The University of Colorado Board of Regents today approved a new College of Media, Communication and Information slated to open on the Boulder campus in fall 2015.
“The new college will deliver groundbreaking teaching and research that will ensure our students’ success by providing them with the expertise and versatility they need to thrive in a rapidly evolving communication landscape,” said University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “This marks a transformative period for media education across the nation, and CU-Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information places the campus at the vital center of these exciting changes.”
The vote, held today at the Tivoli Center at the University of Colorado Denver, marks the first time a new college or school has been created at CU-Boulder in more than 50 years and moves forward the reorganization of the Department of Communication and the Program in Journalism and Mass Communication into one college.
The next step in development of the college will come in September when the Regents will be asked to formally approve departments of advertising, public relations and media design; communication; critical media practices; journalism; information science; and media studies.
“The formation of the College of Media, Communication and Information positions CU-Boulder as a key driver of Colorado’s information, communication and creative industries –- all growing sectors in our state’s larger economy, according to the 2012 Colorado Innovation Index,” said DiStefano.
Plans for the new college have been underway since the Board of Regents’ charge in 2011 to create a journalism program with innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to propel CU-Boulder to national leadership in media education. The process has included input from faculty, students and staff, as well as alumni and industry.
“The University of Colorado is positioned to be on the forefront of our industry with an innovative program that will produce not only working filmmakers, but a new generation well-versed in nonfiction storytelling,” said Oscar-winning documentarian Daniel Junge.
The college is projected to open with about 1,750 students and will be funded from existing resources.
“The proposed new college meshes perfectly with our industry’s need for tech-savvy journalists who can produce engaging digital work while maintaining the traditional standards of credible and ethical journalism,” said Andrew Pergam, video strategist at The McClatchy Company, a major newspaper and Internet publisher.
More information about the new college is available at http://www.colorado.edu/cmci/.
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