The M.A. is a traditional academic program involving a minimum of 24 semester hours of course work plus a 6-hour thesis, for a minimum of 30 graduate hours. The thesis, an extensive and well-documented research paper, is designed to demonstrate that the student is capable of independent research on a meaningful topic under the supervision of a faculty committee. A minimum of 21 hours must be earned in graduate-level journalism and mass communications courses, including the basic M.A. core listed below. With the approval of the faculty advisor, the M.A. student may take 9 semester hours of course work outside the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. The M.A. degree is especially appropriate for those students with extensive professional experience in journalism and mass communications who are interested in teaching and/or research careers in mass communication and those who may want to pursue a doctorate.
Learning Outcomes
The three graduate programs of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications were named inconsistently, causing great confusion among students and applicants. We are changing the names of the three programs in a more consistent way:
Journalism and Mass Communications, M.M.C.
Journalism and Mass Communications, M.A.
Journalism and Mass Communications, Ph.D.
We are also making changes to the learning outcomes to reflect a new set of learning outcomes that the School crafted over the summer of 2016.
M.A. Name change from: Journalism to Journalism and Mass Comm.
Name changes are handled as follows: BOT-AA, BOT, CHE NOC and Notify SACS
NOTE: No learning outcomes will be approved through APPS as of yet. Learning outcomes are currently changed through the Assessment Plan Composer through OIRAA.
BOT approved 6/23/17.
CHE approved: 11/17/17
No SACS acknowledgement required.