Future Students
Future Students
Future Students
The College of Communication and Creative Arts is composed of 6 departments, offering various major and minor, graduate and undergraduate, as well as certificate programs. Before applying, or visiting campus for an open house, prospective students are encouraged to consider the programs available to determine the best fit for their unique needs and goals. Below is a short description for each of our departments. Complete information is available on each of the department websites.
The Art Department is home to fine artists, art educators, graphic designers, crafts people, and art historians. Students may elect to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art, or a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Art. Students in the BFA program can also specialize in Graphic Design, or Biomedical Art and Visualization. Students in the BA program may choose to get a second major in Education/Endorsement in the Teaching of Art. When asked about their experience, graduates mention the sense of community they felt in Westby Hall, home of the art department. Westby Hall has three state-of-the art computer labs, state-of-the art ceramic facilities, extensive sculpture facilities, a foundry, jewelry metals studios, painting, print making, and photography facilities. At Rowan, we are strategically located close to the centers of the art world: New York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The art department and Rowan University Art Gallery have an active program engaging professional artists in exhibitions, workshops, and public lectures.
Businesses are always looking to hire people who can write, and speak clearly, work effectively in teams, think creatively, and solve problems. These are the hallmarks of the Communication Studies program. The Communication Studies major places a strong emphasis on theory, but provides enough practical application to prepare students for life beyond academia. This major is divided into two specializations, one of which focuses on "messages" (with courses like "Mass Media and Their Influences" and "Images of Gender in Popular Culture"); the other on "relationships" (with Courses like "Interpersonal Communication," "Family Communication," and "Organizational Communication").
The Journalism program is grounded in the fundamentals of journalism history, law, and ethics. Courses stress the basics of reporting, writing, and editing. Students also gain a broad range of multimedia skills, including social media, photography, audio and video production, publication layout, and web design. The professors in the Journalism Department are all working journalists with connections in the field. Students can also practice journalism by working on The Whit, the student newspaper, or become involved with production of radio shows for WGLS and TV shows for the Rowan Television Network. Journalism graduates have been hired at prestigious organizations like The New York Times, the Associated Press, the Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Golf Weekly, the History Channel, and Conde Naste magazines.
The Public Relations and Advertising department houses two distinctly different yet closely related disciplines. In addition to the majors, this program offers a minor in Advertising and a Masters in Public Relations. PR/Advertising is home to a team of very dedicated faculty who are not only excellent teachers but also experts in their field. They actively engage in research and also as industry practitioners. Students in PR/Advertising can join several pre-professional associations. The Rowan chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America has competed nationally and won many "outstanding chapter in the nation" awards. The Rowan Ad Club is an active student organization that works closely with the Philadelphia Ad Club and local agencies. Students graduating with degrees in Advertising and Public Relations go on to careers in corporations, nonprofit organizations, agencies and government entities in fields such as health care, entertainment, sports, crisis management, market research, and planning.
The Master's in Public Relations program, established in 1967, has contributed hundreds of graduates to the education, health, and communication industry in the tri-state area. Many of the highest-performing seniors are eligible to take some of these graduate classes as part of their undergraduate degree.
The Department of Radio/Television/Film teaches the history, theory, and business practices of the field, and offers a wide variety of hands-on production courses. Students don't just get technical training, they also learn to relate media to the broader field of communication and to society. RTF faculty are media producers and scholars who do the things they teach. They are making movies, writing scripts, producing radio and television programs, writing scholarly film and television history books, and working as media critics. Students can choose one of two tracks: Production, which focuses on the making of media within the context of history and current industry standards, or Critical Studies, which focuses on writing and research about media. While many of our students have do go to Los Angeles or New York and pursue successful industry careers, students learn universally applicable skills such as media technology, team management, and how to clearly communicate ideas through writing and presentations. These broad skills can be applied to a variety of career fields beyond traditional entertainment, including advertising, marketing, technology, business, law enforcement, medicine, law and education. Many RTF majors start their professional careers with the Rowan Television Network RTN5 or the Rowan Radio Station WGLS-FM.
Our Writing Arts program includes a major in Writing Arts, a concentration in Creative Writing, a Masters in Writing and a 4+1 program that allows students to complete a BA and MA in just 5 years. The department is also home to the first-year writing courses that all students at Rowan take. Rowan is different from most schools in that writing is not taught in the English dept. So, the faculty are specialists in Writing, rather than literature. A Writing Arts major teaches students to write in a variety of ways, in a variety of areas including technical writing, workplace writing, expository/essay/research writing, and creative writing. Students in the Writing Arts program get internships at regional publishing houses, magazines, TV outlets and they get jobs, including: researcher/writer for a newspaper group, assistant editor for orthopedic surgery journals, business analyst/project manager for a school district. Some grads go on to pursue more education, particularly MFAs.
As you can see, our majors are very integrated, and we encourage students to consider taking courses from more than one program, utilizing minors and concentrations, and maybe even double majoring. You can learn more about each program on their web pages via the links above.
If you are interested in multiple programs, or are not sure what would be the best fit for you, we encourage you to attend more than one open house event, so that you have the time to visit with faculty from each program you are considering.
We look forward to meeting you soon!
Additional links of Interest for Prospective Students:
