Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon, Mexico…[Libna Stevens/IAD]
Each year over two hundred students graduate from Montemorelos University, a Seventh-day Adventist run institution in the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory. But this year saw a couple of students graduate from one of the university's newest programs, a bachelor’s degree in communication. Although small in number, the graduates are nonetheless products of a department that has seen significant advancement the last four years.
“This graduation is very historic because it represents the first generation of Adventist communicators from Montemorelos,” says Abel Marquez, who heads the School of Arts and Communication at Montemorelos. “Since our objective is to shape the next communicators, producers, newscasters, and the like from the church in Mexico and in the world, it is satisfying to see them prepared and willing to serve God with the knowledge they have received here.”
Fourteen students graduated from the other four-year programs offered by the communication department: graphic arts and graphic design.
Marquez, who built the school of communication from the ground up when he was hired by Montemorelos in 2003, says with time and God’s help the department now has a team of nine full-time faculty personnel.
And that's not all. Students of the department now distribute a campus newspaper with a circulation of 2,000, run a 24-hour on-campus radio station, and help run a new cable television station that broadcasts the Adventist Television Network's Esperanza TV and Nuevo Tiempo to the surrounding communities in the state of Nuevo Leon. Students also webcast Sabbath morning services on the university's website and produce radio and television programs for Adventist Television Network.
The department is expected to experience more growth in the coming years, says Marquez.
“We have received full support from the [institution’s] administration to accomplish the projects we have proposed and to build a solid department with faculty, support personnel and resources to operate,” says Marquez. “However more than funds, the cost has been more in time and dedication, many hours of hard work from colleagues,” he adds.
Marquez says that this August a new communication and digital journalism laboratory will begin with the arrival of a new faculty member. He also hopes to reinforce the area of television productions to produce more television programs for the official church television channels. Also, a professional photography studio for the three degrees in the school of communication is set for completion this fall.
According to Marquez, more students are signing up for the communications programs as the department expands, and to take advantage of a broad range of job opportunities in the field of communication.
“With the new strategic concept of businesses in the 21st Century promoting legitimate and essential communication departments that support their organizations’ plans, the church will need skilled people to take steps to better communicate in their respective fields,” says Marquez. “They will be the ones to finish preaching the gospel.”
Established in 1942 and owned by the IAD, Montemorelos University offers dozens of undergraduate and graduate degrees to hundreds of students every year.
For more information on Montemorelos University and its academic programs, visit www.um.edu.mx
Benjamin Garcia contributed to this article.
