Communication and Media Studies Department

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The Department of Communication and Media Studies offers a major and a minor in communication.

The department is an integral part of Goucher’s liberal arts tradition. Students are encouraged to develop a sense of communication history and are provided with the means of mastering the language of modern media. They are challenged to develop a critical view, with an emphasis on ethical judgments about contemporary media issues. Academic and theoretical classes are supplemented with skills-oriented coursework, applied internships, and research activities, as well as TV studio, field video, audio and new media production classes. Students are encouraged to pursue specific interests in television and film studies; video and audio production; print, radio and television journalism; photography; advertising and public relations; popular culture studies; and new media. Extracurricular work with campus radio and television, the student newspaper, and blogs enhance the academic training. Students complete internships in a variety of arenas, including television, radio, public relations, advertising, nonprofit agencies, film, news writing and production, marketing, and new media production and training. Students are also encouraged to pursue independent projects in their particular areas of scholarly and creative interest.

Professional communication associations in which students and faculty participate include American Studies Association, Cultural Studies Association,, Eastern Communication Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Television Arts and Sciences, Popular Culture Association, Public Relations Society of America, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery, and Women in Film and Television…

Department Faculty

Professors

Sanford J. Ungar, Edward Worteck (landscape photography, documentary portraiture, curatorial practices, and contemporary photo criticism)

Associate Professors

Nsenga Burton (film and media studies; race, class, gender, sexuality and ethnicity in the media), Daniel Marcus, chair (media criticism, cultural studies, documentary film, and video production), Shirley Peroutka (cultural studies, cinema and television studies, screenwriting, gender studies, international broadcasting, environmental studies)

Assistant Professors

John Turner (film and popular culture studies, research methods), David Zurawik (media and popular culture criticism, children and television, ethics, journalism)

Instructor

Randy Rohrbaugh (audio production, video production)

Lecturers

Gayle Economos (media management, public relations and advertising), Guy Raymond (TV studio and field production), Christina Stoehr (writing for the media), Christine Coleman Taylor (writing for broadcast news)

Qualifications Required to Graduate with Departmental Honors

Honors are decided by a vote of the full-time and half-time faculty just prior to Commencement each year. The following guidelines are used to determine honors:

• Students must achieve a grade point average of at least 3.67 in all 200- and 300-level courses taken in the major to be considered for honors.
• No student will be considered for honors who has taken any 200- or 300-level course for the major pass/no pass, except for those courses that can only be taken on a pass/no pass basis (internship and applied video).
• Students must demonstrate via their course work or a senior thesis either (1) a superior grasp of communication and media studies theory, criticism, and/or history, or (2) creativity and substance in an applied skill.
• Students must complete a variety of rigorous courses in the major and should take courses from many full- and half-time faculty.

Multiple Failed Courses

It is the department’s policy that students majoring in communication must receive at least a C- in every course taken toward the completion of the major. Any student who receives a grade below C- in more than two courses will not be permitted to continue in the major.

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