College of Journalism and Communications

www.jou.ufl.edu
 

        The College of Journalism and Communications provides accredited curricula leading to bachelor’s degrees in four areas: advertising, journalism, public relations and telecommunication. The college also offers programs leading to the master’s degree and Ph.D. degree, both in mass communication.

        The undergraduate and master’s programs of the college are accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The curricula, faculty, facilities and alumni achievements are evaluated regularly by the ACEJMC.

        The divisions of the college are as follows:

Professional and Honorary Organizations

        Ten national professional and honorary organiza-tions select members from undergraduates in the col-lege:

The college is represented in these professional groups: Scholarships and Assistantships

        The college’s Knight Center for Scholarships, Placement and Multicultural Affairs provides under-graduates information about scholarships and assistant-ships, internships and placement services as well as information about the college’s minority recruitment and retention activities.

        College-awarded scholarships are need based as well as academic based. The deadline for applying is March 1. The Knight Center publishes a monthly job bulletin, a monthly internship bulletin and provides students with additional placement services. Minority students interested in specific information regarding minority student services should contact the Knight Center director. For information on any of the Knight Center services, please write PO Box 118400, College of Journalism and Communications, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400.

Communication Research Center

        For information about research activities and serv-ices of the college, please write the Director, Commu-nication Research Center, PO Box 118400, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400.

Majors, Specializations and Minors
 
 
 
 
Major/Specialization  Minor Degree Awarded Total Credits
Advertising No BS 124
Journalism 
     Editing 
     Magazines 
     Photojournalism 
     Reporting
No BS 124
Mass Communication   MA PhD  
Mass Communication Studies Yes    
Public Relations 
    Technical 
    Communications
No BS 124
Telecommunication 
    News 
    Production 
    Operations
No BS 124

 
 

Journalism for Teachers

        Special training and supervised research are avail-able for journalism teachers and others interested in working at the high school level.

        Students seeking state certification in journal-ism should contact the Department of Journalism or the Office of Student Services, College of Education.

        The state headquarters of the Florida Scholastic Press Association is located in the College of Journalism and Communications.  The executive secretary of the association is a member of the faculty. A summer institute for high school teachers and journalists is conducted in cooperation with the Division of Continuing Education.

Journalism Education

        Students take core courses, an area in methods of teaching journalism, 26 hours of education courses and a minor in English or speech. Students seeking state certification in language arts should contact the De-partment of Journalism.

        Any professional work beyond 34 hours must be added to the 124 hours required for graduation, unless a student has earned 90 credit hours of non-college work.

Mass Communication Studies Minor

        This minor is open only to non-College of Journal-ism and Communications majors and consists of a minimum of 15 credits, nine of which must be com-pleted at UF. Applicants must have a 2.5 or greater cumulative grade point average. The following courses are required:

        All courses for the minor must be completed with a grade of C or better; S-U grades are not acceptable.

Admission to the College

        Journalism and Communications is a limited ad-missions college; all applicants will be considered on a space-available basis. A grade point average of 2.7 (on all work attempted) and 60 hours of acceptable credit are required for automatic admission at the junior year. Students should have completed the university’s gen-eral education requirement.

        Students with averages below 2.7 may petition for admission. Petitions are available from the Student Services Office, 1000 Weimer Hall. Petitions from students who have completed the college’s quantitative option or foreign language re-quirement will be given preference.

        Students who fall below academic standards will be listed as off track for their major and will be flagged. These students must consult the advising staff in 1000 Weimer Hall, or the student may choose to go to the Academic Advising Center. Progress must be made toward final admission into the degree program and college.

Universal Tracking Criteria

        To remain in good standing in the college, majors must meet these minimum criteria after each semester during the freshman and sophomore years.  Critical tracking courses include:

Transfer Students

        To be eligible for admission to this college, a trans-fer student must satisfy the minimum requirements for admission to the college as stated in the Admissions section of this catalog. This includes all prerequisite tracking courses (listed above). All applicants must have completed two years of a foreign language in secondary school or 8-10 semester hours at the post-secondary level, or document an equivalent level of proficiency.

        Students must complete at least 60 hours of 3000 or 4000-level courses at the University of Florida or other four-year institutions.

Postbaccalaureate Programs

        Programs of study in all undergraduate areas are available for students seeking a second bachelor’s degree. Admission standards are the same as students seeking admission at 60 hours.

Graduate Degrees

        The College of Journalism and Commu-nications, through the Graduate School, offers pro-grams leading to the Master of Arts in Mass Communi-cation and the Doctor of Philosophy. Graduate work is offered with specializations in advertising, communi-cation research, international communication, journal-ism, political campaigning, public relations or telecommunication. Consult the Graduate Catalog.

Academic Advising

        The college maintains an advising service for pro-spective majors through the Office of Student Services. Upon admission to the college each student is assigned an adviser for the remainder of his or her stay in the college. Students may change advisers by consulting their department chair.

        Academic advisement manuals called Survival! books are available for all four majors: advertising, journalism, public relations and telecommunication. These may be purchased at the University Bookstore (Hub) for $4. They are listed under MMC 2100 or RTV 2100.

        Students may write for a copy from the Dean of Students Office, College of Journalism and Commu-nications, Box 118400, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400. Enclose a check for $4 made out to the University of Florida Foundation.

Typing Ability and PC Skills

        All students entering the college must be able to type and operate a personal computer; laboratory assignments are completed on personal computers. Students are expected to type 20 words per minute before enrolling in MMC 2100* or RTV 2100 and 30 words per minute for selected advanced courses.

*MMC 2100 Writing for Mass Communication 3

        Telecommunication majors must take its equiva-lent, RTV 2100, Writing for Electronic Media. Entry into the broadcast news sequence is limited to students in the Department of Telecommunication who have passed a typing exam and a test to evaluate their writ-ing ability.

        Contact the department office to determine when typing and writing tests are given. Both courses require students to have a typing proficiency of at least 20 words per minute or personal computer skills. Students who pass a proficiency exam in writing given by the college may be exempted from and earn credit for MMC 2100. MMC 2100 is a Gordon Rule writing course.

College Requirements

Student Responsibility

        The most important fact a student can remember about academic advising is that he or she is responsible for earning a degree. While the college maintains an academic advisory service and carefully works to keep accurate student records, the student personally is responsible for meeting all degree requirements.

        Therefore, a careful reading of these requirements is advised, and each student is urged to visit an adviser at least once each semester to review his or her prog-ress. Computerized universal tracking audits indicating each student’s academic progress are mailed to stu-dents in the fall and spring semesters.

Computer Requirement

        Computer requirements vary by major and may change. In general, students need access to and ongoing use of a near state-of-the-art computer capable of Internet access, printing to paper and running recent versions of software for word processing, graphical web browsing, database operations, statistics analysis and presentations. Some students, depending on course work, will need computers capable of desktop pub-lishing, digital photo editing, web design and audio/ video editing.

        Refer to the university’s home page at http:// www.ufl.edu or to the CIRCA home page at http://www.circa.ufl.edu/computers for general com-puter computer information as well as a link to the college’s web page for specific requirements for each program.

Transfer Credit

        Students may transfer up to 60 semester hours from a community college. Hours taken over 60 may meet certain requirements but will not count toward gradua-tion. After 60 hours, credit taken as a transient student at another university can be transferred to UF. Permis-sion to take transfer work after a student has earned 90 credits must be received by filing a petition in 1000 Weimer Hall. Professional courses required for one’s major generally cannot be taken at other schools.

Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory Option

        Undergraduate students in the college may take no courses designated ADV, FIL, JOU, MMC, PUR or RTV under the Satisfactory-Unsatisfactory (S-U) option, except courses which are offered only for an S-U grade.

        Students are encouraged to take elective courses outside the college on an S-U basis, subject to univer-sity rules published in the Academic Regulations sec-tion of this catalog.

        Once the S-U option is approved, students may not elect to convert to a letter-grade. Gordon Rule courses may not be taken S-U. While no required course may be taken under the S-U option, courses for outside concentration credit may be taken with the following restrictions (in addition to university restrictions):

Probation and Suspension

        A junior or senior will be placed on college proba-tion if he or she fails to maintain a 2.0 overall average and a 2.0 professional average. A student will be sus-pended if either or both of these averages fall below a 2.0 GPA for two consecutive terms. Students on col-lege suspension must successfully petition the college admissions and petitions committee for reinstatement.

        Freshmen and sophomores follow the university probation and dismissal policies, as stated in the Aca-demic Regulations section of this catalog.

Dropping Courses

        The college follows university guidelines for drop-ping courses. After the first week of classes, a student is entitled to two drops provided that he or she does not fall below nine credit hours and is not on proba-tion.

        Petitions to drop courses beyond the first two will be approved only when circumstances beyond the student’s control prevent the satisfactory comple-tion of a course.

        In all cases, students must file the petition with the Student Services Office, 1000 Weimer Hall. All peti-tions petitions must be submitted before the deadline. After these dates, all petitions are processed through the University Senate Committee on Student Petitions in 222 Criser Hall.

Correspondence Study

        No student enrolled in this college can receive credit for a required professional course in the major through correspondence study.

Foreign Language Proficiency or Quantitative Option Requirement

        This requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency or completing college-level credits in a single foreign language. Students who elect the foreign language option may meet the requirement by success-fully completing the second or third beginning-level course in one foreign language.

        This is not a credit hour requirement, but a profi-ciency requirement. The requirement may be met by earning a grade of C or better or a grade of S in the terminal course of a UF 1000-level foreign language sequence.

        Transfer students who plan to continue the study of a language that they began at another institution must take a placement test before registering. If minimum proficiency in a foreign language is demonstrated by examination, this will satisfy the foreign language requirement, although no credit will be granted.

        Students who transfer fewer than 10 semester hours in one foreign language to the university should contact the foreign language department (Romance Languages, 170 Dauer; Germanic and Slavic Languages, 261 Dauer) immediately to take the placement exam. The exam either places the student into the correct course in the sequence or out of the requirement. In either case, students do not receive college credit for performance on the placement exam.

        Students who place out of the requirement must be sure to have a letter of proficiency sent to the Student Services Office, 1000 Weimer Hall.
        OR
        Take any three of the following courses: ACG 2021C, ACG 2071, STA 2122 or STA 2023, STA 3024, STA 4222, CGS 2420, CGS 2531, CGS 2532, CGS 3403, CGS 3460 or CGS 3462.

        Statistics and computer courses listed under the quantitative option can apply three hours toward the general education mathematical sciences requirement.
        OR
        Complete two college semesters of American Sign Language.

Professional Limit

        The college stresses a broad background in liberal arts and sciences. The student spends about three-fourths of his or her time on general background courses. The remaining one-fourth involves the devel-opment of professional techniques in relation to this background knowledge.

        Because the college insists on this broad back-ground of general education, the number of profes-sional credits applied toward graduation is limited. The college permits 34 professional credits (ADV, FIL, JOU, MMC, PUR and RTV) to be applied toward graduation.

        Professional courses as defined by the college and accepted by transfer are counted toward the 34 total credits. A student must earn a minimum of 90 hours of non-college courses as part of the 124 hours required. (Sixty-five semester hours must be in liberal arts and sciences.) You can apply no more than six hours of activity courses in the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences.

Outside Concentration

        A portion of the student’s required 90 credit hours from outside the college must constitute an outside concentration.
The outside concentration for the college is 12 hours in one academic department or an approved area of study, as recommended by the department to meet specific career goals. In either option, 9 of the 12 hours must be at the 3000-level or above, unless they are prerequisites. Courses used to fulfill the outside con-centration cannot be used to meet other requirements.

Minors

        Students in this college can elect a minor in lieu of the outside concentration. To initiate a minor and obtain the courses required, the student must contact 100 Academic Advising Center.

        Minors are available in the following subjects: ac-tuarial science, African studies, Anthropology, applied and professional ethics, Arabic, Asian studies and astronomy; botany; chemistry, classical studies, com-puter and information sciences, communication studies (speech), communication sciences and disorders and criminology; East Asian languages and literatures, economics and English; French; geography, geology, German and gerontology; history; Jewish studies; Latin American studies and linguistics; mathematics; phi-losophy, physics and Portuguese; religion and Russian; sociology, Spanish and statistics; women’s studies and zoology.

        Students can also minor in business adminis-tration. Information is available in 100 Stuzin Hall. Other minors are available in agriculture (1001 McCarty), education (134-E Norman), fine arts (101 Fine Arts A) and health and human performance (203 Florida Gym).

Internships

        Many students earn credits by serving internships. Students are urged to use their elective hours within the college for this purpose. All students in all departments must work ten hours per week for each hour of credit. Internship credit can be repeated with change of as-signment for a maximum of four credits.

Second Degree

        Students wishing to specialize in more than one field can earn a second bachelor’s degree in this col-lege by completing an additional 30 credits of work, with the necessary qualitative and residence require-ments.

Graduation Requirements

To earn a bachelor’s degree, a student must:

        Grades of C or higher are also required in ADV 3000 Elements of Advertising, JOU 3101 Reporting, RTV 3000 Introduction to Telecommu-nication, RTV 3304 Radio News 1, RTV 3301C TV News 1, and PUR 3000 Principles of Public Relations, PUR 3101 Editing and Graphics, PUR 3500 Public Relations Research, and PUR 4100 Public Relations Writing for majors in those re-spective areas. Students earning below a C must retake the course or its equivalent.

Dean’s List and Graduation with Honors

        Students in the college qualify for the Dean’s List if they complete at least 12 semester hours with a minimum 3.5 grade point average and have no grades of I, N or U. Certificates of recognition are issued by the Student Services Office in 1000 Weimer Hall.

        Grade point standards for any type of honors refer to both overall junior/senior level and professional courses averages. Undergraduate students achieving grade point averages of 3.50 while in this college will graduate with honors.
The college student evaluation committee will con-sider awarding high honors or highest honors to stu-dents who evidence superior scholarship (at least 3.60 on all work attempted while students in this college) and who can demonstrate professional competency.

        Evidence of scholastic superiority should be sup-ported by at least two letters from former or current instructors. Students graduating with high (3.6 mini-mum) or highest honors (3.8 minimum) must also submit a thesis, a research project or a body of creative work for committee evaluation and recommendation.

        Students who believe their final overall, in-college grade point average will be at least 3.60 may apply for high or highest honors. Students should confer with their department honors adviser. The college’s student evaluation committee in consultation with pertinent faculty will judge the quality of the work submitted.
 
 
 
 

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