The Department of Communication Arts & Sciences
Why does the department have the name that it now bears? Why was it changed? To answer these questions, we need to return to 1855, the year that Penn State was founded.
At the time, the study of rhetoric was part of the English Department. As rhetoric began to establish a distinct identity, the division of Speech was created in 1929, which then became a full-fledged department of the same name in 1940. This label was used until 1973, when the name was altered to that of Speech Communication. Among the motivations for this change were (a) the increased recognition that persuasive communication was not limited to public speeches and (b) an appreciation that rhetoric encompassed much more than oral presentation. Only a few years ago (2001), the department again changed its name to that of Communication Arts & Sciences. In this case, the primary motivation was to reflect the fact that a portion of the discipline pursues knowledge of communication from a humanistic perspective while others utilize the scientific model. It is difficult to say how long the current name will continue to serve the department. But, we can be sure that at some point it too will be replaced by some other title that, at the time, will provide a more accurate expression of what the department is trying to achieve.
