This week is an important one for the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Newhouse is in the process of getting reaccredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). Every six years, a team comes to Newhouse to evaluate the school and hold meetings with students to receive their input.

A meeting with the ACEJMC was held on Monday for all majors and meetings for each individual major were held on Tuesday. Only five students showed up to Monday’s meeting.

Universities are evaluated based on nine standards that revolve around different categories:

• Mission, governance and administration
• Curriculum and instruction
• Diversity and inclusiveness
• Full-time and part-time faculty
• Scholarship: research, creative and professional activity
• Student services
• Resources, facilities and equipment
• Professional and public service
• Assessment of learning outcomes

David Boardman, president of the ACEJMC, said being accredited is an advantage in the collegiate media world because it acts as a “seal of quality.”

Accreditation is a voluntary process, so undertaking the significant effort that is involved sends a strong signal to students, parents, scholars and potential employers that the school takes quality very seriously, Boardman added.

There are about 500 journalism schools in the United States, but only about 100 of those schools are accredited, said Christopher Callahan, the leader of the ACEJMC evaluation team that visited Newhouse this week.

Accreditation is a recruitment point for students because most journalism schools are not accredited, Callahan said.

Besides this, the process of accreditation offers an opportunity for students, faculty, alumni and people in industry to share their opinions about how the program is doing in all aspects, Callahan added.

Although ACEJMC accreditation standards have evolved or have been altered with time, Callahan said the core foundations and values do not change. Mainly, though, the process and method of evaluation has changed as time has passed, because of a change in societal norms, technology and the world’s access to media.

Hub Brown, the associate dean for research, creativity, international initiatives and diversity and an associate professor in Newhouse, said the schools Newhouse considers to be competitors are accredited.

Moreover, Brown added that being accredited helps Newhouse to better create its own academic curriculums.

“I personally believe in accreditation because accreditation is a way that people outside of Newhouse know that there are standards we adhere to,” Brown said. “Accreditation protects journalism in mass communications schools, because it establishes standards that must be maintained.”

Published on October 14, 2015 at 7:20 pm

Contact Saniya: ssmore@syr.edu