• Home >
• Communications
• > Strategic Plan 2020

Strategic Plan 2020

TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS
2010-2020STRATEGIC PLAN
December 31, 2011

                                                                                   The Plan

The Department of Communications’ Strategic Plan is consistent with the goals and objectives of the University’s and the College of Liberal Arts’current strategic plans. The following documents serve as the basis for the goals and objectivesoutlined in the department’s plan: The Academic Master Plan 2008-2028: Envisioning the Future through the Lens of our Heritage; The 2010-2015 Strategic Plan: Transforming Tennessee State University; The Tennessee Board of Regents 2010-2015 Strategic Plan: Charting the Course, the TSU 2010 Institutional Assessment and Improvement Plan, and the College of Liberal Arts 2011-2015 Strategic Plan. The Department of Communications’chair, concentration coordinators from mass communication, speech, and theatre, and select faculty from the department contributed to this Plan. Summary reports from the advisory boards of each concentration were also used in determining the goals and objectives in this Plan. The 5 goals are listed below and offered in more detail in the following pages.

                               Strategic Goal 1: Access and Diversity (Student Recruitment)
                               Strategic Goal 2: Program Quality
                               Strategic Goal 3: Business-Friendly Practices
                               Strategic Goal 4: Resourcefulness
                               Strategic Goal 5: Active Learning, Collaboration, and Engagement

                                                                                   Mission
The mission of the Department of Communications is “to prepare lifelong learners with balanced theoretical and practical approaches to the rapidly evolving discipline of communication in the areas of theatre, mass communication, and speech communication for global application in a diverse culture and world.”

The Department of Communications at Tennessee State University exists to:
      1. Develop effective and ethical communicators.
      2. Prepare lifelong learners with balanced theoretical and practical skills.
      3. Prepare graduates for academic or professional careers in the field of mass communication, speech 
          communication and theatre.
      4. Engage students in community service and cultural enrichment.

Strategic Goal 1: Access and Diversity (Student Recruitment)

The Department of Communications will continue to increase enrollment and diversity, and offer flexibility in course offerings to meet the needs of traditional and non-traditional students over the five-year period.

  University Key Performance Indicator: Access and Diversity

 College of Liberal Arts Key Performance Indicator: Recruitment

 Department of Communications: Recruitment

  Performance Outcomes:
            Recruitment:

• Establish a formal recruitment process that targets in-state and out-of-state high schools, community colleges, and communications and theatre magnet schools in the region, particularly by offering a uniquely multicultural perspective for our students. The process further targets prospective students at career fairs and transfers within the university, and invites prospective students from the above categories to campus.

            Diversity:

• Establish a formal diversity policy, and increase diversity within the department.

            On-line Courses:

• Increase course offerings on-line during the regular academic year and during Xtreme Spring Break, Maymester, and the summer.

            Advising:

• Introduce initiatives for improving advisement and retention of majors.

  Performance Measures: 
            Recruitment:

• Reach an enrollment goal of 400 by 2015, 500 by 2020. With the department’s current enrollment of approximately 280 students, an average of 40 students will be added yearly over the next five years, withat least 50% of the enrollment increase going to Speech and Theatre. Conduct formal visits each year to a minimum of 8 high school magnate programs, to community colleges in the region,particularly Volunteer State Community College and Nashville State Community College, using faculty and students as recruiters, attending all career fairs at the university and in the region, and invite students from these sites to TSU for formal recruitment visits.

     Diversity:

• Focus on diversity by increasing enrollment in underserved population groups by 1% each year with the university target of 5% by the 2017 academic year. Complete a departmental diversity document based on the guidelines, goals, and objectives of the university’s current diversity document.

     On-line Courses:

• Increasethe number of on-line courses currently offered by creating hybrids of existing “on-ground” courses, includingone additional section of introductory courses from each concentration, i.e. Intro to Mass Communication, Intro to Speech Communication and Intro to Theatre.

     Advising:

• Establish a structured advising program in all concentrations that requires students to meet with an advisor each semester before registering, and holding advising and orientationseminars during the academic year for each concentration.

  Action Plan  

  Strategic Goal 2: Program Quality

The Department of Communications is recognized by the universityfor excellence in mass communication, speech communication, and theatredue to increased faculty, and improvements in curriculum, infrastructure, and technology in the last five years. The department will continue its productivity with increases in faculty, including an endowed chair or artist/producer/director-in-residence for the creative areas, and improvements in academic programs and technology.

  University Key Performance Indicator: Academic Quality and Student Success

College of Liberal Arts Key Performance Indicator: Program Quality

Department of Communications: Program Quality

Mass Communication
The goal of mass communication through 2020 is to continue its growth in multimedia education while strengthening existing concentrations in news, production, and integrated marketing communications. Part of the plan is to create a non-production track that focuses on the study of media and the research methods that surround it, and a to create an interdisciplinary track called iAMM, bringing together the disciplines of art, media, and music. Faculty hires in each of these areas, curricular review, improvements in advising, and upgrades in technology and facilities will continue in an effort to support program goals. Below are objectives for the next five years.

Performance Outcomes
          Curriculum Development:

• Update curriculum as needed and as needed due to the evolution of the media field and student needs.
• Add new research methods courseto the core.(required of mass communications, speech communications, and theatre concentrations)
• Require research papers in upper-level survey courses.
• Add new track in media studies.
• Partner with the Departments of Art and Music to create the iAMM (integrated Art, Media and Music) program, a Title III-funded project providing a collaborative concentration that positions students on the cutting edge of technology, design and innovation. Upgrade multimedia facilities with funding from the iAMM Title III grant.
• Add a "new" media component to all courses, with a particular focus on social media.
• Require portfolios of all students of scholarly and creative work from courses, competitions, and practica.

     Student Skills Development:

• Strengthen students' writing, research, scholarly, and production skills, focusing on the quality and quantity of work, with particular emphasis on management and production protocols such as meeting deadlines.

Faculty and Staff Development:

• Faculty and staff will stay current in the field through conference and workshop attendance, systematically sharing information on scholarly and professional developments in the field, and through group and individual learning and training activities. 
• Mass Communication faculty and staff will enhancetheir new media knowledge and skills, including knowledge and skills in social media.
• Faculty will present a number of scholarly and/or creative works per year – conference presentations, articles, etc., published or accepted for publication, entries accepted for regional or national competition. 

Faculty Hires:

• Hire faculty to support rapidly growing integrated marketing communication, news, and productiontracks as well as the new media studies and iAMM tracks.

Facilities Upgrades

• Mass Comm facilities will be upgraded to support teaching and creative activity, particularly in support of the production, news, and iAMM tracks.

Accreditation:

• Explore the possibility of accreditation by a reputable mass communication or arts and design accrediting agency. ACEJMC, as of this writing, is considering changing its requirements, which will help TSU make a decision.

    Co-curricular Activities:

• Strengthen student learning and skills development via student internships, course practica, and work at student media outlets such as WTST Radio, TV-98 News, The Meter, The TSU News Network,The TennState IMC Agency, PAC House Productions, and The Blueprint.
• Foster media convergence activity within the various media organizations.

          Media Competitions:

• Submit student productions from freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors in media competitions on a yearly basis.
• Students will participate in the department’s 48-Hour Film Shootout.
• Specially selected students from the production track and other tracks will participate in the Ohio University 48-Hour Film Shootout in Athens, Ohio.

 Performance Measures
           Curriculum Development:

• Review courses in the core and tracks and make changes where needed each year.
• Make certain research methods course meets methods standards in mass communication, speech communication, and theatre.
• Require at least one research course in each 3000-level and 4000-level course.
• Work with faculty from Art and Music in researching, designing, and offering the new curriculum in the iAMM program in the first year of the project, submit new course proposals in year two and recruit students, admit first set of students in year three, and upgrade facilities throughout the five-year grant period.
• Continue to integrate new media in allmass communication courses includinga social networking component, with new media, research or creative projects required in all 3000-level and 4000-level survey courses. Each student media outlet will take part in a media convergence activity each semester.
• All students in mass communication will begin building a portfolio and addinghigh quality, critically reviewed research and creative projects from coursework, practica, internships, media outlets, and independent projects on a consistent basis.

     Student Skills Development:

• Students in the concentration must complete core courses, particularly writing, while demonstrating mastery of course work through grade-point average requirements and critical review of research papers and creative work (portfolios) before advancing to courses in all tracks except the media studies track. Part of the process in evaluating mastery is an assessment in courses and projects of the students’ ability of the student to manage a project and meet required deadlines.

    Faculty and Staff Development

• Faculty and staff will stay current by attending at least one conference or workshop relevant to the field each year, and will systematically share the information with faculty, staff, and students. 
• All faculty and staff will work to strengthen their new media and social media knowledge and skills. Electronic resources, such as social media, eLearn, and blogs will be used (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin) and other social networking tools in a majority of3000-4000-level classes.
• Faculty will present numerous scholarly and/or creative works per year – conference presentations, articles, etc., published or accepted for publication, entries accepted for regional or national competition.  (Requirements must meet University Compliance Assist Requirements)

Faculty Hires:

• Continue to hire faculty, either temporary or tenure-track to support the areas in the current tracks in the concentration. Search for funding for the hiring of an endowed chair in the concentration.

Facilities Upgrades

• Upgradefacilities to support teaching and creative activity particularly in video and in post-production, through the acquisition of additional field production and post-production equipment and through moving field production to high-definition and file-based workflows.

Accreditation:

• Make a final decision to pursue or not to pursue accreditation for mass communication.

          Media Competitions:

• At least five works will be submitted yearly for local, regional, and national competition.
• Students, as team members, will enter projects in the TSU 48-Hour Shootout each year.
• Students, as team members, will be chosen to take part in the Ohio University 48-Hour Shootout each year.

  Action Plan  

  Speech Communication

The Speech Communication concentration is the oldest in the Department and has served the university well for 70 years inoffering degrees to thousands of graduates while providing its Public Speaking course as a general education requirement to the university. The program’s goal in the next five years is to broaden its focus beyond speech communication to other areas of communication based on academic trends at universities across the U.S., resulting in a name change for the concentration. Along with this goal, the curriculum with be enhanced with an increase in faculty in new communication areas.

 Performance Outcomes
           Curriculum Development:

• Change the name of the concentration to address an ever-expanding speech communicationfield, and make changes to the curriculum.

     New Faculty Hires:

• Grow faculty in the areas of health communication and cultural studies to support the newconcentration.

     General Education Mission:

• Continue to provide the public speaking courses in fulfillment of the department’s general education mission to the university.

 Performance Measures
            Curriculum Development:

• Change the name of the concentration from speech communication to communication studies, and add curriculum in health communication and cultural studies to reflect the expanded communication studies area.

     New Faculty Hires:

• Hire two speech communications faculty members to provide strength in the areas of health communication and cultural studies.

     General Education Mission:

• Work effectively with the university in offering sufficient sections of public speaking courses to support the university’s general education core requirement.

  Action Plan  

 Theatre

The Theatre program has continued to provide strong teaching, practical experience, and exceptional stage productions for many years. The concentration has been improved recently with the re-design of the curriculum, the establishment of an advisory board, the creation of a small black-box laboratory and the continued production of award-winning stage performances. One of the primary goals of the concentration is to establish a well-articulated mission and vision, increase the number of faculty in the discipline, while fostering an atmosphere ofcollegiality and collaboration among faculty in the discipline, throughout the Department of Communications, and with other departments across the university. The program has the potential to attract more students, but suffers from few faculty and staff to meet the demands of an active performance and production agenda. One of the principalgoals in the next five years is to grow the concentration’s enrollment, faculty, and facilities, working toward more collaboration with faculty and staff within and outside of the department. The approval of a formal degree program in Theatre will be considered as the program grows over the next five years.

Performance Outcomes

          Program Vision:

• Develop a well-articulated mission and vision for the program.

    Curriculum Development:

• Establish an effective interfacing of courses and productions.

    Faculty and Staff Hires:

• Increase the number of faculty and staff in critical areas in the concentration.

Facilities Upgrades:

• Upgrade facilities, and increase the use of current facilities supporting other concentrations in the department for classroom and student projects.

    University and Departmental Collaborations:

• Forge formal partnerships with the area of Dance (currently part of HPSS), strengthen relationships with Art and Music, and increase extra-curricular activities with Forensics, Mass Communication, and Speech Communication.
• Forge relationships with theatre professionals in Nashville and region.

    Accreditation:

• Pursue initiative for Theatre program accreditation –NAST (National Assn. of Schools of Theatre)

    Formal Degree in Theatre:    

• Determine the feasibility of creating a BFAdegree program in the Department.

    Structured Production Process:

• Structure and implement a functional production process.

Performance Measures
 Program Vision:

• Make changes to the current vision to reflect trends in theatre programs across the U.S. that are consistent with the goals of the department, college, university, advisory boards, and accrediting agencies.

     Curriculum Development:

• Conduct a yearly review of student productions by faculty to determine if student performances are meeting or exceeding expectations.

     Faculty and Staff Hires:

• Hire four Theatre faculty with MFA degrees, two tenure-track and two full-time temporary faculty: one MFA – Scene Designer/Technical Director, one MFA – Costumer, one MFA – Acting/Directing, one MFA – Management/PR/Marketing. Hire one staff person – Shop Foreman/Carpenter.Search for funding to have one of the above positions as an endowed chair in the concentration.

Facilities Upgrades:

• Enhance current facilities by creating a “Black Box” –rehearsal hall for smaller productions.
• Use existing facilities such as the Cox-Lewis Theater for teaching purposes as well as the TV studio, radio studios, and music recital hall for specialized productions.

     University and Departmental Collaborations:

• Include the area of Dance as a component of the Theatre concentration, and increase the integration of Art, English, and Music in the curriculum as well as in stage productions.
• Expand collaboration within the Department of Communications, particularlywith co-curricular activities with Mass Communications and Speech Communication, i.e., acting for the camera /and participation in Forensics.
• Forge relationships with industry professionals and professional theatre companies in the metro Nashville and Middle Tennessee area.
• The department will foster student research and creative productivity through activities such as the Research Forum in the Arts, the 48-Hour Film Shootout, annual media festival as opportunities arise, and annual first-year and advanced stage productions.

Accreditation:

• Secure requirements, consult with accrediting board, put proposal together, prepare for program review in an effort to obtain accreditation.

     Formal Degree in Theatre:

• Use enrollment numbers, curriculum development, faculty hires, facilities upgrades, and approval by the university and TBR as the basis for securing the BFA degree.

     Structured Production Process:

• The faculty will work to devise a formal process for production planning, and will implement the plan by the second year of this plan.

Action Plan  

  Forensics

The Forensics program is recognized nationally as an outstanding program, and studentshave consistently performed at a superior level by winning 2,287 awards during the fifteen yearspan (1997-2012). Efforts will continue to encourage faculty support from the Department of Communications, while continuing to recruit new faculty to support the program. With the departureof the program’s director in 2012, one goal is to hire a new director while adding key faculty in areas of weakness.The program will continue to compete in regional and national competitions while hosting tournaments as well.

Performance Outcomes
           Personnel:

• Hire a director in a tenure-track position who can contribute to the Speech Communication and/or Theare concentrations.
• Hire a faculty member in Speech who can to address the area and provide teaching support to the Speech communication.

          Competitions:

• Compete in regional and national forensics competitions.

Conference Hosting:

• Host a regional or national forensics tournament within the five-year period.

  Performance Measures
            Personnel:

• Complete the search for a new director by year three.
• Hire faculty in underserved areas by year three.

          Competitions:

• Compete in at least four regional or national forensics competitions each year.

Conference Hosting:

• Host at two regional or national forensics tournament over the five-year period.

  Action Plan

  Strategic Goal 3: Business-Friendly Practices

This goal focuses on assessment outcomes and measures of the department’s performance including current students, alumni, faculty, staff, and external customers with the goal of improving the program.

University Key Performance Indicator: Business-Friendly Practices

College of Liberal Arts Key Performance Indicator: Business-Friendly Practices.

Department of Communications: Business-Friendly Practices

Performance Outcomes:
           Program Review:

• Yearly program review by advisory boards and/or future accrediting agencies for each concentration

Student Program Assessment:

• Yearly program assessment by freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.

Academic Assessment:

• Portfolioreviewswill be conducted yearly.
• Formal evaluation of Senior Exit Examswill be conducted yearly.
• Yearly Senior Project reviewswill be conducted yearly.
• Project evaluations from student competitions will be evaluated yearly.

Alumni Placement and Performance Assessment

• Alumni job placement and performance assessment conducted yearly.

Evaluations of Department Chair/Faculty/Staff

• Formal evaluation of the department chair, faculty, and staff will be conducted yearly.

  Performance Measures:
            Program Review:

• The faculty will review advisory board and possible future accrediting agency evaluations yearly with recommendations made on changes to the program.

Student Program Assessment:

• An assessment of student perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the department will be conducted with formal interviews of freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniorsconducted by persons outside the department with results used to make programmatic changes.

Academic Assessment:

• Portfolio reviewon a yearly basis is required of all juniors and seniors in each concentration by concentration coordinators and/or by faculty and staff in these disciplines to determine skills development within the program.
• Results of Senior Exit Exams will be reviewed each year to assess student competencies of graduating seniors.
• All Senior Projects will be presented to the faculty and/or TSU community each year to formally assess student competency.
• Competition reviews by judges used as a means of evaluating student performance and competency as compared to students from other universities.

Alumni Placement and Performance Assessment

• Alumni job placement and performance assessment will be conducted each year with employers, including internship supervisors, to assess student competency within the workforce.

Evaluations of Department Head/Faculty/Staff

• Evaluation results will be discussed with formal reports issued to personnel with recommendations for improvement and advancement.

  Action Plan  

                                                         Strategic Goal 4: Resourcefulness

Critical to the improvement of the department’s overall contribution to the University and its community is its ability to generate revenue outside of the traditional sources of tuition, student fees, and state appropriations. The department will look to federal grants, corporate funding, private donations, and revenue generated from in-house projects, student media outlets,and its state-of-the-art facilities to improve its program.

  University Key Performance Indicator: Revenue Generation/Research/Resourcefulness

 College of Liberal Arts Key Performance Indicator: Resourcefulness

Department of Communications: Resourcefulness

Performance Outcomes:
           Grants:

• The department will attempt to secure federal grants and private funding from corporations, foundations, and private donors.

Alumni, Faculty and Staff Giving:

• The department will attempt to secure private donations from alumni and current departmental personnel.

Theatre Stage Productions:

• The theatre concentration will produce stage productions each year in an effort to generate revenue.

In-house Projects:

• Independent projects with clients will be produced with university and organizations outside the university as clients,supervised by faculty and staff and involving students such as media productions and summer media workshops.

Student Media Productions:

• Student media outlets will generate revenue through projects and business practices, including advertising, corporate and private underwriting, and station fund drives.

  Performance Measures:
           Grants:

• The Department will seek grants from the following categories: federal grants and private funding from corporations, foundations, and private donors.

Alumni, Faculty, Staff Giving:

• At least one private donation should be secured from the alumni each year with faculty and staff encouraged to give as well.

Theatre Stage Productions:

• At least one main stage production produced each semester with major departmental, TSU, and community promotion required.

In-house Productions:

• At least one funded independent project secured each yearfrom clients within or outside of the university, supervised by faculty and staff and involving students.

Student Media Productions:

• At least one funded media project produced each year by student media outlets, theatre companies, forensics teams, or independent projects including advertising, corporate underwriting, private donations, and fund drives.

  Action Plan  

Strategic Goal 5: Active Learning, Collaboration, and Engagement

The Communications Department will serve the campus, TSU and Nashville communities, and region with communications and theatre workshops, seminars, and productions, research projects, radio, television/video, on-line programming,forensics presentations, and publications over the five-year period. These projects will allow faculty, staff, and students from across the university and region to work together resulting in faculty development and student learning, service to the community, and external funding for the department.

University Key Performance Indicator: Engagement

 College of Liberal Art Key Performance Indicator: Active Learning, Collaboration, and Engagement

Department of Communications: Active Learning, Collaboration, and Engagement

Performance Outcomes
           TSU Collaborations

• Work with TSU Athletic Department to produce coverage of basketball games, and other sports-related programming for radio and television webcast.
• Work with the TSU Administration, Student Affairs, Admissions, and academic departments in supporting the university’s outreach activities.

Conference Hosting

• Host a state or regional conference of a professional or academic organization in the field (i.e., BEA Regional, Forensics)

Community Outreach and Industry Collaborations

All student media outlets (WTST Radio, TSU TV 98, The TSU News Network, The TennState IMC Agency, PAC House Productions, and The Blueprint) provide programming and media services to the university community, or take part in one service project per year for TSU, the Nashville community, or for an entity outside the region.

• Faculty and staff with support from students will produce programming for the HBCU Radio Network to air on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio on issues pertaining to the University, community, nation, or abroad.
• Faculty, staff, and students will continue to work with media firms such as BingeNow.com in providing programming to the TSU community and nation, while providingexperience and industry connections for students, faculty, and staff.
• Conduct Summer Community Theater programs to the TSU community via CAMA (Community Arts and Music Academy) and other entities.
• Strengthen partnerships with professional communications and theatre organizations locally, regionally, and nationally i.e., (the Nashville Black International Film Festival, SMPTE, NARAS, NATPE) to increase the university’s profile, provide service to the community, and provide faculty and staff development, student training, and networking.
• Offer summer media workshops to high school students, including funding for students from families with a financial need.
• Require each concentration to produce one community project annually.

  Performance Measures
            TSU Collaborations

• Continue to provide radio coverage of TSU athletic events on a yearly basis, and work toward providing television coverage during the five-year period.
• Work with TSU departments and organizations on at least one university-sponsored community service event each year.

Conference Hosting

• Host at least one regional communications, forensics, or theatre conference over the five-year period.

Community Outreach by Student Media Outlets

• Each student media outlet will produce at least one service project per year.
• Faculty and staff with support from students will produce at least one radio program per semester for the HBCU Radio Network.
• Theatre faculty will conduct at least one Summer Community Theater Program each year
• Faculty and staff willattend at least one regional organizational meeting or seminar in his or her discipline each year, and provide service to at least one of the organizations over the five-year period (i.e. serving as a judge for projects, serving on committees, etc).
• Mass communication faculty will offer summer media workshops to high school students each summer.
• Each concentration (mass communication, speech communication, and theatre) will produce or take part in one service project each year in the community or region.

Action Plan