September 2024

A bright tomorrow for The Media School

Dear Media School community,

Hello, and I hope the semester is starting well.

On my mind: The Media School is growing — a lot. Our FY25 census numbers show we are serving more students than ever before, with 378 new students this fall for a total enrollment of 2,553. Our undergraduate total of 2,474 is a 20% increase over last fall — due to both a record number of applicants and admitted students this semester, as well as a new campus advising model that brings all our majors directly into the school their first semester. Our most popular areas of study are:

• advertising (media)
• sports media (media)
• film, television, and digital production (media)
• public relations (journalism)
• news reporting and editing (journalism)

This growth and our students’ areas of interest are key considerations as we continue our strategic planning process and drill down into the questions of who we want to be as a school. More on that soon as we prepare to move into phase 2.

I spent last week in California talking with alumni and friends about their careers, the media industry today, and what they hope to see the school become. Thank you to David Krane, BAJ’94, for hosting us at Google Ventures in San Francisco for a joint alumni networking event with the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, featuring an alumni panel discussion on questions at the intersection of media and technology, including the potential benefits and ethical issues of using AI in journalism and media, the importance of cross-platform training for journalists and our students, and the critical need for courses in media literacy, especially in this age of AI. Thank you to alumni Biz Carson, BAJ’12, and Kristi Oloffson, BAJ’09, for sharing your industry expertise as context for what we do here. We look forward to more such discussions and partnerships with Luddy.

Back in Bloomington, we hosted John Miley and his family Monday to celebrate his donation of the Miley Sports Broadcast Collection to our National Sports Journalism Center and to dedicate the Miley Collection Listening Room. Come have a listen next time you’re in Franklin Hall (maybe you’ll be here for Carl Bernstein’s Oct. 8 panel discussion?) If you're so inclined to support the Miley Collection, please consider donating to the initiative to archive the recordings.

I hope the semester continues to go well. Me? I’m starting my 13-week course and excited to be in the classroom at IU for the first time.

Finally, September is National Suicide Prevention Month. Remind those you love that resources are available by dialing 988.

Sincerely, 

David Tolchinsky
Dean
The Media School at Indiana University