Dean's Message
Fifteen Years Strong!
The School of Communication (SOC) is delighted to celebrate15 years of reporting, persuading and storytelling with talented students, faculty and staff who have left their mark in Chicagoland and around the globe. As an active filmmaker and scholar at LUC, I have collaborated with an incredibly supportive and inclusive community who share my social justice, environmental and storytelling goals, striving to impact and advocate for diverse audiences--small and large, local and international.
Just a few of the SOC’s accomplishments in recent years:
- Over 90% of our graduate students are employed in the field of their choice
- We are the first Public Relations undergraduate and graduate program to be accredited by the Public Relations Society of America in the Chicagoarea.
- SOC students have won numerous National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Student Emmy (Crystal Pillar ) awards for nonfiction, news and fictional storytelling.
- Our faculty are publishing ground-breaking communication research in artificial intelligence, environmental advocacy and game design, much of which was shared at our yearly Center for Digital Ethics & Policy symposium.
- Journalism students won over 25 awards with the Illinois College Press Association for our student newspaper, The Phoenix, and have co-produced an award-winning environmental documentary that broadcast internationally and nationally on PBS stations, We Are Tuvalu.
- Our Advertising majors traveled to Cannes Lion International Festival in France to witness the world’s award-winning commercials and meet producers
- Chicago’s only student-run Communications Agency, Inigo worked with client United Airlines in both Chicago and Washington, D.C..
- Our (almost 150 year old) Debate Team travels regularly to Oxford, England to engage in (and win) international competitions
- A Digital Media & Storytelling student, Marina Hart Donahue won the top prize nationally for her documentary at the Broadcast Educators Association
- Our Film and Digital Media students met with producers, alumni and award-winning writers in Los Angeles, and volunteered at the Telluride and Chicago International Film Festivals.
- Our Global Strategic Communication and ADPR students travel to Madrid, Spain to meet with communication professionals every spring break.
- After creating her successful podcast Ice Cream Social on our student radio station WLUW, Imani Warren was awarded an internship with Chicago’s prestigious WBEZ station.
Recently in Rome, I was honored to meet Pope Francis who spoke of the importance of artists for making meaning for any spiritual journey. “You are the eyes that see and dream,” he said—a powerful motto for the SOC.
Keep seeing and dreaming! And please drop by the Dean’s office and say ‘Hello’ sometime.
Elizabeth Coffman
Winner of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film
Fifteen Years Strong!
The School of Communication (SOC) is delighted to celebrate15 years of reporting, persuading and storytelling with talented students, faculty and staff who have left their mark in Chicagoland and around the globe. As an active filmmaker and scholar at LUC, I have collaborated with an incredibly supportive and inclusive community who share my social justice, environmental and storytelling goals, striving to impact and advocate for diverse audiences--small and large, local and international.
Just a few of the SOC’s accomplishments in recent years:
- Over 90% of our graduate students are employed in the field of their choice
- We are the first Public Relations undergraduate and graduate program to be accredited by the Public Relations Society of America in the Chicagoarea.
- SOC students have won numerous National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Student Emmy (Crystal Pillar ) awards for nonfiction, news and fictional storytelling.
- Our faculty are publishing ground-breaking communication research in artificial intelligence, environmental advocacy and game design, much of which was shared at our yearly Center for Digital Ethics & Policy symposium.
- Journalism students won over 25 awards with the Illinois College Press Association for our student newspaper, The Phoenix, and have co-produced an award-winning environmental documentary that broadcast internationally and nationally on PBS stations, We Are Tuvalu.
- Our Advertising majors traveled to Cannes Lion International Festival in France to witness the world’s award-winning commercials and meet producers
- Chicago’s only student-run Communications Agency, Inigo worked with client United Airlines in both Chicago and Washington, D.C..
- Our (almost 150 year old) Debate Team travels regularly to Oxford, England to engage in (and win) international competitions
- A Digital Media & Storytelling student, Marina Hart Donahue won the top prize nationally for her documentary at the Broadcast Educators Association
- Our Film and Digital Media students met with producers, alumni and award-winning writers in Los Angeles, and volunteered at the Telluride and Chicago International Film Festivals.
- Our Global Strategic Communication and ADPR students travel to Madrid, Spain to meet with communication professionals every spring break.
- After creating her successful podcast Ice Cream Social on our student radio station WLUW, Imani Warren was awarded an internship with Chicago’s prestigious WBEZ station.
Recently in Rome, I was honored to meet Pope Francis who spoke of the importance of artists for making meaning for any spiritual journey. “You are the eyes that see and dream,” he said—a powerful motto for the SOC.
Keep seeing and dreaming! And please drop by the Dean’s office and say ‘Hello’ sometime.
Elizabeth Coffman
Winner of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film