The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder has received unanimous approval for re-accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communications.
A five-person accrediting team visited the Boulder campus in January and determined that the School of Journalism was in compliance with all standards. The council voted unanimously to accept the team's recommendation for re-accreditation earlier this month.
"This process has been the ultimate exercise in public accountability," said Dean Paul S. Voakes. "It's easy to claim vaguely that you're an excellent school, but it's quite another thing to open your books, your resumes, your syllabi and your classrooms to a team of outside examiners and let them judge."
Tom Kunkel, dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park, led the on-site evaluation team. Other members included Scott Bosley, executive director, American Society of Newspaper Editors in Reston, Va.; Karen Brown Dunlap, president, Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, Fla.; Mary Alice Shaver, director, Nicholson School of Communication, University of Central Florida in Orlando; and S. Kittrell Rushing, head of the department of communication, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
The Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communications bases its evaluations on 12 standards: governance/administration, budget, curriculum, student records/advising, instruction/evaluation, faculty, internships and work experience, equipment/facilities, faculty scholarship/research and professional activities, public service, graduates/alumni and minority and female representation.
Strengths of the CU-Boulder program cited by the accrediting team included high-caliber instruction, an increasingly strong record of scholarship and creative activity, national reputations for the environmental journalism and media, religion and culture centers and enthusiastic, accomplished students.
The re-accreditation process for the school occurs every six years. Voakes said faculty and staff plan to focus on improvements in several areas prior to the next evaluation, such as developing a daily news outlet for news-editorial students, enhancing enrollment management of skills courses to accommodate new growth in the number of pre-journalism majors and continuing efforts to diversify the faculty, student body and curriculum.
During the previous re-accreditation process in 1998, the school was determined to be in compliance on 10 of the 12 standards. The two areas cited for improvement were facilities/equipment and governance/administration and the committee recommended a provisional accreditation.
University officials quickly moved to address the problem areas and the provisional status was lifted in 2000 following the school's relocation to the Armory building and changes in leadership positions.
The School of Journalism and Mass Communication is one of only two accredited programs in journalism in Colorado and the only one in the state to offer a full, integrated range of undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral studies.
Journalism classes were first taught in 1909 and the school was established in 1962. The program has been accredited since 1948 and has graduated thousands of students into journalism and advertising jobs in Colorado and around the nation.
For more information on the School of Journalism, call (303) 492-5007 or visit the Web site at .