Ph.D. Program News

Dean Jorge Reina Schement recently sent a message to alumni of the School of Communication and Information, the first of a regular series of communications designed to keep alumni informed of news at SC&I and help them stay engaged with the community.

Dear Alumni,

In my first year as Dean of the School of Communication & Information (SC&I), our school has taken steps toward meeting the challenges and addressing the social issues of the 21st century. As we grow into this new role, I want to keep you informed. Starting with this message, I will send you regular updates on the work that our students and faculty are doing so that you stay engaged with the SC&I (pronounced "sky") community. I'll keep you updated on some of the most important activities at our school, such as:

• New Initiatives: Three initiatives are under development that will strengthen the mission of the school and contribute intellectual leadership to public discourse. These initiatives-Community, Global Media, and Democracy; Health and Wellness; and Social Media Interaction and Collaborative Design-represent urgent challenges for our nation and our communities.
• Adding to the Strength of Our Faculty: By building a core of faculty around these initiatives, we will increase our visibility in the research community. Our already strong faculty and their areas of expertise will be enhanced by combining these studies with a fresh, 21st century emphasis.
• Enhancing the Student Experience: One of my strongest impressions as I look back on my initial year as dean is the enthusiasm with which students participate in the life of the school. At graduation-which overflowed the College Avenue Gym-I heard stories that expressed a depth of feeling for classes, teachers, adventures, and student life. Our goal, therefore, is to build on this stock of goodwill. When students participate in the life of SC&I's community, we all benefit.
• Diversity at SC&I: Roughly 40 percent of our students come from America's minority populations, while two-thirds are women. Our challenge is to connect with their distinct experiences and harness those perspectives as assets for learning.
• Interdisciplinarity: At SC&I, our scholars not only come from our traditional fields of study but also history, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, computer science, and other disciplines. As such, we contribute to the many discourses from which new ideas emerge in the university.
• New Resources: Our colleagues across the nation face reductions in resources. By contrast, we have increased our infrastructure support for sponsored research. We will explore new markets for our course offerings. And we will leverage our expertise in online curricula to offer a minor and certificate program teaching "Competencies for the Digital Age."