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=Telecommunications and Journalism Programs at Ball State University=

HistoryAllysonrene (talk)
Ball State University was founded in 1922 under the name of Ball Teachers College. The name changed to its current in 1965 when doors opened to more areas of study than teaching alone. The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has classified Ball State as a “Research University.” This classification denotes the university as a Doctorate-Granting University with high research activity.

The Ball State University Campus is located in Muncie, Indiana, United States. It spans over 731 acres and it holds 106 buildings. The current student body consists of more than 22,000, of whom nearly 4,000 are graduate students. Ball State University has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) component of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA) continuously since 1925. The Higher Learning Commission is a membership organization that oversees the accreditation of degree-granting colleges and universities in nineteen states.

Both Telecommunications and Journalism departments at Ball State University are units in the College of Communications, Information, and Media. This specified college has been recognized as one of the largest undergraduate communication colleges in the country. The College of Communications, Information, and Media holds partnerships with the Ball State Departments of Journalism, Communication Studies, Telecommunications, Digital Story Telling, and the Center for Information and Communication Sciences.

Telecommunications
The Center for Radio and Television was established in 1966, and the name was later changed to The Department of Telecommunications, of TCOM, in 1980 when John Kurtz became the department’s chair. The department’s program was built for those students into careers in either teaching or commercial broadcasting. This was a program that was significantly ahead of its time because it was centered on practical experience as opposed to textbook learning, and students had the opportunity to staff the radio station WBST or work on closed-circuit educational TV programs for hands-on experience.

Beginning in the 1980s, several advancements were made in the department, and the students who grew so accustomed to the freedom and applied experience the staff had allowed them were responsible for the majority. Student-run radio stations, WCRD, and television programs began to materialize, later winning several Emmy awards for production, music composition in a film, and other subdivisions of Telecommunications.

Due to its accomplishments, TCOM benefited from the iCommunication grant, a $20 million grant to Ball State from Lilly Endowment Inc. The money was put towards more digital field gear and nonlinear editing labs. Another major advancement for TCOM came in fall of 2007 when the department was moved into the newly donated David Letterman Communication and Media Building, which had additional classrooms, audio production studios, a screening room, and other specialized rooms to better meet the demands of TCOM majors of this century.

Journalism
Ball State started offering journalism courses in the College of Communications, Information, and Media in 1922, first through the departments of English and speech. The university officially “approved” a journalism major in 1964, and the Department of Journalism was created in 1968.

After it’s creation in the late 1960s, the department held a faculty of two journalism educators and offered just 16 journalism classes at the university. 1979 marked the year the Department of Journalism earned its first accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Sine that first accreditation the department has been reaccredited in the years 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2004.

Today, the Department of Journalism offers more than 70 courses each semester with about 26 faculty members. Like the Telecommunications Department’s David Letterman Communication and Media Building, the Journalism Department resides in the Art and Journalism Building, which features state-of-the-art classrooms and numerous student-media laboratories.

Rankings & RecognitionsAllysonrene (talk)

 * TCOM – broadcasting program was recognized by media critic Leonard Mogel as one of the top eight broadcasting programs in the country.


 * JOURNALISM – Ball State Daily News student newspaper won the Gold Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.


 * TCOM - News Link Indiana, a student-run project integrating television, online news products, radio, and newspaper, has been recognized by many universities and has been used as a reference in creating student organizations within those institutions to gain leading-edge experience in communication fields.


 * JOURNALISM – Ball Bearings, student-run print and online magazine, earned two first-place, two second-place, and four third-place awards from the Indiana Collegiate Press Association, plus several regional awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.


 * TCOM - The department grants students the freedom to work hands-on with mature audio and video equipment starting as early as their first semester. This equipment includes the same high definition cameras used to shoot high budget blockbusters, such as Star Wars Episode II.


 * JOURNALISM – The photojournalism program has placed in the top 10 in the William Randolph Hearst Journalism Awards.


 * TCOM - The Indiana Association of School Broadcasters (IASB) has judged the Ball State program TV School of the Year for three back-to-back years


 * TCOM – Department has won 20 regional Emmy’s and has been nominated 61 times since the year 2000.

David Letterman – Department Alum
David Letterman attended Ball State University and was a student in the Department of Telecommunications, at the time still called the Department of Radio and Television. Letterman is responsible for the creation of Ball State’s current student-run radio station, WCRD.

Once graduated and at a level of national success, Letterman, who described himself as only an average student, endowed a scholarship for what he called “C students” at the university. The Late Night celebrity also donated the funds necessary for the David Letterman Communication and Media Building.

Letterman invested money in improving the program because it was a very small department when he was enrolled at Ball State. There were only 10 courses for him to choose from in radio and television, and they were even found in the curriculum of the Department of Speech and Mass Communications. The Department of Radio and Television had only two studio cameras and very few full-time faculty members. Letterman’s investments have put Ball State University, and its Department of Telecommunications on the map for students searching for a college to attend for radio, television, and even some interested in journalism. The Department of Journalism has also been able to benefit from Letterman’s contributions, having the freedom and permission to use studio supplies from the TCOM Department.

David Letterman Scholarship
The David Letterman Scholarship was established in 1985 for telecommunications students at Ball State University. Its goal is to assist “average” college students who have a creative mind, winners are chosen primarily for their creativity and grades are not a criterion. This scholarship is given annually to more than one student, and of those students there is a winner, a first runner-up, and a second runner-up.

The winner of the David Letterman Scholarship receives $10,000, the first runner-up receives $5,000, and the second runner-up receives $3,333 towards any costs of the university. Throughout the scholarship year, the recipients must choose projects that involve a variety of media functions that include, but are not limited to, written work, research, audio, video, graphics and film. Ball State University is the only institution that benefits from this scholarship, and the students who apply must be in the Department of Telecommunications.

Career Opportunities
Many different careers can be explored with a degree in the telecommunications / communications or journalism fields. Throughout earning the degree in these two fields, in nearly any institution, students are taught techniques in writing, speaking, and editing for news situations. They take courses in media law and ethics, news writing and reporting, multimedia production, and strategic communication ; hands-on experience and the curriculum of these courses at Ball State University help students in the two programs receive internships and post-graduation jobs more quickly than a number of other students at other universities. With one of these degrees and the occupational skills acquired, students will be able to pursue any of these careers:
 * Broadcast News Analyst
 * Media Reporter (print, broadcast, magazine)
 * Advertising Manager
 * Telecommunications Systems Manager
 * Account / Advertising Executive
 * Camera Operator
 * Critic
 * Producer
 * Script Writer
 * Sports Anchor
 * Etc., etc.