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College of Communication Arts & Sciences
Strateg ic Report
M I C H I G A N S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
change...
2 0 0 4 – 2 0 0 8
A celebration of changeOver the past five years . . .
The College of Communication Arts and Sciences reached an all-time high of 110
full-time faculty members, adding nearly 30 new positions.
The number of study abroad programs offered by our college more than doubled
and now totals 34.
Faculty in our college collaborated to bring more than $30 million in grant funds to the
university.
Five alums (Michael Budman, Mary Anne Gale, Brian Hawkins, Carole Leigh Hutton, and Diane Neal)
won university-wide alumni awards.
The college added new interdisciplinary programs in computer game design, sales
communication, retailing, and media arts and technology, as well as programs in Dubai.
The placement rate for our graduating seniors topped 91 percent.
Our college earned No. 1 rankings nationally for educating researchers in the areas of “health
communication” and “communication and technology.”
The college built on the momentum of its first 50 years and doubled the number and value of
endowments.
College of Communication Arts & Sciences
Strateg ic Report
M I C H I G A N S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y
five years
2004–08
1
Answer: Roots. Established in 1973, Roots is
Canada’s leading lifestyle brand known for its quality
leather goods, active athletic wear, yoga wear,
accessories, and home furnishings.
Question: What is the name of the international
clothing company cofounded by CAS alums
Michael Budman (BA ’68 Advertising)?
Fun Fact:
Carhartt
Birkenstock
Roots
Nike
The College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University is one of the largest and most
respected communications colleges in the world. Nevertheless, like many colleges, we needed to create new
opportunities and achieve a new level of excellence.
This is the story of how stakeholders of the college banded together over the past five years to effect a remarkable
cultural transformation. It is a tribute to the creativity, energy, and initiative of a highly dedicated group of faculty and
staff, the support of central administration, and the success and loyalty of alumni and students.
It is also the story of how the academic discipline of “communications,” broadly defined, is thriving in the 21st
century. The confluence of two revolutions—in digital media and health communication—has given new
prominence to our field and created many new opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and research
funding.
The change that occurred in our college since January 2004 wasn’t easy, and it didn’t happen overnight. But we
accepted the challenge and set a fast and aggressive pace to
n generate new research funding;
n design innovative academic programs rooted in new interdisciplinary partnerships
on and off campus;
n expand our international presence and programs; and
n attract new alumni support for scholarships and new learning
environments.
The success of our efforts is evidence that dramatic transformations can happen. With
a new attitude, an energetic and passionate point of view, and a renewed sense of
purpose, our college is very different today from what it was five years ago. As we
celebrate five years of change, we are happy to share this blueprint for change, which
may benefit other units that seek new opportunities.
and transformation
2 3
Reducing health risks long distance and close to home
Jonas Black’s father was frustrated. He knew something was wrong. His son was so upset he
couldn’t sleep alone in his room at night, and he was having significant problems at school.
However, he couldn’t take any more time off from work to take Jonas for help. That’s when the
teachers at Lansing’s Dwight Rich Middle School recommended Jonas participate in TeleKid
Care, a real-time video conferencing system that allows children to visit a child psychiatrist
while they are sitting miles away in a private room in their school.
“At one point the stethoscope was considered high tech,” said Pamela Whitten, associate
dean for graduate studies and research and a principal investigator for the school-based
telepsychiatry project. “But it only worked one way; you could only listen to a patient’s
symptoms. It’s interactivity and virtual touch that make communication technologies such
powerful tools for delivering health care services to underserved populations.”
Whitten is affiliated with the Health and Risk Communication Center, which cuts across the
college’s five departments to support more than 20 faculty members studying communication
aspects of health and risk. Their funded research collaborations include
n conducting advanced work employing a social norms approach to reduce behaviors such
as high-risk student drinking;
n using telemedicine and interactive Web technology to help manage diabetes treatment in
rural communities;
n ensuring low-literate adults have access to online health information;
n researching perceptions about organ donation to discover how and why people make this
critical decision; and
n providing transdisciplinary support in the study of how environmental exposures may
predispose women to breast cancer.
“As social scientists we’re committed to using scientific methods to investigate and explore
human phenomena and experience,” said the center’s director, Sandi Smith. “And, as
teachers, we help our students learn how to assess, evaluate, and interpret messages and
then figure out a way to use the information in some applicable and practical way.”
rankings
• No. 1 in educating researchers in the field of health
communication (National Communication Association, 2004)
• No. 1 in educating researchers in the field of
communication technology (National Communication
Association, 2004)
• No. 1 in research productivity—Department of
Communication faculty (analysis of scholarly articles appearing
in eight academic journals affiliated with the National
Communication Association and International Communication
Association,1999–2004)
• No. 2 in producing graduate student publications in journalism and mass communication journals (study
presented at Association for Education in Journalism and Mass
Communication, 2008)
• No. 2 in faculty scholarly productivity for media and
information studies PhD program (Chronicle of Higher
Education, 2007)
• In the top four in educating researchers in fields including
international/intercultural communication, mass communication,
and interpersonal communication. (National Communication
Association, 2004)
2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
Federal Grant Applications
60
40
20
0
Appl
icat
ions
22
3639
58 53
Our college has a distinguished history of generating some of the most important scholarship in the field,
and our tradition of research productivity is reflected in our high national rankings.
Nevertheless, we didn’t have a strong record of generating external funding in support of research
activities, and this was fast becoming a campus priority. Our solution was to harness our collective
energies to create a new collegewide emphasis on funded research. We weren’t attempting a quick fix
but rather fundamental change in the culture of the college. This emphasis became manifested in the
faculty that we recruited, expectations for new hires, promotion and tenure decisions, and allocation of
resources to academic units. We created a college Office for Research, founded by Assistant Dean Lori
Post and now operated by Associate Dean Pam Whitten. The office offers a wide array of training for
faculty, helps identify research partnerships and funding opportunities, and assists with submission of
proposals.
As a result of our efforts, we have enjoyed unprecedented success in generating grant applications and
attracting new grant dollars.
In addition, we have become an active partner in campuswide, interdisciplinary efforts to secure research
funding while reaching out to key agencies and federal sources of funding as well.
Success in securing external funding has been instrumental in our efforts to elevate our campus profile
and attract new internal and external resources. The new resources have allowed us to provide funding
to more students and to better fulfill the university’s land-grant mission of contributing to the public
good. Our research productivity has increased just as the prestigious National Research Council has, for
the first time, included our field in its ratings of doctoral programs. And we are planning strategically to
foster a culture of research leadership in the field of communication research.
Generating new research funding
4 5
Studying the truth about and consequences of deception
“At the most fundamental level, honesty is the key to communication,” said Tim Levine, a professor
in the Department of Communication. “If you can’t believe what someone is telling you, it’s hard or
impossible to effectively communicate with that person.”
Levine makes it a point to find out more about deception, why it occurs, how it occurs, and the
impacts—particularly related to personal and international security. He is one of the country’s
foremost authorities on truth and deception who, with funding provided by the National Science
Foundation, has published more than 25 papers on deception and communication. Criminal
behavior and homeland security are among his special areas of interest.
“Anything we can do to help police catch the criminals is better,” said Levine. “Anything we can do
to help catch the terrorists before they get on the plane is definitely in the public good.”
Lying is also unhealthy for individuals and communities.
“My studies on deception with Dr. Levine have been an eye-opener,” said Hillary Cortney Shulman,
who is pursuing her PhD in communication. “I learned there are risks we take when we lie, but there
are also risks we take when we tell the truth.”
“We have to take the chance,” said Levine. “Human beings are social animals. Our survival
as a species depends on our ability to work together and reach common goals with mutual
understanding. And it all begins with being honest with ourselves and others.”
in the wall
Fun Fact:
He holds a black belt in Karate.
He has a license to of�ciate at wedding ceremonies
and has done so for his graduate students.
He won the prestigious Aubrey Fischer Mentorship Award
from the International Communication Association.
Answer: All of the above
Question: Which of the
following facts are true
about Frank Boster,
professor of communication?
2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08*
Total Funds Awarded for External Grants
Dolla
rs
10,000,000
8,000,000
6,000,000
4,000,000
2,000,000
0
* Award decisions still pending on several 2007–08 proposals
5,88
5,41
0
6,73
7,35
5 9,82
0,97
6
8,92
8,83
3
2,44
7,38
1
“When Mark Twain penned his immortal credo, ‘the truth is a precious commodity—use
it sparingly,’” said Nora Rifon, a professor in the Department of Advertising, Public
Relations, and Retailing, “he obviously didn’t have the Internet in mind.”
The National Science Foundation agreed with Rifon and awarded her and her
colleagues a three-year, $400,000 award to study online consumer information safety.
“Personal privacy is the brick in the wall of national security,” said Rifon. “As the tactics
of online scammers and thieves expand into more sophisticated ‘social engineering’
attacks, it is vital to enlist online consumers in the war on cybercrime.”
“Young people especially are vulnerable to Internet fraud,” added Robert LaRose, a
professor in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media
who is collaborating on the project. Along with Richard Enbody from the Department
of Computer Science and Engineering, LaRose and Rifon received an additional grant
from Microsoft to investigate computer safety for high schoolers and to create and
evaluate curriculum to improve online safety for teens and first-year college students.
“Grants like this fit into long-term goals of both the college and the university,” LaRose
said, “to contribute to a better quality of life for individuals and communities while
improving the safety of all Internet users.”
Protecting personal privacy—“the brick in the wall of national security”
the b
rick
2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
Administrative Funds Generated by External Grant Activity
Dolla
rs
700,000
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
307,
725
321,
391 49
1,77
2
489,
442 63
2,22
6
6 7
In all seriousness: games make a difference
When have you ever heard of grandchildren buying a video game for their grandparents?
It may happen sooner than you think, thanks to a new collaboration between game/media
designers in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media and
content experts from the university’s Departments of Epidemiology and Psychology and
Neuroscience Program.
Brain Powered Games is a suite of mental exercise games for baby boomers hoping to preserve
such cognitive functions as attention, memory, and language. “Serious games appeal to players
of all ages,” said Brian Winn, the codirector of the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL)
Lab. “And games like Brain Powered Games are just one example of how health communication
is becoming increasingly more connected to and interactive with players.”
“Creating great serious games is challenging,” said Professor Carrie Heeter, who also designs
and studies serious games in the GEL and Communication Technology labs, “but is very
rewarding because we can help sustain people’s cognitive abilities.”
Answer: The student team best captured the FUZE brand,
but it should be noted that another student in the college
created an award-winning video game and won $5,000 in
the Mountain Dew DIY competition.
Fun Fact:
Mountain Dew
Question: What beverage company sponsored a national
marketing campaign competition won by a team of MSU
advertising students?
FUZE Red Bull Dr Pepper
serious
games7
Our college has always been a popular destination for bright, ambitious students. But in 2004, with
nearly 4,000 students and approximately 80 full-time faculty, we were stretched thin and focusing on
maintaining rather than innovating.
We made a candid assessment of our academic programs and reached several important conclusions. First,
we were (and still are) highly efficient—the most efficient college on campus—generating $1.62 in tuition
for every $1 that we received from central administration. Related to this, we had the highest student–
faculty ratio on campus due to the popularity of our majors and the relative scarcity of faculty resources.
At the same time, our programs were in danger of becoming dated in the midst of a digital revolution
overtaking all the academic units in our college.
Our solution was to look to the future and to create academic programs on the frontiers of the future
rather than in the mire of the past. We created a new administrative post with the enviable title of
“assistant dean for cool, new projects.” We stretched our intellectual boundaries by hiring new faculty
members with academic degrees in fields such as aerospace engineering, cognitive science,
management information systems, imaging and digital arts, computer science, medicine,
mathematical modeling, English literature, and film—as well as our core of communication.
Since then, we have become a leader in serious game design, the innovative development and
use of computer games to solve social problems. We offer courses in which students invent new
forms of digital media and other courses in which they learn how to launch new-tech start-ups.
We have partnered with colleagues in the College of Business to offer an innovative program in
sales communication, the only one of its kind in the nation. We helped launch a new American
Sign Language residence hall floor, one of the few nationwide and the first statewide.
Merchandising management faculty and students joined the former Department of Advertising,
broadening concepts of advertising, commerce, and globalization in the new Department of
Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing.
Our Office of Career Services, under the direction of Associate Dean Janet Lillie, has attracted national
attention with its use of “speed networking”—based on the principles of speed dating—to link employers
with prospective employees. Since developing these and other innovative new programs, our placement
rate has soared from 70 percent to over 90 percent. And our Undergraduate Student Affairs Office makes
a difference with students on a daily basis, allowing students to IM or drop in if they need academic
counseling. With the size of our student population and a lagging economy, we are proud of our success.
Designing innovative academic programs
University UndergraduateResearch and Arts Forum
4
1614
35
47
Num
ber
of p
artic
ipan
ts
50
40
30
20
10
02004 2005 2006 2007 2008
9
connecting
Helping graduates connect to their futures
The U.S. Supreme Court, National Geographic, Late Show with David Letterman, Discovery
Communications, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are just some of the recent
internship opportunities enjoyed by students in the college.
The new goal of the college’s career services and internship offices is to provide students with
the highest-caliber opportunity possible to further their career—before they hold diplomas in
their hands.
“This college is all about making connections,” said Janet Lillie, associate dean for
undergraduate education, “connections between people, between ideas and information. Our
college is concerned with what our students do with all this knowledge once they leave here.”
The college has continued its emphasis on internships and job placement by developing a
speed networking event, adding a Chicago-based career fair, and creating job shadowing
programs and a mentor program with college alumni. Also, students now have access to
communication-specific advising services, workshops, and a job search course.
“It helps to have talent,” said Sarah Frank (BA ’06 Journalism), who interned at the Austin
American-Statesman, the Columbus Dispatch, and the Washington bureau of the Chicago
Tribune. “But unless you have a support system to help put you in touch with the right people,
talent alone won’t take you very far.”
In his first year, Dan Marsh, assistant professor and an expert in experimental and
experiential media, taught a course on inventions that opened new vistas for students and
generated some amazing new products, including a cell phone that runs on kinetic energy
and a new musical instrument that fuses various technologies. This year, Marsh, who is in
the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, collaborated with the
MSU Department of Theatre to develop a modern videogame set for the production
Who’s Tommy.
With longtime faculty member Bob Albers, Marsh launched the college’s new design think
tank, Intersect, and is leading a new creative fellows program in which undergraduate
students work closely with faculty mentors on their creative projects.
“Encouraging students to break out of comfort zones and practice through experimentation
is what we’re all about,” said Marsh. “I don’t see as big a gap between the arts and
sciences. Both approaches require the ability to take risks and explore unknown territories.”
College of Communication Arts and Sciences faculty members like Marsh represent different
facets of design and experiential communication and have proven to be as energetic and
inspiring as they are productive. They are caring mentors who have made a difference by
providing more active-learning opportunities, helping students find new internship and career
opportunities, and generally enhancing the arts across the college.
Karl Gude, former director of information graphics at Newsweek and now an instructor in the
School of Journalism, takes his art instruction to YouTube to reach the masses, his students
on study abroad to Spain, and his positive energy to places like the CIA. His goal in all of this
is to show students the unlimited possibilities that exist for them.
“We’re designers who do more than make things look pretty,” Gude said. “We’re
communicators. Our students are inundated with so much data. Our challenge is to help
them find new ways to best understand and express ideas and information clearly through a
mix of analytical thinking, design, illustration, and technology.”
Henry Brimmer from the Department of Advertising, Pubic Relations, and Retailing finds
creativity and opportunity everywhere. When the MSU Student Organic Farm needed a new
brand identity, Brimmer offered his class to help the farm —but also to help the students
develop their portfolios with the work.
Fortunately, the seniors in Brimmer’s Advertising 450 class knew all about solving mysteries.
“Our approach to answering questions is very nonlinear,” said Brimmer. “When we start a
project, our students learn how to view a problem or a challenge from every angle, all 360
degrees of directions and possibilities. And they’re not afraid to take chances and risks as
they explore and discover their way to a solution.”
The results were very rewarding for both the students who ran the organic farm and for
Brimmer’s students. Together, they created a new logo, interactive Web banners, and even
recipes for the farm’s organic foods and ingredients. Kevin Medlyn, a senior majoring in
advertising, received a silver ADDY award from the Mid-Michigan Creative Alliance for his
design work for the campaign.
Gude, Brimmer, and Marsh were hired through the Quality Fund initiative, an innovative
cross-discipline foundation program approved by the MSU Board of Trustees in 2005.
The college has spent its share of the Quality Fund renovating obsolete workspaces
and facilities and hiring new faculty like Gude, Marsh, and Brimmer to help revitalize the
arts and to collaborate with existing faculty to help form a vibrant and inspiring hub for
communication arts.
Creative connections and aha! moments
Off-campus credit revenue350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
0
$151
,938
$134
,171
$235
,865
$304
,727
$147
,765
FY 03–04 FY 04–05 FY 05–06 FY 06–07
Off-campus Credit Revenue
FY 07–08
Dolla
rs
10 11
ICT Global Corps— sharing what we know and learning what we don’t
Dar es Salaam means “abode of peace” in Arabic. It’s also the name of the largest city in
Tanzania and the site for Information Communication Technology (ICT) Global Corps, the latest
collaboration among the College of Communication Arts and Sciences, the Honors College, and
the College of Engineering.
ICT Global Corps encompasses global outreach and research, a new curriculum specialization,
and an innovative study abroad program focusing on community and context as much as
communication and technology skills.
“Information communication technology is about much more than hardware or software,” said
Charles Steinfield, chair of the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and
Media. “The real challenge is how technology can be used to enrich and improve the quality of
life. We’re concerned especially about the less developed regions of the world where so many
communities lack modern technology to communicate for basic needs and also for advanced
education and economic development.”
At Dar es Salaam, MSU volunteers share their high-tech interests and expertise with Tanzanian
students. But in ICT Global Corps, the learning, like the act of communication itself, is a two-way
experience.
“Our goal isn’t to drag undeveloped cities into the 21st century,” said Kurt DeMaagd of
ICT Global Corps. “We’re as eager to learn about the culture and the context of our host
communities as we are to share what we know and understand about technology.”
Answer: Both—the �rst in 2007 and the second in 2008
Question: What MSU awards has the Knight
Center for Environmental Journalism—which has
organized training and instruction for environmental
journalists worldwide—received?
MSU Ralph H. Smuckler Award for advancing
international studies and programs
MSU All-University Excellence in Diversity
Recognition and Award
Fun Fact:
2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
CAS Study Abroad Participants 2003–2008*
400
300
200
100
0
211
265 262
308322
* Statistics derived from the Office of Study Abroad database
Students at Michigan State University have long benefited from a deep-rooted international orientation,
vibrant study abroad programs, and a legacy of groundbreaking international research by the late
Professor Everett Rogers and many of his colleagues.
Building on this foundation, we set a goal to enhance our international profile and opportunities for our
students, faculty and alumni.
With the addition of 18 new study abroad programs in the past five years, our students can now study or
intern for a summer or semester in more than 25 countries.
Due to a partnership involving local hospitals and health care professionals and Mexican clinics, our
students gain valuable experience in Mexico offering pro bono services to persons too poor to obtain
clinical services for communication disorders.
With the university’s expansion in Dubai, we are bridging cultures and offering access to American
education to Middle Eastern students who would never have the opportunity to study in the United
States. Meanwhile, in Israel, we are forging new linkages and organizing
research programs related to “Communication Across Borders.”
Our latest venture is to launch Information Communication Technology
Global Corps in which students and faculty are traveling to developing nations
and helping to build information and communication technology systems and
applications.
We also are reaching out to our alumni around the world, many of whom are
academic and industry leaders in all facets of communication.
The result is a vast array of new opportunities for research and learning, as well
as the potential for mutual understanding and cooperation on a global scale.
Globalizing our college
have suitcase2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08
CAS Study Abroad Programs Offered 2003–2008*
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
16
22 21
25
34
* Statistics derived from the Office of Study Abroad database
1312
Touching lives while healing communicative disorders in Mexico
While part of the human experience, communication can be difficult, especially if the senses
of the body are diseased or challenged. At the Department of Communicative Sciences and
Disorders, students and faculty are passionate about improving the quality of life for those who
struggle with impaired speech and hearing. “Without communication, we can’t express who we
are and what’s important to us,” said James Potchen, interim chair. “Without shared information,
there is no mutual understanding, and the result is chaos.”
“What I learned in my studies touched me in ways I can’t describe,” said Megan Houslander
(MA ’07 Communicative Sciences and Disorders). With Associate Professor Peter LaPine and
fellow students, Houslander traveled to Mexico on a humanitarian mission to assess and treat
hearing and speech disorders, notably in children disabled with serious health impairments,
such as cleft lip and palate.
“I didn’t think the trip would have the impact on me that it did,” Houslander said, “but the work
we did there gave me a sense of confidence as a clinician and a feeling of independence. I feel
that I am a better clinician and human being for it.”
In recognition of their volunteer efforts in the remote villages of Mexico and with several other
international programs, LaPine and his colleagues received an MSU Excellence in Diversity
award.
“Communication allows us to join and build,” said MSU Provost Kim Wilcox, both a faculty
member in the department and an alumnus. “Without the ability to communicate, we can’t
share, we can’t join, we can’t build. The collaborative efforts in Mexico are excellent examples
of how the college quickly is becoming a center for multiculturalism and globalization in a
communications context.”
lives
Question: What was alumnus W. Clark Bunting (BA ’77
Advertising, MA ’84 Communication), president of Discovery
Communications’ Emerging Networks, doing on a “little island”
in northern Michigan with the help of students and faculty from
MSU Extension?
Answer: He was building an ecofriendly home as part of launching
Discovery Channel’s environmental series, “Planet Green,”
coproduced by fellow MSU alum and Los Angeles producer
Craig Piligian (BA ’84 Telecommunication).
Building a house Putting out forest �res
Searching for Big Foot Learning to speak “Yooper”
Fun Fact:
Dubai’s MSU campus thrives in “(Middle) East Lansing”
Based in the heart of the Middle East’s emerging intellectual center, MSU Dubai brings
opportunities for professionals in the Middle East to join the MSU community and for the MSU
community to learn in turn.
“Our presence in Dubai broadens our reach to an important region of the world,” said
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon. “It also reflects our dedication to building international
partnerships that provide enhanced global educational opportunities and experiences for all of
our students.”
MSU Dubai is the latest project initiated by the Dubai International Academic City. The college is
offering multiple degree programs in Dubai, starting with a bachelor’s degree program in media
and communication technology and a master’s degree program in retailing.
“Dubai rapidly is becoming the media capital of the region, and most of the world’s major media
and communications companies have established a presence there,” said Charles Steinfield,
chair of the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media. “We are excited
about the opportunity to help prepare the next generation of media and communications
industry managers.”
MSU Dubai is part of an academic community that spans 25 million square feet, three million
square feet of which is allocated for research and development centers.
“MSU Dubai is a tremendous asset for this campus,” said Ayoub Kazim, executive director of
the Dubai International Academic City. “Our partnership with Michigan State University reflects
our efforts to drive higher education in the region to world-class standards.”
touching
14
CAS raises the fund-raising bar and alums make the leap
Thanks to generous alumni and friends, the college set a new benchmark during the capital
campaign, raising more than $17.6 million, $2 million more than the original goal. “Dean Salmon
set the bar very high,” said Merri Jo Bales (BA ’77 Communication, Honors College), director
of strategy development and implementation at Consumers Energy, “and alums were happy to
make the leap.”
“My advertising class at MSU taught me the value of differentiation. It’s fundamental. Who are
you? What do you stand for? Compared to the competition, what difference do you make?
For me, MSU and the College of Communication Arts and Sciences have made all of the
difference,” says Richard Golden (BA ’69 Advertising), former president and chief executive
officer of D.O.C. Optics Corporation.
The college’s successful fund-raising efforts have resulted in new research grants, scholarships,
faculty positions, academic and outreach programs, and facilities. The number and value of
endowments more than doubled from $10 million to $23 million. An additional $6 million in
planned gifts has been designated for scholarships, programs, and emerging needs.
“These last five years have seen a burst of initiatives aimed at ensuring the college’s future,”
said Dean Charles Salmon. “The challenge is to maintain the momentum so that the college can
continue to grow and support the needs of the next generation of communicators.”
Capital CampaignCollege of Communication Arts & Sciences
$6.1
$ 12
.1
$12.
8
$17.
1
$ 17
,677
,677
Sept. 07(end of campaign)
20,000,000
15,000,000
10,000,000
5,000,000
June 04 June 05 June 06 June 07
Dolla
rs
Answer: Cyworld—a multimedia-based
blog and social networking service of
SK Communications, where Yoo has
been CEO since 2004
Question: What is the name of the “Yahoo of Korea,” headed by
doctoral alum Hyun-oh Yoo (PhD ’99 Mass Media)?
Cyworld
Fun Fact:
Koreanet
Avatar Asia
mom
entum
Our alumni have always been some of the proudest and most committed Spartans. The college has had
an active alumni board for many years, and a small cadre of loyal alumni has always taken the initiative
to stay connected.
Yet the college had lost contact with many other alums. We recognized the need for more resources to
solve this problem, and we dedicated ourselves to hiring professionals in development, alumni relations,
and communication in order to create events and channels of communication for all alumni.
With the college alumni board leadership of Bill Castanier, Merri Jo Bales, Gary Mescher, Lindsay Warren,
and now Ed Cohen, the past few years have seen exponential growth in alumni connections. We have
created a series of innovative one-credit courses in which alumni—often national industry leaders—
return to campus and mentor our students. Alums such as Bath and Body Works CEO Diane Neal,
Discovery Communications’ Emerging Networks President W. Clark Bunting, and movie director Greg
Harrison—among many others—volunteer their time to help the next generation of industry leaders
and innovators.
Alumni and donors also helped fuel a renaissance in our building that has resulted in extraordinary
new labs, classrooms, and cutting-edge technologies that feed our missions of teaching, research, and
outreach. We have created new spaces designed to promote interaction of all kinds with a goal of
stimulating interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration—among students as well as faculty. The support
for this change came from our alumni and friends, who donated money to support the construction and
renovation of new learning and research environments throughout the college.
Five years later, the college’s alumni magazine is larger than ever, the board actively recruits new
members and young alumni, and our college has LinkedIn and Facebook Web pages and a quarterly
e-newsletter. More and more alumni are involved in the college—mentoring students, giving lectures,
providing internships, attending programs, and giving back. And thanks to our alumni and friends, our
college surpassed its capital campaign fund-raising goal by nearly 20 percent.
Attracting new alumni support
1716
Surpassing student expectations with enhanced environments
“Today’s students arrive on campus with a great deal of experience with technology, skills they
have honed since the third grade,” said Rich Tibbals, the college’s manager of information
systems technology and facilities. “Our job is to not only fulfill their high-tech expectations but to
surpass them.”
The college continues to surpass student expectations with the creation of nearly 30,000 square
feet of instructional space equipped with state-of-the-art electronic presentation and media
playback capabilities.
In 2005, the college dedicated the renovated south lobby to donor and alum Edward Deeb.
The lobby, which includes an overhead audio system and high-definition monitors, adjoins the
Edward Deeb Conference Room (created in 2002), equipped with full presentation technology,
including videoconferencing capabilities. Since then, the north lobby, equipped with new
furnishings, has become a destination and gathering place for students.
In 2006, the college dedicated the new Bradley S. Greenberg Doctoral Seminar Room. The
state-of-the-art graduate-level seminar room was made possible with more than $50,000 in
gifts from alumni, faculty, and friends. “Our doctoral programs are among the best in the nation,
and we needed a hub for doctoral education that was commensurate with our reputation and
rankings. Now we have it,” said Dean Charles Salmon, who provided the impetus for this facility.
The room holds the dissertations of all the college’s doctoral graduates and Professor Emeritus
Greenberg’s major scholarly works.
In the fall of 2008, the college dedicated Lounge 29, a unique gathering place funded by alums
such as Craig Murray and designed by students to promote creative projects. With its puzzle
piece-shaped chairs, whiteboard walls, and movie poster decorations, this creative incubator is
a room designed with the intention of inspiring originality and inventiveness in students.
With the help of the Office of the Provost, the college also created a state-of-the art digital
exploration lab in which students and faculty can tinker, create, invent, and convert dreams into
tangible new media.
Increasing numbers of doctoral students are housed in newly designed “graduate bullpens,”
a first for the college. These experimental facilities are designed to facilitate interactions and
collaborative research across disciplines and doctoral programs within the college.
Meanwhile, the college is fully equipped with several world-class research and design
laboratories. The Media, Interface, and Network Design Lab is a center for collaborative
research and development in virtual reality that has partner labs in more than a dozen countries.
The new Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab is home to research and development
related to serious game design. The Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and
Law is known worldwide for its insightful and highly respected research on emerging issues of
importance to the telecommunications industry. And the timeless G. R. Miller Lab continues to
host numerous experiments on topics ranging from interpersonal interaction to media effects.
engaged
Spartan pride keeps CAS alumni engaged and connected
“MSU was responsible directly for my career in the entertainment industry,” said Craig Murray
(BA ’76 Advertising), chief executive officer and founder of CMP Entertainment Group, Inc., one
of the entertainment industry’s largest and most honored creative marketing firms.
Murray gave money and rallied friends to create Lounge 29, a social networking site and
creative incubator in the building designed by students for students. He attributes his support
to his former MSU advertising instructor, Larry Pontius. When Pontius graduated from MSU
and became an executive with the Walt Disney Company, he hired Murray twice. “Larry set an
example of how Spartans help other Spartans, and it inspired me to return the favor as best I
could,” Murray said.
And he’s not alone.
Ed Deeb (BA ’60 Advertising), president and chief executive officer of the Michigan Food
and Beverage Association, was the founder and first president of the College Alumni Board.
Recently, he has contributed to the restoration of the lobby and was responsible for the Deeb
Conference Room in the building. “We may have been young and inexperienced as students,”
recalled Deeb, “but the faculty treated us like professionals. It was a thrill to learn there.”
Alumni, in addition to contributing to the university’s development campaigns, demonstrate their
leadership in a variety of ways—by mentoring students, giving lectures, attending the college’s
programs, providing internships, hiring graduates, and being a part of the college’s alumni board.
For Erin Werner (BA ’06 Audiology and Speech Sciences, MA ’07 Audiology and Speech
Sciences), clinical studies in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders were
more than thrilling; they were transformative. “We were challenged to break from our comfort
zones and use innovative techniques to overcome language barriers without compromising
the results of our assessments,” said Werner, who is now a pediatric speech-language
pathologist at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. “The opportunities I had in my department were
powerful reminders of how we each have a responsibility to share both our knowledge and
skills to help others.”
National Public Radio White House correspondent Don Gonyea (BA ’78 Telecommunication, BA
’80 Advertising), like Craig Murray and so many other graduates, credits his connection to one
person, the recipient of the college’s first Faculty Impact Award in 2007. “It was in Gary Reid’s
classes that I really got a sense of how fun radio could be and how creative you could be in the
field of radio,” Gonyea said. “The things I learned in those classes I still use every single day.”
“It’s not enough to simply graduate students,” said Susan Goodrich, the college’s administrative
officer. “Alumni also leave here with the tools to become skilled professionals, experts,
authorities, and leaders, not only in their field but also in support of their college.”
Answer: All of the above. Quello,
the namesake of the James H. and
Mary B. Quello Center for
Telecommunication Management
and Law at MSU, served as FCC
commissioner from 1974 to 1997.
Question: Which U.S. presidents did alumnus James H. Quello
serve while at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)?
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
Fun Fact:
1918
■ Degree Program
■ Specialization
■ Certi�cate
■ Research Initiative
■ Research Grant
■ Joint Appointment
■ Courtesy Appointment
Partnerships with Other MSU Colleges
Engineering
Human Medicine
Arts and Letters
James Madison
Social Science
Natural Science
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities
Music
Veterinary Medicine
Nursing
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Law
Education
Osteopathic Medicine
Business
Honors College
Communication Arts and Sciences
Team effort
Charles SalmonDean
Charles AtkinChair, Department of Communication
Cara BoeffDirector of Development
Jane Briggs-BuntingDirector, School of Journalism
Judi Brown ClarkeDirector of Multicultural Affairs and Inclusion
Richard ColeChair, Department of Advertising, Public Relations, and Retailing
Susan GoodrichBudget and Personnel Director
Ann HoffmanDirector of Undergraduate Student Affairs
Kirsten KhireCommunications Manager
Janet LillieAssociate Dean for Undergraduate Education
James PotchenInterim Chair, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders
Arlene Sierra Interim Associate Chair, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders
Charles SteinfieldChair, Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media
Richard TibbalsDirector of Technology and Facilities
Pamela WhittenAssociate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research
With additional thanks to the following former administrators:
Brenda Betts
Michael Casby
Sandra Combs
Belinda Cook
Lucinda Davenport
Mark Levy
Lori Post
Bonnie Reece
Change of the magnitude that we have witnessed has to be a true team effort, and it could not have
happened without strong leadership throughout the college and equally strong partnerships across
campus.
College of Communication Arts and Sciences Administrative Team
Credits
Writing: Harvey Ovshinsky
Project management: Kirsten Khire
Design: University Relations
Printing: Lawson Printers
“Chuck, thank you for your superb leadership.” —MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon
20
As we close the books on five busy and productive years, we also say good-bye to our dean since 2004,
Charles T. Salmon.
Salmon joined the MSU community in 1994, moving to East Lansing from the Emory University School
of Public Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. At MSU, he has
held the Ellis N. Brandt Chair in Public Relations and served as director of the Mass Media PhD Program,
director of the MA Program in Health Communication, associate dean for graduate education and
research, and senior associate dean.
In his newest transition, he is moving to Tel Aviv, Israel, with his wife, Vered, and son, Nicholas. He will
cultivate new international partnerships while teaching and conducting research at the Interdisciplinary
Center in Herzliya. He also will team with alum Hugh Schulze (BA ’80 Advertising) to work on a project
for the World Health Organization, serve as editor of Communication Yearbook, and launch several new
research projects in the Middle East.
He leaves behind a college that is transformed and invigorated.
“Dean Salmon and his team literally energized the place and gave the college a sense of pride and
purpose at a critical time in its history,” said Provost Kim Wilcox. “Dean Salmon’s greatest contribution
was to redefine and forge a new identity for the college, while creating new and innovative ways to
sustain the work of the college with an infusion of research and other external funding.”
Salmon said he will head overseas with many fond memories of his service as dean. “I have been blessed
with the opportunity to work with the most dedicated and effective dean’s office staff on campus,
to collaborate on research with some of the greatest minds in our field, and to enjoy the sense of
community that characterizes our college. I am very proud of our students, alumni, and faculty for their
achievements and grateful for their support.”
A national search is under way for Salmon’s replacement. In the meantime, the college will enjoy strong
continuity and seasoned leadership from Interim Dean Bradley S. Greenberg, a University Distinguished
Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Communication and the Department of
Telecommunication.
Lehitraot! (Good-bye)
College of Communication Arts & Sciences
287 Communication Arts and Sciences Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1212 517/355-3410 cas.msu.edu