Incorporating business and marketing into journalism and communication curricula
Several of you liked the idea of marrying some of what goes on in the business school with our curricular experience over here in Communication. In fact, you REALLY liked the idea. The way course plans are set up now, you don’t have time, you’re not incented to pursue courses in business and marketing. This means we need to make room in the curriculum for you to be able to take courses across the street, coincidentally named, “Opportunity Drive.”
Jeff gave three cheers to the idea by pointing out what a “meritocracy” or “technocracy” the jobforce and marketplace have become. Loyalty to a company for its own sake is no longer a benefit; in fact, it can be professional suicide. So what skill sets and knowledge bases do you need to succeed out there?
Amanda said something I really like. She talked about her ability to think critically, to read analytically, to communicate clearly. She is, therefore, much more able for any job than had she learned only skills and fact sets relevant to one job or industry or field. That’s what I want to hear and see. If you can do those three things, you will succeed, regardless of the job or field you choose. Now if we layer on top how to start and run a small business, how to identify opportunity, how to manage people . . . We give arm you that much more to determine your own future rather than merely reacting to trends and topicality.
Thanks, guys. You’ve made my day. An educator gets so few affirmations like these, that our students are seeing the forest, not just the trees.
Wandering Rocks 
November 30, 2006 at 11:39 pm
I’ve often wished that idea would be carried further.
It would be great if communication students could take classes in other areas too (Spanish, history, economics, etc.) that would count as a communication elective. So public relations majors interested in working for political figures could take classes in government, journalism majors hoping to write for a Spanish language newspaper could head over to Evans, etc. Perhaps one way to make these other classes valid communication electives would be to require some kind of paper be submitted at the end of the semester explaining how what they learned relates to the major.
December 1, 2006 at 2:38 am
Today I was asked by a freelance photographer what my major was. Replied Visual Communications of course. Visual Communications, what a spectrum of areas those two words can cover! With the long tail in full swing I’m finding comfort in the idea of living the long tail to make my real money to live on.
The business skills for us upperclassmen will just have to come as we go. Adapt or die, hopefully we will learn fast. The idea of working a 9-5 job for some corporation I have zero enthusiasm towards does not make me look forward to the “real world.” So here’s to entrepeneurism and to whatever direction your long tail takes you.