Annual Report 2014-2015

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Table of Contents

The Year in Review ................................................................................................................ 2

State of the Discipline ............................................................................................................ 2

Academic Associations .......................................................................................................................... 3

Department of Communication: Our Mission, Vision and Learning Outcomes ........................ 3

Our Mission ........................................................................................................................................... 3

Our Vision .............................................................................................................................................. 3

Program Goals & College Strategic Plan ............................................................................................... 3

Strategies and Tactics ........................................................................................................................... 4

Learning Outcomes ............................................................................................................................... 4

Accomplishments in Teaching ................................................................................................ 5

Unique Curricular Offerings .................................................................................................................. 5

Contributions to Other Units ................................................................................................................ 6

Contributions to Unique Curricular Initiatives ...................................................................................... 6

Changes in Enrollment and Workload .................................................................................... 9

By the Numbers .................................................................................................................................... 9

Enrollment Trends ................................................................................................................................. 9

Workload Productivity ........................................................................................................................ 10

Assessment ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Faculty Teaching Awards .................................................................................................................... 10

Diversity .............................................................................................................................................. 12

Accomplishments in Research and Professional Development ............................................. 13

Service Contributions .......................................................................................................... 13

Service to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences ................................................................... 13

Service to the College ......................................................................................................................... 14

Service to the Community (Professional in Nature) ........................................................................... 15

Service to the Profession .................................................................................................................... 15

Honors and Awards: Faculty, Students and Alumni .............................................................. 15

Outreach Efforts .................................................................................................................. 16

Obstacles & Challenges ................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Curricular Development and Change .................................................................................... 18

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The Year in Review The Department of Communication (COMM) was created as

an independent administrative unit in Fall 1999 and has

completed its sixteenth year of operation at the College of

Charleston. The department offers one of the largest majors

on campus, with 520 declared majors and 71 minors at the

end of the 2014-2015 academic year. The department offers

a Master of Arts in Communication, with 12 students

enrolled in the master’s degree courses at the end of the

2014-2015 academic year. Faculty in the department of

Communication also contribute significantly to the Applied Communication Management Concentration

in the Bachelor of Professional Studies at the North Campus as well as the Bachelor of Arts in Public

Health housed in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences.

In 2014-2015 the department employed 24 roster faculty and 8 adjunct faculty, with the combined

faculty offering 172 regular course sections during the academic year (excluding summer). The

department generated 3,710 enrollments during the regular academic year (excluding summer).

Notably, the department hosted several events this year including: two three-day Advisory Council

conferences, a Scholarship Recipient Tea, Bully Pulpit events featuring Rand Paul and Richard

Carwardine, alumni gatherings in DC and NYC launching our John Palmer Scholarship Award, an alumni

industry panel in DC, a voter registration drive, the Senior Celebration, the Communication Internship

Fair, the Spotlight on Scholarship and Advisory Council receptions for alumni and students.

State of the Discipline Communication research and education experienced rapid growth and institutional consolidation as an

academic discipline in the second half of the twentieth century. The field is informed by the intellectual

traditions of the humanities and social sciences, building on the ancient Greek arts of rhetoric, dialectic,

aesthetics and poetics as well as psychology, anthropology, sociology and political science. Our

theoretical foundation is built on the seven primary traditions of communication: rhetoric, semiotics,

cybernetics, phenomenology, social psychology, sociocultural theory, and critical theory.

The discipline ranges in scope from the micro-analysis of individual behavior (e.g. information

processing) to macro-analysis of communication at the institutional or societal level (e.g. organizational

communication, international communication). Research in the discipline also utilizes various methods

of inquiry including quantitative social science (e.g. media effects), critical and cultural studies (e.g.

gender studies, media criticism), interpretive social science (e.g. social interaction), humanities (e.g.

rhetorical studies), applied (e.g. journalism).

Because of the diversity of the discipline, it is difficult to identify emerging issues and trends that cut

across all areas, but most scholars agree that the discipline will continue to have a distinctly applied

focus with significant opportunities for funding research in the areas internationalization and global

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communication, media, health communication, ethics, and mediation and conflict resolution. We also

anticipate ongoing discussion about the role of communication in the public sphere. As with all

disciplines, the role of technology in shaping and changing the way we communicate is likely to remain

an important topic.

Academic Associations

Major academic associations serving the communication discipline in North America include the

National Communication Association (NCA; http://www.natcom.org), the Canadian Communication

Association (CCA; http://www.acc-cca.ca), the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass

Communication (AEJMC; http://www.aejmc.org), and the Broadcast Education Association (BEA;

http://www.beaweb.org). Notably, the National Communication Association celebrated its centennial

anniversary in 2014.

Department of Communication: Our Mission, Vision and Learning Outcomes

Our Mission

The Department of Communication creates and shares knowledge of communication and relational

processes, including ethical and critical decision-making, with the goal of encouraging the development

of engaged citizens preparing for leadership in their professions, community, and world.

Our Vision

The Department of Communication at the College of Charleston is the nation's premier integrated

communication program for undergraduate and master's-level education. The department's graduates

are communication experts who write beautifully, speak eloquently, think critically, and research

effectively. With the advantages of an outstanding liberal arts education and personalized instruction,

the department's graduates bring extraordinary proficiency to audience analysis, message reception,

message design, and communication campaigns. These graduates are marked by their leadership in their

workplaces and communities and by their ability to adapt to rapid changes in the communication

practices and technologies of the twenty-first century. The department is recognized nationally and

internationally for its outstanding faculty and its integration of the full range of communication interests

in an innovative, challenging curriculum, which requires study of messages and audiences in

communication contexts ranging from face-to-face settings to the latest developments in emerging

media. The department has special research and teaching expertise in corporate communication and

public relations, health communication, and political communication.

Program Goals & College Strategic Plan

At our retreats in August 2011 and 2013, faculty in the Department of Communication discussed the

College’s strategic plan and the ways in which our current initiatives and practices were aligned with or

in support of identified goals.

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Goal 1: Provide students a highly personalized education based on a liberal arts and sciences core and

enhanced by opportunities for experiential learning.

Faculty in the department felt that our new curriculum made us uniquely suited to provide a highly

personalized educational experience for our majors. With two, year-long courses and a curriculum

based on core competencies rather than specific content, students have the opportunity to develop

strong relationships with individual faculty and the opportunity to their program to meet their personal

and professional objectives. Additionally, faculty cited our emphasis on problem-based and service-

learning, our study abroad program, and our robust independent study and internship programs as

central to our ability to help the College achieve this goal.

Goal 3: provide students the global and interdisciplinary perspectives necessary to address the social,

economic, environmental, ethical, scientificand political issues of the 21st century.

Faculty also perceived the department to be ideally placed to facilitate the attainment of this goal

through our work with the Study Abroad office (we have the largest number of students to study abroad

in HSS), our service learning and civic engagement activities, internship program, and interdisciplinary

offerings. Additionally, one of the primary objectives of our advisory council is to bring contemporary

issues in the political and economic realm to life through their student forums and class visits.

Goal 4: Establish and promote a vibrant campus-life atmosphere dedicated to education of the whole

person through integration of curricular and co-curricular or extracurricular activities.

As one of the department’s most committed to co-curricular activities, we are happy to support this

objective through continuing to strengthen our Bully Pulpit Series on Presidential Communication,

Mentor-Protégé Program, Distinguished Communicator Award, Executive Communicator Series, and

spring break trips and outreach activities. We also intend to continue our work with student groups

including the Public Relations Student Society of America, Lambda Pi Eta, and Cougar Media Network.

We anticipate continued engagement in the REACH, FYE, and Honors programs.

Strategies and Tactics

While all of the strategies and tactics identified in the strategic plan are important to the long-term

success of the College, we would place strengthening the academic core (1), support for a highly-

qualified, diverse and stable base of faculty and staff (3), and the development of appropriate facilities

and infrastructure to support academic and extra-curricular programs (7) at the top of the priority list.

We expect, however, that in order to achieve these objectives we will have to develop and enhance our

non-state resources (9) and create strong brand recognition both nationally and internationally (10).

Learning Outcomes

Students who graduate from the College of Charleston with a degree in Communication will be able to

1) write beautifully; 2) think critically; 3) speak eloquently; 4) research effectively; and 5) understand

communication as a liberal art.

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Accomplishments in Teaching

Unique Curricular Offerings

As an integrated communication program, we offer courses in multiple areas of the discipline. Some of

the more unique offerings of 2014-2015 were:

Ethical Communication: Ethics in Leadership

Ethical Communication: Freedom of Expression

Addressing Problems in Context: Conflict in Romantic Relationships

Addressing Problems in Context: Intercultural Communication

Political Campaign Communication

Analysis of Communication: Magazine Writing

Analysis of Communication: Media, Communication, and Technocultures

Capstone in Communication: Signs in Contemporary Culture

Capstone in Communication: Organizational Influence and Advocacy

Capstone in Communication: Social Media Research

Capstone in Communication: Conference Planning in Theory and Practice

Capstone in Communication: The Bully Pulpit Experience

In Fall 2011, we began our transition to a completely unique program in Communication including a

year-long course in writing and speaking and a year-long capstone experience. This program is highly

personalized and focuses on developing the written, oral and visual communication competencies of our

students. This spring, we graduate the last of our “old majors” and we are excited to see the

improvement in student skills, the interest in the new areas of communication represented, and the

enthusiasm for the pedagogical approach that characterizes our revised major.

This year, we taught nine sections of our Capstone course with tremendous success. We highlighted the

research conducted by these students at our Spotlight on Scholarship in April. This spring, with minor

adjustments to our application, we continued our highly competitive capstone selection process. Seven

capstone sections were scheduled for Fall 2015 and descriptions were circulated to all qualified

students. These students were then invited to apply and rank their most preferred capstone sections.

Faculty teaching the courses reviewed applications and rank ordered students for their course. Faculty

then met and “drafted” students into their course based on both student and faculty member

preference. Students were evaluated based on their experience and background with the subject

matter of the course, internships, related work experience, volunteer work, and academic performance.

This competitive process (while difficult for some students) was well received by most, with our most

accomplished students acknowledging it motivated them to participate in the type of curricular and co-

curricular work that would enable them to stand out in the application process. Students who are not

satisfied with the capstone in which they were placed were allowed to put themselves on a wait list in

case a spot opens in the class they prefer. Capstone topics for Fall 2015 include the Bully Pulpit

Experience, Training and Development, Organizational Influence and Advocacy, Experimenting with

Nonverbal Communication and a service-learning oriented Wired and Inspired course.

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Contributions to Other Units

While we have the second highest number of majors in the Humanities and Social Sciences and one of

the top five at the College, the Department of Communication continues to play a significant role in

supporting our liberal arts mission by contributing to general education offerings for our students and in

special curricular initiatives.

Honors: We contributed over 40 hours to the honors program this academic year through

courses, Bachelor’s Essays and Independent Studies.

First Year Experience and Learning Communities: Three faculty members contributed 288

student credit hours for the First Year Experience and Learning Community program this year.

We anticipate continued contributions in this area as several faculty are already assigned to

FYE/LC courses for fall and spring of AY 2015-2016.

REACH: Five faculty members were active participants in the REACH program this year, teaching thirteen REACH students in six different courses.

Cross-listing: We continued our partnership with the Department of Political Science, the School

of Education, Women’s and Gender Studies and Film Studies by cross-listing several appropriate

courses in support of each program.

Contributions to Unique Curricular Initiatives

Faculty in the Department of Communication are involved in curricular initiatives across campus

including distance education, international studies, interdisciplinary studies, and High Impact learning

experiences.

Distance Education

In 2014-2015 we offered 7 course sections through online education during the regular academic year (2

for the Bachelor of Professional Studies Program) and 6 course sections in the summer. These courses

were very successful with generally higher enrollments than our traditional courses offering during the

same sessions. We will continue to consider ways to extend our distance education and hybrid course

offerings during the summer sessions and have begun scheduling online courses in the regular academic

year as appropriate.

Internationalization

Faculty in the Department of Communication are highly committed to the study abroad program at the

College. We have had faculty offer summer and/or semester-long programs every year for the past

eleven years.

This summer, 12 undergraduates participated in the Department of Communication’s study abroad program in Prague, Czech Republic. Nine were Communication majors, two were Business Administration majors, and one was undecided. The students took two site-specific classes, COMM 315: Communication Ethics in a Multicultural Context, which was taught by Dr. Robert Westerfelhaus, and

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COMM 336: The Language of Food, taught by Dr. Merissa Ferrara. Highlights of the program included tours of Prague’s Castle, Old Town, and Jewish Quarter; visits to the

medieval towns of Český Krumlov and Kutná Hora; a spa day in Mariánské Lázně (Marienbad); a dinner

cruise down the Vlatava River; and a guided tour of the Terezin (Theresienstadt) Concentration Camp.

We also offered the 2015 Communication and Women's and Gender Studies Study Abroad Program to

Germany, Italy and Austria. This is the third year that Dr. Alison Smith (Adjunct in WGS at CofC and

Assistant Professor at The Citadel) and Dr. Celeste Lacroix (Professor of Communication) have directed

this program. Dr. Smith taught WGST 320 – Gender in the European Union. Dr. Lacroix taught COMM

336 – Addressing Problems in Context: Cross-cultural Communication, and one Independent Study

(COMM 405). Thirteen students traveled with this program, including 5 Communication Majors, 1 WGS

Major and 3 WGS minors. We also had CofC majors from: Psychology, Political Science, International

Business, Marketing, as well as one student from UNC Greensboro.

Highlights from this year's program include a Slow Food Tour in Florence and Scandicci, Italy, which was

organized in part as a result of research on the part of Dr. Lacroix, which was funded by the office of the

Dean of Humanities and Social Science. During this tour, the group visited an artisanal Gelato producer

and tasted 9 different gelati. They visited a small fair trade chocolate producer where they toured the

facility and tasted literally dozens of different chocolates at different stages of production from cacao

nibs to final, elaborate chocolates. Finally, students and faculty were treated to a fabulous multi-course

dinner at the Bistrot del Mondo at the Castello Dell'Acciaiolo. This is a community supported

organization with majority volunteer staff which focuses attention on the Slow Food Movement and

utilizes local products and features heritage products from the Tuscany region. The group’s guide for this

day was Slow Food advocate and Terre Madre volunteer interpreter, Ms. Francesca Ermini.

While in Austria, students spent the day in Obersalzberg (in nearby Germany), visiting the

Documentation Center there, which documents the Nazi presence in the town of Obersalzberg as

Hitler's holiday resort and then the Fuhrer's off-limits areas and second seat of power. This museum

includes access to the bunkers and particularly focuses on Nazi Party propaganda and the cultivation of

Hitler's persona as a "man of the people." Part of this day was spent at the Eagle's Nest at the summit

of the Kehlstein, which was built as a fiftieth birthday gift for Hitler from the Party. Other highlights

include a trip to the newly opened Documentation Center dedicated to National Socialism and the Third

Reich in Munich and a special exhibition of artist Keith Haring at the Kunsthalle in Munich, a guided tour

of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, and a full day walking tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp

Memorial.

In COMM 336, groups were able to record field notes both in writing and visually using 3 iPad Minis,

which were provided from grants in the Department of Communication and the Provost's Office.

Interdisciplinary Programs

Our faculty are involved in several interdisciplinary programs including: Women’s and Gender Studies, Film Studies, Public Health, African-American Studies, and Political Science. In addition to teaching courses across disciplines, our faculty often take on leadership roles in these programs. In 2014-2015,

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Dr. Deborah Socha McGee served as Co-Director for Public Health and Dr. David Moscowitz served as the Interim Director of Women’s and Gender Studies.

High Impact and Personalized Education

We are very proud of the high impact, highly personalized educational experience we offer our students.

Our program is very “high touch.” We encourage students to tailor their academic program to their

personal and professional goals and all of our courses beyond the strong core encourage the student to

explore specific areas of communication. Specific high impact initiatives sponsored by the Department

of Communication include, but are not limited to:

A high quality internship program with a dedicated internship director. In 2014-2015, 74 students completed internships for credit towards their degree. These internships are local, national, and international and provide students with significant work experience in the field of communication. Students complete several written assignments and submit a portfolio of work samples at the conclusion of the internship. Supervisors also submit evaluations of student work. A survey conducted of all graduating seniors this year suggests nearly 90% of our students complete internships, but most are non-credit bearing. We are in the process of reviewing the program to evaluate what improvements might be made to encourage students to complete internships for credit.

Our highly competitive mentor-protégé program. Students are selected in their sophomore or junior year as protégés to members of our esteemed Advisory Council. They meet in person at least twice a year with their mentor and are encouraged to develop on-going and sustained communication with them throughout the year.

Our Spring Break Trip to New York and DC. This weeklong experience is designed to enhance student understanding of the communication profession by offering a series of tours, presentations and networking events in the Washington, DC and New York markets. Thanks to members of our Advisory Council and our alumni, this year’s trip included a visit to CNN, Ketchum, a visit with Mike McCurry and Greg Schneiders (former Press Secretary to President Bill Clinton and President Jimmy Carter, respectively), Fleishmann Hillard, Capitol Hill, a meeting with Senator Lindsay Graham, a meeting with Deputy Press Secretary to President Obama, Shawn Turner at the White House , Edelman, Peppercomm, Heyman and Associates, Landor, Thomson Reuters, IBM and Time, Inc.

Our service learning assignments in our courses. For example, in COMM 215 students work in groups of 3-5 with a community partner. Students meet with agency representatives to identify and work towards meeting a specific need. In the past year, students worked with several organizations including: My Sister’s House, Camp Happy Days, COFC Students United, Charleston Volunteers for Literacy, American Heart Association, Families Helping Families, Windwood Farm, and Ronald McDonald House.

Our Capstone courses at the conclusion of our major also encourage students to partner with local community members to engage in service learning and project based work. This year, projects were completed for the Carolina’s Communication Association, The Bully Pulpit Series, and several local non-profit organizations.

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We also foster individualized educational experiences through our undergraduate and graduate research projects (see FAS data for list of Bachelor’s Essays and Independent Study projects). A number of these projects have gone on to be presented at conferences or in regional publications.

Changes in Enrollment and Workload

By the Numbers

The number of students majoring in Communication decreased from 609 (Spring 2014) to 520 (Spring

2015). Additionally, we supported 71 minors (an increase from 45 in 2013) and graduated 232

undergraduate students and 8 graduate students. The average class size is 22.2 with 67.8% of student

credit hours offered by roster faculty, 26% offered by highly qualified adjuncts and 6.2% offered by

teaching assistants supervised by roster faculty. The only courses in the department taught by graduate

teaching assistants are one-hour discussion sections for COMM 214. These labs are highly structured

with a pre-designed curriculum and significant supervision by roster faculty teaching the course.

Enrollment Trends

Our enrollment in AY 2014-2015 was 3710, which was slightly lower than AY 2013-2014 (3981). This

data, along with tracking of declared and graduated students suggests a decrease in the size of our

program. This decrease is consistent with our expectations and goals (see previous annual reports) as

we transitioned to our new major. With the increased writing requirements and two year-long course

requirements, the Communication major is less attractive to some students. This year, however, we

changed one major requirement from a pre-requisite to a co-requisite to reduce the time to graduation

which was a roadblock for some of our students. We have seen the anticipated rise in our minors (up

from 22 in 2011) as students who are unwilling or unable to complete the Capstone requirement opt for

other majors. We hope to maintain our major between 550 and 650 students with less than 100 minors.

At the graduate level, 2014-2015 was the lowest enrollment our graduate program has ever experienced

but increased recruitment efforts resulted in an incoming class of 11 students, making 2015-2016

program enrollment projections at 17 students (more than a 40% increase from last year).

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Workload Productivity

The semester Delaware workload target for the Department of Communication for 2013-2014 is listed at 237.33 (increased from 233.67 last year). The table below lists the targets for each type of faculty compared to our actual peers and departmental enrollments by faculty type.

Faculty Type Delaware Target Peers Student Credit Hours

CofC Student Credit Hour Enrollments

Tenure Track 221.67 198 172.47

Other Regular 291.00 308.33 280.33

Supplemental 229.67 248.33 240

Review of the data above suggests we are close to our peers in the number of student credit hours generated by faculty type with the exception of “other regular faculty.” We currently have one visiting roster faculty, but I expect that “other regular” includes instructors at other institutions and the number of faculty included in this category will vary significantly based on institution. We have shown decreased enrollment in the last four years primarily due to the “running out” of our old curriculum where we needed to run both old and new curriculum courses with some not reaching full enrollment. We also reduced our major numbers from 800 to 520. We anticipate returning to a ratio of 205-210 this academic year. While it would be possible to reach a workload target of 237.33 by increasing the size of our courses and decreasing the variety of course options, this is inconsistent with our pedagogy and the College’s renewed commitment to a more personalized educational experience. It would also require increased access to classrooms seating over 50 students during “prime time” course hours.

According to the Delaware data provided, the Department of Communication at the College of Charleston’s instructional costs increased from $192 per student credit hour in 2012-13 to $217 per student credit hour in 2013-14. Comparison data from peer institutions was not available at the time this report was prepared.

Assessment

Assessment is an ongoing endeavor in the Department of Communication. We systematically review each of the courses in our curriculum every few years. This year the Assessment and Basic Course Committee collected assessment materials from two sets of courses – COMM 281-Introduction to Communication Messages and COMM 315-Ethical Communication and analyzed the data from three semester’s worth of assignments. Additionally, faculty teaching COMM 310-Message, Design and Influence and COMM 336-Addressing Problems in Context, were asked to begin submitting data from the signature assignment so that data can be analyzed next year. The assessment data collected and analyzed for COMM 281 focused on learning objectives related to the students’ ability to write and speak effectively. The data that were collected were papers and speeches from the “Leadership” assignment. This assignment requires students to choose a topic that is thematically related to one of the two major issues/controversies discussed in the class and to then write a paper in which they make a clear argument and support the argument with sound evidence and

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reasoning. Students are then required to deliver a speech based on their paper, but the speech is supposed to elaborate on some of their ideas, arguments, examples, the speech is not supposed to just repeat what they wrote. The learning outcome for the papers was that students would be able to choose and adapt an appropriate topic for a specific audience, occasion and purpose using proper tone, style and format (both oral and written). The four dimensions that were assessed for the papers focused on the students’ ability to present a clear thesis statement, their ability to organize their paper effectively, whether they adequately used evidence/examples and/or logical reasoning in support of their argument, and whether or not they used proper APA format both in the text of the paper and for their works cited. A total of 59 papers (40%) from the past three semesters were assessed. The assessment plan called for at least 70% of students to score a 3 (meets expectations) or 4 (exceeds expectations) on the rubric. The actual scores for each of the four dimensions were significantly lower than the hoped for 70% mark. For the first dimension, the ability to present a clear thesis statement, a total of 25 of 59 (42%) of the students scored a 3 or 4. For the second dimension, organization, a total of 16 of 59 (25%) of the students scored a 3 or 4. For the Third dimension, the use of evidence and reasoning, 18 of 59 (30%) of the students scored a 3 or 4. And for the fourth dimension, adhering to APA guidelines, a total of 16 of 59 (25%) of the students scored a 3 or 4.1 We also collected as many of the leadership presentations from sections of 281 as we could. Unfortunately we were not able to collect presentations from all of the sections because several of the faculty did not save the recordings. We were able to collect some recordings of the presentations, and the committee members have not yet completed their review and assessment evaluation of the presentations. Once the presentations have been assessed, our report will be updated to reflect the findings. The second course assessed this past year was COMM 315-Ethical Communication. All faculty teaching COMM 315 over the past three semesters were asked to administer a signature assignment in which they presented their students with a case study of an ethical dilemma, and the students were asked to analyze the case study to identify the ethical dilemma(s), to define or explain relevant ethical theories related to the dilemma(s), to apply the ethical theory(ies) to the case, and finally to create an argument for resolving the ethical dilemma(s). The signature assignment was administered either as a short analysis paper in some sections or as an essay question on the final exam in other sections. Regardless of the type of assignment, the four dimensions for assessment were included. A total of 84 case studies (about 60%) from the past three semesters were assessed. The assessment plan called for at least 70% of students to score a 3 (meets expectations) or 4 (exceeds expectations) on the rubric. The actual scores across the four dimensions were mixed with two scoring above 70% of two scoring below. For the first dimension, identification of the ethical dilemma(s), a total of 69 of 84 (82%)

1 Although few students’ papers received a score of 3 or 4 for the various dimensions, the majority of

the students did receive a score of 2 (Approaches Expectations) for the first three dimensions. The

adherence to APA guidelines was the only dimension for which the majority of students did not meet

expectations.

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of the students scored a 3 or 4. For the second dimension, defining or explaining relevant ethical theories to the case, a total of 43 of 84 (51%) of the students scored a 3 or 4. For the third dimension, the application of the relevant theory(ies) to the case, a total of 69 or 84 (82%) of the students scored a 3 or 4. And for the fourth dimension, creating an argument for resolving the ethical dilemma, a total of 43 of 84 (51%) of the students scored a 3 or 4. The faculty who teach COMM 280/281 have been meeting and talking over the past two years to try to get a sense of how effectively we are meeting the learning objectives of the courses. The concern of the faculty has been that the courses are too ambitious and that we have not yet identified the specific areas of focus for materials taught and for assignments in the courses. The assessment of the leadership papers (and likely the presentations, too) confirms that we have not yet managed to structure the course and assignments so we can effectively meet the learning objectives. The faculty has already begun re-examining the course structure and readings as well as the type of assignments, both written and presentational assignments, so we can teach students to be more effective writers and speakers. We will implement some changes in the fall 2015 semester and will continue to work on revising and improving the course structure and content so that when we next assess the work, we should see significant improvement in both the papers and presentations. COMM 315 is the first course in which we used the “signature assignment” for assessment. While this worked fairly well, the committee discovered that the types of assignments students were asked to complete varied significantly, and that may have influenced how well (or poorly) the case studies assessed fit the dimensions we were assessing. The faculty teaching COMM 315 were given a copy of the rubric which would be used for assessment, but were also allowed to construct the assignment as they wished, so there were some significant differences in the end products. As a department we need to be aware of this since there will be several courses in which we will use a “signature assignment” for assessment. We may need to think through the assignments more carefully and be more specific in the instructions so that all materials have the same elements in them. The results, and the analysis and actions being taken for COMM 280/281 will be presented to the faculty at the August faculty retreat or at the first faculty meeting in the fall.

Faculty Teaching Awards

We are fortunate to have many gifted teachers in our department. This year, Dr. Merissa Ferrara was

recognized by our undergraduate students as the Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year. Dr.

Amanda Ruth-McSwain was recognized by the graduate students as the Outstanding Faculty Member

of the Year for 2014-2015. Dr. Vince Benigni received the College’s Distinguished Service Award.

Additionally, Ms. Myra Whittemore was recognized by the Department as the Outstanding Adjunct of

the Year for her accomplishments in teaching and service to the department.

Diversity

The Department of Communication has 24 tenured or tenure track faculty: fourteen white females, nine white males and one non-resident male. We continue to make every effort to increase diversity in our applicant pools for our searches to create a stronger, more diverse department including but not limited to advertising in the Chronicle and with graduate programs with typically more diverse populations.

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Accomplishments in Research and Professional Development Departmental faculty published two books, six new articles in peer reviewed journals, twenty additional book chapters, invited publications or reviews and made over twenty-five presentations at professional conferences. Additionally, several faculty serve as reviewers for peer reviewed journal publications and conferences and are active in the discipline (see FAS report and appendix for summary data). Faculty received $18,500 in grant funding from the College, $184,000 in external funding (principal investigator at another institution). Faculty members participated in over forty student-faculty research collaborations. Our Events Coordinator and Director of Alumni Outreach continued her Lowcountry Association of Fundraising Professionals membership. She attends events where she is able to share and learn best practices from other development professionals, and was on the planning committee for the annual summer conference Faculty in the department were invited and encouraged to participate in several faculty development opportunities throughout the year. Several took advantage of TLT training sessions and the Distance Education Training course while others participated in the Universal Design of Learning Workshops offered by Academic Affairs. We also hosted several small group workshops for faculty teaching some of our new courses (e.g. Capstone) to discuss best practices and ensure consistency across sections. We hope to schedule several small workshops in 2015-2016 for faculty teaching writing intensive courses. We also plan to conduct faculty development workshops specifically targeted for adjunct faculty in Fall 2015.

Our strengths in this area are clearly related to our commitment to the teacher-scholar model and faculty student collaborations. While our faculty are productive researchers (especially given our teaching and service obligations), our weakness lies in not translating student-faculty collaborations into published research articles. Additionally, there are some inconsistencies in scholarly activity across ranks and length of service at the institution.

Service Contributions In addition to our curricular and scholarly contributions, faculty in the Department of Communication make significant service contributions to the School, the College, the community and the profession. Notably, Dr. Vince Benigni received the College’s Distinguished Service Award for 2014-2015. A selection of our activity follows:

Service to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences

Vince Benigni: HSS Representative to Graduate Council Julie Davis: Executive Committee Member Deborah Socha McGee: Co-Director Public Health (Spring 2014) David Moscowitz: HSS at-large Senator; HSS Assessment Committee

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Service to the College

Vince Benigni: Faculty Administrative Fellow (appointed by President Benson); College of

Charleston Athletics Hall of Fame Committee member; Faculty Athletics Representative; SACS

Committee Member; Cougar Club Committee member; Student Affairs and Athletics Committee

member Department of Athletics Facilitator, REACH Program

Lynn Cherry: Faculty Marshall, Students of Concern Committee,

Julie Davis: Faculty Hearing Committee, First Year Experience, REACH Program

Doug Ferguson: Tenure, Promotion and Third Year Review (alt), Faculty Coordinator for

eLearning and Distance Education, Distance Education Steering Committee, Committee Chair

Merissa Ferrara: Student Affairs Committee, SAFE – Student Athlete Faculty Expert

Bethany Goodier: Bachelor of Professional Studies Steering Committee, Distance Education Task

Force, Search Committee: Speaking Lab; Online Education Steering Committee, Admission Yield

Committee, Faculty Welfare Committee (secretary)

Tom Heeney: Speaking Lab (Director)

Jenifer Kopfman: Public Health Search Committee; Institutional Review Board; Nominations and

Elections Committee

Celeste Lacroix: Office of International Education and Programs – Scholarship Committee

Member, Women’s & Gender Studies Steering Committee, Study Abroad Director, Women’s and

Gender Studies Faculty Affiliate, Ad Hoc Committee on the Trujillo Study Abroad Program,

Committee Chair, Member

Namjin Lee: President’s Commission on Diversity, Access, Equity and Inclusion; Campus Diversity

Climate survey

Brian McGee: Interim Provost, Academic Affairs

Deborah Socha McGee: Public Health (Co-Director); Public Health Steering Committee; REACH

Program

Ryan Milner: REACH Program, Boundless Campaign Launch, College Representative, Ketner

Scholarship Committee Member

David Moscowitz: Women’s and Gender Studies Assessment Committee (Chair); Safe Zone

Faculty Ally; Jewish Studies Advisory Committee; Film Studies Steering Committee; Women’s

and Gender Studies Curriculum Committee (chair); Women’s and Gender Studies Executive

Committee; Academic Planning Committee; Humanities Assessment Reading Group

David Parisi: League of Legends Student Club Faculty Advisor; Faculty Education Technology

Committee; Teaching and Learning Technology Distance Education Mentor, Distance Education

Steering Committee member

Amanda Ruth-McSwain: Bully Pulpit Series (Director), Public Relations Student Society of

America Faculty Advisor, Graduate Council; Tenure and Promotion Committee Member; College

of Charleston-Chamber of Commerce Task Force, Interaction with Industry, Member

Kirk Stone: Faculty Senator

Elena Strauman: Faculty Advisor to Lambdi Pi Eta, Post Tenure Review Committee (chair)

Beth Sundstrom: Public Health Steering Committee, Women’s and Gender Studies Faculty

Affiliate; Student Affairs Programming: Sexual Assault Prevention and Bystander Intervention

Campaign; COFC/MUSC Collaboration/Merger Workshop Participant

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Robert Westerfelhaus : Committee of the Library (Chair); Fulbright Scholarship Campus selection

Committee, Parking Adjudication Board (Chair)

Service to the Community (Professional in Nature)

Beth Goodier: Capital Campaign Committee Member (Communication & Outreach) Charleston Catholic School

Tom Heeney: Senior Project, Importance of Public Speaking Deborah McGee: Hollings Cancer Center (Communication Consultant) Elena Strauman: Speak Up for Horses (Communication Consultant), Alternative Options for

Horses (Internet Board Administrator); Hollings Cancer Center (Communication Consultant) Beth Sundstrom: Health Education Guest Speaker

Service to the Profession

Vince Benigni: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Conference

Reviewer

Julie Davis: Reviewer for Central States Communication Association

Doug Ferguson: Editorial Board Member

Bethany Goodier: Reviewer for NCA and Journal of Medical Humanities

Tom Heeney: AAUP President, National Association of Communication Centers, External Grant

Proposal Reviewer

Jenifer Kopfman: Editorial Board Member, Invited Manuscript Reviewer, Health Communication

Division of NCA

Celeste Lacroix: Invited Manuscript Reviewer, Eastern Communication Association Officer

Mike Lee: Editorial Board Member

Ryan Milner: Invited Manuscript Reviewer

David Moscowitz: Editorial Board Member, Invited Manuscript Reviewer

Amanda Ruth-McSwain: Invited Manuscript Reviewer,

Beth Sundstrom: Invited Manuscript Review; Health Communication Working Group American

Public Health Association (Conference Program Organizer), Charleston Birth Place, Foundation

Board, Advisory Board, South Carolina Coalition for Healthy Families, Interaction with Industry,

Board Member

Robert Westerfelhaus: Carolinas Communication Association, First Vice President,

President/Elect/Past; Fulbright Review Committee, Editorial Board reviewer, Central States

Communication Association Reviewer

Our significant service to the institution, community, and the profession is clearly one of the strengths of our department. Our service on key committees has increased and faculty are becoming more selective about service assignments. One area of weakness when compared to other departments is our participation on editorial boards across the discipline.

Honors and Awards: Faculty, Students and Alumni Dr. Vince Benigni: Distinguished Service Award 2014-2015

Sarah Cardamone: Charlie Post Courage Award

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Lynn Cherry: Chair’s Award Elizabeth Grow Devolder: National Champion at American Bar

Association Law Student Division Client Counseling Competition

Rebecca Drewry: Service and Outstanding Senior Award; Alexander Chambliss Connelly Award

Dr. Merissa Ferrara: Outstanding Communication Faculty of the Year

Cara Howley: Volleyball Impact Award

Caroline Hubbell: Distinguished Communicator Award

Dakota Isaacs: Distinguished Communicator Award; Ted Stern Cup; Greek Woman of the Year

Award

Joanne Johnson: Outstanding Communication Graduate and HSS Scholar

Caroline Kenny: Service and Outstanding Senior Award

Michael Kohn: Pitcher for the Atlanta Braves

Molly McTarnaghan: Service and Outstanding Senior Award

Aliah Muhammad: Humanitarian Award; ExCel Outstanding Student of the Year Award

Lindsey Nieves: I Want Your Job List – Terrorism Insurance Expert

Lucy Remitz: I Want Your Job List – Strategic Planner at Epsilon, Dublin

Dr. Amanda Ruth-McSwain: Graduate Faculty of the Year

Gillian Spolarich: Outstanding Communication Graduate and HSS Scholar

Camilla States: Distinguished Communicator Award

Liz Strozier: I Want Your Job List – Event Planner at Forbes

Robyn Swider: I Want Your Job List – Matchmaker at Three Day Rule

Outreach Efforts The Department of Communication engaged in significant outreach efforts in 2014-2015. These are a few of our most successful events and initiatives:

Bully Pulpit: The Bully Pulpit Series hosted Rand Paul for a public speaking event, as well as Dr. Richard Carwardine’s discussion about Lincoln’s inaugural address.

Majors Meetings & Chat with the Chair: We host majors meetings once per semester and “Chat with the Chair” sessions to facilitate open communication with current and prospective majors.

Senior Celebration: Each spring we host a senior celebration for all graduating seniors, with financial support from our Advisory Council and Lambda Pi Eta. This event honors the accomplishments of recent graduates. This year, we invited all parents, graduating seniors and faculty to attend a reception in the Stern Gardens. We also delivered champagne flutes filled with chocolate to our December grads in their final class sessions of the year.

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Fall and Spring Advisory Council Meetings: Members of the Department of Communication Advisory Council met on the College of Charleston campus in October 2014 and April 2015. All of the Council members who attended were able to guest lecture in courses, present industry topics to each other and mentor students. In the fall, highlights included a panel on the role of social media’s impact on the news and a reception for local alumni. In the spring, one of our biggest accomplishments was endowing the John Palmer Communication Award, in honor of one of our late Council members and father of two Communication graduates. We also hosted a networking reception for students, and had two student groups present their coursework to the Council.

Internship Program: Our internship program, directed by Dr. Kirk Stone, established formal relationships with over 100 organizations and agencies both at the local and national level. We have also created an internship and job blog, Community Networks, to continuously post opportunities for students.

Internship Fair: This fall, we hosted over 40 companies on campus for our annual internship fair, where 75 internships were available. Students and organizations alike find this an excellent opportunity for networking and hiring.

Spotlight on Scholarship: This spring we sponsored our third annual Spotlight on Scholarship where students who completed Bachelor’s Essays, students in Capstone classes, and graduate students presented their work to a team of judges who represented academics, the Advisory Council and alumni. Students were awarded a cash prize from a generous donation from alumna, Graham Ervin.

Alumni Outreach: We have continued to share our bi-annual newsletter, COMMunity Networks, which highlights students, faculty, alumni, department news and scholarships. Our social media platforms continue to thrive, with Youtube interviews, Instagram activity, and 775 Facebook likes. Our regional efforts brought our Director of Alumni Outreach to Washington DC, New York, Boston and Columbia for events and meetings with alumni.

A Charleston Affair: We joined our HSS colleagues, alumni and students at A Charleston Affair this year and enjoyed reconnecting with our alumni and celebrating our seniors.

Cougar Trail: With the College introducing a new coach this year, and with the help of Vince Benigni, we promoted the Cougar Trail Boston event. Alumni met at the pre-game reception at Northeastern.

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Curricular Development and Change There are no plans for major curricular change in our undergraduate program in the next three years.

As more of our faculty become DE trained, we anticipate offering more course sections in an online

format. We have no plans to offer our entire program online, but courses that are well suited to the

online environment may be offered in that format in future semesters. At the graduate level,

decreasing enrollments prompted us to explore revisions to this program in 2014-2015, we expect to

conclude this work in Fall 2015.

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