Admission

The entering candidate must meet minimum requirements established by the Graduate School, and hold a bachelor’s degree in journalism, public relations, new media, print, broadcast journalism or in any other discipline. In the last case, the student must either take nine hours of leveling courses, determined by the department or pass placement examinations meeting department requirements.

Requirements

The Master of Arts degree in journalism requires thirty-six hours, thirty-three of which are course work and three of which are thesis or a major project. Available areas of degree concentration are public relations, news-editorial advertising, or critical studies. The maximum course load for journalism majors is 12 hours per semester, with approval of the Graduate Program Director.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Course Requirements
Journalism Core
JOU 5310	Research Methods in Mass Communication	3
JOU 5320	Theory of Mass Communication	3
JOU 5350	Seminar in Mass Communication (any topic)	3
JOU 5V99	Master's Thesis	3
or JOU 5388	Master's Project
Measurement or Statistics
Select three semester hours from the following:		3
PSY 5302	Measurement in Psychology
SOC 5303	Social Measurement and Causal Modeling
EDP 5334	Statistical Methods
Outside Graduate-Level Research
Select three semester hours from the following:		3
HIS 5370	Advanced Graduate Research and Writing
HIS 5367	Seminar in Oral History
PSC 5323	Research Design and Research Methods
Journalism Electives
Select 12 hours of graduate journalism courses, taken under advisement, from the following:		12
JOU 4315	Strategic Communications Research
JOU 4320	Advertising Management
JOU 4325	Advanced Editing
JOU 4350	Mass Media and Popular Culture
JOU 4340	Writing and Editing for On-Line Media
JOU 4359	History of Photography
JOU 4371	Public Relations Media Programming
JOU 4368	Advanced Public Relations
JOU 4398	Public Affairs Reporting
JOU 4380	Law and Ethics of Journalism (if not taken as an undergrad)
JOU 4390	Advertising and Public Relations Leadership
JOU 4V80	Radford Seminar (limit twice for total 6 hrs)
JOU 5350	Seminar in Mass Communication (may be repeated with different topic)
JOU 5365	Social Media for Strategic Communication and Journalism
JOU 5385	Data Analytics & Visualization
JOU 5389	Practicum in Journalism
JOU 5V90	Independent Study in Mass Communication
Minor Concentration
Select one of the following concentrations:		6
Public Relations Concentration
News Ed Concentration
Advertising Concentration
Critical Studies
Total Hours		36

Public Relations Concentration

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Concentration Requirements
Select 6 semester hours from the following:		6
JOU 4315	Strategic Communications Research
JOU 4371	Public Relations Media Programming
JOU 4368	Advanced Public Relations
JOU 4390	Advertising and Public Relations Leadership
JOU 5365	Social Media for Strategic Communication and Journalism
JOU 5385	Data Analytics & Visualization
JOU 5V90	Independent Study in Mass Communication
JOU 4V95	Special Studies
Total Hours		6

News Ed Concentration

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Concentration Requirements
Select 6 semester hours from the following:		6
JOU 4325	Advanced Editing
JOU 4340	Writing and Editing for On-Line Media
JOU 4359	History of Photography
JOU 4398	Public Affairs Reporting
JOU 5V90	Independent Study in Mass Communication
JOU 4V95	Special Studies
Total Hours		6

Advertising Concentration

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Concentration Requirements
Select 6 semester hours from the following:		6
JOU 4315	Strategic Communications Research
JOU 4320	Advertising Management
JOU 4390	Advertising and Public Relations Leadership
JOU 4V95	Special Studies
JOU 5365	Social Media for Strategic Communication and Journalism
JOU 5V90	Independent Study in Mass Communication
Total Hours		6

Critical Studies

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Concentration Requirements
Select 6 semester hours from the following:		6
JOU 4V95	Special Studies
CSS 4396	American Rhetoric
JOU 5V90	Independent Study in Mass Communication
JOU 4V95	Special Studies
Total Hours		6