Chapman University will establish a School of Communication on June 1. The school will be headed by Lisa Sparks, who was appointed inaugural dean by Chapman President Jim Doti following a unanimous faculty vote.
Sparks has been a Chapman professor since 2006 and previously served as communication studies department chair and director of the master of science graduate program in health and strategic communication. She’s married to Chancellor Daniele Struppa, who succeeds Doti as president in August.
School of Communication classes will start in the fall with a bachelor of arts in communication studies and a bachelor of arts in strategic and corporate communication, along with a master of science in health and strategic communication. The programs have been split off from Chapman’s Wilkinson College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.
Sparks earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the University of Oklahoma and has authored some 150 research articles and book chapters, and written or edited 10 books on communication, health and aging, with an emphasis on doctor-patient interaction and family family decision-making for those with cancer.
“The mix of theoretical, research and applied perspectives that are emphasized in the two undergraduate majors and the graduate program make the current Department of Communication Studies one of the key offerings at Chapman University—and made the idea of a School of Communication highly feasible,” Dr. Sparks said via email.
Communication studies is the second most-popular undergraduate major at Chapman after business administration, she added.
Sparks said the new school will work with schools at Chapman including those in film, humanities, health, pharmacy, education and business.
