Murrow College of Communication

CAMPAIGN GOAL: $43 Million

ADVANCING THE MURROW LEGACY ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication aims to further Edward R. Murrow’s legacy of ethics, responsibility and innovation locally, nationally and internationally. The need for communication leaders dedicated to Edward R. Murrow’s principles has never been more urgent. The health and well-being of a civilized society demands such a purpose. The new Murrow College is strategically focused to meet the escalating need for professional and responsible communicators who have an informed world view and can function effectively in our complex digital media environment.

Each Murrow College faculty and staff person strives to embody Murrow’s highest values. We are committed to imparting these fundamentals to each under-graduate and graduate student. Faculty and staff drive professional excellence in communication research and scholarship. Our students are empowered to test the boundaries of their fields through experimentation, self-scrutiny and professional mentorship. The school year culminates in the Edward R. Murrow Symposium, where students, faculty and professionals meet to discuss communication news and best practices while recognizing preeminent contributions to our field. The symposium reminds us that sound journalism practices and critical thinking skills are at the heart of our college.

We offer hands-on undergraduate education in multi-platform journalism and communication and will expand this education using one of the nation’s largest statewide broadcast properties, which is now part of the college. The Murrow Media Group’s highly skilled professional staff produces quality programming for broadcast and online outlets. We are creating newsrooms and production opportunities for students to learn side-by-side with broadcast professionals so that they will excel in the competitive fields of broadcast news and entertainment production.

The Murrow College’s broadcast sequence, ranked in the top five by RTNDA, is one of the few in the nation offering a daily live television newscast via Cable 8 Productions, where students generate a variety of live and pre-produced television programs. The Daily Evergreen, a student run newspaper, garners regional and national awards under Murrow College faculty advisors. Northwest Public Radio maintains a region-wide network of studios and broadcast tools, and now serves listeners across Washington State as well as parts of Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia, while our two PBS stations offer additional student learning opportunities.

Through the Digital Murrow Initiative, we will continue to develop and expand our cutting-edge digital and physical infrastructure to best prepare our students to meet real-world demands. We aim to weave digital literacy into every level of the student experience and to act as a beta site for new technologies and new journalism initiatives. This requires an ongoing commitment to early adaption and implementation of emerging hardware, software and communication delivery innovations.

Our faculty is comprised of acknowledged leaders in a range of communications fields. We intend to continue to attract a stable of top educators in media entrepreneurship, digital technology, strategic communications, communication and public health, organizational communication, intercultural communication, communication and the environment, and journalism.  Plans include distance-learning advanced degrees for working professionals, and an increased capacity to serve our existing graduate degree scholars. The college also intends to establish resources for nonprofessional "citizen" journalists and a professional MA in multi‐platform journalism to serve mid-career professionals who want to acquire the skills needed to adapt to an evolving industry.

The Murrow Center for Media & Health Promotion serves as a strategic messaging laboratory for the development and testing of health communication programs that make flexible use of a full range of media platforms.  Its mission is to facilitate transformational health promotion research and outreach in an environment of multidisciplinary collaboration and mentoring among senior faculty, junior faculty, and students.  The Center specializes in research that employs multiple levels of measurement, research-based educational efforts that have a strong evaluative component, and outreach efforts that address the ways by which health communication and information processing affect social development and quality of life.

AN INVITATION TO GIVE

Through the Campaign for Washington State University, generous private support will provide the margin of excellence needed to successfully bolster the college's digital infrastructure, expand its health communication program to global prominence, and inject a global worldview across the college through additional equipment and world-class faculty. These steps ensure the college's ability to offer an adaptive academic program prepared to address future concerns in the communication field, cementing the college's role as a vital resource for all the industries it serves.