Welcome from the Dean

Dear Student,

I was very pleased to learn that you are among those admitted to the Northwestern School of Communication (SoC) class of 2013. Congratulations!

The NU School of Communication is entering a very exciting period of growth in faculty and programs. Already pre-eminent in its fields of study, the School is building on its tradition of excellence in the communication arts and sciences and extending its impact through a set of innovative, cross-disciplinary, and international programs. Our Music Theatre program, which brings together faculty and students from the School of Communication and the School of Music, is well established and highly regarded; and it has reached a new level of excellence now that our American Music Theatre Project is creating opportunities to develop and produce new work. We have also built interdisciplinary programs in Sound Design, Animate Arts, Creative Writing for the Media, and Human Communication Science. Last fall we began offering an interdisciplinary major in Media Industries and Technologies at the new Northwestern campus in Education City, Qatar.

To improve the experience and prospects of our students, we have created a new Undergraduate Resource Center; implemented a new undergraduate advising system; created a national internship program; and added a career services office. We expanded existing co-curricular programs for students, such as debate and speech team, and we added exciting new programs like Arts in the City, which provides SoC majors with opportunities to explore the Chicago arts and entertainment scene. New grant programs support undergraduate research, media projects, and theatre productions. You can learn more about these programs from our viewbook, Communication at Northwestern [pdf]. I also encourage you to explore all the links to the left, created for all students admitted to the School of Communication.

All this growth in programs has meant adding many exciting new faculty as well. In each of our five departments, our esteemed senior faculty have been joined by many new colleagues who bring state-of-the-art knowledge and skills to our classrooms and out-of-class activities. You can learn more about them as well by visiting our online faculty profiles.

We look forward to interacting with you and your family as you decide whether to attend Northwestern. Please feel free to write to me or the Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Programs, Dr. Sally Ewing, if you have questions or need help in making other contacts at Northwestern. The telephone number for our Undergraduate Resource Center is 847-491-7214; you can reach Dr. Ewing or her staff through that number or email her at sally-ewing@northwestern.edu. My office’s phone number is 847-491-7023; my email address is b-okeefe@northwestern.edu.

I also want to encourage you to visit us if you can. I have found NU to be the most beautiful and welcoming of all the universities I’ve been associated with. This year’s Wildcat Days program looks quite interesting and I’m sure you would enjoy seeing the campus. If you are on campus, feel free to drop by and introduce yourself – my office is just around the corner from the Undergraduate Resource Center in the Frances Searle Building.

Sincerely,

Barbara J. O’Keefe
Dean, School of Communication
Annenberg University Professor