J-School grad program to get new look

By Alissa Herbaly Coons
J-School Web Reporter
THE J-SCHOOL'S GRADUATE PROGRAM is getting a face lift. Once the surgery is complete, the program's elegant bare bones will emerge—wrinkles, superfluous classes, and one whole semester gone.

The changes are designed to improve the quality of graduate courses and offer more incentives for prospective graduate students to choose—and stay at—UM.

The four-semester program will be compressed and accelerated, so students can graduate within three semesters. Certain courses will be intensified, and the curriculum will start at a higher level. Academic advising and orientation will be improved, and financial assistance will be increased.

"As the profession has become more diverse, and because the talents, experience and goals of entering graduate students varies so widely, it makes sense to tailor the program to meet the students' needs and to expedite the degree program," Journalism Dean Jerry Brown said.

The current graduate program began in 1996 when Professor Clem Work was named director, and the School went from having an occasional graduate student in print to accepting 10 to 12 students in more formalized print, photo and broadcast emphases. Since 1997, 53 students have graduated with M.A.'s.

"The program has been cooking along pretty well," Work said. But, he said, the faculty has never taken a good, hard look at the program. In addition, grad students today seem more concerned about rising tuition costs and debt.

"Obviously, if students are more price-conscious and shopping around, they're more likely to go somewhere with teaching assistantships," he said.

Currently the School offers only two assistantships: one in photo and one in broadcast—which waive all tuition fees and give each assistant a $9,000 stipend. There are few scholarships, and none over $5,000.

"The financial incentives we can offer graduate students are minuscule," Work said. "If we want to continue to attract high-quality master's candidates and we don't have the money larger graduate programs have, then what do we do?"

He and four other journalism professors studying the issue consulted with current and former graduate students and scrutinized the program themselves to find some answers. Their proposed changes were approved at the annual faculty retreat at the end of January.

In addition to seeking new teaching assistantships and more private scholarship funding, the curriculum will change. Students will take 12 credits per semester instead of nine; they will start professional projects or theses at the end of their second semester instead of during their third; existing graduate courses will be strengthened; and mixed graduate/undergraduate classes will offer more challenging assignments to grad students instead of just more work.

"In order to accomplish that, we would start students out at a somewhat more sophisticated level."
To that end, the introductory reporting class J570 will no longer be offered as a part of the graduate program. Instead, students will have to complete the requirement before beginning their graduate studies, either in a special UM summer course, or through another accredited journalism program.

The summer course will be part of a "boot camp" designed to prepare students for the rigors of the new program, which will also include a more formal half-day academic orientation session in addition to the traditional welcome party at Work's house.

Another feature of the reorganized program will be a more customized journalism degree available to people who have media experience and want a master's in order to teach.

The new program should be in place by Fall 2004. This should allow enough time for UM's Graduate Council to approve class alterations, have support for a print teaching assistantship in place, and also give adequate notice to 2004 applicants about the updated program. Students already admitted to the school will graduate under the requirements of the year they enrolled.

Changes will continue as more funding is found for scholarships and possibly for an endowed chair to support a faculty position to teach media management, science and the environment, or online/new media.

"It's kind of like Emeril's," Work said, alluding to the flamboyant TV chef. "We're kicking it up a notch."

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