Annual Report: 2003-2004
Department of
I.
Develop and
Implement Campus-Wide Plans
Goals: To promote the performance of communication in both creative and scholarly venues. To encourage students to explore and take part in the vocational and scholarly practice of communication.
Public Relations and Marketing: The department is making better use of its internet web presence by redesigning the department’s homepage/website.
Activities Undertaken: The redesigned website now includes program requirements for all degrees, course schedules for current and future semesters, information about the speech team and speech clubs, faculty contact information, department news, department assessment plans and reports, and department mission and policies. We also have a “Flashback to the Past” composed of pictures of former faculty, TAs, and students in the department. We are promoting the “Flashback” site to rekindle interest in the department among alums.
Enrollment Management: The department works diligently to serve the general education population through our university-wide service courses, and to serve our majors, minors, and master’s students.
Activities Undertaken: The addition of faculty in recent years has helped to maintain the appropriate balance between the competing demands of our university-wide service courses, and to serve our majors, minors, and master’s students. We welcome the addition of a new faculty member, Kathryn Cady, to our ranks in 2004-05.
Facilities: The department is severely crunched for space on three
fronts: (1) We have three classrooms for priority scheduling. Those three
classrooms serve 12 fulltime faculty and 17 teaching assistants. We are
continually “begging” the Dean’s Office for additional instructional space each
semester. (2) TA office space is too small to serve the number of TAs in the
department. As noted in a memo sent to the Dean in the Fall of 2003, “currently
have 19 TAs, GAs and adjunct faculty crammed into one small room that also
serves as the department computer lab and workspace. This is simply inhumane
for graduate students, and most likely in violation of FERPA, as student grades
and other academic issues are discussed in the presence of whoever happens to
be in the room at the time that a TA and student are having a conference.” (3)
The department is still need of space for a communication lab. Other MNSCU
universities (e.g.,
Activities Undertaken: The department continues to press the administration for appropriate facilities for its graduate teaching assistants and for a communication lab to serve general education students, majors, minors, and graduate students. A quick review of other MnSCU universities indicates MSU is one of the few in institutions which does not support a communication lab. We were shocked to recently discover a huge space (AH 108) is allocated for a faculty multi-media development center. The enormous space only has 4-5 computers and a couple video monitors in the entire room. This is the perfect sort of space which, in our opinion, may be more appropriately used for a communication lab.
II.
Promote
Diversity
Goal: To encourage students, graduate students, and faculty members to take part in scholarly activity and pedagogy that promotes diversity and inclusion. A number of our courses and the forensics program are diligent in their commitment to promoting diversity issues.
Activities Undertaken: Dr. Sheryl Dowlin was instrumental in the Fall 2003 in designing and promoting a campus-wide diversity workshop on campus. The department has faculty and graduate students serving on a university-wide diversity taskforce. Dr. Martine Harvey continues to promote her diversity-centered “Tangible Talk” series.
III.
Establish a
Distance Learning Plan
Goal: To encourage students to maintain an awareness of the relationship between communication and technology through a demonstrated commitment to the establishment of a distance learning plan. The Department is taking steps to review the demands for our courses through distance learning.
Activities Undertaken: We currently offer a number of courses through extended campus; we are exploring additional off-campus sites for offering extended campus courses; we are surveying the undergraduate population to determine the efficacy of offering certain courses online; we are surveying potential graduate student populations to determine the efficacy of offering certain graduate courses online.
IV.
Review and
Enhance Graduate Education
1. Goal: To continuously refine and strengthen the quality of graduate programs offered requiring students to master the concepts and practices of the discipline, to explore the many areas of study within the discipline, and to master a specialized area of study. To encourage graduate students and faculty to take part in scholarship, research, creative activity, planning and assessment that will contribute to the personal and professional development of all involved. To promote graduate student and faculty involvement in the state, region, and global community
Activities Undertaken: The department is in the first year of offering the Master of Fine Arts in Forensics. The MFA is a landmark degree in the discipline—it’s the only MFA in Speech Communication in the country. We are surveying potential graduate student populations to determine the efficacy of offering certain graduate courses online. The department has graduate students and faculty publishing original research in state, regional and national scholarly journals; the department has graduate students and faculty submitting original research to state, regional, and national conferences/conventions; the department has graduate students and faculty presenting research at state, regional, and national conferences/conventions; the department has graduate students and faculty taking leadership roles in state, regional and national conference/conventions.
V.
Enhance
Academic Excellence in Undergraduate Studies
Goals: To continuously refine and strengthen the quality of undergraduate programs offered requiring students to master the basic concepts and practices of the field, to begin exploring the many areas of study within the field, and to focus on a specific area of study. To offer general education courses which provide students with the knowledge and skills to be critical thinkers and effective communicators in both professional careers and advanced study. To use quality faculty fostered academic and career advising while working with speech communication majors, minors and other interested students in developing an academic program that will lead to vocational and academic success. To promote student and faculty involvement in state, regional, and global communities.
Activities Undertaken: The Department had a successful year. We had numerous students participate and take top presenter awards in the Undergraduate Research Conference. Students in the forensics program excelled in competition during the year winning more than 100 individual trophies and more than a dozen team trophies. The forensics program also qualified almost a dozen students for the American Forensics Association-National Individual Events Tournament. A group of students, under the direction of Dr. David Engen, have started an independent study exploring storytelling, oral histories, auto-ethnography, and narratives in a audio-digital format. The project was so successful a series of their recordings were broadcast on KMSU.