Media School Policy for Hiring Faculty Based on Tested Experience
(Adopted 5/30/2018)
The Media School strives to prepare students to enter a wide range of media-related careers including journalism, law & policy, game design, film production, advertising, public relations, management and interactive systems design. Preparation for these professions demands theoretical understanding of media effects, skills to critically reflect on media, ethical awareness and practical training in the techniques and methods of message creation and dissemination in a democracy founded on free speech. In this sense we hope to train thoughtful and skilled future professionals who are also prepared for graduate school. Our faculty is well positioned to cover the practical, theoretical, critical, and law/policy courses in our curriculum. We also proudly count among our full-time faculty seasoned professionals, appointed as lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors of practice. Given the sizeable demand for professional skill-based instruction, we rely on a number of adjunct faculty members who are employed in the media industry to support our instructional mission.
In addition to our pedagogical mission to prepare future media workers, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) prescribes close instructional ties to the industry. The Council’s nine accrediting standards include two that speak directly to the appropriateness of instruction by faculty who are current in professional practice and first-hand knowledge of the changing skillsets required to work in media industries. Given that a large portion of the School’s curriculum is accredited by ACEJMC, we are motivated to honor the organization’s standards on curriculum and instruction.
Relevant ACEJMC Accrediting Standards
Curriculum and Instruction
The unit provides a curriculum and instruction, whether on-site or online, that enable students to learn the knowledge, competencies and values the Council defines for preparing students to work in a diverse global and domestic society.
Instruction, whether on-site or online, is demanding and current, and is responsive to professional expectations of digital, technological and multimedia competencies. The unit has an ongoing process in place to connect faculty and administrators to the professions they represent, with a specific understanding of the changing skills needed to be successful in the workplace.
Full-Time and Part-Time Faculty
The unit hires, supports and evaluates a capable faculty with a balance of academic and professional credentials appropriate for the unit’s mission.
Credentials of the unit’s faculty represent a balance of professional and scholarly experience and expertise kept current through faculty development opportunities, relationships with professional and scholarly associations, and appropriate supplementation of part-time and visiting faculty.
The Media School defines tested professional activity, expertise, ability, and talent to align with at least one of the following dimensions:
- Full-time employment at a reputable media organization.
- Public acclaim.
- Peer recognition of professional achievement.
Evidence used to access the experience comes in the form of the C.V. Employment is confirmed by making a phone call to the supervisor at the media organization. Peer recognition can be verified by contacting known luminaries in the profession, a past record of speaking engagements, significant professional publications and/or artifacts, and/or examining an organization’s website to verify awards. Public acclaim can be verified by stories published in trade or mass media.