Journalism school steers new direction

By Christina Littlefield (contact)

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 | 8:52 a.m.

He's not even done unpacking yet, but the recently appointed director of the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies at UNLV is already a big fan of his new digs.

"Location, location, location," Michael Murray chimed repeatedly as he described what drew him to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and his plans for the newly created journalism school.

"I don't know of any other schools out there like this right now, with the growth and the opportunity," Murray said Thursday, his first official day of work. "I think the location is perfect for the development of a major urban journalism school."

School officials recently split the School of Journalism and Media Studies from the School of Communication in order to allow both programs to narrow their focus on their unique areas of expertise. Both still fall under the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.

"The focus will be stronger for them and also stronger for us," said David Henry, former director of the School of Communications and now the chairman of the communication department within the journalism school.

For Murray, the focus will be on ensuring that the media professionals the school trains have the skills needed for the workforce as well as the general knowledge to be able to contribute intelligently to their field.

Murray himself has a strong background in both academia and broadcast journalism. He worked at various NBC television stations and CBS News and comes to Las Vegas after more than 20 years as professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He also also helped start the communication and journalism program at the University of Louisville.

Besides seeking accreditation for the journalism school, Murray said his main goal is to better connect UNLV's future journalists, public affairs specialists and advertising executives with professionals already in the workforce.

"I really want to connect students with people in their job and let them see if this is really what they want to do," Murray said.

Murray also said he wants to key students in to the unique political and environmental issues that are unique to Las Vegas, much in the vein of the school's namesake, the late Hank Greenspun. Greenspun founded the Las Vegas Sun, which is still owned and operated by his family.

The only immediate change students will see from the division is that there will be one person in charge of advising undergraduates and connecting them to internships, Murray said. Currently, those responsibilities are being farmed out to several different people, and where students are working or even what they are interested in isn't tracked.

Journalism as a major will be phased in slowly with future enrollees, Murray said. Current students will continue to operate under the communications degree program in which they originally enrolled.

Future changes to the course work will be developed along with the journalism faculty members, Murray said.

"It's really important to get an idea of where we are in the big picture and then see what areas we can really develop," Murray said.

Murray's new colleagues said they hoped he would use the split to steer the department toward better media production and research.

"Because we're going to be more narrow than we were before, we'll be able to excel in journalism and in mass com," Anthony Ferri, an associate professor who researches media effects, said.

Henry agreed, noting that the communications department will focus on communication theory and public discourse and rhetoric, and will be part of the new doctorate in public affairs.

"We'll be more narrowly focused but have more depth," Henry said. " That's something we haven't had in the past."