New MTS Concentration Gets Faculty Approval

By Adam R. Smith
Journalism senior

The Department of Communication is trying to update its curriculum to keep pace with rapid advancements in technology.

Find out more about the new MTS concentration

Under a new proposal, the former Journalism, Mass Communication and Telecommunication concentrations would be combined into one, all-inclusive concentration called Media, Technology and Society.

Adjustments to the curriculum will make the core classes the same for all three concentrations. The core classes will focus on writing, theory, law and ethics. MTS students also will be able to take classes more specific to their own interests. For example, those students interested in journalism will still be able to take upper level reporting coures, while those students interested in telecommunication can take video production. But all students are being encouraged to take electives from the various former concentrations because of the need for more skills necessitated by today's converged mass media market.

Since the current curriculum was established, major changes have taken place in the field of mass media, said John Sherry, assistant professor. The new MTS unit will take what is stable about human communication and apply it to a technologically dominated media industry.

"With the Internet, there really is no difference between journalism, mass communication and telecommunication," he said. "They have all kind of blended together."

Work on the new concentration actually began about four years ago. The change has been approved by department faculty, and now must receive approval from the School of Liberal Arts.

"We want to get this going as quickly as possible," said Sherry.

Jason Marcus, a senior in Telecommunication, said he wished the new concentration had been in place when he came to Purdue.

"I like being a Telecommunications major, but this concentration sounds more applicable to the media industry," he said.