The department was created in 1984 through the merger of the Department of Mass Communication and the Speech program, formerly part of the Department of Speech and Drama. The history and evolution of the program of study in Communication at UTEP, however, goes back to the late 1940s when the Department of Radio-Television and Journalism was first established.

Today's program reflects a set of contemporary perspectives of the many innovations, both conceptually and technologically, which continue to define the field of Communication.