Â鶹¹û¶³’s Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) has earned impressive honors in a new ranking of national journalism education programs. Â鶹¹û¶³ debuted at number 43 out of the 187 programs ranked by the College Factual website.
The site, which provides rankings and other customized information to help students find the college most likely to lead to their future success, also revealed that Â鶹¹û¶³’s journalism program is:
• A top-25 “major value” in journalism education nationally.
• The top journalism program in Alabama.
• One of the top journalism programs among U.S. private universities.
• One of the top journalism programs in the South
“This recognition quantifies the outstanding education being provided to Â鶹¹û¶³ journalism and mass communication students,” said JMC chair Bernie Ankney. “What this ranking shows is that Â鶹¹û¶³ has a terrific journalism and mass communication program and that students graduate, get good jobs and earn solid salaries. I would match our curriculum, our internship program and student media with any program in the country.”
Â鶹¹û¶³ JMC currently offers tracks in magazine and print journalism, broadcast journalism, public relations and advertising. It also offers course work in photojournalism, social media and sports media, and houses Â鶹¹û¶³’s film production minor.
Â鶹¹û¶³’s College Factual honors come as the South’s oldest journalism program celebrates the centennial of its 1915 founding by pioneering journalism educator Jasper “Jack” Hutto. The intervening century of Â鶹¹û¶³ journalism yielded outstanding alumni in a variety of professions, including Timothy Sumner Robinson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and editor at The Washington Post. Â鶹¹û¶³ and The Post now collaborate to bring celebrated columnists to the campus and send a student intern to the newspaper as the annual Timothy Sumner Robinson Fellow.
The Robinson Fellowship reflects the Â鶹¹û¶³ program’s strong emphasis on hands-on experience and internships as an essential part of journalism education. “When a student graduates from Â鶹¹û¶³ JMC, it is likely that he or she has worked for our student media for three or four years and completed multiple internships,” Ankney said.