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Course Catalog

Journalism

Director: K. Hill 

The Journalism Program cultivates students’ interests and techniques in gathering information through research and interviews, and writing for the array of media platforms. Emphasis is placed on the role and responsibilities of journalism within the context of civic and political participation, and the social justice awareness rooted in the University mission. Courses in journalism history, media law and ethics, and press theory form the philosophical foundation for the major and minor. Journalism students, focus on issues of civic and cultural importance with a traditional news stance, but there are ample opportunities for experimentation with the styles of journalism appropriate for magazines, publications with a literary bent, and emerging Internet and social media platforms. Students also hone their visual storytelling skills in courses such as photojournalism and emerging media.

Students pursuing a major or minor in journalism choose from an array of elective courses, including literary journalism, news leadership, media ethics, documentary filmmaking, and sports media.

Most 91Թ journalism students work for the weekly student newspaper, The 91Թ Bulletin (gonzagabulletin.com), as writers, editors or photojournalists. Credit toward the Journalism major and minor is available, as well as a stipend for editors, staff writers and photojournalists.

Many journalism students garner journalistic experience in the professional environment through internships, for which academic credit is also available.


B.A. Major in Journalism: 39 Credits

Lower Division
INMD 101 Media Literacy 3 credits
JOUR 110 Journalistic Writing 3 credits
JOUR 210 Civic Journalism 3 credits
JOUR 220 Student Media Writing Lab 1 credit
JOUR 230 Student Media Editing Lab 1 credit
JOUR 270 Photojournalism 3 credits
JOUR 280 Design and Editing 3 credits
Upper Division
INMD 360 Media Law 3 credits
JOUR 310 Public Affairs Reporting 3 credits
JOUR 350 History of Journalism 3 credits
JOUR 370 Emerging Media 3 credits
JOUR 440 Seminar: Media & Democracy 3 credits
JOUR 300-400 level electives 6 credits
JOUR 499 Capstone Project 1 credit

Minor in Journalism: 19 Credits

Lower Division
INMD 101 Media Literacy 3 credits
JOUR 110 Journalistic Writing 3 credits
JOUR 220 Student Media Writing Lab 1 credit
JOUR 270 Photojournalism 3 credits
Upper Division
JOUR 440 Seminar: Media & Democracy
3 credits
JOUR 300-400 level electives 6 credits
Lower Division
JOUR 110 Journalistic Writing
3.00 credits
An introduction to journalistic-style writing across media platforms, including broadcast journalism and public relations writing.
Equivalent:
SOSJ 160 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
JOUR 190 Directed Study
1.00- 3.00 credits
Topic to be determined by faculty.
JOUR 210 Civic Journalism
3.00 credits
Emphasis on the style of journalism that fosters community engagement. Research, reporting and interviewing techniques that focus on news coverage of public organizations and groups that participate in framing public policy. A variety of writing styles will be utilized.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
SOSJ 262 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
JOUR 220 Student Media Writing Lab
1.00 credit
With direction from student newspaper advisers/instructors and editors, students write stories and news reports for The 91Թ Bulletin and gonzagabulletin.com.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 210 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 230 Student Media Editing Lab
1.00 credit
With direction from advisers/instructors, students edit news stories for The 91Թ Bulletin and gonzagabulletin.com.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 270 Photojournalism
3.00 credits
An introduction to the technical, ethical, and creative principles of journalism-based photography and video. Topics include basic camera functions, digital image-editing tools, and the intersection of photojournalism, digital-video, and short documentary filmmaking. Special attention will be given to the professional and ethical considerations of the practice and the unique differences that separate photojournalism from other forms of image capturing. Lab fee. Fall and Spring.
Prerequisite:
INMD 101 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
SOSJ 261 - OK if taken since Fall 2015
JOUR 280 Design and Editing
3.00 credits
Emphasis on design principles and editing skills for print and online journalistic platforms. Attention also to news values and philosophies.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 290 Directed Study
1.00- 3.00 credits
Topic to be determined by faculty.
Upper Division
JOUR 310 Public Affairs Reporting
3.00 credits
Reporting municipal, county, state, and federal affairs. Open meeting, shield and disclosure laws, law enforcement and the judicial process.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 210 Minimum Grade: D or PRLS 310 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 350 History of Journalism
3.00 credits
The historical development of the press and journalistic practices in America. The focus is the development of journalistic values such as objectivity, accuracy, balance and legal and ethical issues such as free speech and access to public records.
Prerequisite:
INMD 101 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 370 Emerging Media
3.00 credits
Students integrate reporting and research with audio, video, photos and text to produce and design multimedia packages in a journalistic context. Students may utilize blogging, podcasting, social media and emerging media techniques. Some focus on analysis of the optimal platforms for presenting journalistic content.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
SOSJ 367 - OK if taken since Fall 2017
JOUR 374 Documentary History & Analysis
3.00 credits
The course explores documentary film as both a popular art form and as an instrument for constructing social knowledge. From early cinematic experiments to contemporary award winners, students will critically review the evolution of non-fiction filmmaking while analyzing the techniques that documentary filmmakers use to craft their documentaries. The larger ethical and societal impacts of documentary film will also be explored. Spring.
Prerequisite:
INMD 101 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
FILM 451 - OK if taken since Fall 2023
JOUR 390 Directed Study
1.00- 3.00 credits
Topic to be determined by faculty.
JOUR 410 Special Topics
3.00 credits
Course content focuses on emerging issues and topics that relate to journalistic practice and philosophy.
JOUR 420 Literary Journalism
3.00 credits
The course focuses on writing longer forms of journalism. Content includes a look at the traditions of literary journalism in America, memoir-style nonfiction and using fiction techniques in nonfiction stories. Writing topics are individualized.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 110 Minimum Grade: D or ENGL 301 Minimum Grade: D or ENGL 302 Minimum Grade: D or ENGL 303 Minimum Grade: D or ENGL 306 Minimum Grade: D or SOSJ 160 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 432 CIS:
3.00 credits
The Core Integration Seminar (CIS) engages the Year Four Question: “Imagining the possible: What is our role in the world?” by offering students a culminating seminar experience in which students integrate the principles of Jesuit education, prior components of the Core, and their disciplinary expertise. Each section of the course will focus on a problem or issue raised by the contemporary world that encourages integration, collaboration, and problem solving. The topic for each section of the course will be proposed and developed by each faculty member in a way that clearly connects to the Jesuit Mission, to multiple disciplinary perspectives, and to our students’ future role in the world.
JOUR 440 Seminar: Media & Democracy
3.00 credits
Examines the organizational, cultural, technological, and ideological nature of news. Attention is given to theories of the press, the construction of news, news as a form of knowledge, and the broader social implications of news organizations and practices.
Prerequisite:
INMD 360 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 470 Documentary Filmmaking
3.00 credits
Documentary filmmaking provides an environment in which students experiment with the combination of digital film aesthetics and documentary storytelling to produce an original short non-fiction work. The course includes examination of ethical issues in documentaries, the use of animation and interactivity in film and the role of documentary work in different cultures. Lab fee. Spring.
Prerequisite:
VART 272 Minimum Grade: D or BRCO 303 Minimum Grade: D
Equivalent:
FILM 460 - OK if taken since Fall 2023
JOUR 485 Media Ethics
3.00 credits
Journalistic ethical issues ranging from fairness, balance and conflicts of interest to sensationalism will be discussed in depth. Overview of theories of leading historical and contemporary philosophers through the lens of relevance to contemporary media. Emphasis on use of ethical decision-making models.
Prerequisite:
INMD 101 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 490 Directed Study-Special Project
1.00- 4.00 credits
Tutorial or a project proposed to faculty. Fall and Spring.
JOUR 494 Independent Study
1.00- 3.00 credits
In-depth pursuit of a topic proposed to faculty. Fall and Spring.
JOUR 497 Internships
.00- 6.00 credits
Professional work experience in journalism. Possibilities include print and online journalistic organizations and magazines. Fall, Spring, and Summer.
Prerequisite:
JOUR 210 Minimum Grade: D or SOSJ 262 Minimum Grade: D
JOUR 499 Capstone Project
1.00 credit
Students demonstrate command of journalistic practices and philosophies in a comprehensive project and essay exam. Spring.
 

In addition to their major and minor areas of study, all undergraduate students follow a common program designed to complete their education in those areas that the University considers essential for a Catholic, Jesuit, liberal, and humanistic education. The University Core Curriculum consists of forty-five credits of course work, with additional designation requirements that can be met through core, major, or elective courses.

The University Core Curriculum is a four-year program, organized around one overarching question, which is progressively addressed through yearly themes and questions. Hence, core courses are best taken within the year for which they are designated. First year core courses encourage intellectual engagement and provide a broad foundation of fundamental skills. Second and third year courses examine central issues and questions in philosophy and religious studies. The fourth year course, the Core Integration Seminar, offers a culminating core experience. Taken at any time throughout the four years, broadening courses intersect with the core themes and extend students’ appreciation for the humanities, arts, and social and behavioral sciences. Finally, the designation requirements (writing enriched, global studies, and social justice) reflect important values and reinforce students’ knowledge and competencies.

Overarching Core Question: As students of a Catholic, Jesuit, and 91Թ, how do we educate ourselves to become women and men for a more just and humane global community?
Year 1 Theme and Question: Understanding and Creating: How do we pursue knowledge and cultivate understanding?

  • The First-Year Seminar (DEPT 193, 3 credits): The First-Year Seminar (FYS), taken in the fall or spring of the first year, is designed to promote an intellectual shift in students as they transition to college academic life. Each small seminar is organized around an engaging topic, which students explore from multiple perspectives. The FYS is offered by many departments across the University (click for list of FYS courses).  
  • Writing (ENGL 101, 3 credits) and Reasoning (PHIL 101, 3 credits): The Writing and Reasoning courses are designed to help students develop the foundational skills of critical reading, thinking, analysis, and writing. They may be taken as linked sections. Writing (ENGL 101) carries one of the three required writing-enriched designations (see below).
  • Communication & Speech (COMM 100, 3 credits): This course introduces students to interpersonal and small group communication and requires the application of critical thinking, reasoning, and research skills necessary to organize, write, and present several speeches.
  • Scientific Inquiry (BIOL 104/104L, CHEM 104/104L, or PHYS 104/104L, 3 credits): This course explores the scientific process in the natural world through evidence-based logic and includes significant laboratory experience. Students pursuing majors that require science courses will satisfy this requirement through their major.
  • Mathematics (above Math 100, 3 credits): Mathematics courses promote thinking according to the modes of the discipline—abstractly, symbolically, logically, and computationally. One course in mathematics, above Math 100, including any math course required for a major or minor, will fulfill this requirement. MATH 100 (College Algebra) and courses without the MATH prefix do not fulfill this requirement.

Year 2 Theme and Question: Being and Becoming: Who are we and what does it mean to be human?

  • Philosophy of Human Nature (PHIL 201, 3 credits): This course provides students with a philosophical study of key figures, theories, and intellectual traditions that contribute to understanding the human condition; the meaning and dignity of human life; and the human relationship to ultimate reality.
  • Christianity and Catholic Traditions (RELI, 3 credits). Religious Studies core courses approved for this requirement explore diverse topics including Christian scriptures, history, theology, and practices as well as major contributions from the Catholic intellectual and theological traditions (click for a list of approved courses) .

Year 3 Theme and Question: Caring and Doing: What principles characterize a well lived life?

  • Ethics (PHIL 301 or RELI, 3 credits): The Ethics courses are designed to help students develop their moral imagination by exploring and explaining the reasons humans should care about the needs and interests of others. This requirement is satisfied by an approved ethics course in either Philosophy (PHIL 301) or Religious Studies (click for a list of approved courses).
  • World/Comparative Religion (RELI, 3 credits): Religious Studies courses approved for this core requirement draw attention to the diversity that exists within and among traditions and encourage students to bring critical, analytical thinking to bear on the traditions and questions considered. These courses carries one of the required two global-studies designations (see below) (click for a list of approved courses).

Year 4 Theme and Question: Imagining the Possible: What is our role in the world?” 

  • Core Integration Seminar (DEPT 432, 3 credits). The Core Integration Seminar (CIS) offers students a culminating core experience in which they integrate the principles of Jesuit education, prior components of the core, and their disciplinary expertise. Some CIS courses may also count toward a student’s major or minor. The CIS is offered by several departments across the University (click for list of CIS courses).

The Broadening Courses

  • Fine Arts & Design (VART, MUSC, THEA, 3 credits): Arts courses explore multiple ways the human experience can be expressed through creativity, including across different cultures and societies. One approved course in fine arts, music, theatre, or dance will fulfill this requirement (click for a list of approved courses).
  • History (HIST, 3 credits): History courses are intended to develop students’ awareness of the historical context of both the individual and the collective human experience. One course in History (HIST 101, HIST 102, HIST 112, HIST 201, HIST 202) will fulfill this requirement.
  • Literature (3 credits): Literature courses foster reflection on how literature engages with a range of human experience. One approved course in Literature (offered by English, Classics, or Modern Languages) will fulfill this requirement (click for a list of approved courses).
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences (3 credits): Courses in the social and behavioral sciences engage students in studying human behavior, social systems, and social issues. One approved course offered by Criminal Justice, Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology, or Women and Gender Studies will fulfill this requirement (click for a list of approved courses).

The Designations
Designations are embedded within already existing core, major, minor, and elective courses. Students are encouraged to meet designation requirements within elective courses as their schedule allows; however, with careful planning students should be able to complete most of the designation requirements within other core, major, or minor courses.

  • Writing Enriched (WE; 3 courses meeting this designation): Courses carrying the WE designation are designed to promote the humanistic and Jesuit pedagogical ideal of clear, effective communication. In addition to the required core course, Writing (ENGL 101), which carries one of the WE designations, students must take two other WE-designated courses (click for a list of approved courses).
  • Global-Studies (GS; 2 courses meeting this designation): Courses carrying the GS designation are designed to challenge students to perceive and understand human diversity by exploring diversity within a context of constantly changing global systems. In addition to the required core course, World/Comparative Religion (RELI 300-level), which carries one of the GS designations, students must take one other GS-designated course (click for a list of approved courses).
  • Social-Justice (SJ; 1 course meeting this designation): Courses carrying the SJ designation are designed to introduce students to one or more social justice concerns. Students must take one course that meets the SJ designation (click for a list of approved courses).

Major-specific adaptations to the University Core Curriculum

All 91Թ students, regardless of their major, will complete the University Core Curriculum requirements. However some 91Թ students will satisfy certain core requirements through major-specific programs or courses. Any major-specific adaptations to the core are described with the requirements for the majors to which they apply.