Centennial

Centennial Message

The University of Maryland Department of Communication celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2001. We truly represent a century of achievement. The department has a long, rich tradition of delivering quality speech and communication instruction to campus undergraduates. And for many years, the department was the home of a powerhouse campus co-curricular debate program. Centennial Logo The present configuration of the department centers us as a primary research department in the discipline. Our faculty enjoy international reputations as leading scholars, and our graduate students come from throughout the world.

To celebrate our century of achievement, our centennial committee has planned a series of events to connect our alumni, faculty, students, and friends in the discipline and in the campus community alike. We presently are preparing a video of departmental history and highlights, and we want to invite our alumni to campus for a celebration reception at our spring departmental commencement on Thursday, May 24. We hope to present a campus centennial speakers series. Watch for us, too, at the spring Explore Maryland Day on Saturday, April 28. We also plan to feature the department prominently at professional meetings during 2001: International Communication Association in D.C.; National Communication Association in Atlanta; Public Relations Society of America in Atlanta; International Association of Business Communicators in New York City; and Maryland Communication Association on campus.

Meanwhile, we hope that you will be able to join us as we celebrate our century of achievement. The department is positioned to be one of the leading communication departments in the 21st century, and that would not be possible today without the important contributions that so many have made to our historical foundation.

Andrew D. Wolvin, Chair
Centennial Committee

Congratulatory Letters and Resolutions

University President C. D. Mote, Jr., sends his greetings to the Department of Communication and calls it "one of the primary pillars of the arts and humanities programs at the University of Maryland and a boon to arts and sciences majors across the campus." Over the years, it has been "a leader in innovative programs for undergraduates and graduates across the broad field of communication." Read the complete letter.

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost Gregory L. Geoffroy congratulates the Department and notes its "long and valued tradition of outstanding service to the University community" and sees it at "a very special place in the heart and history of the University of Maryland." Read the complete letter.

The President of the National Communication Association, James L. Applegate, congratulates the Department and sees it "in the forefront of the communication discipline," providing "leadership to the discipline as a whole." Read the complete letter.

The President of the International Communication Association, Cindy Gallois, congratulationes the Department and writes that "[y]our department's life spans much of the history of the discipline of communication, and people from Maryland have long been leading contributors to our field." Read the complete letter.

The President of the International Listening Association, Richard D. Halley, sends his best wishes to the Department, which he considers "a very important part of the ILA." He writes that "we are proud to know your colleagues as some of our most supportive members and as our friends." Read the complete letter.

The President of the Rhetoric Society of America, Frederick J. Antczak, congratulates the Department and considers it as "a leader in the development of the discipline and today a vigorous and growing department." Read the complete letter.

Further letters were sent by the following associations:

The Department also received the following resolutions and citations:

May Commencement

The Department of Communication is celebrating its hundredth anniversary this year. The May, 2001 Commencement will be the first of our two Centennial Commencements. Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend will be the speaker at our first Centennial Commencement on May 24, 2001.

ICA Reception at the Frederick Douglass Museum

In keeping with the International Communication Association's (ICA) conference theme of Communication Matters in Policy and Practice, this year's Saturday evening reception, on May 26th, will be at the Frederick Douglass Museum. This reception will be a delightful event and a Centennial Celebration of the University of Maryland's Department of Communication, which is celebrating 100 Years of Achievement in the year 2001.

The historic Frederick Douglass Capitol Hill Home was the first residence owned by the famous abolitionist in Washington DC. Douglass, who was born in Maryland, was both a great writer and communicator, speaking out against slavery. He came to Washington during the Civil War and served as a backroom advisor to President Lincoln, and the President's conduit to the free African American community. In 1871 Douglass purchased the home on Capitol Hill at 316 A Street NE, which now houses the Museum. He lived and worked in the home until 1878, when he moved to Cedar Hill, his mansion across the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, now operated by the National Park Service as the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site.

Frederick Douglass exemplifies two important truths about the American struggle to end slavery in the nineteenth century. First, he demonstrates the central role played by African Americans in achieving the freedom of their race from the bonds of slavery. Douglass was a potent force, both as a testimony to the facts of slavery and as a skilled advocate for abolition. Second, he demonstrates the central role of communication in the most dramatic social change of American history. Douglass mastered communication. His abolition newspaper, The North Star, was a powerful organ of the movement. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, made the case against slavery and celebrated the virtues of a resourceful man who made his own way in life "by stealing himself from his master," as Douglass so famously put it. But Douglass was also a powerful speaker for the freedom of his countrymen and women. Probably his most famous speech, "What to a Slave is the Fourth of July," employed sophisticated strategies of identification and irony to declare for all Americans the hypocrisy to the meaning of the American Revolution perpetrated by the institution of slavery. Douglass traveled the abolition speaking circuit with his ringing voice making the case for freedom. During and after the Civil War Douglass became the most vocal advocate of Emancipation, declaring that it was "the Negro's Hour." He lived out his life, always the advocate of the civil rights of all Americans, but particularly his own fellow-ex-slaves. He died in 1895 at age 77.

Today the Frederick Douglass Capitol Hill home houses the Frederick Douglass Museum and Hall of Fame for Caring Americans. The Caring Institute, created in 1985 and headquartered in the townhouse, is dedicated to the promotion of integrity and a compassionate society. The home's museum, containing a fine collection of Douglass memorabilia, is dedicated to the spirit of those men and women who have devoted their lives in service to others. In celebrating the most famous occupant of their townhouse, the Institute celebrates lives of public service.

Guests at the reception will have the opportunity to peruse the displays in the Museum. Buses will run between the conference hotel through the center of our nation's capital to the Museum from 6:30 until 9:30 for the reception from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. The Frederick Douglass Museum is also located near many fine restaurants for those who wish to see buildings such as the Capitol and Supreme Court at night. Tickets are available through ICA for $25. Hors d'oeuvres will be served and a cash bar will be available.

For more information on the Frederick Douglas Museum and Hall of Fame for Caring Americans, you can visit their homepage at http://www.caring-institute.org/html/fdm/fdm.html.

NCA Panel and Reception

The National Communication Association (NCA) is meeting November 1-4, 2001, in Atlanta. In honor of our Centennial, the Department of Communication plans to feature a convention panel of prominent alumns reflecting on communication in the 21st century, followed by a reception at the Atlanta Hilton.

The NCA is a major professional accociation of communication scholars, educators, and researchers, and the convention typically draws approximately 4500 members. The Department of Communication is actively engaged in the NCA. Through the years, faculty and alumns of the department have played major roles in the leadership of the organization, and the association's academic journals are important outlets for our research.

History of the Department of Communication

The study of communication at College Park is as old as the institution itself. The first students in the Maryland Agricultural College faced requirements in rhetoric, elocution, and declamation throughout the course of their degree. By 1901 a Department of Public Speaking was in place and, for nearly four decades, the department emphasized public speaking and public address in its course offerings. Beginning in the late 1930's, however, courses were added in other subjects related to spoken discourse. For example, new courses were announced in radio speaking for 1938, in speech pathology for 1939, and in drama for 1941. By 1946 coursework had developed to the point that the department could offer its B.A. degree in four areas of concentration: public speaking, drama, radio, and speech sciences.

The identification of these areas quickly gave rise to academic and administrative specialization within the department. One effect of this specialization was the formation of departmental divisions. The department maintained four such divisions until 1972, when the division of Speech and Hearing Sciences left the department for autonomous status in what is now the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. From that time until 1989 three divisions - Speech Communication, Radio-Television-Film, and Theater - existed; in 1989 each division became a separate department in the College of Arts and Humanities and in the Spring of 1998, the department was renamed the Department of Communication.

Communication maintains the disciplinary interests, goals, and subject matters that have animated speech instruction at Maryland from its beginnings. The department sustains a long-standing commitment to research and teaching in the history, processes, and effects of communication through speech and its extensions. Within the department, students may do graduate work in communication in programs leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees.

Names of the Department of Communication

Fall 1901 - Spring 1908	Department of Public Speaking
Fall 1908 - Spring 1914	Department of Oratory
Fall 1914 - Spring 1918	Department of English and Public Speaking
Fall 1918 - Spring 1936	Department of Public Speaking
Fall 1936 - Spring 1948	Department of Speech
Fall 1948 - Spring 1979	Department of Speech and Dramatic Art
Fall 1979 - Spring 1990	Department of Communication Arts and Theatre
Fall 1990 - Fall 1997	Department of Speech Communication
Spring 1998 - Present	Department of Communication

Chairs of the Department of Communication

Fall 1901 - Spring 1940	Charles Richardson
Fall 1940 - Spring 1953	Raymond Ehrensberger
Fall 1953 - Spring 1970	Warren Strausbaugh
Fall 1970 - Spring 1973 & Fall 1975 - Spring 1983	Thomas J. Aylward
Fall 1973 - Spring 1975	Irving Linkow (Acting)
Fall 1983 - Spring 1990	Patti P. Gillespie
Fall 1990 - Spring 1994	Andrew D. Wolvin
Fall 1994 - Spring 1995	James F. Klumpp (Acting)
Spring 1995 - Summer 1997	Martha M. Watson (Acting)
Fall 1997 - Present	Edward L. Fink
Spring 1998	Robert N. Gaines (Acting)