Lindsey Arceci
Equinox Staff
The Journalism, Communication, and Philosophy Department as well as the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Department have been slowly approaching a fork in the road for some time, and as of July 1, 2012, the disciplines will split into the Journalism Department and the Communications, Philosophy Department and the Holocaust and Genocide Studies will be it’s own department as well.
According to the future journalism chair, and current journalism professor, Rose Kundanis, this transition has been in process for a year, but the two disciplines have been diverging for some time.
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“It was time. We’ve been a major and two minors since the 80s, and journalism is going through a lot of changes, and consequently that requires a lot of our attention, and changes in our curriculum,” Kundanis said.
In the past several years, Kundanis said journalism and communications had been overlapping more with each other, and the curricula were much more complimentary, but now the curricula has diverged and is not quite as complimentary.
This change in departments may not be something students notice right away. Kundanis said that it’s really an organizational change.
“I don’t think the students will see anything that looks different to them necessarily; it’s really more about how we are organized on the campus,” Kundanis said.
According to the current chair of the department of journalism, communications, and philosophy, Ann Atkinson, another factor in this separation was somewhat foreseen when the school switched from three credits to four credits.
“It came to a moment where we just thought in terms of getting the work of the two majors done it would probably be best if the two groups worked independently of each other,” Atkinson said.
From a communications and philosophy perspective, Atkinson said this part of the department is looking forward to creating interdisciplinary connections with other departments.
“That is cross-listing courses with other departments, team teaching. I say we would like to do more of that going forward,” Atkinson added.
Chad Nye, a tenure journalism professor, said that the work and conversations involved with this process have been going very well.
“Everyone has communicated with each other about how the transition would work, what the transition means,” Nye said.
With Kundanis as the future journalism department chair, Nye said she has been very clear about what she has been doing in preparation.
“She has been very transparent about what’s going on as she begins to work out this transition and be our leader,” he said.
With the growing differences in this department, Nye said it’s important to understand that the programs don’t need to be involved in all of each other’s business.
“Some classes that we used to have in common, went away, and the amount of overlap we could have in each others curriculum diminished because the credits went up to four, and you still had to keep this without bumping up the number (of credits) to graduate,“ Nye added.
For the Holocaust and Genocide Studies program, this is one area that has continued to grow and expand over the years, and with its new title as a department, is continuing to provide more opportunities for students studying within this subject.
According to the Director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Henry Knight, the program includes multiple programs and resources that it makes available to the campus community, and to the local, regional, national, and international communities.
“The academic program has supported a minor for some time, and then a major was instituted in 2009, and the program has grown to a full department with the addition of Dean Fienberg as a full-time member of our faculty,” Knight said.
According to the future department chair, Paul Vincent, he had no idea when he was first working at KSC that the Holocaust research center would turn into its own department in both Holocaust and genocide studies.
He said that KSC has been the one school where if you have an idea, and can demonstrate it with others how it will work, the school will help open that new door for you.
Vincent said the program needed to undergo some changes in it’s faculty to help establish a chair, director of the Cohen Center, and enough full-time professors.
The four faculty members involved in the department starting in July include Vincent, James Waller, a Holocaust and Genocide Studies professor, Nona Fienberg, who has resigned from her position as the Dean of Arts and Humanities to be a full-time faculty member, and Knight as director of the Cohen Center as well as a professor in the department.
Another important part of the staff for this department is incorporating, as Atkinson mentioned, professors from others disciplines to make connections in other departments.
Professors from programs like sociology, psychology, and philosophy, are some of the key factors in bringing different perspectives to the studying of the Holocaust and genocides around the world.
“I’m very wetted to the idea that you cannot learn this subject unless you look at it through the lens of various disciplines, it’s just too difficult,” Vincent said.
Lindsey Arceci can be contacted at
larceci@keene-equinox.com.