Professor Delbert Lean

Here at The College of Wooster, the Department of Communication has had a long and distinguished history. President Louis Holden (President from 1899-1915), who himself had been a professor of oratory at Beloit College before assuming the presidency at Wooster, founded the Department of Oratory at the College in 1900. The Department did not firmly establish itself, however, until the 1908 arrival of Professor Delbert Lean, who had studied public speaking at the Emerson School of Oratory (today known as Emerson University) and argumentation at Harvard. Under his leadership and that of President Charles Frederick Wishart (President 1919-1944), the major in speech was created in 1930. Interestingly enough, President Howard Lowry (President 1944-1967), who would go on to institute the College's Independent Study program in 1947, was mentored by Lean and, as an undergraduate at the College, Lowry was the first president of its chapter of Delta Sigma Rho, the national forensics honorary. Professor Bill Craig succeeded Delbert Lean as chair of the Department in 1946 and directed a 1951 production of Our Town at the College in which the author, Thornton Wilder, served as the narrator. For his part, J. Garber Drushal taught the first course in communication sciences and disorders. Upon President Lowry's untimely death in 1967, Drushal moved from chair of the Speech Department to President of the College, an office that he served until 1977. In 1981, the Department divided into the Department of Theatre and the Department of Speech Communication.

Wishart Hall

Today, the Department of Communication resides in Wishart Hall, named after President Wishart, described in the building's plaque of dedication as "Master of the Spoken Word." Wishart eloquently defended Wooster's decision to teach evolution against attacks by William Jennings Bryan in 1922, three years prior to the famous Scopes trial. Wishart Hall was erected in 1966, with much of the building funds coming from the citizens of Wooster and Wayne County, a tribute to the Department's ties with the surrounding area.

National Communication Honor Society Chapter of the Year, 1997

Indeed, beginning with Delbert Lean's annual public performance of A Christmas Carol--his "Christmas gift to the community"--the Department of Communication's character has been marked by its close relationship with the larger Wooster community in which it resides. Today, the Department maintains that vital "town and gown" affiliation through a variety of means. The Freedlander Speech and Hearing Clinic provides free assessment and treatment of communicative disorders to members of the public. Students in Communication Club and Lambda Pi Eta, the Wooster chapter of the national communication honor society, do public relations work and hold fund-raisers for local non-profit organizations, along with serving as volunteers with local schools and charities; the groups also sponsor public speaking workshops open to both the campus and Wooster communities. NSSLHA, the Wooster chapter of the National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association, holds annual hearing screenings, free of charge, for the public. From the second floor of Wishart Hall, radio station WCWS 90.9 FM, an entirely student-run station advised by the Department, broadcasts an eclectic blend of music programming, as well as Forum lectures and athletic events. Moreover, the faculty regularly shares its communication expertise with others through public lectures, workshops, clinic work, service learning, and the media. Their words have been featured in outlets such as The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Dallas Morning News, The Palm Beach Post, The Christian Science Monitor, ABC Radio News, Reuters News Agency, and the Associated Press, among others.