Blair Converse, who chaired the journalism department from 1927 to 1939, taught the first course in radio writing in 1936. The radio news sequence was added in 1939.

Under K.R. Marvin’s leadership from 1945 to 1962, a four-year curriculum in science communication journalism was adopted in 1945. And a program leading to a master’s degree in technical journalism was approved in 1946.

A forebearer to the Iowa State Daily was the Clipper. A group of students introduced the news sheet in the spring of 1890 on their own initiative and without the support or sanction of college officials.
The first issue of the Iowa Agricultural College Student, which was launched in 1890, sold for 50 cents per term or 10 cents a copy. It came out every two weeks.

The former Press Building was named Hamilton Hall in 1984 after Carl Hamilton, who chaired the Department of Technical Journalism from 1962-65. He was also a journalist and Iowa State administrator who headed the Iowa State University Press Board. Hamilton died in 1991.

Advertising studies evolved from an emphasis area to a major in 1991.

The journalism department was named the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication after a $9 million gift from alumni Robert and Diane Greenlee of Boulder, Colo.

The Greenlees’ gift is the largest ever to ISU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

The “school” designation denotes a professional program that has achieved a certain size and scope. The designation carries a level of prestige that helps universities attract endowed professorships and research funds; recruit top faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students; expand and enhance curriculum; and facilitate fundraising.

Journalism education at Iowa State began in1905, and the program has held accreditation continuously since 1948 when the national accreditation process began. It is the only journalism program in Iowa with a 50-year record of accreditation.

In 1989, the program was strengthened in response to an Iowa Board of Regents consultant’s report on duplication at the state universities. The traditional journalism and mass communication program was combined with the telecommunicative arts program to form a broad-based program spanning all media. In 1996, the department was further expanded with the addition of the Iowa State’s program in communication studies, including intercultural organizational communication. Communication Studies left the Greenlee School in 2004.

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