Why Ohio Northern Should Improve the Department of Communications and Media Studies

The Freed Center for performing arts at the Ohio Northern University which is home to the Communication and Media Studies department (photo/onu.edu)

The Ohio Northern University has completed several renovations over the past few years. Most recently, they remodeled the McIntosh Center which included new seating in the public areas, polar expresso, dining hall, and the complete remodel and addition of the Wow Wingery. The university just recently announced the building of a state of the art engineering building worth millions of dollars.

With all of these renovations to campus, many departments are stating their case as to why they should have the next large scale renovation. I believe that the Communication and Media Studies department should be the one to receive the next improvement on campus.

The Communications and Media Studies department is a continually growing department.  Housing the communication studies, public relations and multimedia journalism majors on campus, the department is becoming increasingly more relevant due to the demands of social media, and public relations professionals being on the rise.

Housed in the Freed Center for Performing Arts here on Ohio Northern's campus, the Communications and Media Studies department occupies the back corner of the building.

The facilities that are available to the staff and students are average at best, being that there are only three classrooms to be used in the department.

The media production rooms including the radio station and the TV broadcasting studios have not been updated much in the past ten years and are severely underfunded, making the upgrade of facilities next to impossible.

Unlike most other departments on campus, the Communications and Media Studies department lacks a place for their students to study, work on group work, and to be creative. Being that there are only three classrooms for use in the department, students have no place to go and sit comfortably in the own department.

 As Communication and Media Studies students, a significant portion of our work demands us to be writing, creative, or with groups thinking through real life issues. We need a space to be inspired. Not having a comfortable, quiet place to do these things puts a strain on the students of this department.

The department as a whole needs an update on its technology. The TV broadcast station, Radio station, and classrooms have old outdated technology that makes learning and producing more challenging. It would benefit us, the students of the department to have up-to-date technology that will allow us to compete with larger universities when creating content.

All of these improvements would help the department of Communication and Media Studies further the education of its students. However, it will do no good if there is no time to use the facilities.

Many of the other buildings on campus are open late so students can access the resources that they need for their school work. Having the Freed Center open late all nights of the week would ensure that students would have a place to go and produce quality work.

I will be writing a proposal to the university with these ideas shortly. If you have any ideas for the improvement of the Communications and Media Studies department, please comment below. As students of this department, we deserve adequate facilities to produce quality work.