Roy H. Park School of Communications

Ithaca College first began offering courses in radio in the 1930s and a degree program in 1947. With the advent of mass media, the focus began shifting to television and film. The Bachelor of Science in Cinema Studies and Photography was established in the late 1960s. In 1969, the communications programs were formally organized into a division within the college before becoming the present-day School of Communications in the 1973–74 academic year. From 1968 - 1989, the Communications School shared space in Dillingham Center with the Theatre Arts programs and Theatre. It was renamed after Roy H. Park in 1989.[6]

The Roy H. Park School offers the following academic programs:

In 2008, the Park School launched the Park Center for Independent Media, directed by Jeff Cohen, founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. It has been designated as a national center for the study of media outlets that create and distribute content outside traditional corporate systems and news organizations.

Rory Kennedy, documentary filmmaker, was the center's inaugural speaker in January 2008. Kennedy is the co-founder and president of Moxie Firecracker Films, Inc.

The Park Center for Independent Media offers the Independent Media Internship Awards, which provides a $2,500 grant to each chosen student who works as a summer intern at specific independent media outlets.

The school's first annual "Izzy Award" for "special achievement in independent media" was presented on March 31, 2009, to blogger Glenn Greenwald and Democracy Now! host and executive producer Amy Goodman. Roughly 800 people attended the award ceremony at Ithaca’s State Theatre – including I.F. "Izzy" Stone's son Jeremy Stone.

Subsequent winners of the award have included Jeremy Scahill, Naomi Klein, Mother Jones, and the Center for Media and Democracy.[7]

In 2018, the award was shared by Lee Fang, Sharon Lerner, Dahr Jamail, and Todd Miller.[8]

In 2019, the award was shared by Laura Flanders, the Earth Island Journal, Aaron Maté, and Dave Lindorff.[9]

In 2020, the award was shared by Matt Taibbi for Hate Inc, the Puerto Rican organization Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (CPI, the Center for Investigative Journalism) and News Inside.[10]

In 2021, the award was shared by Liliana Segura and Tim Schwab along with the publication Truthout during the 13th annual Izzy Award ceremony. [11]

The Park School offers a range of programs and events each year, including:

• Jessica Savitch Award for Distinguished Achievement in Journalism, which in 2015 honors David Muir '95 and Diane Sawyer. Previously the funds used for this award brought prominent broadcast journalists to campus for a major public address.
• Park Distinguished Visitor Series: Each year Ithaca College hosts an individual representing one or more of the significant professions associated with the communications industry who gives a public presentation. Leading figures in print and broadcast journalism are the primary focus. Past visitors have included Chad Hurley, Randi Zuckerberg, Bill Moyers, Ken Burns, Robert Fisk, author Tom Wolfe ('08), and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington (November 2009).[12][13]
• Skip Landen Professional in Residence Program, which focuses on bringing successful alumni of the communications program to campus
• Media for Social Responsibility: A one credit mini-course open to all students at the college, this class focuses on ways that media can better address a particular contemporary issue of significance to society. Recent topics and speakers have included Seth Meyers (political satire), Sam Champion (global climate change), and Carl Quintinilla the social media revolution in news.
• Rod Serling Award: This award is presented annually.
• Rod Serling Conference, a biennial event.

The Park Scholar Award is a four-year, full scholarship to Ithaca College given each year to a small number of students in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. The award, provided by the Park Foundation, recognizes communications students who excel in academics, leadership, and community service, and intend to use their careers in communications for social good.

Robert Allen Iger '73, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company

• Robert Allen Iger (B.S. 1974), chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company
• Bob Kur, NBC News television journalist
• Jessica Savitch (1947–1983) (B.S. 1968), network news anchor
• David Muir (B.A. 1995), ABC World News anchor and managing editor (September 2014)
• Robin Young, host, National Public Radio, Here and Now
• Karl Ravech (B.S. 1987), ESPN sportscaster
• Mark Romanek, director of One Hour Photo and music videos
• David Boreanaz (B.S. 1991), actor, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Bones
• Mark Mahoney (B.S. 1985), Pulitzer Prize winner for Editorial Writing, The Post-Star[16][17]
• David Guy Levy (B.S. 2001), film producer, Terri, August
• Kevin Connors (B.S. 1997), ESPN sportscaster
• David Brody (B.S.1988), Emmy Award winning journalist
• Brian Herzlinger, film producer, My Date with Drew, special correspondent on The Tonight Show

In 2014, for the 40th anniversary, the Park School created a list of 40 Alumni Who Shape the Communications Industry.[18]

• Jeff Cohen, founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
• Cathy Lee Crane, the recipient of the 2013 Guggenheim Fellowship in Film-Video. She had previously received a 2009 New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship for Film and a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Her work has been invited to screen at the National Gallery of Art in 2015 as part of their new series American Originals Now.
• Nicholas Muellner, a photo-based artist, writer, and curator. He teaches photography and critical studies.
• Rod Serling, taught at Ithaca College Communications School 1967–1975; Emmy Award-winning screenwriter; creator and host of The Twilight Zone

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