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Communications Program at Tennessee State to Seek Accreditation

By Brandi Leavell
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Tennessee State University The newly constructed Performing Arts Center is home to the Department of Communications.

Tennessee State University's Department of Communications plans to seek accreditation for its journalism and mass communications program within the next several years, according to department officials.

The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication accredits 104 of more than 400 programs in journalism and mass communications nationwide and seven programs at historically black institutions.

�Even though accreditation . . . in our case has nothing to do with students� abilities to get jobs or go on to graduate school, we are pursuing field accreditation,� Donald C. Page, a communications faculty member, said. �We are pursuing accreditation primarily because of the marketing advantages.�

The Tennessee State mass communication program includes the radio/television, public relations and journalism fields. It has more than 2,200 students and is growing tremendously, according to department officials. However, it also has the fewest mass communication faculty members of any university under the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Board of Regents.

They include Dr. Liqun Yan, who teaches journalism full time, Dr. Harriette Insignares, who teaches part time, and Pamela E. Foster, who teaches 40 percent of the time, spending the other 60 percent advising the student newspaper and yearbook. In radio and television, Page is joined by Dr. Victoria Sturgeon and Dr. Coreen Jackson. The department has several other adjunct faculty members.

The mass communication program is 97 percent full, which leads officials to believe that they need more faculty. Members of the department say they hope two faculty members will be hired, one in public relations and journalism and the other in television.

The nine standards for accreditation encourage improvement and innovation and recognize the special missions of individual institutions, according to ACEJMC. Faculty members at Tennessee State�s Department of Communications say they hope to follow the standards and have plans submitted by the fall semester of 2007.

The department plans to encourage faculty to require students to do work that is good enough to be published or broadcast and to teach proficiency in researching to improve students� critical thinking skills.

�Accreditation standards do represent the best practices in the field and it is helpful to have our efforts validated by experienced peers in the field,� Page said.

�I think that our mass communications program should be accredited,� Yan agreed.

John Edwards, operations manager of WEGI-FM in Springfield, Tenn., said, �We look for schools to be accredited because we want students to be experienced. If a graduate�s school is accredited, we know that the graduate has good qualities to work in the station.�

�We need to be accredited because it will look good on our resume, which will show that we went to TSU and by being accredited, we will get more respect behind it,� said Nicholas Anderson, a junior speech communication and theater major from Memphis.

However, Katasia N. Jordan, a sophomore speech communication and theater major from Memphis, said, �Accreditation divides and segregates universities. I should be able to get a good job or internship without TSU being accredited.��

Brandi Leavell, a student at Tennessee State University, writes for the Meter.

Posted May 2, 2005