A Message from our Department Head

Welcome to the Internet web site of the Department of Communication at Utah State University. Through these interactive pages, we hope to stay in contact with students and parents, prospective students, alumni in media and other businesses worldwide, friends in media industries and others with ties to USU and Northern Utah.

The Department of Communication at USU is a vibrant, growing and exciting place to begin either a career in communication fields, or to learn to be a savvy and skilled consumer and user of mass media and communication. Growing from a traditional, hands-on, professionally oriented journalism program, the Department of Communication today represents the best kind of synergy between the how-to skills of professional journalism and the whys and wherefor's of critical thinking, theory and philosophy on which communication is based.

In that way, this feisty little department parallels developments in the media world, where the lines between various media industries--newspapers, broadcasting, business communications, etc.--are blurring as new communications technologies converge. Preparing students to work and live in the brave new world of the Information Age, and to help others make sense of the world through smart, thoughtful, informed journalism, is what we're all about.

Our faculty have extensive experience as journalists, broadcasters, writers, editors, business communicators, as well as impressive credentials as researchers and scholars of how communications and people interact. They bring to the classroom the kind of professional standards and academic rigor that have made USU communication graduates sought-after by media businesses and prominent in communications-related and other industries worldwide.

Our goal is to change and evolve constantly as media technologies evolve and society adapts to the new information landscape. Our students need to learn how to make sense of the world, how to think critically about the world around them, and how to communicate that information to others in a variety of forms, from words and pictures to video and sound to computer databases and interactive options.

We think we do a pretty good job of that. To learn more about the Department of Communication at Utah State, about our faculty, curriculum, students, alumni and more, browse farther through our Internet pages, or feel free to contact any of us directly by mail, phone or e-mail.

Ted Pease

Department Head

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