University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Department of Communications | University of Illinois Archives

The Department of Speech was established in 1947 in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.¹ To this department were transferred the personnel and programs of instruction in speech and public speaking, which were then a part of the Department of English.² In 1960, the Department's name was changed to the Department of Speech and Theatre.³ In April, 1967, a new department of Theatre was formally approved and transferred to the College of Fine and Applied Arts.⁴ On June 21, 1972, the Board of Trustees authorized the division of the Speech Department into the departments of Speech Communication and Speech and Hearing Science. The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved this action on April 3, 1973. The Board of Trustees approved renaming the Department of Speech as the Department of Speech Communication effective August 21, 1973.⁵ The Board Approved the renaming of the Department as the Department of Communications on March 26, 2008.⁶

1. Board of Trustees Transactions, 44th Report, March 27, 1947, p. 310.

2. Ibid.

3. Board of Trustees Transactions, 51st Report, July 26, 1960, p. 7-8.

4. Board of Trustees Transactions, 54th Report, April 19, 1967, p. 486.

5. Board of Trustees Transactions, 57th Report, April 18, 1973, p. 251-52.

6. Board of Trustees Agenda Items, March 26, 2008.