It's been two years since UNM's journalism program withdrew its application for accreditation.
The accreditation board's report stated there were six problems the journalism program needed to address: governance, diversity, instruction, advisement, internships and alumni relations. Brad Hall, chair of the Communication & Journalism Department, said it won't budge on governance.
In 1992, the communication and journalism departments merged into one. The accreditation report states that it is unclear whether the journalism program has enough resources to fix the problems, because it shares a budget with the communication program.
Hall said the department won't separate the programs.
"That's why we withdrew in the first place," Hall said. "We're not going to split into two totally different departments."
Two years ago, the faculty voted on the issue and decided the merge was best for both programs, Hall said.
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More resources are available for the merged department than for two separate programs, Hall said. Some professors in the department teach courses for both the journalism and communication programs.
Recommendations were made for the journalism program, but not for the communication side.
The accreditation review board recommended changes in journalism advisement policies and instruction. Hall said the recommendations were not the reasons for the department's withdrawal, but it took the committee's advice.
"We've got an assignment where we divided the students up among the faculty to get a little closer advising," he said. "That's still in the process of being implemented."
Communication and journalism major Jean Peaslee was a work study employee in the department at the time of review.
She said she was worried for the department when it withdrew its application.
"It was really hard on everyone," she said. "It felt like we failed."
A lot of students were worried, she said, because they didn't understand what accreditation meant.
Peaslee said the loss made everyone realize accreditation existed.
"There was a real awareness among students and faculty about what accreditation was," she said.
An advisory panel of local professionals was created to meet with journalism faculty to help improve other areas of the department.
"I've met with them to get some of their concerns and to talk about some things that can be done for students," Hall said.
Internships, funding and alumni contact have been topics of discussion for the advisory panel.
The report stated the department should keep closer contact with alumni.
Hall said he has sent out a couple of newsletters, but it proved too costly.
"We are going to an online newsletter," he said. "We've been trying to get everybody's e-mail. That's a lot cheaper than sending out hundreds of thousands of newsletters through the mail."
Hall said finding adequate classroom space is a problem. He said funding has not been available for building renovations.
The original accreditation report brought up two issues regarding course instruction - lack of diversity and experienced faculty in the print track.
Ilia Rodriguez, associate professor of communication and journalism, was hired a year ago to meet both needs.
Rodriguez said accreditation could strengthen the program and its relations with other schools. She said there are schools that have problems with accreditation.
"It is not unlikely that programs have to reshape and redefine their goals in order to keep or meet their accreditation goals," she said.
Heidi Brown, a senior in communication and journalism, said a positive aspect of the accreditation review was the increase in faculty diversity and the number of journalism instructors.
Not every communication and journalism student is dissatisfied with the department, Brown said.
"There are students that believe in the faculty," she said.
Recommendations
1) Governance and administration: No advancements have been
made.
2) Advising: Mary Bibeau's duties were narrowed from department
adviser and administrative assistant to adviser only. She was given
her own office in the Communication & Journalism office.
3) Instruction: Ilia Rodriguez was hired for the print journalism track.
4) Internships: The department has hired someone whose duties
include finding internships for students starting in January. A
professional advisory board is working to create more internship
opportunities for students.
5) Alumni relations: An online newsletter is in the works and will be
sent to all alumni via e-mail.
6) Diversity: Ilia Rodriguez, a minority and a woman, was hired as an
associate professor for the print journalism track.
