Dec 03, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Media & Journalism Department


Michelle Van Maanen, Chairperson
Al Neuharth Media Center
(605) 658-6811

MJ@usd.edu
http://www.usd.edu/mj

FACULTY

Professor:

Charles Lubbers, Strategic Communication

Assistant Professors:

Lori Costello, Strategic Communication
Travis Loof, Digital Media/Strategic Communication
Michelle Van Maanen, Journalism/Sport Media/Strategic Communication

Senior Lecturer:

Janet Davison, Journalism

Instructors:

Todd Mechling, Journalism/Strategic Communication
Joey Nelson, Sport Marketing/Graphic Design

Emeritus:

Gary Larson, Sport Marketing/Graphic Design

MAJOR:

Media & Journalism, B.A., B.S.
Sport Marketing & Media, B.A., B.S.

SPECIALIZATIONS:

Journalism (Journalism/TV/Radio/Digital Media)
Strategic Communication (Advertising/Public Relations/Digital Media)

MINORS:

Media & Journalism
Social Media Marketing
Sport Marketing & Media

 

The Department of Media & Journalism, including social media marketing, prepares students for careers in both traditional and new media, as well as sport marketing. The department seeks to 1) provide students with the necessary skills to compete for entry-level positions; 2) offer principles and strategy courses that enhance the students’ prospects for later career progression to management and leadership; and 3) develop student understanding of the role of media in society. In addition to teaching two majors and three minors, the department operates the campus radio station, cable television station, a multiplatform news operation, a sport marketing agency and a student advertising/public relations agency. It also benefits from its location in the Al Neuharth Media Center and the presence of The Volante campus newspaper and South Dakota Public Broadcasting. The instruction is also enhanced by the activities of student chapters of the American Advertising Federation, Public Relations Student Society of America, and the Society of Professional Journalists.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Please contact the department for additional information about available scholarships and awards. Also see College of Arts & Sciences  for college/school level scholarships.

  • Allen H. Neuharth for Excellence in Media
  • Dean Belbas Award for Exceptional Contribution
  • E.G. Trotzig Memorial Scholarship
  • Jack Marsh Scholarship & Opportunity Fund
  • James & Yvonne Kuehn Scholarship
  • Jim Burt Memorial Scholarship for Broadcast Journalism
  • John C. Gillis Media & Journalism Scholarship
  • Joseph L. Floyd Memorial Scholarship
  • Marjorie Burns Shanard Journalism Scholarship
  • Mass Comm Scholarship
  • Native American
  • Norma Lewis Brown Scholarship
  • Paul Friggens Memorial Scholarship
  • Student Media Scholarship
  • Ted J. & Doris M. (Hoffer) Dolney Scholarship

Student Learning Outcomes for Media & Journalism (B.A., B.S.)

  1. M&J majors will demonstrate professional competencies appropriate to their chosen specialization.  
  2. M&J majors will demonstrate an ability to solve problems, think critically, and work ethically within the legal boundaries for their selected specialization. 
  3. M&J majors will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of selected scholarly research relevant to their specialization. 
  4. Students will design, evaluate, and implement a strategy to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal. 
  5. Students will be able to assess their own ethical values and the social context of problems, recognize ethical issues in a variety of settings, think about how different ethical perspectives might be applied to ethical dilemmas and consider the ramifications of alternative actions. 
  6. Students will be able to demonstrate the cultivation of knowledge, skills, values and motivation that will enable them to make a difference in the civic life of communities and promote the quality of life in a community and engage in activities of personal and public concern that are both individually life enriching and socially beneficial to the community 
  7. Students will be able to systematically explore issues, objects or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments, and break down complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them. 
  8. Students will comprehensively explore issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion, and combine or synthesize existing ideas, images or expertise in original ways reflecting a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.

Student Learning Outcomes for Sport Marketing & Media (B.A., B.S.)

  1. Students will design, evaluate, and implement a strategy to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal. 
  2. Students will comprehensively explore issues, ideas, artifacts, and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion, and combine or synthesize existing ideas, images or expertise in original ways reflecting a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking. 
  3. Students will interact with other students and evaluate the effort put into team tasks, interactions with others, and the quantity and quality made to team discussions. 
  4. Students will be able to systematically explore issues, objects or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments, and break down complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them.

Programs