"To advance the well-established UM School of Communication to world class status and impact for the purpose of global well-being."

Executive Summary

This plan was ratified by the School of Communication faculty in the Fall of 2007. Prompted by the naming of a new dean of the School in 2005, the plan encompassed much discussion of the School's future and the articulation of initial changes to form the basis for long term strategy. The final plan attempts to synthesize these initial efforts into a prioritized vision to guide the School for the next half decade.

In particular, this plan seeks to emphasize a student-centered contemporary and multicultural learning environment that is rooted in fundamental values of free speech and press and believes in the global responsibility of its curricular goals. The School community understands the basic need to provide for the continuing development and support of its faculty and instructional infrastructure. Likewise, it understands that the administrative support and operational glue of the enterprise must not be ignored and must be integrated into all planning--strategic and tactical. And there exists a confident knowledge that the role of the School within the broader University curriculum and that of its field within higher education will become increasingly significant and complex. Above all, the plan underscores a priority need to establish a forward lean to all of the School's initiatives and to put into place a planning mechanism that will protect it against losing touch with its evolving purpose and potential.

The mission of the School of Communication was revised to reaffirm its grounding in the fundamental values of free speech and press, to develop its creative and scholarly credibility, and to view its purpose in a global context with a continuing expectation of excellence through a hands-on learning environment. The  new mission has been expressed with a consensus of confidence that exists among the faculty, staff and students as they engage the challenge of raising the national and international profile of the School, take advantage of their propitious location in Miami as an educational gateway for Latin America and quite literally push their individual and collaborative work to a new level of accomplishment.

The plan represents a year-long process of defining the priorities that will guide the future development of the School of Communication and its programs. It defines the school's goals, expectations and ambitions. At the broadest level, it provides a catalytic tool that has already begun, quite simply, to make things happen. It is not conceived as a series of deliberate, small steps, but has a set of integrated bold moves that will put into place the stairway that will embrace in reality the vision of an internationally recognized School of Communication at the University of Miami.

The plan provides a summary of the process upon which the School is now relying as a planning mechanism to chart the future direction, determine priorities and assess accomplishments. It also presents the background of prior plans and the most immediately defined goals in order to provide a context for its next evolution. Finally, the plan provides a description of the resources necessary to implementing and supporting its goals.

Key Strategic Goals

• Student centered - International Focus: Provide an evolving, responsible and purposeful learning experience that is student-centered and student-empowering within a multicultural and international context.
• Values-Based, Hands-On, International Curriculum: Ensure an ethical and values-based curriculum emphasizing a hands-on teaching methodology that reflects contemporary professional practice within an international context. Place at the heart of the curriculum the fundamental belief in freedom of speech, freedom of belief and freedom of press for the benefit of human well-being.
• Internationally Recognized Faculty: Develop and support a top-tier faculty who leads its respective professions through active engagement in scholarship, creative work and effective teaching as well as their commitment to the betterment of community and future generations.
• Balance Teaching Emphasis with Increased Focus on Research: Shift and add resources to support a more active and influential research agenda that is interdisciplinary and multicultural.
• New and Multimedia Technology Integration: Develop an integrated multimedia approach to both scholarship and authorship among faculty and students at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
• University-wide Impact: Contribute to the University of Miami undergraduate and graduate learning and co-curricular experience through the establishment of interdisciplinary academic programs; the provision of integrated and accessible learning resources; and operating a contemporary media group that both serves the University and community's well-being, as well as provides educational, practical and inspirational experience for students.
• Multicultural Community Impact and Service: Incorporate the multicultural environment of the School's geographical location as a distinctive opportunity for its curriculum, research, scholarship and creative work. Integrate a distinct spirit of social awareness and community service among students, faculty and staff within the context of effective, multimedia communication theory and skills. Insure that the work of the School contributes to the well-being of the University, the community, the nation and the world.
• Top Tier Quality Graduate Programs: Develop and expand both the quality and size of the graduate programs to contribute to the overall excellence of the School, its faculty and students, as well as to lead in the establishment of a purposeful and aware connection between graduate study and the well-being of future generations.
• State of the Art Learning Facilities: Develop a physical infrastructure that adds to existing facilities through renovation or new building to include "smart" classrooms, broadcast studios, multimedia labs, public exhibition, moving image archives and faculty/student support spaces.