Texas Christian University (TCU) Board of Regents has voted in favor of renaming its College of Communication as 'Schieffer College of Communications,' in honor of its star journalism alumnus.
Bob Schieffer, the Chief Washington Correspondent of CBS News, is a 1959 graduate of the TCU journalism school. Prior to CBS News, he was a reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and an anchor at KXAS-TV.
"Placing Bob's name over the entire College of Communication rather than a singular school within the college better aligns it with other named schools and colleges across the University," said Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. in a statement. "The alignment also leads to better integration of resources for students and will result in more well-rounded graduates from the newly named Schieffer College of Communication."
The current host of CBS' Face the Nation said that he was "deeply honored." "This is a terrific vote of confidence and recognition from the Board and the TCU leadership of the great things that have been happening in the college," he added.
In 2004, TCU named its journalism school as the Schieffer School of Journalism and Strategic Communication, which is part of the College of Communication.
"We live in a connected communication world," David Whillock, dean of the College of Communication, said in the statement. "Information is being delivered via a dynamic process that utilizes multiple platforms. Our students have to understand how to use all communication tools to develop and deliver content-rich experiences"
Recently, Schieffer was also awarded the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism by Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The annual award is bestowed upon 'a leading figure in journalism.'
While receiving the award on Tuesday, Schieffer described the 'revolution in communications' and the resulting 'crisis in journalism.'
"Forget the need for ink and a printing press. Anybody who owns a computer, or an iPhone can be a publisher and many choose to be just that--qualified or not, well meaning or not, honest or not, informed or not," Schieffer told CBS News. "The result: we've discovered many smart new voices out there and excuse me for being blunt, a lot of people who have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. We get more information but access to information does not always equate with wisdom. Even worse, much of what we get is just wrong, not just wrong but sometimes deliberately false, hateful and meant to harm."
