Communications Dept. alters requirements

Students in the class of 1998 will face a new set of requirements if they decide to major in Communications. The College of Arts and Sciences has revised the Annenberg School for Communication's undergraduate major, now requiring students to take more upper-level classes, fulfill a research requirement and narrow their extra-departmental coursework to earn a Communications degree. Geoffrey Falen, coordinator for the undergraduate major in Communications, said the changes are designed to "add a little bit of structure and streamlining" to the requirements. "Students were building their majors out of introductory courses," Falen said. "We wanted to provide a framework for students to build from by introducing an internal structure." The new requirements include two survey courses in communications behavior and mass media and society, one course in visual communication theory and one research methods course. In addition, majors must take two intermediate level courses that apply to particular issues of industries and three upper level courses, including at least one senior seminar. The five remaining courses in the 14-course major must come from related departments in three defined clusters. "Students didn't understand what [the old cluster requirements] meant," Falen said. "We reorganized that part to make it more clear." Falen said the research requirement was added in response to the new University-wide emphasis. "The new research component will be useful intellectually," he said. "Everyone will have to know how to read charts, graphs, and interpret information later on." In addition, the minimum grade requirement for those courses counted toward the degree has been lowered from a "C-" to a "D," retroactive for all current majors. Nancy Weiner, president of the Undergraduate Communications Society, said she thinks this change won't affect many students. "The student body in the Communications major is strong," she said. "In general, people want to take the courses that they got the best grades in to count toward the major. It won't change much of anything." Weiner said she believes the changes will serve to strengthen the major. "There was a lot of confusion swirling around the old way they used to do it. People didn't really understand the system," she added. "I think the changes are a great idea. They will require majors to really take advantage of the school's assets." Falen said the biggest problem with the changes is that "students grab the wrong set of requirements." He reiterated that the changes only affect those who matriculate after 1994.