Comm Arts Strategic Report

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.


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)


287 Communication Arts and Sciences Building East Lansing, MI 48824-1212 517/355-3410 cas.msu.edu