Nicholson School of Communication

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Nicholson School of Communication

Type	Public
Established	1997 (1997)
Parent institution	University of Central Florida
Director	Robert S. Littlefield
Academic staff	98
Students	4,450 as of 2023
Location	Orlando , Florida
Website	communication.ucf.edu

Nicholson School of Communication (NSCM) is an academic college of the University of Central Florida and is part of the College of Sciences.

The college houses studies of Mass Communication and Digital Media, but has two limited-access majors for Journalism and Film studies.

The college has two campuses, one on the main campus and the other that opened in 2019 as NSCM at UCF Downtown in Downtown Orlando.

History

The Nicholson School of Communication and Media (NSCM) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) opened in 1997. The school is named after Anthony and Sonya Nicholson, who donated $2 million to the university in 1996, making it the first building or program at UCF to be named after a person. The Nicholsons are also active members of the NSCM Advisory Board and honorary members of the school's public relations club, Quotes.

The NSCM is part of the College of Sciences and offers undergraduate degrees in advertising- public relations, human communication, journalism, and radio-television. Graduate students can pursue a master's degree in communication with concentrations in interpersonal or mass communication. The school also offers programs in media production and management, digital media, film, and the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy.

The NSCM has nearly 100 faculty members with awards for their work in areas such as Super Bowl commercials and studying astronauts' language. The school also houses the campus public radio station, WUCF-FM 89.9, and the film academic program.

In the Fall of 2019, a satellite campus opened as part of the Creative Village at UCF Downtown. Those part of the Games and Interactive Media Program attend this campus while a majority of the other majors are hosted at the facilities at the main campus.

Affiliations

Nicholson School of Communication offers a variety of affiliations with media companies and other organizations.

• NBCU Academy
• Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy
• Orlando Sentinel
• WUCF-TV & WUCF-FM: PBS affiliate
• WMFE-FM: NPR affiliate

Academics

NSCM is comprised of four programs:

File:UCF Nicholson School of Communication.jpg

Nicholson School of Communication on UCF's main campus.

Film and Mass Media Program - which oversees both the Film and Journalism departments.

Communications Program - which oversees Advertising and Communication departments.

Games and Interactive Media Program - which oversees the Digital Media department.

The Nicholson School of Communication offers several Bachelors of Arts in Journalism, Media Production and Management, Advertising, and Public relations. It offers Master of Arts in Feature Film Production and introduced an Ph.D. program in Strategic Communication in the Fall of 2019.

Journalism Program

NSCM offers a B.A. in Journalism with two separate tracks. The school also offers two Journalism based Minors for those who are not in the limited-access program.

Broadcast Journalism Track

The Broadcast Journalism track is meant for students who aspire to work in a broadcast news setting such as a reporter, producers, photojournalists and sports journalists.

Print/Digital Journalism Track

The Print and Digital track is meant for students who aspire to work in a more traditional news setting such as working as a writer or editor for a newspaper or magazine publisher.

Student Publications and Organizations

Current Publications

Knightly News is the journalism program's newscast that airs live on Fridays during the regular semester via their YouTube channel. The newscast is completely student-led by those in the broadcast senior capstone with a faculty advisor.

NSM Today is the program's online publication that has content produced by students both in the broadcast and print tracks. The publication is student-lead by those in the print senior capstone along side a faculty advisor.

Centric is the student-produced on campus magazine that issues every semester. The publication produces more long-form content that spans all across campus.

Knight News is a digital student newspaper and is the only publication that operates without oversight from the university administration. The site was established in 2009 and has provided more investigative based stories. Students do not need to be part of NSCM in order to publish on the site, however students in the program are allowed to use works published on the site for the program's exit portfolio. In 2016, the site won the College Press Freedom Award for its work in fighting for public records.

Former Publications

Central Florida Future was the independent weekly student newspaper, which was operated without oversight from university administration and worked in tandem with Florida Today and USA Today. The newspaper only employed students at UCF as the publication focused on campus and local coverage. The newspaper was shut down in August of 2016 after USA Today's parent company Gannett sold the paper off.

Notable Alumni

Some notable alumni of the Nicholson School of Communication

Dylan Lyons (2019) - Journalist, most notably for Spectrum News 13 and died after a shooting at the scene of his news report in 2023

Steven Sotloff (Attended) - Journalist, most notably for CNN and died after being kidnapped and beheaded by ISIS in 2014.

Bob Opshal (1976) - Journalist, most notably for WFTV in the Orlando area.

Marla Weech (1979) - Journalist, most notably for Spectrum News 13.

Donna Mirus Bates (Attended) - Public Relations, for Universal Orlando and Universal Parks.

External links

• Template:University of Central Florida

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