News
July 12, 2018Siena College to Offer New Communications Major
Fifth new degree program added at Siena in the past year
Siena College has received approval from the New York State Education Department to offer a bachelor of arts in communications.
Current Siena students can enroll in the major beginning this fall. The program will feature four distinct tracks:
- Journalism
- Marketing communications and digital marketing
- Political communications
- Sports communications
Siena conservatively expects to enroll 26 new students in the major for the fall of 2019, with an enrollment goal of 140 students within five years and capacity for continued growth.
The College currently offers a minor in journalism, which will still be available.
All communications students will be exposed to an interdisciplinary core that will explore the theory and practice of a rapidly evolving media and communications landscape, according to program director and associate professor Rebecca Taylor, J.D.
“It’s a new major, but Siena is not new to communications,” explained Taylor. “The College already has an established journalism program, so this was a natural progression. It capitalizes on a program that’s already proven successful and provides enhanced opportunities for students to craft a degree plan that best suits their professional goals.”
Siena’s president Br. F. Edward Coughlin, O.F.M., Ph.D. added, “Our communications program joins a growing list of new and innovative offerings built around student demand and professional opportunity. I look forward to the profound and lasting contributions these programs will have on the College.”
This is the fifth new academic program in the past year for which Siena has received state approval. The College recently added an MBA with four separate tracks of study, a B.S. in software development, a B.S. in applied physics, and a B.S. and advanced certificate in data science. The data science program is one of only a handful of undergraduate level degree programs in this field in the Northeast.
