Dear Friends of UW Communication,
I hope this newsletter finds you enjoying the spirit of the season as we head into the winter holidays. It has been a beautiful and productive Autumn quarter here on UW’s Seattle campus, where we continue to thrive amidst an ever changing world.
Earlier this quarter we held our annual Alumni Hall of Fame and Alumni of Distinction ceremony, celebrating alumni excellence across a breadth of generations and professional fields. That evening, I was struck by how much our programs have changed over the years, evolving to navigate a dynamic communication landscape. Communication and Journalism have been taught at the University of Washington for over a century. Our large community of alumni includes journalists, advertising executives, civic leaders, academic researchers, and more. While we continue to focus on conducting cutting edge research and educating the next generation of communication leaders, it is also valuable to take stock of our past and preserve the memories and stories that have shaped us.
My colleagues and I are incredibly proud of our discipline’s long and storied history on this campus, and we take our stewardship of this legacy seriously. Gillian Cobb, our Outreach and Events Manager, recently discovered a collection of film negatives—many dating back to 1967! We’ve been enjoying looking through this treasure trove of photographs, which includes images of the Communications building, the Daily, headshots from generations of professors, and photographs of former faculty members lecturing to classrooms full of enthralled students.
Inspired by this discovery, and with the help of students, this winter we will launch a new initiative—to build a comprehensive, interactive history of the Department of Communication, across all its historic iterations. As many of you know, our history began with the founding of the School of Journalism (1919-1956), then the School of Communications (1956-2002) and Department of Speech Communication (1941-2002). Each are important parts of our collective identity in what is now the Department of Communication (2002-present). We look forward to sharing this multifaceted history with our prospective and current students, faculty, staff, alumni, and our broader community as it develops.
THIS IS WHERE YOU COME IN! To help build our department archive, we are calling on our broad community of alumni and friends to submit your photo memories from your time here at UW.
We are looking for the following:
- Photos of the Communications building
- Photos from UW Communication and Journalism classes, sponsored events, lectures, and activities
- Newspaper or magazine clippings about UW Communication activities
Please do not submit:
- Photos unrelated to your time at the University of Washington Department of Communication (includes the then School of Journalism, School of Communications, and Department of Speech Communication)
- Please do not send any materials through the mail. We are unable to house physical copies. Digital photos only.
We look forward to seeing your memories from your time at UW Communication, and we can’t wait to share the final project, which will live as an interactive timeline on our department website. If you have ideas or questions about this project, please don’t hesitate to contact Gillian at ghcobb@uw.edu.
Submit your Department of Communication memories here!
Please read on for the latest news from UW Communication. As always, we are so grateful for your support and engagement.
With warmest wishes,
Christine Harold
Professor and Chair