Welcome, Class of 2026!

Parent and Family Welcome
Friday, Aug. 26
9 a.m.-9:45 a.m. and 10:15 a.m.-11 a.m.
140 Newhouse 3 (Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium)
Newhouse Dean Mark J. Lodato will welcome incoming Newhouse parents and family, discuss the first year at Newhouse and answer questions. This event happens in two repeat sessions: one from 9-9:45 a.m. and the second at 10:15-11 a.m. to accommodate all families. Parents, families and supporters of new Newhouse students are welcome to attend. Students should not attend.

Welcome Reception
Friday, Aug. 26
9:30a.m.-11 a.m.
Newhouse Patio
Mingle with Newhouse faculty, staff and peer advisers for an informal reception. Department information as well as support offices such as Career Development and Undergraduate Advising will be available. Continental breakfast provided. This event is optional for new Newhouse students. Parents, families and supporters are welcome to attend.

Peer Adviser Introduction
Friday, August 26
2:00p.m.-2:45p.m.
Newhouse 1, Patio
New students will meet with their peer advisers and fellow new students in small groups to discuss advising and answer initial questions. Please come to the Newhouse patio and you will be directed to the classroom where your peer adviser is located. This event is required for new Newhouse students. Dual A&S, Maxwell and Whitman students are encouraged to attend if possible.

External Transfer Student Meeting
Friday, August 26
2:00p.m.-2:45p.m.
Newhouse 1, Room 409
Newhouse students that have transferred to Syracuse University (i.e. external transfer student) will meet with their peer adviser and a member of the Undergraduate Advising Team to discuss advising and answer questions. This event is required for new Newhouse students that have transferred to Syracuse University for fall 2022. Dual A&S, Maxwell, iSchool and Whitman transfer students are encouraged to attend if possible.

Dean’s Welcome
Friday, August 26
3:00p.m.-4:00p.m
Schine Student Center, Goldstein Auditorium
New Newhouse students are invited to attend the annual Dean’s Welcome. This event is required for new students in the Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Dual Whitman/Newhouse Advising
Saturday, August 27
8:30a.m.-9:15a.m.
Newhouse 1, Room 409
Dual Whitman/Newhouse students will meet with a member of the Newhouse Advising team to better understand how the dual works and how to utilize the Newhouse Advising Office. Schedule adjustment and more in-depth advising will be provided by Whitman on Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. This event is required only for new Dual Whitman/Newhouse students.

Singly Enrolled & iSchool Dual Academic Advising
Saturday, August 27
9:30a.m.-11:00a.m.
Location is based on last name letter split:
A-Co: Newhouse 1, Room 101
Cr-Go: Newhouse 1, Room 102
Gr-La: Newhouse 3, Room 140 (Hergenhan Auditorium)
Le-Ok: Newhouse 3, Room 432-434
Ol-Si: Newhouse 3, Room 141
Sk-Z: Newhouse 3, Room 140 (Hergenhan Auditorium)
Our advising staff will give an overview of your degree requirements and answer any questions you may have. You will then meet with your peer adviser to learn how to navigate MySlice and make any necessary schedule adjustments. Students who are dually enrolled with Newhouse and the iSchool should attend these sessions.  Newhouse students who are dually enrolled in the School of Management will have their Newhouse advising session on Saturday, August 27, at 8:30a.m. in Newhouse 1, Room 409.   Students who are dually enrolled with the College of Arts and Sciences will have advising from Newhouse at 10 a.m. on Saturday in Newhouse 1, Room 409.

Newhouse Departmental Meetings for External Transfer Students
Saturday, August 27
9:00a.m.-11:00a.m.
Newhouse 3 Room 318
New students in Newhouse that have transferred to Syracuse University for fall 2022 (i.e. external transfers) will meet with their department chairs to discuss progression through their major.
This event is required for Newhouse students that have transferred to Syracuse University for fall 2022.

Dual Arts & Science/Maxwell Advising
Saturday, August 27
10:00a.m.-11:00a.m.
Newhouse 1, Room 409
Arts and Sciences (A&S) | Maxwell/Newhouse students will meet with the Director of Newhouse Advising to discuss how dual advising works and answer questions. This event is required for Dual A&S | Maxwell/Newhouse students.

Tours of Newhouse and Campus
Saturday, August 27
11:00a.m.-1:00p.m.
Newhouse 1, Lobby & Patio
Meet with peer advisers to walk through the Newhouse complex and campus to learn where classrooms are so you are set for the first day of class. For exact location please see email sent by your peer adviser. This event is optional for new Newhouse students.

Drop-In Academic Advising
Saturday, August 27
11:00a.m-1:00p.m.
Newhouse 3, Room 316 & Virtual
Meet one-on-one with a Newhouse academic adviser to answer questions about your fall schedule, AP credit, requirements and more. Ideal for those whose questions were not answered in the morning session. You may visit the office in-person or meet virtually. For Zoom/phone meetings please check in via our virtual waiting room.

External Transfer Student Breakfast
Sunday, August 28th
10:30a.m.-12:00p.m.
Newhouse 1, Lobby
Newhouse students that have transferred to Syracuse University for fall 2022 (i.e. external transfer students) will join current students who transferred into Newhouse for advice on starting the semester off strong. This event is optional for Newhouse external transfer students.

Drop-In Academic Advising
Sunday, August 28
11:00a.m-1:00p.m.
Newhouse 3 Room 316 & Virtual
Meet one-on-one with a Newhouse academic adviser to answer questions about your fall schedule, AP credit, requirements and more. Ideal for those whose questions were not answered in the morning session. You may visit the office in-person or meet virtually. For Zoom/phone meetings please check in via our virtual waiting room.

Online Grammar Competency Test (GCT)
Sunday, August 28
1:00p.m.-2:30p.m.
Virtual
Required online grammar test to determine level of competency in grammar and spelling. Test may be taken in your residence or other location on campus. This is required for all new Newhouse students.
Instructions regarding this online test will be sent to students prior to Welcome weekend.  An optional GCT Review session will be offered on Wednesday, August 17, 2022 from 6:00p.m. – 7:00p.m. EDT.  Please contact nhadvise@syr.edu for Zoom meeting link.

Classes begin on Monday, August 29

Media Fair
Friday, September 2
11:00a.m.-4:00p.m.
Tents outside of Newhouse
Campus media and other related organizations will have tables with information on how to join and get involved. Representatives form Syracuse University’s radio stations, tv station, publications, public relations and advertising clubs as well as media-related professional organizations will be in attendance. This event is optional for new Newhouse students, but strongly encouraged.

For more information on first-year student events at Syracuse University, you can check out the University’s New Student and Family Programs page.

All incoming Newhouse students will take the introductory COM 107: Communications and Society course together in the fall semester. We hope this will help us build a strong sense of community from the very first day.
 
In order to teach all of you this fall in groups of moderate size, nine faculty members will each teach a section of COM 107.  Each section will be slightly different in tone and content, given the varying professional and scholarly interests of the instructors.  However, each section will cover the same basic material and use the same books and assigned readings. Paper assignments will be the same across all sections, and all students will have the same number of exams. The faculty members who will be teaching COM 107 want you to undertake some summer reading, viewing, and listening that will prepare you to do well.
 
Please regularly visit any reputable news website, particularly those run by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (you will be able to get free digital subscriptions to these two news sites through the SU library). You might also visit the websites of foreign news producers such as the BBC or China Daily, Al Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, or sites from a particular part of the world. Stretch yourself.  Go to news sites curated by professional editors exercising professional news judgment, and make sure to pay attention to the difference between journalism and opinion. Think about how contemporary news sites sustain themselves economically.  Go where you have not previously gone in your web surfing.
 
Listen on occasion to “Morning Edition,” “All Things Considered,” and “Weekend Edition” on your local National Public Radio station or online.  Listen not only for content, but particularly for how sound is used to tell the story effectively to audiences who only hear the news.
 
Notice how effectively (or not) your local news organizations cover your community and reflect its diversity in print, online and on TV or radio. Follow events in the media industries by reading the Business section every Monday in The New York Times (or read it online).  Pay particular attention to the media stories, of which there are many. 
 
University students all over the world are familiar with social media–TikTok, Twitter, Instagram. Facebook, Snapchat, etc.  Their impact on societies has been revolutionary. If you use a different international media networking site, like Weibo, consider how it may be similar to or different from these U.S. examples.  This unique information will be an asset to our class discussions and to your career development.
 
Read a variety of magazines (in both hard copy and online), not just those from the mainstream media, but also those in the alternative press such as Wired, National Review, The Nation, or Mother Jones.  Look online at sites such as vice.com, slate.com, colorlines.com, salon.com, FoxNews.com, vox.com, blavity.com; at fact-checking sites such as Factcheck.org and PolitiFact.org and at the multimedia pieces on mediastorm.org. Compare and contrast how they are covering the key issues and events unfolding this summer.
 
We want you to get into the habit of knowing what is going on in the world around you. If you get to campus and you don’t know much about how the new COVID variants and vaccine hesitancy are potentially prolonging the pandemic; how the Supreme Court’s decisions this year will impact the 2022 elections; how investigations into the January 6^th insurrection may lead to criminal prosecutions; how tensions with China may impact trade concerns; how the expansion of NATO as a reply to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; and how nations are dealing with extreme weather brought about by climate change, then you are not paying enough attention to the news.

Half of our incoming students will take this skills-based class in the fall, and half in the spring semester.

COM 117 is a required introductory production course for all Newhouse majors. In this course, you’ll work in teams to produce a variety of short films that tell three different kinds of stories: stories that persuade, stories that document, and stories that entertain. Basic story structure is taught, as well as how to write and prepare stories for multimedia production. You’ll learn digital videography and editing for sound and picture. Whether you see yourself as a photojournalist, a screenwriter, an advertising executive, a television director, a public relations manager, an investigative reporter, or a graphic designer, you need to understand how to use story concepts and the tools of storytelling to communicate to an audience. You’ll be assigned a lab time to edit, mix, and finalize your projects. You will be given time in class to screen productions to your fellow students and hear their feedback.

The Grammar Competency Test (GCT) will assess your understanding of American English grammar and usage as you enter the Newhouse School and will be administered online on Sunday, August 28, and again in October for those who do not successfully pass on their first attempt. The test consists mostly of questions that reveal your ability to detect errors and properly apply the rules of Standard American English that you learned in middle and high school.

Please note that students who require testing accommodations should contact Syracuse University’s Center for Disability Resources ahead of time. For questions and concerns please feel free to contact Professor Brad Gorham at bwgorham@syr.edu.

All Newhouse students must pass the GCT in order to graduate, so it is a good idea to take some time now to prepare. As you prepare, keep in mind that last-minute “cramming” is seldom beneficial; however, careful review and practice during the weeks before the test can lead to success. Fortunately, handbooks, workbooks, and websites are available to help you. The following list is not exhaustive, but it includes print and online resources that many have found useful.

To help prepare for the test, an optional GCT review session will be offered via Zoom on Wednesday, August 17 from 6:00p.m.-7:00p.m. Please contact nhadvise@syr.edu for Zoom Link information.

Guides and Handbooks
These grammar guides and handbooks contain definitions, explanations, and examples. Some include brief exercises.
 
Barrett, Grant. Perfect English Grammar: The Indispensable Guide to Excellent Writing and Speaking. Berkeley: Zephyros Press, 2016.
This is a companion to Lisa McClendon’s workbook (see below). Barrett’s little volume explains the basics of English grammar. Terms and concepts and clearly defined and well-illustrated.
 
Casagrande, June. The Best Punctuation Book, Period: A Comprehensive Guide for Every Writer, Editor, Student, and Businessperson. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2014.
In this engaging handbook (useful in all SU courses requiring formal writing), the author describes the punctuation rules of Standard American English and the specific conventions preferred by the AP, APA, MLA, and University of Chicago styles.
 
Collins, Tim. Correct Your English Errors: Avoid 99% of the Common Mistakes Made by Learners of English. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2018.
Those for whom English is a second language will find Collins’ guide especially useful. It deals with the rules of grammar but puts special emphasis upon common issues of diction (word choice), syntax (word order), and idiomatic usage.
 
Lester, Mark, and Larry Beason. The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2018.
The authors provide good explanations with illustrations of both correct and incorrect practices. Finding and resolving errors gets special attention.
 
Workbooks
The workbooks listed here all provide definitions and explanations but, in their content, are heavily weighted toward exercises and quizzes that reinforce learning.
 
Lester, Mark. English Grammar Drills. 2^nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2018. 
This volume contains over 150 exercises designed to help users identify and correctly use a wide range of grammatical elements.  Online resources that support the book are available at no cost.
 
McLendon, Lisa. The Perfect English Grammar Workbook. Berkeley: Zephyros Press, 2017.
Following the same outline as Barrett’s Perfect English Grammar, this workbook, which has been selected as the required text for COM 101 for the spring 2022 semester, contains both explanatory definitions and exercises. The exercises are brief and to the point, and they provide unambiguous examples to help users apply grammatical principles.
 
Kaufman, Lester, and Jane Straus. The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. 12th ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2021.
This classic compilation of explanations and quizzes focuses upon the grammar issues many of us find the most problematic.
 
Web Resources
Three helpful online resources are widely used by students at the Newhouse School.
 
Grammar Bytes!
This popular website, created by Robin L. Simmons, Professor of English and Humanities at Valencia College, describes itself as “Grammar Instruction with Attitude.” Continually growing with the addition of new handouts, exercises, videos, and PowerPoint presentations, it has become an extraordinarily accessible tool for students seeking a better understanding of how our language works.
 
The Punctuation Guide
A one-stop online compendium of punctuation rules and advice, The Punctuation Guide is easy to use, concise, and authoritative.
 
Purdue Owl
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab addresses a multitude of the issues faced by college-level writers. For its grammar discussions, click on “General Writing” on the site’s home page

To ensure you can actively engage in your course work at the Newhouse School, you will need to have access to equipment that meets the following requirements:

• A computer that is no older than 4 years old (2016), with at least 16GB of RAM and 128GB of free drive space
• Minimum operating system requirements: MacOS Sierra (10.12.x) or Windows 10
• A portable 1TB hard drive or larger with USB3 and Thunderbolt connectors to store files on
• A smart phone no older than 4 years old with a working camera and microphone

Note: Students who enroll in production-level courses (e.g. AR, VR, Photography, Design and Video Editing) tend to have portable computers with screens no smaller than 15″, equipped with 32GB of RAM and a 512GB solid state drive.

If you are looking to purchase a new computer we encourage you to go through the manufacturer (e.g. Apple, Dell, HP) or the SU bookstore.

When purchasing a new computer it is recommended to invest in the manufacturer’s extended warranty coverage to provide phone support and repair service options while at school.

Students are also encouraged to consider obtaining personal belongings insurance coverage for personal property and any equipment in their possession. Please refer to the university partner Haylor, Freyer & Coon, Inc for additional information.

Profession Seth Gitner can address any questions at smgitner@syr.edu.

Contact College Board to have your scores sent to SU (college code 2823).

Refer to the AP Examination Table for score requirements and list of SU equivalent courses.

Contact IB to have your transcript sent to nhadvise@syr.edu.

Refer to the IB Credit Table for score requirements and list of SU equivalent courses.

Send copies of syllabi for any Newhouse and/or Foreign Language courses to your academic adviser or nhadvise@syr.edu for review.

Contact institution where class was taken to have official transcript sent to Newhouse Undergraduate Advising Office.

Electronic transcripts may be emailed to nhadvise@syr.edu.

Hard copy transcripts may be mailed to:
Syracuse University
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
Undergraduate Advising Office
215 University Place
316 Newhouse 3
Syracuse, NY 13224-2100