By Cate Carrejo

The Communication and Media Studies (CMS) department overhauled its curriculum and introduced four new majors this semester. The department added majors in Journalism, Digital Technologies and Emerging Media, Film and Television, and Communications and Culture are now available, as well as a minor in Sports Journalism.

The new majors and minor received state approval shortly after the spring 2016 academic semester ended, replacing the former Communication major, which had five concentrations.

According to Dr. Jacqueline Reich, the chair of the CMS department, increasing students’ exposure to communications specialization was the inspiration for instituting the changes within the department.

“We had initiated discussions about changing our undergraduate curriculum in Fall 2013,” Reich told The Fordham Ram in an interview. “Although we were very successful in placing our CMS students after graduation, we knew we could do better in educating them how to be responsible, specialized communication and media professionals.”

The department conducted student surveys, analyzed enrollment data and compared Fordham’s program to other Jesuit schools’ in order to design the new majors. The new program is designed to be comparable to other top communications departments at universities around the country, so that Fordham graduates can compete in the competitive job market, according to Reich.

“Students will now have the ability to specialize more intensely in their chosen area of interest,” said Reich. “[Students] used to take only three courses in their concentration: now they take up to nine in their major. We have also included more practical courses, following student suggestions, to give them more hands-on experience.” Those practical courses include workshops for The Ram and Fordham Nightly News, for which students can receive credit while learning the reality of working in journalism.

Some of the hallmarks of the old major remain the same. Students across all four CMS majors must take at least one Ethics, Law and Policy course that emphasizes the particular ethical questions of their chosen discipline.

Communication and Media Studies was one of Fordham’s most popular liberal arts majors, according to collegefactual.com, a site that provides data on colleges and universities across the country. Over 250 students graduated with the major in 2014, according to the site.

Journalism extracurriculars at Fordham have recently been recognized by The Princeton Review, a college admission services company. Last week, the company ranked Fordham No. 2 for Best College Radio Station (WFUV) and No. 7 for Best College Newspaper (The Fordham Ram/The Fordham Observer).

Data on enrollment in the new majors is forthcoming as the communications and media studies department was not able to determine how many current majors switched to the new system before the school year ended, according to Reich.