Communications

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Blodgett Hall, Room 113
Paul Thaler, Chair
p – (516) 877-4918
f – (516) 877-4896
e – thaler@adelphi.edu
w – communications.adelphi.edu

Faculty

The program in communications offers three interdisciplinary areas of study: media studies, moving image arts (video and film production), and journalism. The curriculum emphasizes creativity, knowledge, and critical awareness, and reflects a strong commitment to liberal rather than technical education. The major also offers an extensive, carefully monitored professional internship program that offers academic credit for work in small and large communications institutions.

The media studies concentration explores the history of communications, communication theory, interpersonal communication, the impact of new communication technologies, children and the media, political communication, and the role of communication in culture and in human behavior.

The moving image arts concentration focuses on fundamental principles of the art of the moving image through hands-on experience in film and video making, as well as through screenwriting and cinema studies courses. Individual student work and field production are emphasized, and students enjoy a degree of access to equipment that exceeds that of most other universities.

The journalism concentration offers skills courses in news, feature, blog, and sports writing; magazine production, web journalism, photojournalism, public relations, and electronic/digital journalism. The program also emphasizes the enduring history of journalism and attention to the role of the First Amendment and a free press.

All students write a senior thesis where they research a significant issue or controversy in the discipline. All students have access to the department’s internship program, through which they gain entry into all the major media industries.

Students participate in undergraduate research conferences, compete in national and local film and video festivals, create blogs and websites, run student film and video festivals, and produce a regular public access cable television program.

Professional Internships

The Department makes available to upper-level students a wide variety of intensive internship opportunities in leading professional organizations. In order to ensure the quality of students’ learning experiences, all internships are fully monitored by the department with the active support of the organization in which the intern has been placed.

Recent intern placements include the following: Cablevision, ABC, CNN, Newsday, Nickelodeon, Madison Square Garden, Tribeca Film Festival, New York Yankees, SportsChannel, USA Network, WABC-TV New York, WCBS-TV New York, WLIW Channel 21, WNBC-TV New York, The Howard Stern Show.

Talent Scholarships

The Department of Communications, in cooperation with the Office of Admissions, offers several Talent Scholarships each year to outstanding entering freshmen or transfers who show evidence of unusual ability and accomplishment in the media arts.

Department of Communications Awards and Honors

The Communications Department has a range of awards that it presents to distinguished graduating seniors, including the Department Honors Award, the Creativity in Film and Video Award, the Excellence in Journalism Award, and the Research and Writing Award. The exact awards given out each year vary, depending on the particular talents of the graduating class in a given academic year.

The department also hosts a chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the National Communication Honor Society. Students are invited to apply for membership in their junior year and new members are inducted every spring.

The Timothy W. Costello Award

Timothy W. Costello was Adelphi University’s sixth president. He was deeply committed to the goals of social justice and to the values of engaged and humane politics. He worked for these goals with courage and discernment throughout his life and throughout his career in politics, government, and education. The faculty of the Department of Communications has established this award in his memory and to recognize individual students who have exemplified in their lives and work a commitment to improving the lives of others.

Programs

• Communications, B.A.
• Communications: Journalism, B.A.
• Communications: Media Studies Concentration, B.A.
• Communications: Moving Image Arts Concentration, B.A.

• Communications Minor

Return to: College of Arts and Sciences