New major an eye-catcher for visual communicators More than 50 students have signed up for the new
visual communications major since it started this fall. Sequence
chair Van Kornegay thinks
those numbers are picture perfect. “We have gone from zero to 55 in one semester,” Kornegay said. “That’s a good pace. We’d like to have about 160 majors within two years, so at this rate we’re where we want to be. ” As the newest major in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, visual communications is designed to prepare students to enter the fields of photojournalism, graphic and multimedia design in a mass media setting. Like other majors in the school, “vis com” students take core journalism courses in media writing, law and ethics and research. Major courses focus on photography, design and graphics. All courses in the major stress the growing multimedia nature of visual communications and require students to produce projects for the printed page as well as the pixel screen. In addition, students will also be required to take electives that target a specific media area such as print, electronic, advertising or public relations. Four professors teach in the program: Kornegay, Scott Farrand, Keith Kenney and Bruce Konkle. They say they’ve been pleased with the quantity and quality of students in the major so far. Kenney said the work in the introductory photo course has been much stronger than in previous years when the class was offered as an elective. “I don’t know what the secret ingredient is,” Kenney said. “Maybe it’s just a strong class, but I hope the improvement is also due to the fact that we’ve raised the bar by making the course part of a new major.” The statistical profile of the new majors indicates they are a strong group of students. Their average collegiate GPA is 3.32, and they include students who have been awarded Palmetto and McNair Scholarships, two of the top scholarships at USC. Freshman, Jessica Nielsen, was honored this semester with a "Design of the Year" award from the National Scholastic Press Association. She was one of 22 students from around the U.S. honored for her design work on her high school newspaper. Senior Mary Waters said visual communications was a natural fit that tied together her interest in the visual and the verbal. "I really enjoy both copy-editing and graphic design,” she said. “I don't want to have to pick between the two. The vis com major jumped out at me as soon as I heard about it because I didn't want to just dabble in graphics courses as electives; I really wanted to come out of college with a mastery of the programs and skills." Most of the new students come from the ranks of other journalism majors: 18 from advertising, 18 from print, three from public relations and seven from electronic. But vis com has attracted students from other colleges as well. Nine have transferred into our college from business, liberal arts, pharmacy, media arts, music and engineering. Kornegay said he expects the new major to be popular with students who want to work in a wide variety of mass media settings from journalism to public relations to advertising. “For better and sometimes for worse, digital processes have democratized visual communication in the mass media,” he said. “PR people inform and persuade with onscreen presentations and through the layout and design of print and web publications. Journalists communicate the news in a variety of formats and through multiple media with photos, video, informational graphics and animation. Strong visuals are a centerpiece of branding strategies in advertising.” With this in mind, Kornegay said the goal of the visual communications sequence is to produce graduates who can do the following:
Employers indicate these are highly desirable skills in today’s marketplace. That makes the vis com picture all the more appealing. |
