Departments, Programs and Centers
Departments
Journalism & Public Relations
Faculty
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- Chair: Bjork, U. Jonas, Professor
- Professors: Lamb, Chris; Moran, Malcolm
- Professor of Practice: Hetrick, Bruce
- Assistant Professors: Laucella, Pamela C., Academic Director-National Sports Journalism Center
- Lecturer: Vincent, Julie
***On July 1, 2014 the School of Journalism merged with the School of Liberal Arts and became the Department of Journalism and Public Relations. Degree requirements were not impacted for students beginning fall 2014, spring 2015, or summer 2015.
See the School of Liberal Arts for Journalism and Public Relations degree requirements effective fall 2015.
Mission
The mission of the Department of Journalism and Public Relations in the IU School of Liberal Arts is to explore and to help students explore the institutions, procedures, professional skills, and audiences of journalism and mass communication. Our subject is how the media mediate, and what this process of mediation means for public life in America and around the world.
This mission is both an academic and a professional one; it is about learning, teaching, and doing. To this end, we are committed to scholarly research in journalism and mass communication, to liberal education in the arts and sciences, and to professional training in media work.
The Mission of the Baccalaureate Program
The mission of the baccalaureate program of the Department of Journalism and Public Relations is to help students learn to read, think, and communicate clearly, critically, and creatively. The school is committed to liberal education in the arts and sciences, as well as to professional training in the skills of journalism and mass communication. The school believes that both breadth and depth of learning must characterize the undergraduate experience. To this end, the Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree emphasizes:
- development of basic skills in writing, critical thinking, independent learning, mathematics, foreign language, computers, and new information technologies
- exposure to a broad range of course work in the disciplines of the liberal arts and sciences
- study of human cultures outside the United States, and of selected minority cultures within the United States
- training in statistical analysis, and quantitative and qualitative research methods; training in the professional skills of journalism and mass communication, including reporting, writing, editing, visual communication, new communications technology, and collaborative group work
- study of the institutions, processes, and effects of mass media in society
- study in depth of a field or discipline in the arts and sciences, other than journalism and mass communications
- preparation for a lifetime of learning
The journalism curriculum helps students prepare to be effective communicators regardless of their chosen profession. For example, strong communication skills are essential for careers in law, business, and public affairs. Careers in newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, online journalism, sports journalism, public relations, and advertising are as important to our society as ever. The Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree also prepares students for graduate studies.
History
Indiana University, established in 1820 as a tiny seminary in Bloomington, eventually became one of the first state universities to teach journalism. Instruction began in 1893 with three students in the first class. Classes in writing and reporting were taught at intervals during the next few years, supplementing the students' liberal arts background in English, history and economics.
A Department of Journalism was established in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1911, although students could not major in journalism until 1932. Professor Joseph Piercy was named as the first head of the department and served until 1938.
John E. Stempel followed Piercy as the head of the department. Under Stempel's leadership from 1938 until his retirement in 1968, the program moved to its current building, Ernie Pyle Hall.
Journalism began offering a master's degree in the 1920s and a doctoral degree in mass communication in 1966. The first Ph.D. was granted in 1971.
Richard G. Gray became chairman of the department in 1968. He led the program through a shift in the curriculum from a mainly professional orientation to one that balances instruction in the skills of writing, visual communication, reporting, and editing with instruction in the history, economics, law, responsibilities, and ethics of journalism. That core curriculum remains, although new technologies of mass communication and converging media have changed the mode of instruction and the content of some courses.
In 1974, the department became a school, but remained within the College of Arts and Sciences. The school became systemwide in the 1980s, responsible for the coordination of journalism education on all eight campuses. Gray became dean and, alongside associate dean James Brown in Indianapolis, established the School of Journalism as an independent unit in 198
After the death of Gray in 1984, Trevor R. Brown became interim dean and was named dean the next year. In 1989, the school separated from the College of Arts and Sciences. Since 1990, students on both the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses enroll in the Bachelor of Arts in Journalism (B.A.J.) program. Following Trevor Brown's retirement in 2005, Bradley Hamm was appointed dean.
The Indianapolis program established a Master's Degree in Publications in 2008 and a Master's Degree in Journalism in 2010. After James Brown retired in 2010, Dan Drew was appointed interm executive associate Dean. Drew served until his retirement in 2013. Jonas Bjork is was then named the Associate Dean at the School of Journalism in Indianapolis.
In July of 2014, the School of Journalism at IUPUI became a department in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI and was named the Department of Journalism and Public Relations. Jonas Bjork was retained to chair the department.
Contact Information
Department of Journalism and Public Relations 755 W. Michigan Street University Library, 3rd floor Indianapolis, IN 46202 (317) 278-5320