"The UND School of Communication is Exciting."

The UND School of Communication has much to share.   We hope you have the opportunity to attend some of our events that are open to our community and to join in the excitement that is the School of Communication.

The School of Communication provides comprehensive undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs.  This year we are celebrating the graduation of our first graduates from our new Ph.D. Program in Communication and Public Discourse.  Dr. James Abbott from Halifax, Nova Scotia authored a dissertation titled “Intrapersonal Communication and Well-Being” and Dr. Cheryl Long Feather (Hunkuotawin) from Bismarck, North Dakota authored a dissertation titled “A Lakota/Nakota/Dakota Model of Oratory.”

Graduates from our undergraduate and graduate programs have jobs here in North Dakota as well as nationally.  Two of our graduates were recently honored by the UND Alumni Association because of their early and distinguished career success.  Cindy Blikre-Roche and Carla Christofferson received Young Alumni Achievement Awards at the UND Homecoming '07 activities.  Blikre-Roach is the Senior Vice President Account Director for advertising at Leo Burnette Worldwide based in Chicago.  Carla Christofferson is a partner at O’Melveny and Myers Law Firm in Los Angeles, and she is the co-owner of the Women’s National Basketball Association Team the Sparks.

The Native Media Center in the School of Communication continues to thrive with a new grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation.  This grant is added to a grant from the Knight Foundation and support from the College of Arts and Sciences to reinforce the activities of the Native Media Center.

The Native Media Center hosted a hands-on communication workshop, the Native Community Studio, for Native high school and tribal college students on November 7- 10, 2007 in the Native Media Center located in the School of Communication in 231 O’Kelly Hall.  The Native Media Center has been working with Turtle Mountain Community College in Belcourt, North Dakota to arrange for students attending this tribal college to begin pursuing a communication major.

The School of Communication faculty and students meet most Thursday afternoons at 2 p.m. for Agora presentations in Room 201 O’Kelly Hall.  These presentations feature an open marketplace for ideas.  Speakers include researchers, teachers, students, and community members. The format is open so audience members can join in the discussion with the featured speakers.

The members of the school are actively engaged in teaching and learning about communication and serving our community and state.   Most recently our class in Community Journalism adopted the Northwood Newspaper, the Gleaner.   As with many people in Northwood, the newspaper staff has been affected by the Tornado that damaged so much in this town.  Our students went to Northwood to help write stories about the people and activities in Northwood to help the newspaper and the community.   Some of these students began writing their first news stories just days after the Tornado hit.  One student described writing about Northwood as “a crash course in journalism”   We hope this will be a good opportunity for our students to serve the Northwood community and to learn more about being communicators.

Our students are also working in partnership with several other North Dakota newspapers  through classes and internships.  This is the second year for our initiative, the Learning Newsroom, established in cooperation with the Grand Forks Herald. This practicum experience is offered through the School of Communication and is in joint cooperation with the Grand Forks Herald.

Our Communication students also are active in Studio One Television.  Students take classes in broadcast communication offered in the university studios, and have the opportunity to produce, edit, and present their stories on Studio One Television.

Our school offers a full range of Communication classes.  We have over thirty sections of Public Speaking for students interested in perfecting their oral communication skills, we also have classes including but not limited to Interpersonal Communication, Organizational Communication, Visual Communication, Public Relations, Advertising, and Media Studies.  Our Communication major is flexible and allows students to develop a plan of study allowing them to focus on many interest areas in Communication.  We have a range of scholarships  and internships available to our students, student organizations, and learning opportunities both in and outside the classroom.

Our faculty have published in some of the leading journals in our discipline and you will find books authored by our faculty in the UND library.  The faculty and graduate students in the School of Communication are engaged in research projects on full range of communication behaviors and concepts.   Our school also published the scholarly journal, the Journal of Native Aging and Health in cooperation with the UND Medical School, the Center for Rural Health, and the National Resource Center on Native Aging.  This journal features research on heath issues related to Native American Aging. 

The School of Communication is an exciting environment.  We hope you will take the opportunity to come of our sponsored events or attend one of our classes.

The School of Communication is looking forward to the future.  We hope you will join us.

Dr. Pamela Kalbfleisch
Professor and Director
UND School of Communication