Housed in the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences, the Department of Communication offers three academic degree programs: a BA in Communication, a BA in Sports Communication, and an MA in Communication. The department also offers a graduate certificate in Health Communication, minors in Communication and Sports Communication, and serves the university through two introductory general education communication courses that serve over 3,000 students each year. The department is affiliated with Clemson University’s Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, a multi-disciplinary platform for the academic study of sport sciences across the University, and houses the Charles Campbell Professorship in Sports Communication. The department is also home to several facilities and co-curricular activities including WSBF 88.1 FM, The Tiger newspaper, Tigervision TV network, Social Media Listening Center, Communication Center and Research Lab, a nationally and internationally-recognized debate team, and student study abroad programs.
A Brief History
The history of Clemson University’s Department of Communication dates back to the 1980s when Communication courses were taught in the Departments of English and Performing Arts in the College of Liberal Arts. A Department of Speech and Communications was created in 1995 in the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, a new college created after a comprehensive university reorganization that same year. In the early 2000s, the department was renamed the Department of Communication Studies and, over the next 15 years, the department added new faculty, launched a new undergraduate degree in sports communication, opened a Social Media Listening Center, reinvigorated the debate program, and launched a new master’s degree program. During an academic college reorganization in 2016, the newly renamed Department of Communication joined the new College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences.
Approximately 40 faculty (14 tenured/tenure-track, 17 full-time non-tenure-track, and several adjunct faculty), 325 undergraduate majors, 300 undergraduate minors, 20 graduate students (nearly all on funded assistantships), and three staff members study and work across the department’s programs and engage through its facilities and co-curricular initiatives.
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Vision | Mission | Goals
Vision
The Department of Communication at Clemson University aspires to be a national leader at the undergraduate and graduate levels among public research universities in the discipline of Communication.
Mission
The Department of Communication at Clemson University is committed to providing students with a theoretically-grounded communication curriculum featuring personalized educational opportunities that emphasize students’ strengths and interests and motivate students to embrace innovative technologies. Faculty members with expertise in health communication, sports communication, strategic communication, and media and technology studies are dedicated to developing students’ critical thinking, ethical judgment, and decision-making skills with the intent of empowering students to positively contribute to our ever-evolving social world.
Goals
The Department of Communication at Clemson University aims to prepare its students, the communication discipline, and its faculty and staff by:
- Generating high quality, creative, and innovative scholarship
- Fostering engaged learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate students
- Delivering high-impact undergraduate and graduate education experiences
- Nurturing a positive culture indicative of an outstanding place to learn and work; and
- Communicating and promoting its vision, mission, activities, and successes to internal and external audiences and stakeholders.
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Our People
The Department of Communication is home to nationally known scholars conducting cutting-edge communication research in media and technology studies, health communication, strategic communication, and sports communication. Faculty regularly publish in prestigious academic journals, including Communication Research, Communication Theory, Journal of Communication, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Communication Education, Health Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, Popular Communication, and Mass Communication & Society.
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TV News Partnerships
WYFF 4 and Clemson University have established an academic partnership that will allow members of Clemson student media to work alongside industry professionals in a satellite news bureau located on Clemson’s campus. The partnership makes Clemson the only university in South Carolina to feature an on-campus news bureau occupied by an outside media organization. WYFF 4 is the top station in South Carolina’s largest media market. The station houses the news bureau alongside Clemson’s student media organizations in the Hendrix Student Center. The station set up its news bureau in the Hendrix Student Center alongside Clemson’s student media organizations.
The academic partnership will provide valuable experiential learning opportunities for students interested in a wide range of careers in media. The directory of the Department of Communication says the partnership also brings the communication department more in line with the makeup of those in the country’s top research universities. Clemson students get a view of the current media landscape that no other institution in the state can provide. The student media experience at Clemson is now much richer with seasoned professionals reporting right from our campus on breaking and general news across the state.The news bureau places reporters on Clemson’s campus where they can be close to faculty experts and breaking news at the university. Space set aside in the student media suite also allows reporters to go live from campus whenever necessary. WYFF 4 reporters and Clemson students work in tandem with the nearby Anderson bureau to more effectively cover news in the Upstate region.
The opportunities for student involvement include reporting and videography, producing, promotions, marketing, directing and more. Our students gain the kind of experience departments, schools and colleges of communication across the nation will no doubt envy as they gain resume building experience as communicators. Read more about the the launch of this partnership.
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Professional Affiliations
Faculty in the Department of Communication are members of many of the following professional associations. Our faculty members hold leadership roles within these organizations and regularly present their research at annual meetings. Click the logos to learn more about each association:
International Communication Association
National Communication Association
Eastern Communication Association
Southern States Communication Association
Western States Communication Association
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
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Tiger Media
Chronicle
The Chronicle is Clemson University's first and only student art and literary magazine. Twice a year, our staff promotes, produces, and distributes a new issue representing the best artistic and literary work that Clemson students have to offer.
Pendulum
Clemson's magazine on international affairs.
The Tiger
The Tiger is South Carolina’s oldest student-run newspaper, serving the Clemson University community as its newspaper of record. The Tiger publishes print editions every other Thursday during the semester and online content throughout the week.
Tiger Vision
Tigervision started with humble beginnings as the Clemson Cable Network in 1994 in the Holtzendorf Building. The transition to HD brought the latest and final rebranding of the organization. Tigervision was born at the beginning of the 2014 school year. In the years that followed, the channel began to strengthen in both the quality and quantity of student programing. New shows were created while older ones were molded and developed into even stronger programs. The foundation that CCN and CTV provided enabled Tigervision to reach its full stride.
WSBF FM Clemson
WSBF has a decades-long commitment to providing the best alternative programming in a world of commercially-dominated radio. Since the 1980s, we’ve endorsed and fostered alternative lifestyle and culture: from our eclectic music selections to our educational ethos and public service announcements, we always strive to promote diversity, open-mindedness, and awareness, and we offer our listeners exciting/alternative/independent content you won’t hear anywhere else. As a 100% student-run radio station, we also offer invaluable hands-on experience in radio broadcasting and operations to our student staff.
- Alumni Newsletter
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Contacts
Departmental
Main Office
408 Strode Tower
Phone: 864-656-1567
Fax: 864-656-0599Communication Center
216 Watt Family Innovation Center
864-656-2028Academic Advising Center
309 Edwards Hall
864-656-5123Tiger Media Offices and Studios
Third Floor, Hendrix Student CenterClemson Debate Society
306 Daniel HallSocial Media Listening Center
304 Daniel HallAdministrative
Interim Department Chair
Bryan Denham
bdenham@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Office Manager & Assistant to the Chair
Morgan Team
team2@clemson.edu
864-656-5747Administrative Specialist
Amy Durrance
adurran@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Academic Advisor
Kaela Gardner
kaelag@clemson.edu
864-656-8960Business Center Manager
Stefan Bock,
sbock@clemson.edu
864-656-9572Director of Graduate Studies
Erin Ash
ash3@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Director of Undergraduate Studies
Lori M. Pindar
lorip@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Director of Basic Courses
Leland Fecher
dfecher@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Director of Student Media
Wanda Johnson-Stokes
wj@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Director of Debate
Lindsey Dixon
ldixon2@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Director of the Communication Center
Alyssa Davis
alyssa8@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Director of the Social Media Listening Center
Brandon Boatwright
boatwr5@clemson.edu
864-656-1567Associate Director of the Social Media Listening Center
Will Henderson
wjhende@clemson.edu
864-656-1567
Communication News
Department of Communication
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Department of Communication | 408 Strode Tower
