General journalism major simplifies options for students
A general journalism major, available since 2004, has replaced the 30-year-old system of journalism concentrations.
Previously, undergraduates majored in reporting, editing, photojournalism, magazine or online media. Current students were grandfathered in and can choose to stick with their old majors or switch to the new one, but newcomers can only follow the new tracking. Among the College’s four departments, only telecommunication still offers separate focuses – in news, production and operations.
This may not be a national trend. The journalism programs at Syracuse University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for instance, still offer separate tracks for undergraduate journalism students.
The strict sequences in UF’s old journalism system often made it difficult to get through the program in a timely fashion, due to the high number of students seeking the same courses at the same time, department Chair William McKeen said. “We think it’s a better approach. They’re the same classes, but they’re just in a different configuration.”
Students must choose a senior-level “capstone course” from eight options, such as Public Affairs Reporting, which used to be part of the reporting and editing tracks.
Senior Jennifer Zei became a reporting major to “follow [in her] parents’ footsteps.” When she heard about the new major, however, she jumped at the chance to explore a variety of areas in journalism.
The new system reflects the media’s evolution, said Prof. Julie Dodd, who headed the curriculum committee that recommended the change. It gives students the chance to build an “array of skill sets.”
Boston Globe Staff Photographer Essdras Suarez, JM 1993, who focused on photojournalism, believes the new system will expose students to different ways of communicating.
“After having been out in the world for over a decade, I tell you that it helps to have a strong journalism background, even as a photographer,” he said in an e-mail, “because in the end, you really are a journalist who documents with a different tool, your camera.”
– Katharine Merola
