A West Virginia University Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism professor has received a $994 grant from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission to begin development of a diversity partnership with Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi.
Assistant Professor Phylissa Mitchell applied for the grant so that a faculty member from each institution could plan collaborative research, student and faculty exchanges and online course offerings co-taught by faculty of both institutions.
By combining resources, Mitchell said,we believe we can immediately improve the diversity interests of both institutions.
To achieve its goal of a more diverse curriculum, the P.I. Reed School of Journalism proposed partnering with the JSU Department of Mass Communications because of its high minority enrollment. Like WVU , JSU is a doctoral-research intensive Carnegie institution. But unlike WVU , the school has a 98 percent African American enrollment and is an urban campus.
Differences between the two programs are complementary. P.I. Reed offers degrees in public relations, advertising, news-editorial, and broadcast journalism, with its largest enrollment in public relations and the smallest in broadcast journalism.
JSU offers degrees in broadcast journalism, broadcast production, news-editorial, advertising and public relations. But its most popular major is broadcast journalism and the fewest students are enrolled in public relations.
P.I. Reed has a healthy graduate education program across all disciplines and an integrated marking certification program. JSU has a very small graduate program centering on urban communications.
Mitchell said she hopes that a first step will be to develop online courses and an exchange program. Jackson State could offer an online course in how black media has shaped America, something the WVU School of Journalism doesnt offer now.
“Student exchanges would introduce the urban Jackson State students to the rural wonders of West Virginia. A WVU student would be introduced to an urban campus environment. Students from each institution would be introduced to an utterly new academic environment,”Mitchell said.
Mitchell said she is excited about the potential for the program and the experiences it will provide students at both campuses.
“For journalists, news does not pertain only to white people. The news is comprised of events and information that concerns all people. The same holds true for advertisers and public relations firms,”Mitchell said.”The goal is to market products to everyone.”