be a skilled newsgatherer (researching and “sourcing” stories and interviewing newsmakers)
intelligently discuss the principles of management of print news organizations
once employed, develop additional skills to respond to changes in media and related/integrated industries
prepare and deliver informative and persuasive oral presentations.

Public Relations graduates should be able to:

understand the administrative/managerial role of the public relations practitioner in various organizational structures and understand how that role interplays with the organization’s integrity, its public acceptance and the larger cultural milieu
utilize research and objective-based planning in implementing particular communication strategies with individual publics
plan, prepare copy for and/or produce all forms (print, electronic and multimedia) of public communication devices
serve as corporate spokesperson and media liaison
once employed, develop additional skills to respond to changes in media and related/integrated industries
prepare and deliver informative and persuasive oral presentations.

Media Design graduates should be able to:

produce, edit and design print (newspaper, magazine, desktop publishing) and online media
produce and prepare photographic materials for use in all forms of visual media
generate and write copy for the visual media
once employed, develop additional skills to respond to changes in the visual media and related/integrated industries
understand the administrative/managerial role in the production workflow for media design
prepare and deliver informative and persuasive oral presentations.

The Communications major is a professionally-oriented program in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. The curriculum is designed to educate students in both the theoretical and applied aspects of the communications discipline. Each sequence, Broadcasting, News-Editorial, Public Relations and Media Design, has a similar core and develops a specialization in its upper-division courses. The Broadcasting sequence prepares students for a number of careers in various aspects of the electronic media, including jobs in writing, production, promotion, news, advertising sales and management in radio, television and cable TV. Broadcasting graduates also work in writing and media production in corporate communications, advertising, public relations and in many other industries, from hospital video to recording engineering. The News-Editorial sequence prepares students for many kinds of careers in the print media, including jobs in reporting, editing and advertising sales and management in newspapers and magazines. Because of their preparation at UT Martin in newswriting, editing and desktop publishing, some News-Editorial graduates become writers and editors in corporate or organizational publications. The Public Relations sequence prepares students for a number of different careers in corporate, organizational, or advertising/P.R. agency communications. As spokespersons, information officers, press secretaries and organizational communications specialists, public relations practitioners manage communications with many constituent publics. Media Design graduates work in all forms of print and online media to generate and edit images (photography/digital imaging), to design for print media (newspapers, magazines, newsletters and other corporate/desktop publications) and online media (designing and maintaining online media) and to play a key role in the production workflow, from conception of the idea to completion of the media product. As media are blending and becoming more visual, students skilled in this emerging area will increasingly be in high demand.

Through mass media internships, senior seminar preparation, personnel placement and alumni communications activities, the department’s faculty work to assist students in obtaining their first career opportunities.

The Department of Communications also provides courses in Public Speaking and Interpersonal Communication in support of the university’s oral communication requirement. Visit the department Web site at http://www.utm.edu/departments/comm/].

Facilities

The Department of Communications has superior facilities and laboratories in which students gain valuable hands-on experience. Broadcasting students operate two radio stations and two television studios, where programs and video products are made for airing on WLJT-TV, on UT Martin’s campus cable television system and for use by organizations and businesses. WLJT operates a mobile TV production truck and uses many Communications majors to work on live television coverage of football and basketball games and other field and studio productions. Students complete post-production editing on radio and television projects in the department’s multi-format audio/videotape editing lab.

The UT Martin campus newspaper, The Pacer, is produced by News-Editorial students and other student volunteers. Students produce The Pacer electronically, writing stories, scanning pictures and art, designing and laying out pages on computers using the latest software. The Pacer also publishes an electronic version on the World Wide Web. Visit this Web site at http://www.utmpacer.com. News writing and editing labs interconnected in a computer network are used to teach students the most modern journalistic practices.

The department has a large departmental reading room for student use. It is equipped with newspapers from across the region and the country, broadcasting, journalistic visual communication and public relations trade publications, academic journals, textbooks, almanacs, writers’ guides, special collections, library tables and chairs and comfortable lounging furniture.

An Accredited Program

The Department of Communications is one of only 110 programs in the USA accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (201 Bishop Hall, P.O. Box 1848, Oxford, Mississippi 38677-1848, telephone 662-915-5504). UT Martin’s Department of Communications follows the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications standard: “The curriculum must provide students with a solid opportunity to learn not only why and how to communicate but also what to communicate. This requirement calls for a reasonable balance between journalism and mass communications courses and courses in other disciplines, primarily in the liberal arts and sciences. Balance also should be provided between instruction in practical skills and in the more philosophical aspects of journalism and mass communications.” To this end, UT Martin Communications majors “… must take a minimum of 72 semester hours in courses outside the major area of journalism and mass communications.”

Scholarships

The Department of Communications offers scholarships for entering freshmen who have declared a Communications major, as well as for sophomores, juniors and seniors. At the department’s annual Communications Awards Banquet, a number of scholarships sponsored by the faculty, alumni, philanthropists, broadcasters, newspapers, local industries and media organizations are awarded to Communications majors.

Student Organizations

The Department of Communications sponsors a Radio Television Digital News Association, plus chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Public Relations Student Society of America, Women in Communications, Inc., the National Association of Black Journalists and the Society of News Design.