Bruce Pinkleton, a finalist for the deanship of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, said during a presentation Thursday afternoon that he wants the college to provide students with more specialized studies.

Pinkleton, who is now interim dean, began his involvement with WSU in 1993 as an assistant professor. Since then, he has served as Murrow’s graduate director, head of the strategic communication degree program and assistant dean.

His presentation emphasized the importance of transforming the student experience by increasing opportunities.

“Students are doing things we need to add value to,” Pinkleton said. “We need to evolve and shift our focus toward what they want to do and what they want to learn.”

He said he wants to expand collaborative learning efforts and offer more interdisciplinary degrees for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Pinkleton hopes to accomplish this by adding new minors such as culture, science, health, sports, and communication and technology.

“We have to consider novel academic program formats for both faculty and students,” he said, “including new short courses, training, certificates, online sources.”

Pinkleton has formed both short- and long-term plans to develop the college into what he described as a “Murrow without borders,” meaning academic programs offered by the college would not be bound by location.

He said he wants to establish thriving communication programs at all WSU campuses, as well as global programs, to serve students’ research needs and allow them to work creatively. This would include using common core classes and major focuses to create new options, like community and leadership studies, he said.

Pinkleton proposed helping students fulfill specific career goals by increasing the prominence of tailored programs.

“The hope with the new dean of the Murrow College of Communication,” said Stacey Hust, chair of the Department of Strategic Communication, “is to help WSU reach the goal of becoming a top-tier research school, which would transform all departments.”

Pinkleton said he would prioritize keeping the meaningful namesake and legacy of the Murrow College.

Pinkleton is one of two final candidates for Murrow’s dean. He is running alongside Andrea Miller, associate dean of Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communications.