Together again—TCOM rejoins communication studies

Following a two-year split, the Department of Telecommunications is once again part of the School of Communication Studies. The board of trustees in May approved the reunification of three departments: interpersonal communication, journalism and telecommunications.

Joseph Frizado, geology, will serve as interim head of the newly reunited school while an external search for a permanent director is conducted.

Joseph Frizado

“I asked Joe Frizado to serve as interim director because I have enormous respect for him and confidence in his abilities,” said Donald Nieman, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Nieman added that Frizado is well suited to sustain the important changes made in the school in the past three years and to assure that the search for a permanent director proceeds smoothly and is successful.

Frizado has had extensive administrative experience, having twice been chair of the geology department—during which he led the department through program review—and as a member of the Promotion, Tenure and Review Committee, which crosses all boundaries within the college.

He has also served on committees dealing with media rights and with media in instructional settings.

Frizado said of the re-merger, “It’s a challenge. Right now we’re working to energize the faculty and find common ground. The original school structure and the departments have changed and evolved over time. It’s also different because it’s not a mixture of programs. There’s more autonomy within the departments.”

The departments have complete control over their undergraduate curriculum, he said, but faculty will cooperate at the graduate level. Telecommunications separated from the school in 1998, and by so doing no longer participated in the school’s graduate programs. With re-integration, it will resume its involvement in graduate studies in communications. The master’s and Ph.D. degrees granted will be in communication studies.

“Being back together means we can centralize our services and optimally utilize our resources to improve instructional support,” Frizado said.

Frizado pointed to the recent collaborative project in which faculty from all three departments wrote and delivered a curriculum in public relations to foreign service officers in Croatia for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“That’s the perfect example of the kind of synergy the school can foster and of how each department can contribute its own expertise,” he said.

According to telecommunications Chair Ewart Skinner, “Reintegration will provide a more cohesive center for the study of media, telecommunications, communication and culture at Bowling Green. It gives the school and its associated scholars a better-defined profile on campus. For TCOM it will mean shared ownership in the graduate program of which we have historic membership. Of course, we must be careful to fulfill the University's interest in undergraduate education while pursuing a graduate mission.”

Meanwhile, some of the school’s personnel have changed. Former director Michael Sproule left in May to become dean of arts and sciences at St. Louis University. John Warren, interpersonal communication, is now the graduate coordinator. Julie Burke is this year’s chair of interpersonal communication; Terry Rentner is chair of journalism.