The College of Communication and Creative Arts began to develop a new major that will garner the interest of future students looking to get into the business of sports media.

Dean Sanford Tweedie spoke at the Board of Trustees meeting on April 5, giving an update on the college. In the update, Tweedie mentioned that the college was working on a new “sports communication” major.

The idea, which is still in the preliminary stages, will encompass a variety of courses from the different areas of the college’s curriculum.

“Any kind of new program, you have to propose what’s called a white paper,” said Mark Berkey-Gerard, chair of the Department of Journalism. “What you do is you say here’s what the program is going to do, here’s the students it’s going to serve and here is the need for it.”

Berkey-Gerard said the idea was brought along after seeing the amount of Rowan alumni who entered into the world of sports media after graduating, as well as receiving many questions from incoming students during open houses.

“If you look at any of the sports things around here, like the Phillies or Comcast, there is often a Rowan alum that is there,” Berkey-Gerard said. “We already do a lot with sports in this area so this program would formulize that.”

Because Rowan is a state institution, the proposal has to make its way through a process through the state body. Berkey-Gerard said if the new curriculum gets approved, it could become available to students in the future, and that there is already plenty of excitement surrounding it.

“We see a lot of students who have an interest in sports but don’t know what area of the communication program to join, whether it’d be journalism or RTF [radio, television and film],” Berkey-Gerard said. “Our hope is that this would kind of help with that decision.”

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