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Motto | Deus Nobis Fiducia (In God Our Trust) |
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Type | Private |
Established | 1938 |
Parent institution | Columbian College of Arts and Sciences |
Academic staff | 55 [1] |
Location | , |
Campus | Urban—Foggy Bottom |
Website | smpa |
The School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, a school in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in journalism and political and international communication. The School's director is Frank Sesno, former CNN correspondent, creator of PBS's Planet Forward and professor.
The university began offering journalism courses in 1938. In 1980, it issued its first degree in radio/television, and in 1982 became the first university in the world to offer an undergraduate degree in political communication. [2]
In 1991, the National Center for Communication Studies was founded within Columbian College. The NCCS offered programs in journalism, political communication, radio/television and speech communication.
The center was renamed and transformed into the School of Media and Public Affairs in 1996, at the request of faculty who thought the new name better reflected the center's focus on teaching. At this time, the center's speech communication offerings became part of the Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication, while the new school continued to offer undergraduate degrees in journalism, political communication and radio/television within the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. [3] In 1997, the radio/television program became the now-defunct Electronic Media program. [2]
SMPA began offering graduate degree programs in 1998 with the creation of the Master's in Media and Public Affairs program. [4] It has since expanded its graduate program offerings to include a master's degree in global communication. In 2014, the original degree was renamed the Master's in Media and Strategic Communication.
In 2001, the university dedicated the new School of Media and Public Affairs building at the corner of 21st and H Streets after nearly two years of construction. The building included state-of-the-art facilities, including a TV studio, editing rooms and audio suites for the Electronic Media program and the 260-seat, soundproof Jack Morton Auditorium. [5] [6]
The School of Media and Public Affairs is housed in the Media and Public Affairs building at 805 21st St, NW, which additionally houses the Graduate School of Political Management and the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration (SPPPA). The Jack Morton Auditorium is on the first floor of the building. The Jack Morton Auditorium was the filming location for CNN's Crossfire debate show between 2002 and 2005. [7] It has also hosted many other high-profile speakers, including Barack Obama, [8] Joe Biden, [9] Hillary Clinton, [10] Janet Napolitano, [11] Jon Huntsman Jr., [12] Chuck Todd, [13] Cory Booker, [14] Christine Lagarde, [15] and Eric Cantor. [16] Since 2016, the auditorium has been a frequent site for CNN Town Halls, featuring such guests as Bernie Sanders, [17] Paul Ryan, [18] John McCain, and Lindsey Graham. [19] In addition, the location usually hosts the annual "Only at GW" debate cosponsored by the university's College Democrats, College Republicans, and Program Board, which invites high-profile liberal and conservative personalities.
The Richard Eaton Broadcast Studio includes four cameras, teleprompters, news and interview sets, a greenscreen and a professional control room. [7] GW-TV, the university's student-run television station, broadcasts from the studio. [20]
SMPA students have 24/7 access to the building's suite of editing facilities, which include Adobe Creative Cloud video editing software, and students in video production classes have the ability to check out professional video and audio recording equipment. [7]
Frank Sesno served as the Director of the SMPA from 2009 until 2020. [21] An Emmy Award and National Press Club Award-winning journalist, as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Sesno previously served as the chief political correspondent for CNN and created PBS's Planet Forward . [22]
Along with the Elliott School of International Affairs, SMPA administers the Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication, which is housed in its building. Established in 2005, the IPDGC studies such topics as new media, national security, and public diplomacy; U.S. foreign policy priorities; challenges to public diplomacy and strategic communication; and gender issues in security and diplomacy. The IPDGC administers the MA program in Global Communication, hosts a public diplomacy fellow, and runs a blog, TakeFive, which features student and faculty contributors. [23] [24]
Other research-based institutes and centers of SMPA include the American Communities Project, The Documentary Center, the Media and Peacebuilding Project, and the Project for Media and National Security. [25]
SMPA offers undergraduate majors in journalism and political communication, as well as a five-year BA/MA program with George Washington's Graduate School of Political Management. [26] The school is highly competitive within the university, and offers facilities and opportunities to SMPA students not accessible to other students, such as invitations to attend lectures and taped events filmed within the Jack Morton Auditorium and access to top-of-the-line filming/editing equipment. SMPA was ranked in 2014 as the 5th best journalism school in the country by USA Today in 2014. [27]
Unlike students in other programs, such as the Elliott School of International Affairs, SMPA undergraduates are part of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. They have the same core curricular requirements as liberal arts majors and use CCAS's registration and advising services. Undergraduates can either apply directly to their chosen major as a freshman or transfer in during their sophomore year. [28] Dual-degree program candidates apply during their junior year. [29]
The School of Media and Public Affairs offers a Master of Arts degree and a joint MA degree in conjunction with the Elliott School of International Affairs. [30] With the SMPA Documentary Center, the school offers a Certificate in Documentary Filmmaking. [30]
Many of the school's former students have gone on to distinguished careers in journalism and media. Some notable alumni include
The George Washington University is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 as Washington, D.C.'s first university by the United States Congress, GW is one of six universities in the United States with a congressional charter.
The George Washington University Law School is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest law school in the national capital. GW Law offers one of the largest range of courses in the U.S., including 275 elective courses in business and finance law, environmental law, government procurement law, intellectual property law, international comparative law, litigation and dispute resolution, and national security and U.S. foreign relations law.
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The Elliott School of International Affairs is the professional school of international relations, foreign policy, and international development of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. It is highly ranked in international affairs and is the largest school of international relations in the United States.
Frank Sesno is an American journalist, former CNN correspondent, anchor, and Washington bureau chief. He is also author, and former director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University. Sesno is the creator and host of Planet Forward, a web-to-television show on PBS. Sesno is a professor of Media and Public Affairs at the George Washington University. Sesno assumed the Director's role at the School of Media and Public Affairs in September 2009 and stepped down from the role in June 2020. In 2020, Sesno announced he would serve as the school's director of strategic initiatives.
The Schar School of Policy and Government - SSPG, is the public policy school of George Mason University, a public research university in the Commonwealth of Virginia near Washington, D.C. Established as Northern Virginia's first public policy school with locations in Arlington and Fairfax County, the school's political science curriculum has a professional education and applied emphasis on public administration and national security at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, in addition to a traditional liberal arts education, while also maintaining an active role within all five major subfields of political science known as political philosophy, political methodology, comparative politics, international relations, public policy and public administration.
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The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences is the college of liberal arts and sciences of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. CCAS is the largest school at George Washington University, with around 5,000 undergraduate students and 2,500 graduate students, and 42 academic departments, representing a significant portion of the University's instructional, scholarly and research activity.
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The George Washington University Student Government Association is the student government of the George Washington University in Washington, DC. The SGA is responsible for advocacy on behalf of the GW student body at and is modeled after the U.S. Federal Government and consists of three branches: legislative, executive and judicial.
The Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) at the George Washington University is a school of political management and applied politics, strategic communications and civic engagement. Its graduates hold a variety of professional titles including campaign managers, pollsters, speechwriters, communications professionals, legislative aides and directors, candidates, lobbyists, and new media experts.
The George Washington University School of Nursing is the professional nursing school of the George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2010, GW Nursing is the newest of the 10 schools and colleges of George Washington University.
Michael Shanahan was a journalist for the Associated Press. His reporting included the 1970 shootings at a demonstration at Kent State University in Ohio. He would later go on to become a professor of journalism at the George Washington University for more than two decades.
Janet E. Steele is a professor of journalism at George Washington University's school of journalism and an author. She published a book with a collection of newspaper articles from Indonesia. She also published a book about Tempo, an Indonesian magazine, during the Soeharto era in Indonesia and wrote a biography of Charles Anderson Dana. It has been described as covering "the complete history of the Sun.
Ellen Marie Granberg is an American sociologist and academic administrator who became the 19th president of George Washington University on July 1, 2023.
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