College of Information and Communications
Tom Reichert, Ph.D., Dean
Shirley Staples Carter, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Access and Engagement
Rushondra James, Ph.D., Assistant Dean for Student Services
Lyda Fontes McCartin, Ph.D., Director, School of Information Science
Damion Waymer, Ph.D., Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Linwan Wu, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Research
Kim M. Thompson, Ph.D., Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
Amy Calkins, Executive Assistant to the Dean
The challenge of 21st-century communications is to combine the information gathering function—research and data bases—with the disciplines of disseminating information—journalism, advertising, and public relations. The College of Information and Communications is the product of such a merger designed to convey what we know and how we know it.
The college’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications is professionally oriented and grounded strongly in the liberal arts. It offers instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels and an extensive program in continuing education. Course work is offered in electronic and print journalism, advertising, public relations, and integrated communications to train students in both the processes and effects of mass communication.
The School of Information Science offers a bachelor’s degree in information science and graduate-level programs that support the development of library and information services as an essential element of cultural enrichment. It provides a professional education for students entering into libraries and information centers in colleges, schools, communities, industries, and businesses.
Together, the schools will also develop a core research base for examining the practices of communications and the teaching of these disciplines.
The 2002 merger of two established colleges at the University of South Carolina was designed to prepare students to more effectively meet the challenges of the communications age. Both schools now in the new college have long had admirable records of placing their graduates in newsrooms, advertising agencies, libraries, and academic institutions in and beyond South Carolina.