For ten years, Dean Larry Kirkman has shaped SOC as a laboratory for new professional roles, media services and communication strategies.

For ten years, Dean Larry Kirkman has shaped SOC as a laboratory for new professional roles, media services and communication strategies.

He leaves the deanship following a decade of intense change and stirring progress.

Dean Larry Kirkman's Welcome

For more than 40 years, the School of Communication has delivered a strong professional education for undergraduate and graduate students, with a focus on public affairs and public service using the resources of Washington, DC.

Our recent alumni are finding jobs with USA Today, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Discovery Channel, HBO, NBC News, Ogilvy Mather, Kaiser Family Foundation and PBS--organizations in which they are shaping the future of journalism, public communication, and film and media arts.

Intellectual capital--our greatest asset

Our professors practice what they teach. As filmmakers, they have won Oscars and Emmys; as journalists they have worked for USA Today, and CBS News; and, as strategists, they have shaped policy on Capitol Hill and mobilized constituencies for social change.

Our faculty members know how to use all the resources of Washington, DC -- the communication capital of the world and one of the largest media production centers in the country. Their classes draw on the region's rich professional expertise and feature, as guest lecturers, working professionals in the broadcast, cable, and online media, as well as government agencies, high tech firms and non-profit organizations.

Claudia Myers
The right size and place for hands-on learning

With more than 900 undergraduate students and 300 graduate students, SOC is large enough to provide a wealth of experience from the professions we represent, yet intimate enough to allow students, faculty, and alumni to meet one-on-one -- in the classroom, in the work place, and in unique mentoring relationships.

Our classes are small -- an average of 20 students -- and promote hands-on, experiential learning. Our students work in state-of-the-art labs, then leave the campus for demanding internships and class assignments in the nation's capital.

 


Dean Larry Kirkman on Alumni Involvement - Video

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AUSOC Dean Larry Kirkman highlights the dedication and level of involvement of alumni.

Dean's Internship 

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SOC Names New Dean

Jeff Rutenbeck, American University's new School of Communication dean

Jeffrey Rutenbeck appointed to lead one of the nation’s top communications programs.

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A New Home for SOC

A restoration of the stately McKinley Building will create modern classrooms & spaces for public forums & exhibitions.

Give to the Campaign for SOC


Now more than ever the professions of communication have a calling—to provide the evidence and testimony that frame public debate, to speak up and speak back to the powers that be, whether defending human rights abroad and civil liberties at home, exposing the gap between economic haves and have-nots, explaining the science of global warming, or denying a call to war. 


--Dean Larry Kirkman 2008 Commencement Address

Newseum and NBC

SOC Dean Larry Kirkman Newseum and NBC

Kirkman speaks about the school's relationship with the Newseum and NBC, and student involvement with these organizations.

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The Investigative Reporting Workshop

SOC Dean Larry Kirkman IRW

Kirkman highlights the work of the Investigative Reporting Workshop (IRW) with alumni and students.

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CEF and PBS

SOC Dean Larry Kirkman CEF and PBS

Kirkman remarks about the Center for Environmental Filmmaking and its contributions to PBS with students.

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