University Senate announced three new undergraduate courses and four new graduate programs this past week.

The three undergraduate courses come from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications’ television, radio and film program and the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ communication and rhetorical studies program.

VPA’s communication and rhetorical studies program is planning on offering two new courses: CRS 375: “Rhetoric and Public Memory” and CRS 347: “Mindful Communication Skills.” Brad Vivian, an associate professor in the program, will teach the “Rhetoric and Public Memory” course in the fall 2014 semester, said Kendall Philips, an associate dean of research and graduate studies in the CRS program.

Previous research regarding the idea of public memory inspired the course, Phillips said.

The collaboration involved students and professors from various departments on campus — all in an effort to see how collective memories affect future actions and how to specifically engage with the past in one’s everyday life, he said.

The other course offered by the CRS program, “Mindful Communication Skills,” will be offered in the Spring 2014 semester. Diane Grimes, a CRS associate professor, will teach the course.

The course was created to reflect an increasing acknowledgment in communication studies and related disciplines that mindfulness is at the heart of effective communication, said Cynthia Gordon, an associate professor and CRS department chair, in an email.

Newhouse is planning on offering its TRF 448/648: “Producing Radio: On Air/Online” course next semester. Although the same course has previously been taught under the name “Radio Practicum” by associate professor Douglas Quin, the new name of the course offers a “true reflection” of the entire spectrum that radio now covers in the 21st century, said Michael Schoonmaker, the TRF chair and an associate professor.

“Radio is a traditional form and an evolving form,” Schoonmaker said. “This course gets at that and it prepares students who are telling stories in both avenues of radio, existing in traditional models and also in evolving new media models.”

Schoonmaker said the course works closely with the WAER radio station and helps show students how the world of radio is morphing and stretching beyond radio’s original roots.

“If you look at our major, radio is probably the smallest part of that in terms of student interest, but I would say it’s the loudest voice and it’s the deepest passion,” Schoonmaker said. “I think it’s just really important to show them there’s a place where they can celebrate radio, get to know it, and be challenged on whatever skills they bring in to that environment and make them better.”

A slew of new graduate programs and courses are currently waiting to be approved by the University Senate. Newhouse has branched out to partner with VPA for its joint graduate program titled Audio Arts, which will begin in summer 2014, Schoonmaker said. The program will also offer 400-level courses in the fall that undergraduates can enroll in, he said. Newhouse is also partnering with the School of Education and the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science for its Media and Education and Computational Journalism graduate programs.

L.C. Smith also has created a new Cyber Security graduate program that is in the process of being approved for the fall 2014 semester.

Published on November 11, 2013 at 1:06 am

Contact Margaret: mglin@syr.edu