Overview

 

Welcome

The School of Media and Communication is devoted to helping our students create, inspire and inform by bringing the latest skills and highest level of integrity to the growing fields we serve. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects media and communication jobs will increase 14 percent by 2030. We are committed to helping our students take part in those expanding opportunities, whether they are coming out as corporate trainers, media sales professionals, news anchors, video production managers or assistant tenure-track professors. Our roots go deep into the history of the University of Southern Mississippi with programs that stretch back decades to the earliest days of radio and television. Over time, we have evolved to include most aspects of mass communication and communication studies. The school maintains its historical strengths and core values of collaboration, creativity, adaptation to change, and an orientation toward the future that includes a diverse student body and a faculty focused on what our students need, at whatever level, to succeed in their chosen careers.

 

Curriculum

Our programs enable students to learn the concepts and technical skills they need to be productive and responsible contributors in the diverse fields they choose. We offer the state’s only comprehensive mass communication program that provides the full spectrum of skills and perspectives, from multimedia to strategic communication, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. We offer the state’s only public relations master’s degree program, which is fully available online. Our curricula also have a long-standing international orientation, including study-abroad opportunities in the United Kingdom.

 

Faculty

The school is served by 18 full-time faculty members who have significant professional experience in their fields in addition to advanced academic degrees.

 

Students

The School of Media and Communication hosts nearly 400 undergraduate and graduate students across a wide range of disciplines. The cultural diversity of the student body of Southern Miss is unmatched by any other institution of higher learning in the state.

 

School Mission  

To advance the field of communication by creating and sharing knowledge and practice. 

 

School Vision 

To create, assemble, and refine knowledge of communication while teaching students the concepts, theories, and technical skills they will need to be productive and responsible contributors in diverse fields of communication. 

 

School Values 

•  Excellence – we strive for the highest levels of performance and are committed to continuous improvement.
• Scholarship – we perform scholarly work that advances the field of communication. 
• Education – we share our knowledge and expertise with others.
• Respect – we value diversity of ideas and experience; we show respect through collegiality and ethical behavior.
• Engagement – we actively contribute to our communities. 

 

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

The School of Communication recognizes the need to proactively address cultural diversity in the study and practice of communication. The School embraces a broad definition of diversity that includes race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, class and disability. The School is especially committed to including the voices of people and communities that have been historically under-represented at the university and in communication professions.
The School seeks to:

• offer students an inclusive curriculum that routinely and systematically addresses diversity issues related to culture and communication;
• attract and graduate a population of students from diverse backgrounds that generally reflects the region’s ethnic diversity;
• hire and retain a diverse faculty and staff, including faculty members in tenure- and teaching-track positions;
• provide students, faculty, and staff with a supportive climate for working and learning that is free of discrimination.

Link to School Diversity Plan