Welcome to the Journalism School

The MTSU School of Journalism offers an accredited four-year program to prepare students with both the professional and technical knowledge necessary to be successful in today’s, and tomorrow’s, work environment.

Courses are taught by academically distinguished and professionally experienced faculty that includes 20 full-time tenured and tenure-track professors. The School emphasizes the fundamentals—writing, reporting and ethics—along with contemporary topics such as social media, integrated marketing and entrepreneurialism.

The College of Mass Communication, of which the School of Journalism is a part, is preparing to launch a media convergence center that will bring together the University’s two campus radio stations, WMOT and WMTS, and the school newspaper, Sidelines, along with TV broadcasting facilities. With the center’s opening, the School will further expand its course offerings that emphasize the acquisition of digital multimedia skills.

Areas of Study

There are four concentrations within the school, each with its own core faculty:
• Advertising
• Journalism
• Public Relations
• Visual Communication

These sequences are designed to provide practical skills and experience in laboratory courses, fieldwork and internships while acquainting students with the history, theory, ethics, social responsibility and law of mass communication. Admission to the School requires candidacy in one of the concentrations.

The College of Mass Communication also offers graduate studies leading to a Master of Science degree in Mass Communication.

ACEJMC Accreditation

The College of Mass Communications and the School of Journalism are accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, the oldest and largest alliance of journalism and mass communication educators and administrators at the college level. The College completed its most recent re-accreditation process in Fall 2010.

Kappa Tau Alpha Chapter

The College of Mass Communication has received approval for a chapter of Kappa Tau Alpha, a national journalism and mass communication honor society. KTA is the seventh oldest national honor society and is dedicated to the encouragement and recognition of excellence in scholarship. KTA is awarded to students ranking in the top 10 percent of their junior, senior or graduate classes.

12 current and former MTSU Journalism students were inducted this year: 2012 inductees.

MTSU Poll

The MTSU Poll, sponsored by the Office of Communication Research, is a twice-yearly survey of public attitudes toward government, the media, lifestyles, and other topics of importance. Results of the poll receive wide publicity in area newspapers and broadcast media. Students serve as interviewers, and poll results are used in the classroom to demonstrate polling techniques and interpretation.
Visit the MTSU Poll Website.

Covering Islam Conference

The School received a $40,000 grant in 2011 from the McCormick Foundation to organize and host a conference and workshop for journalists who report on the topic of Islam in their communities. It took place at the First Amendment Center in Nashville Aug. 21-23. Featured speakers included John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, Dr. Lawrence Pintak, founding dean of The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University, and Asma Uddin, founder of altmuslimah.com. MTSU professor emeritus Ronald Messier also spoke, and MTSU Journalism assistant professor Jason Reineke presented survey results from the MTSU Poll.

Twenty-two journalists, primarily reporters and religion writers from newsrooms across the South, participated. The grant covered their travel, accommodations and tuition for the two-and-a-half day conference.

Video of most of the sessions is available to view at the conference’s website: CoveringIslam.com.