{"id":49596,"date":"2018-09-10T11:52:05","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T15:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=49596"},"modified":"2025-10-15T10:00:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:00:26","slug":"communication-and-media-studies-40-years","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/communication-and-media-studies-40-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Reinventing Communication and Media Studies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Reinventing Communication and Media Studies\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Helping students respond to changes in media technology and faculty research excellence are the hallmarks of Carleton University\u2019s Communication and Media Studies<\/a> program, one that has thrived for 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technology routinely upends how we deal with a constant flow of information in our lives. Effective communication is a significant skill set with real-world impact and Carleton students are asked to think broadly and critically about the people and mechanisms influencing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Graduates
Graduates of the MA Communication program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On Sept. 11, 1978, Carleton held its first classes in the Mass Communication program, as it was then known. Josh Greenberg, director of the School of Journalism and Communication<\/a>, says the small program originally drew from established academic disciplines such as sociology, political science, history and philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOriginally, our faculty came from other disciplines and fields and didn\u2019t have degrees in communication,\u201d says Greenberg. \u201cThis interdisciplinary nature was also shaped by a fundamental commitment to intellectual curiosity that our program has always maintained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Communication and Media Studies Reimagined<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Eileen Saunders was the first faculty member hired specifically for the Mass Communication program. The program was offered as a BA in Mass Communication and later as Communication Studies. It grew in scope and popularity and finally became its own degree program \u2013 Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies<\/a> \u2013 in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saunders, now retired, is proud of the trajectory and popularity of the program, and the quality of its students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese students became your best advertisement for the program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carole Craswell, head administrator at the School of Journalism and Communication, says the second-year class had approximately 70 students compared with 350 now.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s good to see the Communication program come into its own,\u201d says Craswell who has been a part of the school for 31 years. \u201cThey have fine-tuned the focus, hired a good complement of faculty and they\u2019ve come a long way to have their own degree at the undergraduate level, which is a great success.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In addition to offering a Bachelor of Communication and Media Studies, the school also offers a Master of Arts and PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandra Robinson teaches undergraduate courses in algorithmic culture, visualizing social media and data analysis, and says she has seen a dramatic increase in course offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents have so many more courses to choose from and more opportunities to develop their understanding of media culture and communication,\u201d says Robinson. \u201cWe\u2019ve developed fourth-year courses that take the very best of experiential learning to enable students to develop practice-based skills that they can apply in professional life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeeing students ‘light up’ in these courses when they see what they can do with what they\u2019ve learned is inspiring!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early years, most students came from Ottawa and the surrounding region. But as the program grew and developed, demand increased from across Canada and around the world, says Greenberg. The program has also become far more global in focus and orientation as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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