Dear Alumni and Friends,
Earlier this month, at the first in person commencement ceremony in over a year, we celebrated as 217 students from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications walked on stage at Memorial Stadium to receive their degrees. And just last week, Chancellor Green announced fully vaccinated individuals are no longer required to wear face coverings on campus. We are planning for our classrooms to once again be at full capacity by the end of the summer.
The pandemic forced us to make some adjustments in how we teach, learn and engage with each other. It also provided us with an opportunity to really examine our priorities and ask ourselves hard questions. What do we stand for as a college? What is our vision for the future? What are we doing to help solve problems critical to our professions? How can we better care for and support every member of our college community?
Over the last eight months, 78 college stakeholders, including 48 faculty and staff, 9 current students and 21 alumni and industry partners engaged in an expansive and inclusive strategic planning process. Stakeholders were assigned to task forces specific to mission, vision and values, external operations, people and internal operations, undergraduate academic operations, graduate academic operations, scholarship and creative activity, student experiences and experiential learning. A review committee composed of alumni and emeritus faculty was established to provide feedback on the distinctive capabilities, strategies, action steps and measures drafted by the task forces.
In April the task force co-chairs met to review each task force action plan and identify strategic aims that would direct the college for the next five years. These aims, dubbed “game changers,” embraced our distinctive capabilities, aligned with our values, drove our mission and realized our vision to be a national leader in experiential journalism and mass communications education. The plan was presented to the full committee on May 7 and unanimously approved by the college on May 14.
The College of Journalism and Mass Communications has a long tradition of teaching through hands-on experience. The “do from day one” approach is what attracted me to the dean position here. I’m excited to share that the first aim of our strategic plan is to launch a college-wide experiential learning lab, in which all students will engage in multi-semester, multi-credit student-led programs. Every student, starting as early as their freshmen year, will work at least five hours each week in one of our learning lab programs, producing content for KRNU, Nebraska Nightly (formerly Star City News), UNLimited Sports, Nebraska News Service or Heartland (a new community webzine on economic and community development) or developing advertising and public relations strategy and products for Jacht, Buoy (a new agency focused on community organizations) or Insight (a new social media listening lab).
Aligned with our mission to nurture curious and creative minds to thrive in the ever-changing media and communication professions, this inclusive “do from day one” experience will be rooted in hard work, collaborative problem-solving and the ethical pursuit of truth to uphold democracy. We are welcoming industry partners to campus as professionals-in-residence to design real world learning experiences and mentor students in the programs. We are also investing in new technology and physical space to effectively deliver the learning lab programs and make learning visible across the college, campus and community.
The plans include moving the second-floor studio out of the black box hidden in the back of the building and into the open, taking up the entire west wing of Andersen Hall beneath the third-floor balcony. Connecting the newsroom, set and production room together in one space will increase the focus on multimedia storytelling while the overlook from the balcony will allow visitors and potential students to watch the live news broadcasts. These proposed changes will purposefully make community journalism a visible and prominent focus of the college.
Just across Centennial Mall, we are leasing more than 13,000 square feet on the third floor of the Children’s Museum to house our advertising and public relations agencies and launch our newest ventures, Heartland and Insight. Jacht and its sister programs will now be closer to Andersen Hall than Andersen Hall is to the Nebraska Union, allowing for seamless transitions from the classroom to the experiential learning lab programs.
The new experiential learning lab is just one of the eight aims that make up our strategic plan. Throughout the summer, I will be hosting “Drinks with the Dean” to share our plan and solicit your feedback and suggestions as we operationalize the strategies. Please take some time to view the strategic plan website or download the plan and watch for email invitations to upcoming alumni events, both online and in person.
While these new initiatives will require significant time and investment, they also renew our commitment to educating and empowering media and communication professionals of tomorrow. Every decision, measure and outcome is based on how well it serves our students and educational purpose. We are excited for the future of the college and look forward to sharing all our strategic aims with you in the coming months.
Go Big Red!
Shari
