From the Caney Crusaders, who represented the Caney Creek Community Center 100 years ago on their fundraising tours of the United States, to the students who speak at convocations today—there is a long and rich tradition of public speaking and theatrical performance at Alice Lloyd College. In 2018, current and future ALC students will get an opportunity to further their studies in this discipline, through the addition of a Speech Communication and Theatre Arts minor to ALC’s academic offerings.
“ALC’s Division of Humanities will launch a new 21 credit hour academic minor in Speech Communication and Theatre Arts starting in fall 2018. The minor will not only enrich students’ liberal arts education and broaden their perspectives, but also give them communications and human relation skill sets and experiences I fully expect employers to highly value,” said Charles K. Mullins, Assistant Professor of Speech and Theatre Arts. Faculty and students alike are buzzing with excitement for the potential benefits the minor will provide in addition to the new skills the students will receive in the classroom.
As a liberal arts college, ALC requires all students to complete communication courses to fulfill their requirements for graduation. According to Dr. Charles Mullins, dozens of ALC students have demonstrated a passion for the theatre and a desire to further their communication skills, and many students have approached him with the desire to enhance upon their studies in these concentrations. Utilizing this, the minor was designed from the beginning with input from students.
When asked about who the new minor might help most, Dr. Mullins conveyed that, “Speech and Theatre is a subject concentration that is beneficial to everyone, no matter what field of study he or she plans to enter.” The minor has not only grabbed the interest of the students but also the faculty, such as Dr. Cindy Salmons, Assistant Professor of English. When asked she further expanded upon Dr. Mullins’ statement by, saying that, “The new communications minor will be a great benefit to students in a range of fields; all jobs require effective written and oral communication skills, and these courses will help students improve those skills.”
The Alice Lloyd College community is excited to add another program that can benefit and be used by students in a multitude of useful ways for the furthering of the ALC mission to equip the next generation of leaders in the Appalachian region. For more information about ALC’s new academic minor concentration in Speech Communication and Theatre Arts, please contact Dr. Charles Mullins at [email protected].