October 14, 2002

Greetings to all,

The fall semester has begun with a roar this year. As Graduate Director, I am delighted to report that we started the year with the largest number of full time, funded graduate students in the department's history, and a near record number of total graduate enrollments. Further, the quality of students enrolled in our programs in Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids continues to be strong and to represent diverse backgrounds and interests. This is a remarkable accomplishment for the department as we look forward to further developing our Master's curriculum and expanding our program to include a doctoral degree in the near future.

In this newsletter you will find reports about many persons, events, and activities in the department as well as information about important dates regarding advising, spring and summer registration, and commencement. In particular, I want to call your attention to two items. From October 22-24, 2002 we will be honored to host a visiting scholar Dr. Katherine Hendrix, an associate professor from the School of Communication at the University of Memphis. She will present a public lecture and will also visit several classes during her visit. I encourage you to attend as many of the scheduled events as you can (see article). Second, changes to the MA curriculum have been passed at the department level and soon will be considered at the College and University level. In particular, we have proposed a required capstone experience for all future graduate students. Please read the article in this issue that describes the capstone options.

The School of Communication continues to make progress with our proposal for the Ph.D. Keep checking our website for further developments in this area. I encourage you to check the website periodically for other announcements and updates as well. We also have developed a graduate student email list through which we will be sending you reminders and announcements. Please feel free to communicate with us also by email, phone or in person. I am always interested in your progress and in hearing about concerns you may have as a student in the School of Communication.

Have a good semester. I look forward to meeting with you in the weeks and months to come.

Sincerely,
Leigh Arden Ford, Ph.D