Department Website

Tom Reichert, Ph.D., Dean
Van Kornegay, MMC, Interim Director, School of Journalism and Mass Communications
Karen Gavigan, Ph.D, Interim Director, School of Library and Information Science

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications offers the Master of Mass Communication, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. It also offers the Certificate of Graduate Study in Health Communication in cooperation with the School of Library and Information Science and the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior of the Arnold School of Public Health. There are no separate departments, as such, within the school, although course work is offered in electronic and print journalism, advertising, public relations, integrated communications, visual communications, and a wide range of other subjects dealing with the processes and effects of mass communications.

The general regulations of The Graduate School regarding admission, residency, theses and dissertations, admission to candidacy, and comprehensive examinations apply to all graduate work in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Beyond that, the school may request additional writing samples or other evidence of creative work.

Graduate study at the certificate, M.M.C, M.A., and Ph.D. levels in the school is designed to meet the needs of three categories of students:

1. graduates of approved colleges and universities who have little or no undergraduate work in journalism and mass communications but desire to complete a program of intensive academic and professional preparation for work in the mass communications field;
2. graduates in journalism and mass communications from accredited programs of journalism and mass communications and graduates of approved colleges or universities who have received a bachelor’s degree in any field and who have one or more years of professional experience in journalism and mass communications;
3. graduates of approved master’s degree programs who preferably have two or more years of professional experience in journalism and mass communications and who wish to obtain a doctoral degree.

Proficiency examinations may be required of applicants. Any deficiencies in an applicant’s academic or professional background for the study of journalism and mass communications may require remedial course work that may not count toward the graduate degree.

Applicants for a graduate degree in journalism and mass communications who do not have professional experience or educational background for the field may be required to complete up to 15 semester hours of undergraduate work in journalism and mass communications.  Camp Carolina, an intensive summer experience, can be used to satisfy many of these requirements. Each applicant’s case will be evaluated individually to determine the amount, if any, of remedial work required. These remedial courses are usually designated as prerequisites for more advanced courses, numbered 500 or above, which will become part of the student’s plan of graduate study. Graduate students may, with approval of the associate director for graduate studies, enroll for some of these undergraduate courses at the same time they are enrolled in graduate courses. For example, a student enrolled in a 700-level seminar in media law may also be enrolled in an undergraduate skills course in basic news reporting; the student would earn graduate credit for the 700-level seminar but not for the 300-level news reporting class.

Applicants who cannot demonstrate a basic knowledge of statistics (e.g. successful completion of undergraduate basic statistics course) must complete a course from an approved list before registering for JOUR 701 or JOUR 801. Such a course should be completed early in the student’s program and may count toward the graduate degree only if it is 500-level or above.

Programs

Courses