Recent changes in the mass communication degree curriculum could be part of a larger revamp of the program. The change reduces the credit hours from 128 to 120. Library science, six social sciences and humanity hours and one approved elective hour will be eliminated.
Additionally, a digital branding course will replace media persuasion and audience analysis will replace advertising media analysis and planning for advertisement concentrations.
“It’s to strengthen our signature of political and public affairs and to emphasize the importance of technology,” said Manship School Dean Jerry Ceppos about the change.
According to Ceppos, every department of mass communication is examining the current curriculum to see if it can be strengthened.
The process of changing the curriculum has spanned two years and won’t be enacted until the 2013 fall semester, said Manship School Associate Dean Andrea Miller.
According to Miller, the majority of mass communication programs around the country already require only 120 credit hours, and the hour reduction will not water down the mass communication aspect of the degree – only electives and less significant areas.
“We are really just now coming in line with what our peer universities have already been doing,” Miller said.
The advertising sequence has adopted a new, digitally-focused curriculum, and the other concentrations – political communication, journalism and public relations – will try their hand at a new curriculum, which is currently under consideration from the faculty, Ceppos said.
Visual communication is being critiqued to see if changes are necessary, Ceppos said. The class is popular among students, so the faculty wants to ensure that its curriculum is up-to-date, he said.
Miller said media research will eventually be replaced by concentration-specific research classes – audience analysis being the advertising version.
“For example, in the journalism research class, we would teach journalists how to file freedom of information requests and data mining,” she said.
Ceppos said the changes in the curriculum are occurring at colleges around the country because mass communication professions are undergoing many changes. The massive changes are causing professionals in the field to take on more and different tasks, he said.
The Manship School wants to prepare students to work in the ever-changing industry, Ceppos said. Students should be able to work on every platform, whether it’s print, broadcast, the Internet or social media, he said.
The mass communication curriculum is not receiving a complete overhaul but rather a reinvigoration, Miller said. Miller said the new curriculum will ensure social media and digital aspects are infused in all classes – from introductory to capstone – to make sure they’re serving the needs of the industry.
“We’re doing a lot of things very well, but there are a few things we’d like to go in and tweak” she said.
 
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