Welcome from the School of Communication Director
Communication has been an active force on campus and significant contributor to East Carolina University since 1989 when ECU began offering a BA in Communication in a Department of Communication. We have come a long way since 1989. Today we are the School of Communication, housed in the College of Fine Arts and Communication. We offer a BS in communication with four different undergraduate concentrations --interpersonal/organizational communication, media studies, journalism and public relations. In fall 2006 we began offering our MA in communication with an emphasis in health communication. Our interpersonal/organizational concentration is also offered completely online for those students who cannot make it to campus. In total, the School of Communication now has more than 1000 students and more than 30 full time and part time faculty members and staff.
In addition to the in-class opportunities available to our students, their out-of-class or off-campus options are vast as well. We have an incredible internship program through which we have placed interns with the NBA, CBS Evening News, and the Rome office of the Associated Press just to name a few. Students can also participate in our summer study abroad program to Italy. There students can study intercultural communication as well as taking foundations courses in art, theatre or music.
Our students are award winners. In 2010, the Southeast Journalism Conference coveted “College Journalist of the Year” award went to Carlton Purvis '09 for his work at The East Carolinian, ECU's student-run newspaper. Three other ECU students also received awards at that event. Several School of Communication students have also been honored with the ECU Robert H. Wright Leadership Award. This is the highest Academic Award presented by ECU.
Upon graduation, these students go out as our alumni to be incredibly successful professional journalists, public relations specialists, writers, thinkers and businessmen and women. For example, Carrie Banks, '91 is currently the Communications Director for the Alabama League of Municipalities and Amanda Miller, '06, '07, works as a communication specialist for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. Our current President of our alumni group, CommCrew, Mary Schulken, '79 has been a reporter in North Carolina for over 20 years working for both the Daily Reflector and the Charlotte Observer and our CommCrew past-president, Michael Aho, '02 is employed by the Federal Government as an analyst covering United Nations peacekeeping around the world.
Our faculty members have won several accolades for their efforts as well. In teaching, Dr. John Howard, Dr. Laura Prividera and Dr. Todd Fraley have all been honored with the University Alumni Award for Outstanding Teaching. This award is presented to only three faculty members at ECU each year so to have multiple recipients come from our ranks is an honor for us all.
Dr. Aysel Morin received the Distinguished Scholar Award in Intercultural Communication from our largest academic communication organization, the National Communication Association. Three SOC faculty members, Dr. Linda Kean, Dr. Harrell Allen and Dr. Laura Prividera, have also been awarded the prestigious, Scholar Teacher award at ECU.
All of these efforts by our students, alumni and faculty make me very proud of what we have done and are doing. The past twenty years have seen us grow and develop from a newly formed department, to a strong, diverse and award winning School of Communication. With the talent and efforts of our students, alumni and faculty, I can only imagine what the next twenty years will bring.
Dr. Linda Kean
Director, School of Communication
Fall 2010
