The JCOM Department

Welcome to the web pages of the Department of Journalism and Communication at Utah State University . Inside, you will find information about the bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at USU, with its concentration areas in

• broadcasting and electronic media,
• print journalism, and
• public relations/corporate communications.

You'll meet the JCOM faculty—11 media professionals and scholars, plus several working professionals who serve as adjunct instructors. You can review course syllabi and requirements. And you can tour the department through photo pages, websites and other features showcasing how the JCOM program at USU focuses on staying . . .

Informed & Engaged in the World

That's the goal for JCOM majors at Utah State University . Our students learn to navigate the Information Age as skilled professionals in fields of newspaper and magazine journalism, broadcasting and electronic media, and public relations/corporate communications. The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association calls us “the best professionally oriented journalism program in Utah .”

The JCOM Department motto is: “Dedicated to free expression and mutual understanding in the information age.” What that implies is a role for journalists and other communication and media professionals in defending the constitutional liberties outlined in the First Amendment, and in wielding those liberties responsibly in a society linked my information channels.

The department's mission statement further outlines the goals for students enrolled in our classes:

USU JCOM Mission Statement
The mission of the Department of Journalism & Communication at Utah State University is to prepare students to be informed, skilled, responsible and effective producers and consumers of journalism and other mass media messages, within the larger context of a broad liberal arts education. To that end, the department has these goals:

• To educate students in a broad range of skills and concepts involving the gathering, editing and presentation of information, along with evaluating the effects of public communication.
• To prepare students for careers in journalism and mass communication.
• To teach students how to prepare, produce and disseminate mass media messages, and how to evaluate the effectiveness of those messages.
• To educate students about the mass media and their roles in society.
• To teach students how to be critical and informed consumers of the mass media.
• To contribute to the body of knowledge about mass media and society.
• To extend that knowledge to the people of Utah and beyond.

(Adopted Feb. 4, 2004 )

Even before our students graduate, many work as professional interns for news media (such as The Deseret Morning News, KSL-TV, National Geographic, The Logan Herald-Journal, KTVX-TV and KUTV, and The Salt Lake Tribune ), for businesses and non-profits (like USU Athletics, the Cache Chamber of Commerce, NASA, the Cache Humane Society, and the Richter7 agency in Salt Lake City), and in politics (on state and local political campaigns, with U.S. senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, with the Utah State Legislature or as lobbyists).

Beyond excellent hands-on professional training in mass communication, JCOM majors also learn how to think critically within the rich context of a broad liberal arts education. That means that our students are skilled media professionals who do their work thoughtfully, humanely, ethically and with an understanding of the impact, responsibilities and implications of the mass media in today's society. If JCOM coursework is the “pencil,” what our students deliver through the various mass media—the message—is found in second majors or a required minor in disciplines from business to political science and history to natural resources. About three-quarters of all coursework is taken outside of the JCOM department.

Our 500+ undergraduate students focus their hands-on experience and courses from across the curriculum on real-world jobs, gaining the professional skills and intellectual flexibility they will need to survive and thrive among the fittest in today's fast-changing communications environment.

Our faculty are veteran mass media professionals and nationally recognized scholars who have worked in newspapers, as PR professionals and across the mass media. The faculty are former and current newspaper journalists, editors, TV producers, public relations practitioners and Web designers. More than just teachers and researchers, our faculty connect one-on-one with their students.

Together, we do good work.