Strategic Plan DRAFT, May 2012

BUILDING THE FUTURE OF THE HARRINGTON SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA

Faculty Meeting, May 22, 2012

WHO ARE WE?

Our graduates are lifelong learners who are active participants in local and global communities. They embody the values of leadership, enterprise, intellectual curiosity, social responsibility and environmental sustainability.

Our faculty use innovative and effective practices of teaching and learning that help nurture the full range of learners' intellectual, social and emotional competencies, including leadership, critical and creative thinking, and communication and collaboration skills. Faculty members generate new knowledge and creative work that adds value to society. As scholars, researchers, practitioners and creative professionals, our faculty are themselves lifelong learners, active and community-connected, whose work is regionally and nationally recognized and respected.

VISION

The Harrington School of Communication and Media is a distinctive and nationally recognized program whose graduates are well-prepared for citizenship, careers and life in a rapidly changing global economy.

MISSION

As a learning community, we use the power of communication and digital media to make a difference.

HOW WILL WE MOVE FORWARD?

1. DISTINCTIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS in digital and media literacy, communicatio for environmental sustainability, and engaged communication and action enable interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty, students and members of the local and global community.

2. REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES both in and out of the classroom develop leadership, creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills that contribute to success in the workplace and community.

3. FLEXIBLE OPTIONS enable students to take classes in several unique locations, selecting degree programs that take advantage of our land, sea and urban grant traditions. Learning happens anywhere through flexible online courses that use the power of digital media to build knowledge and competencies.

I. BUILD DISTINCTIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS THROUGH LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Three Learning Communities

Digital and Media Literacy. We use the power of communication and digital media to explore new forms of expression and communication, helping people develop the competencies required to thrive as both creative producers and consumers of digital culture and initiating new approaches to using digital media, mass media and popular culture as a tool for teaching and learning.

Communication for Environmental Sustainability. We use the power of communication to understand the natural environment and support the creation of environmentally sustainable communities, translating science in ways that enable public participation, collaboration and conflict resolution, environmental campaigns, social marketing, rhetoric and discourse.

Engaged Communication and Action. We use the power of communication to support communication as civic action, working with local and global communities to address issues of equity and social justice, helping to break down the barriers that divide people, using leadership, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking to help improve the quality of life for people across the region and around the globe.

Programs and Initiatives

Spaces for Research Collaboration

Students and faculty come together to explore and learn in research and collaboration lab spaces. These interdisciplinary centers enhance graduate education and support faculty research, helping to build a research-active environment. Graduate and undergraduate students have the opportunity to work directly with faculty on research projects and community outreach programs.

Expanded Scope of Faculty Expertise

New faculty lines in each of these three specializations enable the creation of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research programs. Grant funding supports new initiatives and joint appointments are also used to recruit URI faculty expertise to support the development of these distinctive communities. A Harrington School Visiting Scholar Program supports those who develop collaborative relationships with experts across the globe.

Strategic Investment in Graduate Education

Research assistantships and other funding opportunities enable the best and brightest graduate students to study with Harrington School faculty and make an important contribution to the work of interdisciplinary learning communities. 

Faculty Job Shadowing. The Harrington School Executive Advisory Board supports faculty who are offered 2-3 day informal learning opportunities, through shadowing a communication professional in the corporate, non-profit and/or public sector. Through these experiences, members of the faculty examine the power of communication in the world outside the classroom.

Location-Specific Immersion Programs

Students enroll in interdisciplinary team-taught courses offered at Kingston, the Bay campus, or the Providence campus to complete a specialization in digital and media literacy, communication for environmental sustainability, or engaged communication and action. A Harrington School branded media-production bus transports students between the three campuses and is designed especially to increase awareness and visibility of the new school for residents in the State of Rhode Island.

II. MAKE REAL-WORLD LEARNING AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE SCHOOL

Leadership and Digital Media

Digital Boot Camp. At our Technology Lab in Ranger Hall, students and faculty have access to state-of-the-art technology tools and the support needed to develop familiarity and expertise as professional communicators. Informal and formal hands-on learning experiences (both free and 1-credit courses offered individually or in bundles) train students and faculty in the use of digital/multimedia tools and technology during the academic year, summer and J-term semesters. As part of a learning community, both students and faculty participate in sharing their technology knowledge and skills.

Youth Media Programs. During the summer, students can get college credit working with children and teens on a variety of on- and off-campus media production activities, developing leadership, technology and collaborative skills as well as teaching, mentoring, research and community service competencies.

A Robust and Independent Student Media Network. Under a unified umbrella organization, URI Media, students develop radio programming for WRIU, contribute video programming to the URI Student Television Network, staff the school newspaper and support the URI Public Relations Society, and produce films for the URI Film Collaborative. Student-produced co-curricular media is available online on a single student media network platform supported by the Harrington School. Annual prize competitions celebrate student creativity, initiative, leadership, professionalism and enterprise.

Internships and Career Connections

Community Outreach. Internships, project- and community-based learning offer tangible work and leadership development experiences, where learners cultivate relationships with the local and global community. For example, students work in small teams in collaboration with the Rhode Island International Film Festival and Plan International USA, a Warwick-based global charity organization.

LA Internship. A competitive signature program in Los Angeles offers Harrington School students the opportunity to learn through multimedia internships with companies like Time Warner and museums and cultural institutions like the Paley Center for Media. Each semester 15 students from the programs of communication studies, journalism, film/media, writing and rhetoric and public relations are selected to participate in the program under the direction of a faculty member.

Peer Leadership. The Harrington Rangers are a specially-trained group of undergraduate who serve as peer advisors and brand ambassadors, supporting all aspects of the public relations and social media initiatives of the School. Peer advisors offer informal advising to freshman and sophomores on all aspects of the Harrington School curriculum in journalism, film/media, communication studies, public relations and writing and rhetoric.

Career Network. Under the banner theme, "You've Got Connections," we provide dedicated career services, including advising that connects students to members of the Harrington School alumni network.

III. INCREASE THE FLEXIBILITY AND REACH OF THE PROGRAM

Accelerated Degree Programs. Using summer and J-term semesters, we offer a 3-year Bachelor degree and 4+1 graduate programs in environmental communication, digital literacy in education, and leadership and collaboration in library and information studies.

High School Pathway Program. Rising high school juniors and seniors spend a summer term on campus learning about film/media, communication studies, journalism, writing and rhetoric, or public relations in specially-designed courses that transfer to degree-granting programs of the Harrington School.

Blended, Low Residency and Online Programs. Flexible degree programs use a combination of online and face-to-face learning experiences, taking advantage of online enablers to attract new revenue streams and provide technology support.

BOOK CLUB: FALL 2012

We passed out copies of the new book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World by Tony Wagner. If you were unable to attend the meeting, you can pick up a copy of the book at the Harrington School's main office in Davis Hall.