BYU communications department obtains 'school' designation

BYU communications department obtains 'school' designation

(Jaren Wilkey/BYU)


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SALT LAKE CITY — The communications department at Brigham Young University was recently renamed the School of Communications, reflecting a change in the status of the program.

The announcement was made Feb. 17, and the change took effect immediately, according to BYU. The School of Communications still falls under the umbrella of the College of Fine Arts and Communications, but administrators said the change of name better reflects the quality of the program and will ultimately help students.

“When these things first happen there is never really a noticeable change within the school other than the name, but it will provide the opportunity to attract more funds, to attract more resources from foundations and others out there,” said School of Communications Director Ed Adams. “We’ve been a school one week so we haven’t been able to exercise that much, but over time that will make a difference.”

The transition has been in the works for decades. The first request to change the status of the school from a department to a college was submitted in 1979, according to Adams. It was proposed numerous times in the following decades but gained momentum in recent years as the national stature of the program grew.


The more we garner recognition and awards, the more competitive it starts to get in the program.

–Ed Adams, School of Communications director


Changing from a department to a school does not happen often. The last program to make the transition at BYU was likely the School of Music in 1987, Adams said.

“Everyone has to make their case. There’s not any set criteria that I could locate,” he said. “It wasn’t just one simple thing. There were about four areas we looked at about making the case that this was the time for us to be redesignated as a school.”

The proposal focused on the quality of the program and its reputation among peer institutions, in addition to looking at how the change would increase opportunities for students and draw more resources.

Of the top 50 accredited communications programs in the U.S., BYU was one of only two left that still called itself a department. BYU has the 17th-largest accredited program in the country, according to Adams. He said it is the only accredited program in the state of Utah.

The communications program is limited enrollment, so students have to apply to be admitted to the school’s majors, but it “hovers” around being the second-largest program at BYU, Adams said. The Marriott School of Management is the largest program.

Students studying in the School of Communications can earn bachelor’s degrees in journalism, public relations and advertising.

“It actually gets more competitive every year,” Adams said. “The more we garner recognition and awards, the more competitive it starts to get in the program.”

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