Staff work or editing positions on student publications.
Every Fall and Spring
Students will focus on the theory and practice of reporting and writing news and feature stories for print media. Additional emphasis will be placed on multi-media components, including but not limited to the production and/or use of videos, blogs, photo galleries, and various interactive on-line elements.
Every Fall and Spring
Conducted as a workshop, this course considers the theory and practice of sports writing for print media. Students will learn how to write a variety of sports stories while studying and critiquing sports writing at a local and national level.
Every Spring
This course is designed to bring together students interested in distinguishing scientific truth from misinformation and conveying that truth to a general audience not deeply versed in the disciplines of science. The course will allow students in the sciences to develop writing skills that will position them as spokespersons within and beyond their fields, while allowing students in the humanities who have at least an avocational interest in the sciences to develop that interest into serving both a growing niche of the journalistic market and the public’s need to know.
Every other Fall, odd years
This course will consider public affairs through coverage of events such as school board and city council meetings. Additional emphasis will be placed on beat reporting, including but not limited to in-depth coverage of issues emerging from areas such as government, science, and health, the economy, religion, and the legal system. Emphasis will be given to creating and using multi-media components to deliver information. Students will advance their philosophy of freedom of the press through the study of various philosophical orientations.
Most Fall terms
This course addresses the skills in both copy editing and design needed to be a successful publications editor. Students will learn how to shape and edit copy according to Associated Press style, how to write headlines and captions, and how to think and act ethically in an editorial capacity. Students will also learn skills in typography, photo editing, copy and issue fitting,and typesetting and layout using state of the art desktop publishing programs.
Every other Fall, even years
In this course students will seek to illuminate truth through the use of the visual. Students will learn to shoot news and feature subjects with a digital SLR camera. Emphasis will be given to the study of photo composition and to photo editing. In addition, they will create and edit video footage. Students will study and discuss various ethical principles and explore the work of photographers of note. Course requires a digital SLR camera.
Every other Fall, even years
In this course students will produce news and feature stories as they make use of multi-platform strategies that include the following: the gathering and editing of audio and video, photo slide shows that incorporate narration and/or music, blogging via WordPress, and data visualization and presentation. In addition, students will use social media (Twitter and Instagram) and smart phone technology to cover events. Students will deepen their philosophy of the role of a press in a free society as they develop their ability to work toward fair, balanced, accurate, objective, empathetic, and multiperspectival journalism in a digital world.
Every other Spring, even years
In this course students will study the principles of a theory of empathy and will cultivate and practice an ethic of empathy. In order to live fully and deeply human beings must bring all of their human capacities to bear in their daily lives, professional and personal. As students gain a deeper understanding of empathy as an innate human ability, they will find ways to understand better both themselves and others. Students will read and discuss works of nonfiction and will practice empathy through the act of interviewing individuals whose lives or ways of being they believe significantly different from their own.
Most Interims
An examination of the development of American journalism from colonial times to the present. Using primary source readings and films, in addition to textbooks, the course will examine changes within the journalism industry itself, the response of that industry to changes in American society and culture, and the effects journalism has had on American life.
Every other Spring, even years
Special Topics in Journalism.
Students in this course will study freedom of the press through the examination of significant court cases, particularly those that have come before the U.S. Supreme Court. Issues to be studied include libel, privacy, prior restraint and free press v. fair trial. In addition, students will study ethical issues, most of which are inseparable from the legal matters to be considered.
Nearly every Fall
Conducted as a workshop, this course emphasizes a step-by-step approach to the business of freelance writing. Students will learn how to select topics and study potential markets in an effort to sell research articles and first-person essays. Students will read, analyze, and study a wide range of articles and writers as they develop their writing style.
Every Spring
Conducted as a workshop, this course considers the theory and practice of writing reviews and opinion pieces. Students will review a variety of popular art forms, and will develop skills in writing editorial and opinion pieces. The study and critique of local and national reviewers and opinion writers will also be included.
Every other Fall, odd years
A study of American elections, of how the electorate votes and why they vote the way they do. The course examines attitude formation and change, the impact of public opinion on public policy, the media's influence on the political opinions of US citizens and lawmakers, the media's ability to determine which political issues get placed on the public agenda, and the degree to which these issues are presented in an unbiased and objective manner. Presidential elections since 1952 are covered in detail.
Every other Fall, even years
The principles and practice of public relations. Lectures, readings, and discussion will introduce students to the theories, techniques, and application of public relations. In addition, case studies and group and individual projects will be used to refine and apply course concepts.
Nearly every Fall
This is the first semester of a year-long commitment to an academic or creative project designed by a student. Under the guidance of a professor in the English and Journalism department, students will spend one semester researching a topic of their choice and then, in a following semester, they will construct a formal paper (JOUR 391). Projects may be academic or creative in nature. Students will present their Senior Honors Thesis before a board of professors in an oral defense known as Viva Voce. Successful completion of a Senior Honors Thesis will allow the student to graduate with "Departmental Distinction in Journalism". This component of the Senior Honors Thesis is begun in fall semester.
Permission of Department Chair
Every Fall
This is the second semester of a year-long commitment to an academic or creative project designed by a student. Under the guidance of a professor in the English and Journalism department, students will spend one semester writing about a topic of their choice. Projects may be academic or creative in nature. Students will present their Senior Honors Thesis before a board of professors in an oral defense known as Viva Voce. Successful completion of a Senior Honors Thesis will allow the student to graduate with "Departmental Distinction in Journalism." This component of the Senior Honors Thesis is begun in spring semester.
Permission of Department Chair
Every Spring
Students will work in a professional setting in the journalistic area of the student's choice, usually involving full- or part-time employment by a cooperating newspaper or magazine, radio or television station, advertising agency or public relations office. Open only to majors and minors. Arranged on an individual basis. Additional fees may apply.
Every Fall and Spring
Special Topics in Journalism.
Students will work in a professional setting in the journalistic area of the student's choice, usually involving full- or part-time employment by a cooperating newspaper or magazine, radio or television station, advertising agency or public relations office. Open only to majors and minors. Arranged on an individual basis. Additional fees may apply.
Every Fall and Spring