Communication and Journalism Department offers new major and minor, new courses, group advising sessions
Effective with the fall 2008 semester, UST’s Communication and Journalism Department will offer one COJO major and minor, and two new foundational courses.
Students who are interested in studying fields such as advertising, corporate communication, digital and electronic media production, journalism (in print, broadcast and Web-based organizations), organizational communication, public relations, and rhetoric and speech will benefit from the new major and minor, which will allow students more flexibility to tailor their program of courses to their professional interests and educational goals.
Before pre-registering for summer and fall 2008 courses, students are invited to attend one of four group advising sessions in Room 303, O'Shaughnessy Educational Center:
- 12:15 to 1 p.m. Monday, April 7
- 12 to 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 8
- 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 9
- 5:15 to 6 p.m. Thursday, April 10
The sessions will cover a number of questions, such as: Who should declare the new COJO major or minor? Who should stick to an already declared JOUR or COMM major or minor? Which JOUR or COMM classes can be substituted toward the new COJO major and minor?
As they prepare for the April pre-registration period, COJO students and their academic advisers also should note the following items:
All courses formerly labeled with a COMM or JOUR prefix will be offered under the new COJO prefix for the fall 2008 semester. All COJO courses can be found under “COJO – Comm. and Journalism” in the online Class Finder program. For the summer 2008 terms, courses still will be found under the old COMM and JOUR prefixes. A list showing old COMM and JOUR courses and their new COJO equivalents are available online.
- Students who have completed four or more courses toward a COMM or JOUR major should stay on those programs, but students who have completed three or fewer courses should consider declaring the new COJO major. Pdfs listing the requirements of the new major and minor are available online.
- The new COJO major will require completion of 11 courses, or 44 credits, but will not require completion of a minor or double major in an outside department. Only current JOUR majors who stay on their existing major programs in Advertising, Broadcast Journalism, Media Studies, Print Journalism and Public Relations still must complete an outside minor or double major.
- COJO majors will not be allowed to count COJO 100 Public Speaking or COJO 105 Communication in the Workplace as part of the 11-course major. COJO minors may count one of those two courses as one of the five courses required for the minor.
- COMM 480 Capstone Course in Communication and JOUR 480: Media Ethics will no longer be offered. Currently declared COMM and JOUR majors instead should enroll in COJO 480 Communication Ethics during their final semester. Students who currently are declared as double-majors in COMM and JOUR should complete COJO 480 Communication Ethics in place of JOUR 480 Media Ethics and then refer to the COJO Web site for a list of courses that can be substituted during 2008-2009 for COMM 480 Capstone Course in Communication. COJO 480 cannot be counted as both COMM 480 and JOUR 480 by double-majors.
- COJO 111 Communication and Citizenship will debut in the fall 2008 semester. Team-taught by professors Carol Bruess, Kris Bunton, Tom Connery and Wendy Wyatt, the course will offer spaces for 160 students per semester and meet from 3:25 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Students who cannot enroll in the course during that time period may take it during January Term or summer session.) The large section is intended to create a COJO community and allow students to work in teams of many sizes. The course, which will stress the relationship of all forms of communication to the public realm, hopes to develop students’ sense of their own agency in the communication process and will include a significant service learning component at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. JOUR 100 Mass Communication and Society will no longer be offered.
- COJO 112 Public Communication: Speaking and Writing also will debut in the fall 2008 semester. Taught in sections of 16 students each, the course will stress essential writing and public speaking skills needed to communicate with academic, professional and citizen audiences. Writing and speaking skills will be paired to teach thoughtful, professional and ethical communication. Multiple sections of the course will be offered every fall and spring semester, and at least one section will be offered each January Tterm and summer session. COJO 112 may be taken concurrently with COJO 111. JOUR 110 Media Writing and Information Gathering will no longer be offered.
- JOUR 445 Advertising Campaign Strategies and JOUR 450 Advanced Public Relations will no longer be offered. Seniors who are JOAD and JOPR majors and minors should enroll in the new combined course, COJO 470 Advertising and Public Relations Campaigns, which better reflects the integrated nature of strategic communication today.
- JOUR 240 Advertising Principles and JOUR 250 Public Relations Principles will no longer be offered. Students who are JOAD and JOPR majors and minors should enroll in the new combined course, COJO 234 Principles of Advertising and Public Relations, which is also designed to reflect today’s integrated strategic communication field.
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itional information about COJO’s new courses, or major and minor is available online.
