Madison Mathews
Reporter
April 28, 2006
On April 21, Milligan College officially instated a minor in journalism within the academic program.
"It's been in the works for several months," said Associate Professor of Communications Jim Dahlman, who created the minor.
Dahlman drew up a proposal for the new program and presented it to the academic committee last semester. He continued to work on it and resubmitted it to Area Chair of Communicative Arts Dick Major and to the academic committee.
After this, the proposal was taken before the entire faculty. The final step in getting the minor instated was presenting it to the board of trustees, where it was finally given the green light.
The new journalism minor is "a 20-credit-hour minor that emphasizes skills and professional knowledge for students who are pursuing majors in other academic areas," according to the proposal.
Dahlman hopes that this will attract students who are interested in journalism but don't necessarily want to do it for a living. He also hopes that it will "give (students) flexibility," regarding those who want to add journalism classes to their major, Dahlman said.
The new minor seeks to "encourage more students to explore the work and the role of the press in a society without feeling compelled to abandon their main academic interests," the proposal states.
The proposed courses for the minor include: Reporting for Public Media (three credit hours); Specialty Reporting and Writing or Editing and Style (each three credit hours); The Press in Society (three credit hours); Feature Writing (three credit hours); Communications Laws and Ethics (three credit hours); Print Media Lab and/or completing an nnternship (each two credit hours); communications elective (three credit hours)
Press in Society is the only new course, which will be offered spring 2007. The course will focus on the history of journalism, especially in the United States, and will be taught by Dahlman and Tim Dillon, associate professor of history and humanities.
Junior English major Amanda Moore is the first person to take part in this new journalism minor.
"In the English program there's not a writing emphasis, so the new journalism minor creates a bridge for students who are incorporating writing into their career," Moore said. "It's helpful to have, especially for those who are considering going into editing."