The Edward R. Murrow School of Communication
Named for its most illustrious alumnus, the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication is highly regarded nationwide by educators and professionals alike. It has won national and regional Emmys for student television productions, is nationally ranked 4th in television news and first in the Northwest for its public relations sequence, and has a faculty and student body with good diversity in gender and race.
The Edward R. Murrow School of Communication is the only program in the Northwest that offers sequences in six communication fields: advertising, broadcasting, communication, communication studies, journalism, and public relations. It offers the only comprehensive broadcast program in the state of Washington. The School is noted for combining both professional skill building and theory and is one of only a few programs in the nation that airs a daily, student-produced television newscast.
Study in the School's facilities provides exposure to new computer-based technologies. The Edward R. Murrow School of Communication has three computer labs (writing lab, advanced graphics and data analysis lab, and broadcast news lab); television production studios and TV editing suites; a radio station and radio/audio labs; and a state-of the-art news production/broadcast lab with NewStar computer system.
Academic Programs
Advertising
Students have the opportunity to learn about advertising from a variety of viewpoints--both theoretical and applied. In addition to receiving a solid grounding in communication theory and the liberal arts, students can put their knowledge to use in preparing media plans, writing advertising strategy and copy, and planning and executing complete campaigns.
Qualified students can gain valuable experience in the advertising workplace through internships, or may participate in competitions and other pre-professional activities sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. A number of WSU students have interned at leading agencies in the West, and many students are working in advertising organizations. Regardless of whether the final outcome is a job in advertising, students have the opportunity to study through the prism of one of its major means of communication--advertising.
Broadcasting
WSU's broadcasting sequence, which offers emphases in production, news, and management, has won an outstanding reputation for its professional approach. Students who elect the production track receive studio and field training in both audio and video production and have opportunities to work with equipment in the School, at WSU's Cable 8, and in Radio-TV Services.
Broadcast news track students are exposed to both radio and television news reporting. Through the radio news class, they are responsible for daily newscasts on KUGR, and may gain additional experience on Northwest Public Radio. In television news, they generate nightly cablecasts seen in Pullman, which they anchor, shoot, edit, and produce.
The quality of the broadcasting sequence has earned students wide recognition from broadcast professionals. Students recently won awards in television spot news, non-deadline news, and television documentary categories in a regional competition sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists.
Communication
Communication is the study of how people convey information. At Washington State University, sequences are offered in advertising, broadcasting, communication, journalism, public relations, and communication studies.
An undergraduate communication degree provides knowledge and skills valued in fields as varied as business, education, government and politics, international relations, social and human services, health-related careers, and law.
Communication Studies
Communication skills are critical in the work place in the context of multicultural and global transformations. Communication Studies offers two degree options which prepare students for a variety of professional careers.
The Applied Intercultural Degree Program prepares students to understand and actively engage in intercultural communication in relationships, within and among communities, and at the workplace at the national and global levels. The program focuses on human communication in local/global contexts and in relationship to media representations. Students will learn to understand and negotiate their identities in intercultural contexts. They will also gain cultural knowledge and skills to creatively solve problems and challenges which arise within intercultural and/or inequitable relations. Students will also develop a critical perspective on local/global issues by examining the historical and political dimensions of intercultural relations.
The Organizational Communication Degree Program helps students develop critical thinking and problem solving skills, understanding of common workplace problems and how communication can create, resolve, and prevent such problems, and specific skills such as employee motivation, employee recruitment/selection, performance evaluation and appraisal, conflict resolution, interpersonal relations, argumentation, leadership, public speaking, and writing.
The graduates of the program are uniquely prepared for careers in human resources, community/international development, community relations and mediation, customer relations, sales/account representation, employee relations, management, training and development, political organizing, cultural and diversity needs assessment, and international mediation among others.
Journalism
For years, WSU has trained many of the Pacific Northwest's leading newspaper reporters and editors. Tomorrow's journalists will fill those roles as well as similar positions on the staffs of magazines and specialized publications.
Journalism majors focus on the reporting and editing processes, current mass media issues, and the legal and historical precedents that have shaped the field. In the lab, students are exposed to new computer-based technologies designed to help journalists be more precise in reporting and editing.
Beyond the classroom, journalism majors manage and write for The Daily Evergreen, intern with newspapers and magazines, and have competed nationally for internships and scholarships. In addition, students meet many news media professionals by participating in the WSU chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.
Public Relations
As the site of Washington's first public relations degree program, WSU's Edward R. Murrow School of Communication has launched many of the Northwest's most effective communication managers for business, government, and nonprofit organizations. This highly regarded program continues to gain strength through the strong support of professionals throughout the Northwest.
Public relations majors learn to communicate creatively and persuasively to build mutually beneficial long-term relationships between organizations and their publics. The program emphasizes writing, research, and management principles through a demanding series of required courses in communication, journalism, marketing, and public relations.
Public relations majors become involved with campus media, the Public Relations Student Society of America, the International Association of Business Communicators, and with ongoing campaigns for clients throughout Washington state. In addition, through the School's flourishing internship program, students apprentice with agencies, corporations, hospitals, nonprofit organizations, and government and congressional offices.
The Edward R. Murrow School of Communication began an exciting new era in January 2004 when the doors to the School's new three-story building addition were opened.
The addition includes numerous state-of-the-art features, including computer labs and research rooms with special one-way observation windows, a director's booth, four edit suites, and a 175-seat auditorium with walls that open to reveal a digital TV studio.