New sequence considered for J school
The new degree would be for students not pursuing a journalism career.
Published July 7, 2009
After months of researching and visiting colleges, freshman Bess Hughes was sold on MU's School of Journalism. There's only one catch: she doesn't want to be a journalist.
"I want to learn about journalism because I feel like that will help me when I do go to law school," Hughes said. "Even though I'm not going into the field, I can still benefit from what they have to teach me."
Associate Dean of Journalism Brian Brooks said the school is considering offering a new degree for students who, like Hughes, do not intend to practice journalism after graduation.
"There are a lot of people who like the journalism degree as a general degree," journalism professor Martha Steffens said. "They are interested in the media, but don't want to be practicing journalists. They value what journalism studies bring to the table as far as researching and analyzing current events."
Brooks said all discussions about the possibility of a new degree have been informal, as no committee has voted on anything yet, but the journalism school's faculty is considering two possibilities for the potential degree. The first would be more research-focused and geared for students who plan to pursue graduate studies, such as law or medicine. The second would focus more on media literacy and teach students how to use the Web to understand audiences in greater depth.
"Both of those are really concepts at this time," Brooks said. "At this point, the executive committee has not decided to drive this forward to committees. This would be a significant departure from what we've done before because we've only offered the one degree."
Instead of the bachelorÕs of Journalism, which the school offers now, the new degree would most likely be a bachelorÕs of Arts or Science in some sort of journalism studies, Brooks said.
Because the degree's emphasis would not be on practicing journalism, it would not include the Missouri Method, which entails spending a semester working on one of the campus news outlets.
"We recognize the fact that people may not want to experience the Missouri Method," Steffens said. "This would allow an alternative for people who see their journalism undergraduate degree as a stepping stone without some of the intensive news room experiences."
For students like Hughes, spending less time in the newsroom and more time developing researching skills and learning how to understand the media would be much more beneficial, she said.
"It would make more sense for me to develop the skills I'll need in law school and in my profession even though I'm earning a journalism degree," Hughes said. "It sounds like the proposed degree would offer students a lot more flexibility. The curriculum for the whole school shouldn't be so set in stone."
Brooks and Steffens said they both feel the need for a new degree stems from the caliber of students the journalism school attracts.
"We get high-ability students in journalism, so we get a large number of students who do go on to graduate work," Brooks said. "A lot of them are just looking for a prestigious degree that will translate well into whatever they go into because it teaches good writing."
The executive board will most likely discuss and vote on the proposal this fall, Steffens said. Because creating a new degree involves such a long process, she predicts no one will be able to start the program until at least 2011.
