UA Journalism Department Launches Two Dual-Degree Grad Programs
Gabriela Renteria-Poepsel, left, interviews a student at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. Renteria-Poepsel, a journalism major, was a member of a team of UA students who visited Puerto Rico in 2007 as part of the UA's international journalism program.
The department will begin offering master's degree programs in collaboration with Near Eastern studies and the Center for Latin American Studies.
This fall, The University of Arizona will begin teaching journalism skills to students interested in covering two critically important areas of the world.
The journalism department has launched two dual-degree master's programs in separate partnerships with the department of Near Eastern studies and the Center for Latin American Studies.
Students who complete the programs will receive a master's in journalism plus a master's in either Near Eastern studies or Latin Americans studies. Applications are now being accepted.
The program in journalism and Near Eastern studies was crafted in consultation with faculty from the UA Center for Middle Eastern Studies, one of only a handful of Title VI centers supported by the U.S. Department of Education, and will give students an appreciation of the great strategic, cultural and economic importance of the region, said Jacqueline Sharkey, journalism department head.
“The Journalism-Near Eastern Studies dual-degree program will provide students with an intellectual foundation in regional studies, language, and advanced research techniques and an opportunity to build on this foundation with applied field work,” said Sharkey. “Well-trained journalists with language competency and regional experience will be able to make crucial contributions to the understanding of these issues and their impact on the people and government of the United States.”
The dual master’s degree in journalism and Latin American studies responds to the demand in the news media and other information industries for students who have done applied research in a multicultural context. “News reports about contemporary issues involving the United States and Latin America illustrate clearly how providing journalists with a cross-cultural education can affect decisions about how information is selected and utilized in news dispatches,” Sharkey said.
News of the initiative follows an announcement in late November that the journalism department had reopened admission to its graduate program.
The journalism courses will be taught by faculty members who have extensive experience as working journalists. Linda Lumsden, an assistant professor of journalism who specializes in journalism history, is the director of graduate studies.
The UA journalism department is one of the few in the nation that focuses solely on journalism and does not offer courses in advertising or public relations. Faculty members teaching in the graduate program include a national teaching award winner, an internationally renowned photojournalist and the leader of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation.
Raúl Saba, associate director of the Center for Latin American Studies, says the collaboration with journalism continues a longstanding relationship with the department. “CLAS looks forward to this new partnership with the department of journalism, which is the culmination of a long-term collaborative relationship we have had with them for over 30 years and the beginning of a new endeavor to internationalize graduate education.”
Leila Hudson, director of graduate studies in the department of Near Eastern studies, calls the partnership with journalism unique. “It addresses a critical need for accurate, farsighted, historically nuanced international reporting,” she said.
The UA journalism department has been accredited for more than 40 years by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, a non-profit, educational association of journalism and mass communication professionals.
Prospective students must be accepted by the UA department of journalism and either Near Eastern studies or Latin American studies. A description on the journalism/Latin American studies graduate program, including requirements and course descriptions, may be found at http://journalism.arizona.edu/news/LASdescription.pdf. A similar description on the journalism/Near Eastern studies graduate program may be found at http://journalism.arizona.edu/news/NESdescription.pdf.
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- Extra Info |
- Contact Info
Kate Harrison
UA Journalism Department
520-626-3079
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