Chair of the Department of Communications Greg Pitts announced he accepted a position at another university last week.

Pitts will serve as the Director of Journalism at Middle Tennessee State University, beginning August 1.

“The position of Director of Journalism at MTSU opened and two friends of mine encouraged me to apply,” Pitts said. “I ended up being one of three candidates invited to the university for an interview. This is a good professional opportunity for me.”

Pitts said he believes he is leaving the Communications department in good shape with the curriculum and technological improvements within the department due to recent accreditation through the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.

He said these improvements include changing the journalism major to “Journalism: Multimedia” and focusing the curriculum on multimedia and mobile, web-based journalism.

Pitts said Film and Digital Media majors also benefit from the new equipment used for the Aural-Visual Production class, which is a core class for the Journalism: Multimedia major.

Pitts also laid the groundwork for a student-run radio station, 107.9 WLNP. The station was set to air in late June 2015, but the station is now on hold due to Pitt’s leaving.

“Rather than rush to get the station on air, then figure out what to do, I received from the FCC an extension of the construction permit,” Pitts said. “That means UNA has an additional 18 months to get the station going.”

He said he believes the station will air, but students must work hard and take ownership of the station for it to work.

Pitts serves his last day as the Chair of the Department of Communications July 31.