Television equipment / facilities - however, note my timeframe 1988-1993.
Lack of classes regarding basic to advanced use Adobe programs (Photoshop, InDesign, etc.)
No business classes (this could be very useful in all facets)
As a broadcast major, I really wish I could say the two courses of MU Report were the most helpful, but that isn't the case. The professor was unhelpful, erratic, uneducated and unfair in both of the courses. Compared to WVU's student broadcast show, Marshall's is lacking big time. I think mostly due to the professor teaching it. If you want to make outstanding BJ graduates, Dan Hollis would be a prime candidate to take over MU Report. A common theme with some of the professors at the J School is they pick favorites while punishing others. Rebecca Johnson was very cruel to me in JMC 360 and 461 for no apparent reason. I know that professors don't give grades, they are earned but receiving Ds on everything when I was truly not doing D level work was uncalled for and I was not the only one she graded that way. There was a trend of the type of students she treated and graded unfairly. I thought long and hard if I still wanted to go into journalism after taking her. While I understand life isn't fair, I think Marshall could get a new professor that would foster a more positive learning environment. Students never forget certain professors, sometimes they are for good reasons and mostly because of bad reasons. I'm not sure professors like Rebecca Johnson realize the negative affect they can have on students.
There is very little to the art of news producing. At least, that was the case when I attended. Putting together a daily one-hour newscast from scratch is something I was not fully prepared for. The school really needs the TV studios to work like the radio station does, not just for a single class. Volunteers and shows of various quality. That's how you learn.
ENPS or any number of systems used for news production. We did none of this. We wrote our information in Microsoft Word.
VO/SOT writing was not taught. All three of these are related. We did nothing but packages. Shooting skills were very weak when I first got into the workplace. That was one hole in the process.
too many non-essential courses
internship
lack of organization
Difficult today to provide the emphasis on basic journalism ethics and fundamentals. I think the students are different today, as well.
Not as strong on journalism skills due to changing student marketplace. I strongly believe those fundamentals are lacking in today's students.
The Parthenon seems to be more focused on university politics rather than student-generated news. What happened to the human interest pieces and the current events going on in Huntington and our region? Need more campus-wide coverage, especially for the bigger colleges on campus, such as the College of Health Professions :)
I wish I'd had the chance to take more classes which strengthened my digital media management/IT/Video editing skills. JMC 360 touches on this, but as a public relations major, I didn't have the option to take the video editing/IT courses that could have really added to my skill set. I suppose the argument could be that I could in fact have taken them anyway, but I wanted to graduate in 4 years (which I did) and taking classes that weren't “;in my major” would have made this very unlikely.
You guys do a good job on your social media pages letting alums know about job opportunities...but it'd be cool to see more of this and more frequently. You'd probably get more followers this way too.
I wish I'd had a more meaningful internship experience. When I graduated and went to OU for my master's, I found that professors set a very high standard for their undergrads there to have high profile internships for major media outlets and publications. I always regretted my internship experience at the H-D. Helping students make those connections is key.
I felt like I had no concept of what the journalism job market was actually like (pay, hours, etc) until I was well into my fourth year.
First Weakness
Second Weakness
Third Weakness
The availability of full time graduate assistantships that help pay for graduate school. The lack there-of resulted in a lot of my time spent in a position I hated that didn't help me progress in journalism
Some of the faculty are not held to their highest standards which only hurts the programs we offer and the students who are eager to learn. Some professors were given tenure when their programs are hurting and their students aren't benefiting from their teaching.
The lack of focus on improving MU-Report and Up-to-the-Minute and the lack of awarding television broadcast students on their work.
none
Not enough real-world speakers from within the industry. And by that I mean people from places other than the Herald-Dispatch, Gazette and Daily Mail. Seek out alumni working at larger organizations who could participate in classroom talks through Skype, live chats, etc., to give students a more full perspective on the industry. While professors are smart, knowledgeable people, their current industry knowledge can be out of date.
In the same way that copy editing has been spun out from 302 into its own class, the same should be done for news design. You're at a disadvantage when you get out of school and you've had to struggle to teach yourself design principles. While software changes and goes out of date, design fundamentals are timeless and should be taught.
Since the retirement of Ralph Turner and George Arnold, the school has no one with the gravitas and stature they gave to the SOJMC.
Lack of web strategy and web design
Lack of current case studies....need more about companies such as Google, Facebook....and all the start ups. High Tech companies
Need more current programs, tools and services commonly used in advertising/marketing departments and how different levels of company growth use advertising/marketing strategies.
Technology
Lack of supervision and assistance in writing for newspaper
Forcing students to take courses that are not in the line of work they want to do.
Equipment or technology deficiencies.
Continuing education for alumni.
Touching base with alumni---Homecoming gatherings, social events with current students.
Not enough focus on new media
Not enough focus on niche media
Lack of cross platform education
A realistic picture of the opportunities available in Journalism.
I just had my annual performance evaluation, during which it was brought up that I don't know code. Companies today are looking for journalists with strong technical backgrounds. I've learned on the job and have strong foundations in content management systems and social media, but increasingly, that's not going to be enough. I don't fully know the direction the SOJMC has taken since I left, but there should be partnerships with other areas of academic study that focus on technology.
All journalists, regardless of their areas of focus or job aspirations, need to take business and marketing courses. In addition to producing content, we're now responsible for promoting that content across platforms and developing our own audiences and monitoring audience metrics. Every reporter in my newsroom monitors Chartbeat and Omniture to see where his/her individual audience comes from and seeks ways to build engagement using social media and other tools.
More people need to know about the SOJMC. I don't feel like it gets the credit it deserves, despite its national awards and award-winning student media. It's known on a regional level, but needs more of a national presence.
The fishbowl that happens when being a part of academia. Out of all fields Marshall offers, the SOJMC should be at the forefront of nation-wide internships, partnerships and excursions that make great employees.
Students who finds themselves in the middle often to do get the kind of attention or dedication they need to find internships. It is up to the student, but the department could be stronger in developing partnerships with companies who offer internships
Poor some money in the radio station already!
There was no area of emphasis in my field. Now that I am applying for jobs, I question what job is for me. Having a specific area of study may have helped me more.
There are no courses focuses on social media and social media usage, only courses that integrate in lectures, lesson plans, etc..
SELECTIVITY. There were some students in both graduate and undergraduate courses that did not seem qualified for higher education.
EXPECTATIONS. There were some courses that I did not try that hard in and received higher grades than I should have.
Some professors lacked professionalism.
Public Relations students could use more in-depth instruction on graphic design
Connections to bigger media organizations
Pushing students to get work published outside the school
PR Faculty at the time was not stable and there was no plan for classes
Certain classes only being offered certain semesters
The internship program.
Need perhaps another class similar to JMC 360 to help develop crucial web skills.
First Weakness
Second Weakness
Third Weakness
I'm sure courses and the focus has changed since I attended. But I walked away thinking that the only route in advertising was through agency work. And I've heard the same from a few other graduates. Maybe look into why students walk away with thinking the only/or best choice for advertising is in an agency? That's not a weakness. It's just something I noticed and thought I should mention.
Resources, some larger schools have more resources available for the students to travel and gain real world experience
Flexibility to take classes outside the specific major; would have loved to take more creative classes and development based classes without extending the number of semesters needed to graduate
Variety of classes offered
Classes that don't produce a product need to be more difficult. Showing up shouldn't be enough. College should be hard work, and it really wasn't.
Not enough first- and second-year writing
Online presence (which is improving) should be much more active for a school that's all about communication.
Television experience isn't as technologically up to date as I wish it had been. Experience with ENPS or iNews would have been extremely beneficial.
I think more television classes would be beneficial for broadcast majors. I feel like the print/radio experiences get to be more in-depth than television, which two classes doesn't fully cover for TV.
In general, I guess the television side felt a bit less developed than the other focuses of the J-school. It was still a good experience, but I would like to have seen more stories required, more shows done, and more live news. Adding in weather would have been great, too.
Not enough course work for a MA degree...an extra semester might be necessary for those who did not receive their BA in the school
It is located in Huntington WV and is not connected to any metropolitan locations.
The quarrels between the staff and professors was well known between the students and it was distracting at times.
Less general journalism classes and more classes in student's field.
Need more exposure to online media
Need more cross training between broadcast, print, and online
Need true editorial system that prepares students for real work in a media environment - publish once to print and web - typically web first.
When I was there PRSSA was basically a joke. We didn't do anything. We weren't involved at all. We just had meetings.
Why in the world was accounting a required course? I have absolutely never used that knowledge anywhere, and besides Parthenon it was my greatest challenge
There should be more cross pollinating with other departments. In the “real world” unless you work at a PR firm, you have to deal with people who are math majors and want you to take their complicated excel and make it look pretty on a flyer, or a design team who create a flyer for you, but has too many calls to action on it, or a manager who doesn't understand that caps lock looks demanding. There should be more opportunities to work with other departments on projects to foster collaboration skills
Often a strength is also a weakness. Much like with consolidation, when a school is small in students, it limits the classes that can be offered because there isn't enough interest in them.
Classes need to be “all encompassing” in that you really have to go into the workforce today being a “jack-of-all-trades” knowing camera, radio, PR, adv, print and web, because so many communication jobs want you to do it all
Funding: very few graduates come out of the SOJMC and make big bucks, which in turns mean the donations from alumni are minimal, which in turn stunts the growth of the school.
Some of the equipment was old and dated
This may have changed, but there needs to be more teamwork among majors/mediums.
More state-wide and nation-wide recognition of the achievements of the school and the students. Everyone should know that Marshall University has one of the best Journalism schools in the country.
I thought there could be more tv shows produced by the students. Of course this may have changed since I've been there.
Develop a stronger relationship with the networks; ESPN, CBS, FOX
Push for solid summer internships...which will come with strong relationships with networks.
Partnerships with professional media.
Alumni outreach and program marketing.
Building/classrooms lack inspiration.
First Weakness
Second Weakness
Third Weakness
If anything, I would say the only weakness involves the internship/practicum. I recall feeling that it should have been more structured, or that I should have been made more aware of options to complete it. Instead, I ended up essentially creating an “internship” at my former workplace, and using that to earn credit. That's really less weakness of the school, and more a personal weakness, however.
Needed more selection in regards to public relations courses
At the time - poor equipment (long time ago though!
No networking opportunity with alumni or assistance finding jobs post graduation.
Lack of chances to work with news entities because there are few in area.
not applicable
not applicable
not applicable
Technology, it is hard to keep up but we must.
No one outside of WV has heard of it
No one outside of WV has heard of it
No one outside of WV has heard of it
Some classes were a bit unnecessary
The Marshall Plan forced me into classes that ate up a lot of my time
Not enough classes on online journalism
Not enough media sales courses.
Even though I live in the area and work at Marshall, I haven't felt especially connected to the SOJMC since graduation. This is as much my fault as any, I'm sure, but some sort of regular correspondence (even email) from the school with updates as to what's going on might help people feel more connected
can't think of any
First Weakness
Second Weakness
Third Weakness
Equipment. I wish the SOJMC had Digital SLR cameras for students to use in JMC 360.
Facilities. More classroom space in the Communication Building would have been nice.
Graduate classrooms. A roundtable seminar room for core graduate seminars (theory, methods) would be nice. In many classes, we simulated this by arranging chairs into a circle, but a dedicated room would be nice.
There was no emphasis on different types of production from film (creative) to broadcast news. News was the main focus of classes, but we lacked the technology (AP ENPS, Ross, Inews) to have a well rounded news education. The studio and control room were great, but the technology is already outdated.
Learning outside of the classroom was the best experience for me, but I usually only learned of the opportunities from a friend of a friend who once held a position. The opportunities to shoot a football or basketball game, or work on production for MU Report should be promoted more to the students.
Consider adding an all encompassing advanced production class for audio, video (and animation), writing, and editing.
Math Requirements. I wish I had taken more math classes. Journalists deal a lot with numbers. Forgot some very basic formulas to do math quickly. I said it when I left six years ago... I wish Marshall has made me take more math classes.
