College prepares for re-accreditation

Every six years, the College of Journalism and Communications seeks re-accreditation as part of the normal process required by the agency authorized to accredit professional programs in journalism and communications: the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communi- cations (ACEJMC).

Like similar groups in other professional fields such as business, law and medicine, ACEJMC reviews programs according to national standards agreed to by major journalism and communications educational and professional associations. ACEJMC may re-accredit a program, deny re-accreditation or place a program on provisional status. Provisional status means a program has deficiencies, but ACEJMC determined the deficiencies can be repaired within two years.

Accreditation represents a kind of “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.” There are about 460 journalism and communications programs in U.S. universities. ACEJMC has accredited only 107 programs, including one in Chile. Our College has been accredited continuously since 1950.

The College is currently finishing the second stage of the four-stage accrediting process: a visit to UF by a six-member ACEJMC site-visit team that includes educators and practitioners. The team writes a report and makes a recommendation to the national Accrediting Committee (stage three). The committee reviews team reports from all the programs visited during the year to be sure standards are applied fairly and equitably and makes a recommendation to the Accrediting Council, which will make a decision in May about the College’s re-accreditation (stage four).

Each stage is important. In some ways, however, the first stage, the self study, is the most important because it requires us to examine our programs in a systematic way, and it enables us to reflect on what we’re doing and plan for the future. Beginning in September 2004, a task force of administrators and other faculty, chaired by Executive Associate Dean John Wright , gathered information and evidence related to the nine accreditation standards. By August 2005, a draft of the complete self study was reviewed by the College faculty.

What have we learned about ourselves from looking at the past six years and how does our performance relate to our priorities and goals? Here are a few highlights:

  • The College continues to maintain a strong balance of faculty with professional experience and academic expertise. Despite losing a number of talented and dedicated faculty, mainly to retirements, the College has been able to hire successors who will continue our College’s strong tradition of preparing future professionals for the fields of journalism and communications.
  • In 2004-05, the College had 71 full-time faculty members, the highest number in our history. Thirty-one (43.7 percent) were women.
  • The faculty record of research and creative activities is stronger than ever. As a college within a major research university, this is an essential way in which we contribute to UF’s goal of becoming one of the top 10 public universities in the nation.
  • In fall 2005, of 25 faculty at the rank of professor, 12 (48 percent) are women and two (8 percent) are members of underrepresented groups. Six years ago, the College had 20 faculty at the rank of professor. Only three (15 percent) were women and none were members of underrepresented groups.
  • In 2005, the College has significantly improved its equipment availability for students, including computers, digital video-editing facilities and digital still cameras. Generous donors, especially our alumni, made this improvement possible.

During the self-study process, we developed a new way to survey alumni. This electronic system enables us to survey them more frequently and systematically about their satisfaction with their educational experience in the College. Alumni responses provide important feedback for improving all our curricula. Survey results so far indicate alumni are overwhelmingly positive about the quality of instruction and services offered to students in the College and about how well they were prepared for their careers, not only for the first year but for several years beyond that.

The self study underscores the value of our franchise in the University: Our main goal is to prepare future professionals for fields of journalism and communications, including preparing scholars/teachers who also will educate future generations of professionals for these fields. Our goal is to continue to do that at the highest levels of excellence possible.

We will let you know the outcome of the ACEJMC re-accreditation process. Meanwhile, we hope you’ll continue to keep us informed about what you value from your education here and how you are doing in your career.