Students Graduate with Mass Communications Concentration

By Charlotte Bishop

For some journalism students, first in their class took on new meaning as the School of Journalism and Mass Communications graduated its first mass communications concentration students this May.

Senior Jesse Collin was the first person to join the concentration and also one of the first to graduate. He changed majors in spring 2009 after being advised by Theresa Masters. The student services office gave him a round of applause after he switched, Collin said.

Collin decided to change from electronic journalism to mass communications because he wanted a “more general degree where you could get a little bit of everything.” He feels that the mass communications concentration will open doors for a number of different types of jobs or graduate study.

This concentration within the journalism sequence was introduced in spring 2010 and designed for students interested in studying journalism but who do not want to become journalists, advertisers, public relations or visual communications professionals. So far, 14 students have signed up for the concentration.

Students within the concentration “focus in greater breadth and depth on the principles underlying mass media institutions and on the role of mass communications in society,” said an SJMC news announcement in 2009, introducing the concentration.

The curriculum includes principle classes in journalism, advertising and public relations as well as capstone courses in media ethics and criticism. “In many ways, this mass communications concentration is the ultimate convergence program for students,” said Dr. Kenneth Campbell, a member of the committee that designed the concentration.

enior Whitney Williams, another of the first mass communications graduates, changed from public relations because she decided she was more interested in publishing and thought the concentration would better prepare her for that field.

Dr. Campbell said that the program is ideal for those who want to go into publishing or who want to continue their educations and become journalism professors. The concentration is also well-suited for students who want to go to law school or become media critics, he said. A description of the concentration on the J-school’s undergraduate academics website says graduates of the mass communications concentration “would be equipped to take jobs directly out of their undergraduate programs or pursue advanced degrees in any number of academic or professional fields.”

“Advantages of the concentration include giving students an even broader knowledge of the field,” Dr. Campbell said.

The concentration also plays into the strengths of faculty members. “A lot of our faculty have substantial expertise in the relationship between media and society, and this is an opportunity to take advantage of that,” Dr. John Besley, who is the journalism sequence head, said. “It was really just something that makes a lot of sense. A lot of schools like ours have this stream for students who want to focus on media and society,” Dr. Besley said.

The mass communications concentration was several years in the making. Prof. Bonnie Drewniany came up with the idea for the mass communications concentration after returning from sabbatical in 2003. “Ultimately, why I thought it made sense was because we had so many students in ad and PR who didn’t want to go into the field,” Drewniany said. The concentration would allow students to “study of the discipline of mass communications” without taking concentrated skills courses they probably would not use. Dr. Besley and Drewniany agree that the focus of the concentration is on critical thinking.

Overall, the concentration is more research-oriented rather than skills-focused. The goal of the concentration is to prepare students to be critical thinkers as they enter a media-related field or as they pursue graduate study.For some journalism students, first in their class took on new meaning as the School of Journalism and Mass Communications graduated its first mass communications concentration students this May.

Senior Jesse Collin was the first person to join the concentration and also one of the first to graduate. He changed majors in spring 2009 after being advised by Theresa Masters. The student services office gave him a round of applause after he switched, Collin said.

Collin decided to change from electronic journalism to mass communications because he wanted a “more general degree where you could get a little bit of everything.” He feels that the mass communications concentration will open doors for a number of different types of jobs or graduate study.

This concentration within the journalism sequence was introduced in spring 2010 and designed for students interested in studying journalism but who do not want to become journalists, advertisers, public relations or visual communications professionals. So far, 14 students have signed up for the concentration.

Students within the concentration “focus in greater breadth and depth on the principles underlying mass media institutions and on the role of mass communications in society,” said an SJMC news announcement in 2009, introducing the concentration.

The curriculum includes principle classes in journalism, advertising and public relations as well as capstone courses in media ethics and criticism. “In many ways, this mass communications concentration is the ultimate convergence program for students,” said Dr. Kenneth Campbell, a member of the committee that designed the concentration.

Senior Whitney Williams, another of the first mass communications graduates, changed from public relations because she decided she was more interested in publishing and thought the concentration would better prepare her for that field.

Dr. Campbell said that the program is ideal for those who want to go into publishing or who want to continue their educations and become journalism professors. The concentration is also well-suited for students who want to go to law school or become media critics, he said. A description of the concentration on the J-school’s undergraduate academics website says graduates of the mass communications concentration “would be equipped to take jobs directly out of their undergraduate programs or pursue advanced degrees in any number of academic or professional fields.”

“Advantages of the concentration include giving students an even broader knowledge of the field,” Dr. Campbell said.

The concentration also plays into the strengths of faculty members. “A lot of our faculty have substantial expertise in the relationship between media and society, and this is an opportunity to take advantage of that,” Dr. John Besley, who is the journalism sequence head, said. “It was really just something that makes a lot of sense. A lot of schools like ours have this stream for students who want to focus on media and society,” Dr. Besley said.

The mass communications concentration was several years in the making. Prof. Bonnie Drewniany came up with the idea for the mass communications concentration after returning from sabbatical in 2003. “Ultimately, why I thought it made sense was because we had so many students in ad and PR who didn’t want to go into the field,” Drewniany said. The concentration would allow students to “study of the discipline of mass communications” without taking concentrated skills courses they probably would not use. Dr. Besley and Drewniany agree that the focus of the concentration is on critical thinking.

Overall, the concentration is more research-oriented rather than skills-focused. The goal of the concentration is to prepare students to be critical thinkers as they enter a media-related field or as they pursue graduate study.