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Aug.

25, 2010

CU-BOULDER COMMITTEE TO STUDY FUTURE OF


JOURNALISM COURSE AND DEGREE OFFERINGS

The University of Colorado at Boulder today announced the formation of an exploratory committee to
consider the structure and organization of a new interdisciplinary academic program of information and
communication technology.

"We want to strategically realign resources and strengths currently existing on the CU-Boulder campus to
ensure that course and degree offerings meet the needs of students, the labor market, our campus mission
and the communications needs of a rapidly changing global society," said Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano.
"News and communications transmission as well as the role of the press and journalism in a democratic
society are changing at a tremendous pace. We must change with it."

The creation of an exploratory committee will help to maximize the opportunity to form a new academic
unit that will draw on existing strengths to prepare students for an ever-changing communications and
media marketplace. The committee will forward recommendations to the provost by the end of the fall
semester.

At the same time, the Academic Review and Planning Advisory Committee, or ARPAC, will initiate the
process of program discontinuance of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication for strategic
and budgetary realignment.

"In order to create a new program, we need to go through the formal process of evaluating how the
School of Journalism and Mass Communication will change," said Interim Provost Russell Moore.
"Changes to any academic program with tenured faculty must follow the Regent Policy on Program
Discontinuance."

Earlier today, DiStefano met with journalism Dean Paul Voakes and Interim Provost Russell Moore met
with faculty from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication to explain the vision for a new
program of information and communication technology.

The vision has been discussed on the CU-Boulder campus for several years and has been adopted in
varying forms at peer universities.

"Many of our peer universities have already responded to the challenges of the networked Information
Age in different ways," Moore said. "More than 30 schools and colleges have been created across the
nation to respond to the changing media and communications digital landscape including UC-Berkeley,
Washington, Rutgers, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan and Wisconsin."

In 2009, the College of Information Task Force was charged with examining a new educational model
and presented their report to Interim Provost Stein Sture on April 15 of this year. The task force report
made several recommendations but did not address the future of the School of Journalism and Mass
Communication.

After the program discontinuance process is initiated on Sept. 1, a report from ARPAC's program
discontinuance committee will be due to the provost within 60 days. The provost will review the report
and make his recommendations to the chancellor 30 days later. Both the exploratory committee's
recommendation and the ARPAC report will be considered by the chancellor for a decision and
recommendation to the Board of Regents sometime in early 2011.
In September, ARPAC will host open forums for faculty and students who have questions about the
program discontinuance process. Open forums for faculty will be Tuesday, Sept. 7, and Wednesday, Sept.
8, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in University Memorial Center room 235. Open forums for School of
Journalism and Mass Communication students will be held Tuesday, Sept. 14, from 3 to 5 p.m. and
Wednesday, Sept. 15, from noon to 2 p.m. in UMC room 235.

Regardless of the outcome of the two committees, all undergraduate and graduate students who have been
admitted to the school will be able to complete their degrees.

"The schools and colleges attracting excellent students, and preparing them for the new media and
networked Information Age environment, are schools that while acknowledging the critical role the press
and journalism have played in our democracy, approach information and communication technology
broadly and comprehensively," DiStefano said. "This visionary work is consistent with who we are as
Colorado's flagship university. This action lives up to the promise of our Flagship 2030 Strategic Plan to
give students the tools for success in their careers."

-CU-

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