The Northwestern University School of Communication is an undergraduate and graduate institution devoted to the academic study of communication arts and sciences, located on

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

's campus in Evanston,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, United States, about 12 miles north of downtown

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The School also has a campus in

Education City Education City is a development in Al Rayyan, Qatar. Developed by the Qatar Foundation, the property houses various educational facilities, including satellite campuses of eight international universities. History Education City was launched b ...

Doha, Qatar Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

, as part of Northwestern's Qatar Campus. The school's mission is to "advance the arts, sciences, and practices of human communication through every appropriate means, and especially through education, scholarship, artistic work, policy analysis, and advocacy." The school offers 6 major degrees, 2 dual degree programs, 5 minor degrees, and 16 module certifications for undergraduates, as well as 10 masters programs, 4 masters/doctorate programs, and 5 doctorate programs for graduates. It consists of five departments: the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Department of Communication Studies, Department of Performance Studies, Department of Radio/Television/Film, and Department of Theatre. Many School of Communication alumni who have made their mark in film and television include

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born April 28, 1941) is a Swedish–American actress, singer, and dancer. As an actress and singer, she is credited as Ann-Margret. She is known for her roles in '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' ...

Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...

David Schwimmer David Lawrence Schwimmer (born November 2, 1966) is an American actor, director and producer. He gained worldwide recognition for portraying Ross Geller in the sitcom ''Friends'', for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Primeti ...

, Heather Headley,

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program '' The Colbert Report'' from 2005 ...

, and

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Julia Scarlett Elizabeth Louis-Dreyfus ( ; born January 13, 1961) is an American actress, comedian, and producer who worked on the comedy television series ''Saturday Night Live'' (1982–1985), ''Seinfeld'' (1989–1998), ''The New Adventures ...

History

The school can be traced back to 1878, when the Department of Elocution was established at Northwestern University by Robert McClean Cumnock. Initially, classes were offered as part of a two-year certificate program, but as courses grew increasingly popular, the university established the School of Oratory in 1891. In 1895, Annie May Swift Hall was opened to house the school, a purpose it continues to fulfill today. The School of Oratory was subsequently renamed to the School of Speech in 1921, and later became the School of Communication in 2002 to reflect the school's expanding offerings. In 2008, Northwestern opened their Qatar campus, part of the Education City initiative, offering programs of study in both the School of Communication as well as the

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...

Programs of study

The School of Communication is divided into five departments, each of which offers Undergraduate and Graduate degree programs. Certain programs, such as the MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises and the MA in Sound Arts and Industries are cross-departmental, while

dual degree A double degree program, sometimes called a dual degree, combined degree, conjoint degree, joint degree or double graduation program, involves a student's working for two university degrees in parallel—either at the same institution or at diffe ...

programs are also offered in Communication and Engineering, in partnership with the

McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science Established in 1909, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is one of twelve constituent schools at Northwestern University. Most engineering classes are held in the Northwestern Technological Institute, Technological I ...

, and Music and Communication, in partnership with the

Bienen School of Music The Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music is the music and performance arts school of Northwestern University. It is located on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois, United States. The school was previously known as the North ...

. In 2011, the school introduced modular curriculum options for undergraduate students, involving "modules" which require in-depth completion of courses and projects related to a specific topic. Current modules include

Digital Media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

Playwriting A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and

Health Communication Health communication is the study and practice of communicating promotional health information, such as in public health campaigns, health education, and between doctor and patient. The purpose of disseminating health information is to influence ...

Facilities

Performance venues

The Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts houses four performance venues for the Departments of Theatre and Performance Studies. The Ethel M. Barber Theater, the Josephine Louis Theater, the Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theater, and the Mussetter-Struble Theater are all located in this center. The Wirtz Center also includes two dance and rehearsal studios called the South Rehearsal Room and the Bergen. In addition to these performance and rehearsal spaces, the Wirtz Center houses a costume shop, a scene shop, and computer labs for design purposes. The Wirtz Center directly adjoins the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, which houses two dance studios (the Ballroom and the Cellar) for rehearsals and performances for the Dance Program. These venues are all located on the southern end of the university's Evanston Campus, on the shore of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. Cahn Auditorium, the largest venue on Northwestern's campus, has a seating capacity of 1,000, including balcony seating, and has an orchestra pit. Cahn Auditorium hosts the annual Waa-Mu Show, as well as many other student and professional productions.

Class buildings

Annie May Swift Hall houses faculty offices, classrooms, and the film library for the Department of Radio/Television/Film (RTVF). It also features the Peggy Dow Helmerich Auditorium and the Alvina Krause Studio, a black box theater named for a former theater and performance studies professor. John J. Louis Hall is the center for production and post-production for the RTVF Department. This building includes classroom spaces, editing studios, sound production studios, a black-box theater, the radio station facilities for

WNUR-FM WNUR-FM (89.3 FM) is a 7,200–watt radio station based in Evanston, Illinois that broadcasts to Chicago and its northern suburbs. It is the student radio station of Northwestern University. History WNUR first began broadcasting on May 8, ...

, and the Barbara and Garry Marshall Studio stage. The Fisk Digital Media Studio is an editing lab for the RTVF Department, otherwise occupied by the Medill School of Journalism. The lab hosts 20 Mac computers with an editing and design software like Avid Media Composer,

DaVinci Resolve DaVinci Resolve (originally known as da Vinci Resolve) is a color grading, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production video editing application for macOS, Windows, and Linux, originally developed by da Vinci Systems, and now ...

, Pro Tools, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe After Effects. The Northwestern University Center for Audiology, Speech, Language, and Learning (NUCASLL) houses classroom facilities for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders in addition to a health clinic for the local community. This clinic includes a Developmental Diagnostic Program as a joint project with the

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, formerly Children's Memorial Hospital and commonly known as Lurie Children's, is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care children's hospital located in Chicago, Illinois. The hospital has 3 ...

and an Aphasia Center. The clinic at NUCASLL provides free screenings for speech and hearing for the public. The Frances Searle Building houses classroom and office spaces for the Departments of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Communication Studies. The MA in Sound Arts & Industries recently added the SoundTank space to Frances Searle's facilities in 2016.

Administration building

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts is home to the School of Communication's Dean's office and administration for several of its departments (Theatre, Performance Studies, and Dance). The facility also houses performance venues and classroom space for the

. The building was awarded LEED Gold status.

Notable faculty

Source: *

Noshir Contractor Noshir S. Contractor is an Indian-American network scientist who is the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Science, the School of Communication and the Kellogg School of Mana ...

, authority on

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for ...

s and Web science * Peter Dallos, expert on the

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

of the

cochlea The cochlea is the part of the inner ear involved in hearing. It is a spiral-shaped cavity in the bony labyrinth, in humans making 2.75 turns around its axis, the modiolus. A core component of the cochlea is the Organ of Corti, the sensory org ...

* Leslie DeChurch, authority on

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...

and multiteam systems *

Frank Galati Frank Joseph Galati (November 29, 1943 – January 2, 2023) was an American director, writer, and actor. He was a member of Steppenwolf Theatre Company and an associate director at Goodman Theatre. He taught at Northwestern University for many ...

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

-winning director and professor of performance studies *

Dilip Gaonkar Dilip Parameshwar Gaonkar (born 1944) is a Professor in Rhetoric and Public Culture and the Director of Center for Global Culture and Communication at Northwestern University. He is also Executive Director of the Center for Transcultural Studies, ...

, authority on rhetorical theory * Darren Gergle, expert on human-computer interaction and

social computing Social computing is an area of computer science that is concerned with the intersection of social behavior and computational systems. It is based on creating or recreating social conventions and social contexts through the use of software and tech ...

Robert Hariman Robert Hariman (born June 17, 1951) is an American scholar of rhetoric and public culture. He received his BA from Macalester College in 1973, and received his MA in 1975 and PhD in 1979 from the University of Minnesota. He was a member of the facul ...

, scholar of public culture and the rhetoric of

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

E. Patrick Johnson E. Patrick Johnson is the dean of the Northwestern University School of Communication. He is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and professor of African-American studies at Northwestern University. He is also a visiting scho ...

, professor of performance studies * Viorica Marian, professor and expert on

multilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

* Daniel O’Keefe, authority on

argumentation theory Argumentation theory, or argumentation, is the interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be supported or undermined by premises through logical reasoning. With historical origins in logic, dialectic, and rhetoric, argumentation theory, incl ...

and

persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for Social influence, influence. Persuasion can influence a person's Belief, beliefs, Attitude (psychology), attitudes, Intention, intentions, Motivation, motivations, or Behavior, behaviours. ...

* Eric Patrick, professor of radio/television/film, experimental filmmaker, and 2006

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

Janice Radway Janice Radway (born January 29, 1949) is an American literary and cultural studies scholar. Education Radway holds a BA from Michigan State University, 1971, and an MA from State University of New York, Stony Brook, 1972. She earned her PhD fr ...

, American literary and cultural studies scholar *

Todd Rosenthal Todd Rosenthal is an American scenic designer. He won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design and the 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design for Steppenwolf Theatre Company's '' August: Osage County''. A native of Longmeadow, Massach ...

-winning scenic designer *

Anna Shapiro Anna Davida Shapiro (born March 10, 1966) is an American theater director, was the artistic director of the Steppenwolf Theater Company, and a professor at Northwestern University. Throughout her career, she has directed both the Steppenwolf The ...

, professor and director at the Steppenwolf Theatre *

Lynn Spigel Lynn Spigel is the Frances E. Willard Professor of Screen Cultures at the School of Communication at Northwestern University. She has written extensively on numerous topics including post-war culture and popular media. She has also edited numero ...

, scholar of television and American culture *

Ellen Wartella Ellen A. Wartella (born October 16, 1949, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) is a leading scholar of the role of media in children's development. She is the chair and professor of communication, director of Northwestern University's Center on Media and ...

, expert on the role media plays in child development * James Webster, authority on

audience theory Audience theory offers explanations of how people encounter media, how they use it, and how it affects them. Although the concept of an audience predates media, most audience theory is concerned with people’s relationship to various forms of medi ...

and

measurement Measurement is the quantification of attributes of an object or event, which can be used to compare with other objects or events. In other words, measurement is a process of determining how large or small a physical quantity is as compared ...

David Zarefsky David H. Zarefsky (born 1946) is an American communication scholar with research specialties in rhetorical history and criticism. He is professor emeritus at Northwestern University. He is a past president of the National Communication Association ...

, authority on

rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

and forensics *

Mary Zimmerman Mary Zimmerman (born August 23, 1960) is an American theatre and opera director and playwright from Nebraska. She is an ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, the Manilow Resident Director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinoi ...

-winning director and professor of performance studies

Notable alumni

Source:

Theater

Film

Television

References

External links

Northwestern University School of Communication, official website
{{Coord, 42, 3, 6.7, N, 87, 40, 17.8, W, region:US-IL_type:edu, display=title Northwestern University Educational institutions established in 1878 1878 establishments in Illinois Film schools in Illinois