The DU Board of Trustees approved the dissolution of the School of Communication as an academic and administrative unit on Friday.

The school’s two departments, the Department of Mass Communications and Journalism Studies and the Department of Human Communication, will become independent units and are changing their names to the Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies and the Department of Communication Studies, respectively.

The trustees’ decision was announced Monday via e-mail to faculty by Dean Anne McCall.

She said, “These changes will result in greater options for students and help us more effectively manage our resources.”

The dissolution of the School of Communication has been discussed for several years.

However, the move toward separation gained momentum about a year ago.

McCall added, “I followed the work of these departments and supported them in their pursuit of a structure that gives them the most space for creativity.”

Four new majors also are being created.

The Department of Communication Studies will offer a single major with three emphases, including culture and communication, interpersonal and family communication and rhetoric and communication ethics.

The department will continue to offer master’s and doctoral degrees in communications studies.

The Department of Media, Film and Journalism Studies will offer three new majors, including strategic communication, media studies and film studies and production.

The department will keep its journalism studies program, its graduate programs and its relationship with the School of Art and Art History for its digital media studies program.

Current communication students can finish the degree they started or opt into one of the new majors.