Telecommunication Studies
Department of Communication
2000 Bliss Hall
(330)941-3631

Find out more about our program by clicking on the links to the left. Or, for a basic introduction to the Telecommunication Department, check out the information on this page:

• Introduction
• Purpose
• Form
• Standards
• Questions

Check out...

Tuesdays & Thursdays - 4:30 to 5:00
www.homeworkexpress.org

Introduction
Click here to download the Telecommunication Department program brochure (PDF - 635k)

Telecommunication Studies at YSU is an energetic and enthusiastic program comprising 3 full-time faculty and about 175 undergraduate majors.  Together, we're involved in making sense.  That's right, making sense of and making sense in the Information Age.  Today, and even more so in the coming years, we are bombarded by messages of all sorts -- through advertising, television and film, news, the internet, magazines, friends, family and more. We use theories and techniques to help understand what happens when people try to communicate, whether in a job interview, a family discussion, or a television program. Too, we learn the skills and methods for becoming more effective communicators ourselves. After all, to communicate well is one vital ability for building good careers and living good lives.

In the Telecommunication Studies program you'll learn to use sound, visuals and data effectively to create messages to be sent over distances by predominantly electronic systems. Too, you'll have an understanding of how such systems are managed and operated.

Our low student-faculty ratio allows you to have close personal contact with professors. In fact, because YSU isn't a humongous mega-university with kazillions of people everywhere, you'll experience the "small college" intimacy and personalized treatment at a school which draws on the vast resources of Ohio's state university system. That means you'll take courses taught by fully-qualified faculty, not graduate students, and you'll use facilities that are among the best anywhere!

You can count on getting help when you need it, too.  Each of our professors serves as an academic advisor, so you will have access to good academic and career-oriented counseling in the planning of your program.  And, faculty are among the most knowledgeable of how you can build a bridge from your college years to your career or graduate school.

The program in Telecommunication Studies leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree.  That's the traditional liberal arts college degree: it focuses on helping you build a foundation of knowledge and skill that makes you a well-educated person. The liberal arts degree "liberates" in the sense that graduates aren't constrained to a particular line of work; instead, they have developed "transferable skills" that are useful and meaningful in a wide range of future life paths, whether in their careers or personal lives.

Purpose

The Major in Telecommunication Studies aims not just to help you get a nifty job. It will change you. It will transform your life.

Most jobs in the media don’t really require a college education. Lots of people can write interesting news stories, shoot nice videos, and DJ wedding s and radio shows. The problem is simply one of supply: more people want media jobs than the media have to offer. So employers find it convenient to look for “college degree” as a way to cut down the pile of applications.

We don’t aim to get you a glamorous job. That would be a huge waste of time and money. Instead, we help you get educated. Once you’ve begun to commit your life to learning and growing, as an education requires you to do, you’ll have little trouble getting a good job. Said differently, educated people get jobs.

Educated people never find themselves trapped with no options. Chances are you’ll have five different careers during your working life. That means what appeals to you right now might become dull or boring to you later on. And it means you can’t prepare now for the specific career you’ll have during your peak earning years – because nobody on earth knows what that might be. In fact, three of your future careers don’t even exist right now.

So we aim to help you to master as much knowledge and skill as possible. We help you develop good attitudes that will see you through new situations and tough times. And we help you ground everything in values that you have thoroughly explored and tested.

Think of us as a Phys Ed school for the mind. We’re not trying to teach somebody merely to catch a pass, or to grab a rebound or to hit a curve. These skills would have only temporary value. We’re trying to develop an athlete who will be physically superior for a lifetime.

Think of us as a music school for the mind. We’re not trying merely to teach somebody to sing in a boy band, or to cut a click track, or to write a pop tune. Such things involve lots of money, but not much music. Instead, we’re trying to develop a musician who masters the art form, regardless of genre. Good musicians always get gigs.

Your education needs to serve you in your professional life, of course. But also should support you as parent, as community leader, as customer, and more. Your education will be your tool for making a difference -- for transforming your life and the lives of those around you.

Form

Your degree program will comprise several clusters of requirements:

• General Education, which helps you learn the core knowledge for a college education and to master the skills you’ll need to be effective in learning at advanced levels.
• Major and Minor, where you develop mastery of your main interest areas. Also, you study at levels far above that in any other course area. You’ll find two types of courses in your major. Some are regular classroom courses which aim to develop your intellectual knowledge and skill. Others are “applied” or “studio” courses. These aim to help you master your media performance and production skills.
• Electives, which are courses you elect to take because of their particular importance to your intellectual growth.

During your first two years you should focus on general education and the basic requirements in your major. During your junior and senior years you should finish your major, pick and satisfy a minor, and take high-level electives.

You will face other expectations:

• 10-hour Rule, in which you will show how you are engaged in mastering your skills (beyond class-related study) on average of 10 hours per week. To read more about the 10-hour Rule, click here.
• Learning on Location, which comprises internship and residency opportunities.
• Portfolio Review, in which you will present the results of your learning in portfolio form to the faculty.
• Cocurricular Activities, such as Homework Express, marching band, and University Theater.
• And more, such as leadership responsibilities in campus organizations and on-campus employment.

Standards

The Telecommunication Studies program is open to students of all academic backgrounds.

However, only those willing to excel are welcome. Those with a particular facility in language and a sense of theatricality normally do well. In the near future, admission controls will be imposed.

Excellence is always the standard in this program because it doesn’t tolerate excuses for less than one’s best effort. Other standards, like “the way it is at Middle University” or “the way TV stations do things,” make it easy to offer excuses. Even “professional” can deflect one’s attention from doing one’s best to doing only what’s required.

It’s important also to surround yourself with people who themselves are trying their best. They will encourage you, and you them. Rumdums just try to get by, and they will not want you to do better than they themselves.

(Remember the saying, “Misery loves company”?) Stay away from rumdums.

The goal is for you to step out of your comfort zone. To take risks and to try your very best to follow through. In the long run, your trained disposition to make a commitment, to work to your highest level, and to expect the best from yourself and others around you will create a lifetime of opportunity and rewards.

Questions

We take your questions seriously. That’s one reason we’re so obsessed with good advisement. If you have a question, or aren’t sure about something, please ask! Click here to get contact information for Telecommuincation Department faculty and staff.