When Linwood Hagin accepted the chairship of the mass communication department at North Greenville College in South Carolina, he knew the department was in serious trouble:

• The original chair left, citing lack of support from the college.
• A second chair was asked to leave due to poor student evaluations.
• The department had no full-time faculty members and only two regular adjuncts, one of whom served as interim chair.
• The curriculum needed to be revised.
• Few students were interested in majoring in mass communication.
• The department lacked the technology to give students the experience they needed to pursue careers in the field.