Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
South Dakota State University. College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. School of Communication and Journalism
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The first journalism course at South Dakota State College was offered in 1908, 27 years after the college's founding, during a period when journalism programs were emerging in many Midwestern state universities. In 1919, the School of Printing was established, and in 1924, Journalism Professor Charles D. Byrne, later Chancellor of Higher Education for Oregon, merged the journalism and printing departments to form the Department of Printing and Rural Journalism.
In the 1930s and 1940s, the department offered a two-year printing program combined with three additional years of journalism, resulting in a Bachelor of Science in Printing and Rural Journalism (PRJ). The department achieved accreditation in 1948, the first year of national journalism accreditation. South Dakota State College was the first department to be visited by an accrediting team and recommended for accreditation, according to Dean Earl English of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. In 1951, under department head George Phillips, the current building was dedicated.
In 1956, the PRJ program was revised to a four-year curriculum, and a Bachelor of Science in Printing Management was introduced. That same year, the department began offering a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and a Master of Science in Journalism. In 1958, a Master of Science in Printing Management was added, making the department one of the few in the country to offer a graduate degree in printing management. The program was discontinued in 1972.
After Professor Phillips retired in 1973, Professor Vernon Keel, who later became director of the Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University, took over as department head. The graduate program was suspended from 1973 to 1975 to focus on the undergraduate program. Professor Keel resigned in 1976 to become department head at the University of North Dakota. Professor Ruth Laird led the department until 1978, followed by Professor Richard Lee, who served from 1978 to 2002. Professor Mary Arnold, the current department head, was appointed in 2002.