See It. Understand It. Write It. Nudge the World a Little
See It. Understand It. Write It. Nudge the World a Little
“If you can write,” said Byron Price, a longtime journalist and wartime PR guy, “write.”
That’s good advice for anyone, but especially for JCOM majors at USU.
There’s a reason. Many people can write (or do YouTubes or music videos or grocery flyers…), but those of us who really need to write really should do it. We owe it to ourselves—and to the rest of the society—to make our voices heard.
Why? Playwright Tom Stoppard saw it this way: “Words are sacred,” he said. “They make a difference. If you can get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.”
That’s what we’re all about in JCOM@USU. Nudging the world—and our students—a little. Or a lot.
The Journalism & Communication Department at Utah State is the largest in the College of HASS—more than 500 students who write, broadcast, video, webcast…who pay attention to the world and want to nudge it a little.
Because that’s what JCOM students learn to do. We engage with the world: Politics. Civic life. Entertainment and sports. Business. Puppies and economic trends. And more.
JCOM students watch the world. We engage with people and their puppies. We analyze the world. We cover the hell out of it. We report and question and shoot it (pix, not guns), and then we writewritewrite—for print and broadcast and the web—and try to help people make sense out of it.
The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association has called us “the best professionally oriented journalism program in Utah.” (This really annoyed BYU, by the way.) The mayor of Nibley, just down the road, emailed to thank our students for their coverage of issues in that community. For nine of the past 10 years, our Hard News Café online news“paper” has been named the best in the Intermountain West. The Statesman and our student TV newscast kick butt at the Society of Professional Journalists conference every year.
Why?
Because USU’s JCOM program is focused on the basics: thinking, writing, rethinking, rewriting, and getting the story straight, and telling it fast and accurately.
In that way, we nudge our students a little, and they learn how to nudge the world a little.
We do print journalism, broadcasting and public relations—but those labels don’t really mean that much anymore. In the age of new media, converged media and instant information, a “journalist” can be anyone with a cell phone and a laptop.
That’s why the training in the core values and ethical practice of journalism—which includes public relations and web—is so important today. JCOM students learn how to do journalism right.
Our recent (and older) grads will agree. Former students work at TV stations and video companies from Seattle to Miami. Writing students are reporting for newspapers and web outlets from LA to Bangor, Maine. Our PR students have landed jobs for agencies in Salt Lake and LA and with the Olympics. Other grads go on to law school or graduate work at Columbia, North Carolina, Indiana and Berkeley.
Students interested in journalism and PR must first pass a grammar test, and then complete three pre-major core classes: an intro class, media literacy, and an intensive newswriting bootcamp class.
Then you select a path through an array of coursework taught by former media professionals and some of the best scholars at USU to focus on writing, video or public relations, all in 30-36 credits. All JCOM majors also do at least a minor (18 cr.) in some other discipline—so you’ll know something about what you writewritewrite about.
Our writing students work with The Utah Statesman and our online Hard News Café to get their stuff published. Other print students intern or freelance with newspapers—The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News, the Ogden Standard Examiner and Logan Herald-Journal—and other print outlets. Video students produce USU’s own ATV-News (including the Cache Rendezvous and Kickin’ Aggie Sports Show), and intern at stations and companies in Salt Lake City, and in Idaho and other Western states.
Our PR students are the best in the state, winning statewide awards and working with clients like Microsoft, ChemDry, SCO Group, AM Todd, SEI Industries, Sonic Innovations and the Beaver Mountain ski resort. Through our PR agency, student connect with real-world clients and earn real-world money. In an e-mail, our MSN executive sponsor said, “Great job! . . . We intend to implement most of what your team has suggested.”
But to get that rep, you have to put in the work. JCOM professors come out of the real world, and are notoriously hard-nosed and demanding. They include former and current media professionals, a Pulitzer Prize juror, the Women & Gender Studies director, book authors, serious researchers, and active business professionals. They don’t like to waste their time, so come ready to work, and learn. See the JCOM website http://www.usu.edu/journalism/faculty for their bios and syllabi.
The JCOM Department occupies a lavish suite of office high atop the Animal Science Building, on the north side of the Quad. If the mass media interests you as a major, a minor, a career, or just to see what kind of crazy people are in charge of the media, come visit us on the web or in actual physical human person at 310 Animal Science. Or email department head Ted Pease at ted.pease@usu.edu.
Then, get ready to writewritewrite, and nudge the world a little. As one journalist said, “It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”
In this section
- Home
- The JCOM Department
- Academic Requirements
- Faculty and Staff
- Faculty Vitae
- Forms
- Analysis, Assessment and Accreditation
- News
Related Links
Contact Information
The Department of Journalism & Communication4605 Old Main Hill
Logan , UT 84322-4605
Location:
Animal Science 310
USU Logan Campus
Phone: (435) 797-3292
Fax: (435) 797-3973
E-mail: jcom[at]aggiemail.usu.edu