March 20, 2015
MARSHALL, Texas (3/20/15) - East Texas Baptist University announces a departmental restructuring that will move the Department of Communication Studies to the School of Fine Arts. The Department will join the Departments of Music and Theatre Arts in a move that will facilitate many opportunities for students of all three disciplines. The change will begin with the 2015-2016 academic year.
The Department of Communication Studies offers majors and minors in Speech Communication, Speech Education, and Mass Communication. The University Debate team, The Martian yearbook, Level 1209 Radio Station, and The Compass student news site are all major elements of the Department of Communication Studies.
"The Department of Communications provides academic programs that are highly desirable to incoming students, and the prospects for collaboration with complimentary disciplines of music and theatre will prove extremely advantageous for our students," says Dr. Thomas R. Webster, Dean of the School of Fine Arts. "New interdisciplinary academic programs which combine knowledge and skills of all three disciplines are already being prepared."
In making this change ETBU will provide an academic structure similar to many of its peer institutions as well as many other institutions, both public and private alike.
Dr. Cole Franklin serves as the Chair of the Department of Communication Studies and Director of Debate. Regarding the new administrative structure, "We are excited about the opportunities to work more closely with the Departments of Music and Theatre to develop new opportunities for our students and enhance our programs in speech communication and mass communication."
The faculty of each department are also considering new names for the School to propose to the university administration that will better reflect the new departmental composition of the School.