The college engaged 21 professionals as professionals-in-residence in the fall of 2023 and 22 in the spring of 2024 to mentor and work with students in the Experience Lab.
The college hosted two panels on professional ethics during the 2023-2024 academic year. On November 9, three professionals-in-residence – Randy Hawthorne, D-Wayne Taylor and Austin Pistulka - and three faculty members – Bill Doleman, Jemalyn Griffin and Barney McCoy - spoke in JOMC 487 Media, Ethics and Society. On March 7, six professionals-in-residence – Kelli Britten, Nathan He, Kelli Peterson, Austin Pistulka, Erin Sorensen and D-Wayne Taylor – spoke in JOMC 487 Media, Ethics and Society.
During 2023-2024, the ethical standards of various professional associations aligned with the college’s disciplines were incorporated as modules in JOMC 487 Media, Ethics and Society. The Strategic Planning Committee collected these ethical codes during 2022-2023. Incorporating these codes into JOMC 487 ensures that every student receives an education in these standards, as this course is required for all college majors.
In the fall of 2023, Chris Graves assumed the position of assistant professor of practice and Deepe Family Endowed Chair in Depth Reporting. As part of this new role, she took over as the faculty advisor for the Society of Professional Journalists, which was established in 2022-2023.
In fall 2023, the college conducted an in-depth report on missing, murdered and marginalized women led by the Deepe Family Endowed Chairs Chris Graves and Linda White. The stories were published on the Nebraska News Service.
Review of Strategies
| Strategy | Status | |
| 1 | Develop and expand course offerings that will improve the media literacy of the UNL student body (e.g. expand offerings of JOMC 222: Social Justice and the Media and revise JGEN 103 into a course on Democracy and the Media to meet an ACE requirement) | Finished |
| 2 | Engage PIRs and industry partners in college-wide discussions on professional ethics and integrity | Finished |
| 3 | Establish ethics and inclusive language modules for the student leadership training program and career readiness series of courses | Finished |
| 4 | Re-establish the Nebraska chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists | Finished |
| 5 | Host industry roundtables on professional ethics and integrity each semester | Finished |
| Proposed Elimination | ||
| 7 | Expand the capacity and content production of Nebraska News Service through the practicum to reach more rural communities | Finished |
| 8 | Increase the number of multimedia products provided through the Nebraska News Service through the Nebraska Nightly and KRNU ELLs | Finished |
| 9 | Continue to support and encourage the development of depth reporting projects in print, audio and multimedia forms | Finished |
Proposed Amendments:
- Remove strategy 3, “Increase engagement and collaboration with the Nebraska Governance and Technology Center” as this center has been dissolved.
- Update target 6 to read “100% of syllabi will show learning outcomes related to ethics and integrity.”
Review of the Targets
Target | 20-21 | 21-22 | 22-23 | 23-24 | 25-26 (Goal) |
| Increase enrollment in college-offered ACE courses by 20%[i] | 3185 | 2851 | 2839 | 2763 | 3882 |
| Host an industry roundtable on professional ethics and integrity each semester | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Increase students who have completed the ethics module specific to their major to 50%[ii] | 14.9% | 50% | |||
| Host a regional SPJ meeting | 1 | ||||
| Increase the number of student bylines in local media by 25%[iii] | 443 | 633 | 636 | 628 | 531 |
Proposed Amendment | |||||
| 100% of syllabi will show learning outcomes related to ethics and integrity | 100% | ||||
[i] Credit hours were calculated by comparing the credit hours listed in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics Course Fill Report to the 2023-2025 ACE course list maintained by the Office of Undergraduate Education.
[ii] Percentage was calculated by comparing the course rosters for students in JOMC 487 during the 2023-2024 academic year to the total undergraduate student population.
[iii] Figure was determined by counting the number of news stories posted to the Nebraska News Service.
