School of Communications

Dean: Professor Ford

Associate Deans: Professor Gaither, Associate Professor Grady, Professor Weaver

The School of Communications prepares students to think, write and produce meaningful information in a digital and global age. Courses in six majors are combined with a liberal arts education to provide students with breadth of knowledge and insight about the world around them.

The School of Communications is nationally accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). Elon University is one of only 18 private universities in the nation to have an accredited communications school.

There are five undergraduate departments and one program in the School of Communications. Students may choose a Sport Management  (SPT) major or one of the five majors accredited by ACEJMC that share a common core curriculum:

• Cinema and Television Arts (CTA) (A.B. and B.F.A.)
• Communication Design (CDE)

• Journalism (JOU)
• Media Analytics (MEA)
• Strategic Communications (STC)

Consult each major program of study for specific course requirements.

Courses in the major are combined with a liberal arts education to provide students with breadth of knowledge and insight about the world around them.

Outside of class, students may participate in the student news organization (Elon News Network), entertainment programming (Elon Student Television), a radio station (WSOE-FM), the university yearbook (Phi Psi Cli), student cinema organization (Cinelon), a documentary production program (elondocs), a full-service strategic communications student agency (Live Oak Communications), and a student sports production unit (Elon Sports Vision).  

Requirements for all CDE, CTA, JOU, MEA, and STC majors:

ACCREDITATION RULE: All students must complete at least 72 credit hours outside of COM, CDE, CTA, JOU, MEA, or STC designated courses.

REQUIRED INTERNSHIP: All students must secure and complete an off-campus professional internship in their discipline of study with the guidance and approval of the school's internship director. Students enroll in COM 381 for one or two credit hours, based on at least 80 work hours per credit hour. Students may apply up to a total of four credit hours of COM 381 toward graduation. (COE Co-op Work Experience credit does not count toward the major or toward the 72 hours required outside of COM, CDE, CTA, JOU, MEA or STC.)

REQUIRED MINOR, DOUBLE MAJOR OR SEMESTER ABROAD: To promote academic depth, all students must complete a minor or double major outside of COM, CDE, CTA, JOU, MEA or STC, or complete a semester abroad (totaling 12 credit hours or more) in an Elon-approved program. Study USA programs do not qualify as a semester abroad.

DOUBLE MAJOR OPTION: To encourage students to consider a double major, eight hours of COM, CDE, CTA, JOU, MEA or STC electives are waived for any student completing a double major outside one of these five majors. For example, a student double majoring in journalism and history would need a total of 44 hours instead of the normal 52 hours. This option is not available for those completing a BFA in Cinema and Television Arts.

ELECTIVES: Any COM elective may count as an elective in CDE, CTA, JOU, MEA, OR STC. Additionally, any course in these majors may count as an elective in any of the other majors, so long as prerequisites are completed.