Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism is set to form two separate departments that will take effect on July 1, 2025. These designations include a Department of Journalism and a Department of Communication. The introduction of these new departments has been sparked by the school’s desire to expand greatness in research and academic programs.
Dean of the School of Communication and Journalism Laura Lindenfeld said the initial decision to create the combined School of Communication and Journalism was due to journalism students showing interest in communication courses.
“Someday when the faculty got large enough and there were enough students in communication majors, we would form separate departments because the work being done in communication is actually quite different from journalism,” Lindenfeld said.
This choice of separation had been planned for a while.
“This was not a sudden decision. It was a very thoughtful, strategic process that involved faculty and students weighing in over the last six years,” Lindenfeld added.
The Department of Journalism will provide academic opportunities including a minor in Journalism, a bachelor of arts in Journalism (BA), a Master of Science in Journalism (MS), and “whatever other degree programs or courses they want to pursue that are specifically focused on journalism, journalism practice and scholarship,” Lindenfeld explained.
The BA program will allow students to design stories in hands-on courses, practice ethical multimedia reporting and gain real world experience through internships. The MS program will encourage students to engage in solutions journalism, a form of reporting that poses a solution to a societal problem rather than simply stating the problem itself.
The Department of Communication will offer a wide range of paths students can pursue. This includes environment, health, mass communications, intercultural and interpersonal fields. Such inclusion is to address the rapid growth of the communication major.
“Communication is growing fast,” Lindenfeld said. “The new communication major, which we launched this past fall, already has over 80 students enrolled. That’s a lot.”
The Department of Communication will offer programs for a BA in communication, a bachelor of science (BS) in mass communication and introduce a new major: a BA in writing and rhetoric.
Lindenfeld further discussed the addition of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric. This program will allow students to learn analysis techniques, as well as construct written communication. These skills will be used in various contexts for different reasons, such as academic, social, civic, professional and personal purposes. This program “shares a lot of curriculum requirements and electives with the bachelor in communication,” Lindenfeld explained.
While there are two new separate departments, Lindenfeld stressed the importance of collaboration between the two. She said the overlap in both fields encourages students in either major to collaborate with one another.
“The collaborative spirit will continue,” Lindenfeld said. “This is not at all meant to divide people, but rather to undergird their strengths with some leadership in the forms of chairs [appointed for both departments].”
Lindenfeld noted how some colleges may perceive a change such as this as them “giving something up.” However, such obstacles did not stand in the way of this particular change. Lindenfeld said that the University saw the potential for excellence within these departments.
“People saw [separating the two departments] as a way to refine the school rather than take something away from anyone. My sense was there was excitement of the commitment on the campus’ part, and there was a lot of enthusiasm,” Lindenfeld said.
She also explained how difficult the process of creating these two separate departments was.
“[It] had to go through [the University Senate] review [and] through the [Office of the Provost] and get a lot of approvals. I think what that did was help us communicate to people how important it is to differentiate these fields, but house them together in the same school so they could mutually reinforce and support each other.”
Executive Vice President and Provost Carl Lejuez praised Lindenfeld and acknowledged the academic exceptionalism separate communication and journalism departments will produce.
“Dean Lindenfeld has followed a deliberate strategy to expand the School of Communication and Journalism over the course of several years,” Lejuez said. “The school has grown in the scope of programs, in student enrollment, in hiring faculty with a growing diversity of expertise and changing the name of the school to include Communication to reflect its growing portfolio.”
The second phase of this process will be developing organized faculty structures within the departments. This includes chair appointees for both.
Wenbo Li, an assistant professor of science communication, said these new changes brought him excitement.
“I’m excited about the opportunity for each department to focus more deeply on their respective fields and offer tailored programs, courses and resources that directly address the evolving needs of students. By creating more specialized departments, we can make sure that students in each department receive more targeted instruction, mentorship, and career development opportunities,” Li said.
Li further explained that students in the Department of Communication will be able to more focus on media effects, media psychology and communication technologies, just to name a few, whereas those in the Department of Journalism “can benefit from more focused training in investigative reporting, storytelling and news production.” Additionally, the addition of new faculty and resources will address the need to better cater to student needs in these two new departments.
With the creation of the new departments, Lindenfeld is optimistic and hopeful that it will positively impact students’ education.
“I hope this gives students more options and alignment with what they genuinely want to study and do,” Lindenfeld said. “I hope for people who really know, for example, that they want to be a reporter, that they’re going to choose a journalism degree. On the communication side, I would hope for someone who wants to become versed in the social sciences of understanding, that they would find their way to that [communication] degree.”
