MTSU officially announced and celebrated the name of the College of Media and Entertainment, formerly the college of Mass Communication, during an event with faculty and alumni at Broadcast Music Industry Terrace on Tuesday night.
University President Sidney McPhee joined media and entertainment Dean, Ken Paulson, in introducing the name change and explaining the thought process behind the new brand.
“The world isn’t driven by mass communication. It’s now all about targeted audiences and tailored content and strategic audience building,” Paulson said. “And so this rebooted College of Media and Entertainment will strive to give student the skills and insight they’ll need to serve audiences on multiple platforms.”
Hillary Scott, MTSU alumna and co-lead singer of country music’s Lady Antebellum, was scheduled to speak at the event and present a gift benefiting students, but was unable to attend. Her manager Daniel Miller, an MTSU alumnus, spoke on her behalf.
“She tells the story when she was younger that, thanks to a cut her dad had on Leann Rimes’ first album, they were able to use the money from that to send her to MTSU,” Miller said. “So she decided now that she’s in a position to pay that forward, she wants to set up a scholarship for other young women that want to go into creative careers … just so they have the same opportunity that she’s had.”
Scott is currently working on a name for the scholarship and the amount of money to be awarded, both of which will be disclosed at a later time.
“I’ll just say it’s significant,” Miller concluded.
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