University will discontinue IMC program

Based on the recommendation of a faculty committee, the University of Colorado at Boulder announced in October that it would discontinue the 10-year-old Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) graduate track in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

CU-Boulder Provost Phil DiStefano said the decision was difficult, given the accomplishments of many of the program's graduates and faculty. However, DiStefano said, a number of staffing issues and lack of cross-discipline collaboration contributed to the decision to discontinue the track.

"In a time of severe budgetary challenges brought on by the state economy, we must focus our investments on areas of distinction. It is not in the best interests of the campus, students or alumni to continue to offer any course of study where we cannot do so with excellence."

DiStefano said there are only two tenured faculty members at the School who teach regularly in the track, both of whom are half-time. As a result, much of the teaching in the IMC program has been accomplished with contract faculty. The school also has searched twice for a permanent director for the track, both times unsuccessfully, he said.

Students currently enrolled in the IMC track will continue through to graduation. However, no new admissions to the program will be authorized, and the track will cease to be a formal part of the school's curriculum in December 2003, when the last currently enrolled students complete their studies.