Supporting theSchool of Communication

American University’s School of Communication is strategically positioned within today’s rapidly evolving media landscape and is the only professional school in Washington, DC, that brings together journalism, film, public relations, and communication studies. Through the Change Can’t Wait campaign, SOC has made transformative investments in experiential learning, immersing students in an on-campus PR agency and in the nation’s biggest networking hubs. Achieving record recognition year after year, faculty-guided centers and institutes are revolutionizing traditional journalism and media vehicles for social and environmental activism. Telling today’s stories requires boldness and craft—and SOC faculty and students continue to lead the way.

Change Created

Launched the first-of-its-kind SOC3 program, an in-house integrated, creative brand agency that employs a cohort of students each semester to work directly on an integrated communications plan for real clients while earning course credit, holding paid positions such as creative strategist and agency director, and jumpstarting their careers with a portfolio of proven results.
Strengthened award-winning centers and institutes through enhanced support for the Center for Media and Social Impact, the Investigative Reporting Workshop, the Center for Environmental Filmmaking, and the Game Center—together, eminent hubs for nonprofit journalism, wildlife and conservation media, entertainment research, and game studies.
Fueled vital career networking for students with scholarship funding for annual marquee intensives in Los Angeles and New York, enabling students to build first-hand contacts with alumni and industry professionals in the nation’s largest film, television, broadcast journalism, and PR markets.
Expanded scholarships to promote access and excellence through the Rodger Streitmatter Journalism Award for Excellence, an inaugural photography endowment, and the Derek McGinty Journalism Fund for Experiential Learning for aspiring journalists of color.
Connected students with newsmakers and major media partnerships through the American Forum series which, produced by award-winning journalist Professor Jane Hall, engages students in close civic dialogue with today’s most important players in media, politics, and policy.

Here in the School of Communication, we are truth-tellers, innovators, and changemakers. The Change Can’t Wait campaign has resonated for these reasons and more, advancing our commitment to student and faculty storytelling and keeping us on the cutting edge. The School of Communication continues to lead because we don’t flinch in the face of change. The industries that our students are entering continue to transform, and so have our courses and programs. Our students are ready and prepared and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Marnel Niles Goins, Dean, School of Communication