All students who declared a major in Journalism prior to the Fall 2010 semester must meet the Department’s core and liberal arts requirements, in addition to fulfilling the requirements of one of four sequences.

Core Courses

Basic Core – 12 credits
JOU 1111 Journalism and Society (3)
JOU 1196 Writing for Journalism (3) (Formerly JOU 1112)
JOU 1113 Audio-Visual Newsgathering (3)
JOU 1114 Design for Journalists (3)

Advanced Core – 6 credits
JOU 2101 Journalism Research (3)
JOU 3101 Journalism and the Law (3) (Formerly JOU 3196)

Studies Elective – 3 credits (CHOOSE ONE)
All courses in the 3700 range. 4 or 5 elective courses are offered each semester.
JOU 3702 Race and Racism in the News (3)
JOU 3703 History of Journalism (3)
JOU 3704 Ethical Issues in Journalism (3)
JOU 3705 Gender and American Mass Media (3)
JOU 3706 International News Communication (3)
JOU 3707 Visual Communication (3)

Department Capstone – 4 credits
JOU 4196 Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab (MURL) (3)

Liberal Arts Requirements – 21 credits
HIST 1101 US History to 1877 (3)
HIST 1102 US History Since 1877 (3)
POSC 1101 The American Political System (3)
POSC 2102 American State and Local Politics (3)

Choose ONE:
ECON 1001 Introduction to Economics (3)
ECON 1101 Macroeconomic Principles (3)
ECON 1103 Global Economic Issues (3)

Choose ONE:
STAT 2101 Statistical Methods and Concepts (3)
MATH 1013 Elements of Statistics (3)
PSYC 1167 Foundations in Statistical Methods (3)
SOC 1167 Social Statistics (3)

Choose ONE:
SOC 1176 Introduction to Sociology (3)
GUS 1021 Urban Society: Race, Class and Community (3)
GUS 1025 World Urban Patterns

Click here to see a list of all Department of Journalism course descriptions.

Sequences

All students who declared a major in Journalism prior to the Fall 2010 semester must fulfill the requirements of one of four sequences in order to graduate.

Broadcast Journalism

Students who wish to make a career in television and radio journalism as a reporter, anchor, news writer or producer should follow this course of study. Requirement Info.

Magazine

Students who hope to work in the magazine industry should pursue this course of study. Requirement Info.

News-Editorial

Students who wish to become reporters, editors and managers of newspapers and other newsgathering organizations should pursue this course of study. Requirement Info.

Photojournalism

Students who wish to make a career as a news photographer or as a photography editor should follow this course of study. Requirement Info.

Suggested Timeline for Four-Year Students

Suggested Timeline for Two-Year Transfer Students

Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab (MURL) Capstone

Journalism students interested in enrolling in the Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab (JOU 4196) must first complete all of the following courses. Students who register for MURL without having completed these requirements will be dropped from the class. Please note that students may choose whether to take MURL during their first OR second semester as a senior.

Prerequisite Courses for MURL

JOU 1111 Journalism and Society
JOU 1196 Writing for Journalism
JOU 1113 Audio/Video Newsgathering
JOU 1114 Design for Journalists
JOU 2101 Journalism Research

Sequence Courses that are required for MURL

*Additional sequence courses are required for graduation

Broadcast Journalism
JOU 2501 Broadcast News Writing
JOU 3501 Radio News Reporting
JOU 3502 TV News Reporting

Magazine
JOU 2301 Intro to Magazine Pub.
JOU 2396 Magazine Article Writing
And at least 1 of the two other magazine sequence requirements. (see list of options)

News-Ed
JOU 2201 Public Affairs Reporting
JOU 2202 Editing the News
And at least 1 advanced writing class (see list of options)

Photography
JOU 3401 Photography
JOU 3402 Photojournalism
JOU 3403 Documentary Photography

Number of Credits

To receive the degree of Bachelor of Arts, students must satisfactorily complete a minimum of 124 hours of credits in the University with at least 35 from the Department of Journalism. Students may count no more than 44 credits from within the Department towards their 124-hour total. Students are cautioned to plan their programs. Students with more than 44 credits in Journalism will need more than 124 credits to graduate, because students must satisfactorily complete 80 credits outside of Journalism. 65 of those 80 credits must come from CLA or CST.

Grades and Grade-Point Average

Students who are majors in the Department of Journalism must receive a grade of C or higher in all departmental courses that are to count towards the major. All students must maintain a grade-point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher to remain in good standing. Students who fall below a 2.0 average for a semester can be placed on probation and may be dismissed after two consecutive semesters with their grade-point average below 2.0.