The document traces the history of communication studies at Kent State University from its beginnings as the Department of Speech in 1932 to its current status as the School of Communication Studies within the College of Communication and Information. It highlights milestones such as establishing graduate programs, building new facilities, and recognizing distinguished alumni. The school has grown and adapted to changing needs through eight decades of education and research in communication.
9. Beginnings: 1932
Department of Speech established by Board of
Trustees: Minutes of meeting April 11, 1932. “It was
moved by Judge Rockwell, seconded by Miss
Zinninger, that the Board approve Dr. Engleman’s
recommendation that a Department of Speech and a
Department of Journalism be established as
departments coordinate with the Department of
English. Up to the present they have been
subordinate to a part of the English Department. Roll
was called; motion carried unanimously.”
10. Beginnings: 1932
E. Turner Stump, A. B.,
A. A., is named Professor
and Head of the
Department of Speech
Source:
Kent State University Board of
Trustees.
Minutes of meeting May 9, 1932.
11. Beginnings: 1932
National honorary forensic
fraternity
Kappa Gamma Alpha Chapter
founded at Kent State.
Sources: Phillip R. Shriver (1960) Years of Youth: Kent State University
1910-1960 published by Kent State University Press
1932 and 1933 Chestnut Burr yearbooks
12.
13.
14.
15. Cherubs Speech Faculty and Students on Rockwell Hall Steps circa 1937
Image Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections Kent State University Libraries
17. Beginnings
For the 1935-1936 academic year, speech is
among departments approved for a graduate
minor by graduate council, the members of
which included the president, deans of the
colleges of education and liberal arts, the
registrar, and the dean of the department of
education and psychology.
Source: Phillip R. Shriver (1960) Years of Youth: Kent State University 1910-1960
published by Kent State University Press (p. 140)
18. Beginnings: 1930
Oratory
1930 was the first year Kent
State College sent a student
representative to a state
contest in oratory.
The subject was “Peace.”
Pictured:
James Holm
Ralph McGinnis
Phil Barry
Eldon Scoutten
Source: 1931 Chestnut Burr
19. Beginnings: 1931
National
recognition
E. Turner Stump was
elected president of
Kappa Gamma
National Forensic
Fraternity.
Kappa Gamma members
are chosen for
outstanding performance
in debate and speech
activities.
Alpha Chapter formed at
Kent in 1930.
20. Beginnings: 1930
The Men’s Debate
Team was formed in
1929.
The 1930 team
earned the distinction
of being the only
team in the Northern
Ohio League to defeat
the Akron University
team.
Source:
1931 Chestnut Burr
21. Beginnings: 1930
The Women’s Debate
Squad was formed in
1930.
Debates were held at
Akron University, Hiram
College and Mt. Union
College.
“State Medicine”
was the subject of
arguments.
Source:
1931 Chestnut Burr
22. Beta Sigma
Shoveling speech
and a sense of
humor
Members:
Bulls
Calves
In Pasture
Motto:
Moo, Moo, Moo
Source:
1931 Chestnut Burr
24. Growing years: 1938-1939
From Department to School
The School of Speech is established
under the Division of Language and
Literature.
Source: Phillip R. Shriver (1960) Years of Youth: Kent State University
1910-1960. Kent State University Press.
25. Growing years: The 1940s
Courses offered in the School of Speech included:
• Fundamentals of Speech
• Argument
• Voice and Diction
• The Teaching of Public Speaking
• The Rehabilitation of Speech
• Psychology of Speech
• Principles and Practices of Speech Correction
• High School Institute in Speech
Source: Kent State University Bulletin, 1941
26. World War II years
Training U.S. Servicemen
includes speech classes
Speech is among the subjects included in
curriculum for training of 500 crewmen of
the 336th College Training Detachment
(Aircrew) when they arrive on campus
March 30, 1943. With the coming of the
336th, the campus was virtually
transformed into an army camp. During the
next 18 months approximately 2,000
enlisted men completed the program at
Kent.
Source: Phillip R. Shriver (1960) Years
of Youth: Kent State University 1910-
1960 published by Kent State
University Press. Photo from Kent State University Department
of Special Collections and Archives
27. Baby boomer years
1953:
L. LeRoy Cowperthwaite
named new head of
School of Speech
Source: Phillip R. Shriver (1960) Years of
Youth: Kent State University 1910-1960.
28. Baby boomer years
1957: Plans for
Music and Speech
building are
approved. The $3.5
million structure will
include a 500-
hundred seat
auditorium for the
school of speech and
facilities for radio
and television
broadcasting.
Source: Phillip R. Shriver (1960)
Years of Youth: Kent State
University 1910-1960 published
by Kent State University Press.
29. Baby boomer
years
1958-1959:
Speech is seventh among top 10
departments in which the
greatest increases in course
offerings occurred. Curricular
groups for speech included
foundation and service courses,
public speaking, dramatic arts,
radio and television, and speech
pathology and audiology.
Source: Phillip R. Shriver
(1960) Years of Youth: Kent
State University 1910-1960
Students study in the main reading room of
published by Kent State
Rockwell Library, second floor.
University Press.
Chestnut Burr, 1954
30. 1953: Kent
Debate Team
is Top winner
Kent Debate Team
champions took first
place in Carnegie Tech
Tartan Tourney,
Pittsburgh.
Seated, left to right:
Professor Jon Hopkins,
Joan Webster and Gary
Banas. Standing, left to
right: Tom McManus,
Ron Rice and Professor
Robert Kent. Photo from Kent State University Department of
Special Collections and Archives
34. 1960: Music and Speech Building, new home to the School of
Speech is completed. At the time, the building was the largest
classroom building.
Source: Martin K. Nurmi, dean of Graduate School, in his chapter The Years of Growth, 1955-1970
published in A Book of Memories: Kent State University 1910-1999. Kent State University Press
(1993).
35. 1960: Doctoral program proposed.
1968: Inauguration of speech as a
doctoral program.
Kent State’s academic program follows national
recognition of the discipline.
Kent State University has been a part of the
growing area of speech and has initialed new
programs and developments to meet new
needs. Source: Proposal for a Doctoral Program in Speech prepared by
the Graduate Faculty of the School of Speech, College of Fine
and Professional Arts. June 1966)
37. More cutting edge technology for the
school of speech classroom in the 1970s.
38. School of Communication Studies moved into Taylor Hall in 2008.
Taylor Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places for the
events of May 4, 1970.
39. 1984: Cowperthwaite Lecture Series created
The Cowperthwaite Lecture series is created after the retirement of Dr. L. LeRoy
Cowperthwaite to honor his service, leadership and dedication to the School of Speech
and the College of Fine and Professional Arts.
Each year a renowned communication scholar is invited to campus to present the
Cowperthwaite Lecture and teach a graduate seminar in his/her area of expertise.
Visiting Scholar David R.
Ewoldsen, Ph.D., far left, and
Communication Studies
graduate students gather for a
photo op in front of Taylor Hall
during August 2012.
40. 1971: First Ph.D. graduate is Dr. Dominic Infante.
2003: Dr. Angela Planisek is 100th Ph.D. graduate.
From Graduation Day 2003, from left, are Dr. James Gaudino, Dean of the
College of Communication and Information; Dr. Infante; Dr. Planisek; Dr.
Rebecca Rubin, professor and dissertation advisor; and Dr. Carol A.
Cartwright, President of Kent State University.
42. The School of Communication Studies hosted a gathering in the MACC loge for
a Kent State basketball game in 1997.
From left ,are alum Doug Grayson, and Dr. Johnny Miller, emeriti professor.
Grayson was a star basketball player for the Flashes during the late 1960s.
43. Kaitlin Banduch and Phil Reed, graduate students and members of
Communication Graduate Student Association in Spring 2012.
44. School of Communication Studies
mourns the passing of passing of
D. Ray Heisey, Ph.D.
D. Ray Heisey, Ph.D., was Professor
Emeritus and Director Emeritus of
Communication Studies. He passed
away May 20, 2011.
Heisey joined the Kent State faculty as
an associate professor in 1966. He
served as coordinator of the Division
of Rhetoric and Communication from
1980 to 1983 and as acting director of
the School of Speech Communication
from July through December 1993. He
was then appointed Director of the
School of Communication Studies, a
post he held until June 1996.
47. The Centennial Award for 2010 was presented to Drs. Alan Rubin and Rebecca
Rubin on behalf of the School of Communication Studies. From left, Alan Rubin,
Rebecca Rubin, Dr. Paul Haridakis and Dr. Stanley Wearden, Dean of the College of
Communication and Information. Alan Rubin and Wearden are past directors of
the school. Haridakis is the present director.
48. A donation from Beth Brumbaugh, right, established the Elizabeth
Brumbaugh Health Education Suite in the School of Communication Studies.
Beth, picture here with her husband Greg Hackett, was honored during
Homecoming 2011 for her gift.
49. Daniel Smith, left, was among the students recognized in the school’s first Senior
Scholars Award presentation held in 2011. Presenting the award is Dr. Jeffrey
Child, Undergraduate Coordinator for the school.
51. Upsilon Chapter of Lambda Pi Eta celebrates
20th anniversary in 2012
Lambda Pi Eta is the National Communication
Association’s official honor society at four-year
colleges and universities. The Kent State Chapter
was founded in 1992.
53. Michael Dubetz Scholarship
Among the scholarships offered by the school for
undergraduates is the Michael Dubetz Scholarship.
Michael Dubetz was a 1947 graduate of Kent State
University and a member of the speech faculty for
32 years until his retirement in 1980. He joined the
KSU faculty as a speech instructor in 1948 and was
designated an emeritus professor upon his
retirement. He was a member of the Department of
Rhetoric and Communication and also served as
director of the Student Speakers Bureau for eighteen
years.
54. Lambda Pi Eta induction reception, Spring 2011. Lambda Pi Eta
is the official communication studies honor society of the
National Communication Association. 34 members were
inducted, the largest number to date for the school.
55.
56. The 1970s started a t-shirt tradition that is still with
the school today, as the next slide shows.
57. Senior Seminar Class members were so happy to be a
part of the school (and ready to graduate), they had
their own special t-shirts made.
59. Music and Speech was home to the School of Communication Studies from
1960 until the school’s move to Taylor Hall in 2008.
60. Dr. Paul Haridakis, director of the school, presents the Research Award to then
doctoral candidate James Ponder, now Dr. Ponder, during Homecoming 2011.
61. School of Communication Studies annual picnic. 2001.
Dr. Nichole Egbert and her spouse Stephan.
62. School of Communication Studies joins CCI
Four academic programs united in July 2002 to
establish the College of Communication and
Information.
The Schools of Communication Studies, Journalism
and Mass Communication, Library and Information
Science and Visual Communication Design joined in
one college to create a unique learning community in
the fields of communication, information and
integrative research.
