Pocatello -- This fall Idaho State University features a mass communication
department and a new director at its helm.
In recent years mass communication had been a program at ISU within
the Department of Communication and Theatre. A mass communication discipline
hasn’t had departmental status at ISU since journalism was demoted from
departmental status 22 years ago.
Bill Loving, formerly an associate professor at the H.H. Herbert School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma, has taken over as chair of the ISU James E. Rogers Department of Mass Communication. Loving, who holds a broadcast and a law degree, comes to ISU with an extensive background as a working journalist, teaching at the college level, and as an expert in mass communication, First Amendment, and records access law.
Loving said that attaining departmental status for mass communication is significant because it will allow the department to generate a different recognition on the part of the administration, students and the public.
“As a department, we will be able to have a seat at the table when resources are allocated,” Loving said. “We have our own identity, which allows us to market ourselves differently.”
There are more than 260 declared ISU mass communication majors pursuing degrees in journalism, television, photography, advertising/public relations and media studies. The department has five full-time faculty members and one visiting professor. The department will continue to offer these degrees and will expand its offerings with an increased emphasis on new media including the Internet. More courses in Web design and digital editing will be offered, and students will make extensive use of the Web in their coursework.
The new mass communication department will address issues of convergence, the joining of new media such as Internet with older media such as newspapers and television.
“Many old media -- newspapers and television stations -- are creating alliances to take advantage of the Internet, and so it is a changing media that we must teach about,” Loving said.
At the same time the department emphasizes the use and mastery of modern technologies, it will also continue to emphasize critical thinking.
“It does no good to have students learn to touch the buttons of whizzo-gizmo gadgets unless they can critically assess the information they are getting,” Loving said.
Some of Loving’s other priorities as department chair are to increase ties between alumni and the department, and create more scholarship opportunities for students.
Eventually, the mass communication department may offer master’s degrees. The State Board of Education has approved the creation of three mass communication master’s programs at ISU, but those programs cannot be created until additional faculty can be hired.
Loving’s background should prepare him well for running the department. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1979 and a Juris Doctor degree from the Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1991.
He has been a reporter, wire editor, and copy editor for several Texas daily newspapers. His journalism experience also includes being the voters project coordinator for the Reno Gazette-Journal, Reno, Nev.; and a reporting and editing coach, and Sunday editor for the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.
Loving began lecturing at the college level at the University of Texas at El Paso in 1982, and also taught at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas. He taught at the University of Oklahoma from 1991 to spring 2002, where he became an associate professor after receiving tenure. His primary teaching areas at OU were media law, media writing and reporting. He was sequence coordinator for the program from 1991 to 1997, focusing on scheduling, curriculum issues and staffing.
Loving has pursued a career in law the last 11 years, concurrent with his academic career.
“I obtained my law degree in order to teach,” Loving said. “With a Ph.D. you can teach or drive cab. With a law degree you can teach, drive a cab or sue people. I liked the greater flexibility of a law degree.”
He is not licensed to practice law, but he can sue as a pro se litigant, representing himself. He has been involved in some high-profile records access cases in Oklahoma and was honored with the First Amendment Award in 1997 by the Oklahoma chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
“My position is that the government is owned by the people and the people have the right to know what their employers are doing,” Loving said.
Loving is called upon to be an expert witness in both First Amendment and records access cases, sometimes being called by plaintiffs who are suing the media. His legal expertise is further demonstrated by the fact Loving is co-author with Dean Dwight Tweeter of the University of Tennessee of the textbook “Law of Mass Communication.”
In addition to running the department, Loving will continue to teach and offer advice to students.
“I tell students to find something you love to do. Life is too short to endure,” he said.
Loving has obviously done more than endure, and that bodes well for ISU’s new mass communication department.
For more information on the ISU mass communication, department call (208) 282-3295 or visit http://www.isu.edu/departments/masscomm/.
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