J school adds interest areas, changes curriculum
Incoming freshmen and sophomores will be able to take advantage of new programs.
Published May 27, 2010, last updated 6:31 p.m., Nov. 13, 2010
The School of Journalism announced May 26 it is offering 25 new interest areas for incoming undergraduates.
"We've been doing this with the graduate program for 15 years," said Brian Brooks, associate dean for undergraduate studies at the J school. "We call them 'models' rather than 'interest areas,' but it's the same idea."
In the 25 interest areas offered, former sequences are broken down. Magazine Writing, Publishing and Management, Design and Editing are four possible interest areas. Students are also given the option of designing their own interest areas. Additionally, the J school has also changed pre-interest area class requirements.
According to its website, Career Explorations in Journalism is no longer required, but is now optional. Students are now required to take Fundamentals of Multimedia Journalism, a three credit hour class. Brooks said the class would first be offered in the spring 2011 semester.
"It's basically a remake of 4802, which convergence students have been required to take before," Brooks said.
Incoming freshmen, both direct admissions to the school and pre-journalism students, were notified of changes by e-mail Wednesday, Academic Adviser Jill McReynolds said. Brooks said the changes have been in the works for four years.
"We realized that our administrative structure and curriculum structure were not what needed to happen to go forward," Brooks said. "So we tried to craft some mechanism for breaking down the traditional sequence lines."
Although other journalism schools have narrowed their focus, MU's has done the opposite, Brooks said.
"There's a side benefit to that -- when someone looks at what we have to offer, no matter what they want to do in journalism, we have a program that fits them," Brooks said.
It is possible for a sophomore J school student to take advantage of the new interest areas offered, given they take Fundamentals of Multimedia Journalism, Brooks said. It is more difficult for juniors or seniors.
"The further you're along, the less flexibility you have left," Brooks said.
He said the J school doesn't have the ability to implement these changes for all students in the span of one year.
"Because of university policies, we can't change their requirements mid stream, but they can emulate the new interest areas through their journalism electives," McReynolds said.
Brooks relayed this message in an e-mail sent to students on the J school listserv.
"By Board of Curators rule, we cannot make changes to your graduation requirements after you begin study at MU," Brooks said in the e-mail.