Academic Affairs. Dean, College Of Liberal Arts And Sciences. Communication & Journalism Department (University Of Maine) Records

Speech courses have been taught at the University of Maine since 1868 under Merritt Caldwell Fernald. The Public Speaking Department was established in 1915 and in 1939 would become the Department of Speech with Mark Bailey appointed the first head of the Department; Bailey had previously been head of the Public Speaking Department. Bailey continued to teach in the Department until 1946, but in 1940 was succeeded as head of department by Dr. Howard Runion. In 1948, Wofford G. Gardner was appointed department chair a position he wuld hold until 1975.

The Department of Speech offered programs in public speaking, theater, play production, and stage direction culminating in stage productions held at the University of Maine that would provide students with the experience of putting on a production. The Department was also instrumental in establishing and overseeing radio and television stations at the University of Maine. The Department sponsored high school debating tournaments and theater workshops and competitions at the University of Maine.

The Department of Speech would later be combined with Speech Disorders with responsibilities for managing the University of Maine’s Speech and Hearing Clinic and organizing the Summer Speech Correction Institute. The Department would go through a number of combinations and reorganizations to become the Communication and Journalism Department.