Medill Expands Name

Medill now the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Board of Trustees of Northwestern University has approved the expansion of Medill's formal name to The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

The decision came at the trustees' meeting March 11 and followed a Medill faculty vote last fall that approved the change 38-5.

Medill Dean John Lavine said the matter had been discussed, on and off, by faculty for several years. He noted that when Medill was founded in 1921, it taught journalism, advertising and circulation for print -- the primary medium of the time. Over the decades, the school grew to include all forms of journalism and marketing communications across all media.

In the early 1990s, education in integrated marketing communications was invented at Medill and has since become a widely recognized, taught and studied field. 

"The expanded name fairly recognizes who we are and the kinds of professional careers our graduates enter," Lavine said. "Our programs are strong and growing. We are recognized as a leading school that upholds the enduring values and skills of the professions we serve and explores the rapidly changing frontiers of journalism, media and marketing communications, domestically and globally."

By approving this new, expanded name, the trustees have enabled us to formally acknowledge everything that makes our great school what it is, Lavine said.

For a Q&A with the Medill dean about the change, go to http://www.medill.northwestern.edu/newsreleases/archives.aspx?id=183029.