Undergraduate Programs

Students who entered the School of Journalism prior to Fall 2009 should follow the program requirements for the broadcast news or news-editorial programs instead of the journalism program.

About Our Journalism Program

The journalism major at the P.I. Reed School of Journalism (SOJ) prepares students for careers as multimedia journalists working in the fields of television, Internet, newspaper or magazine journalism. All students in the journalism major must complete a series of shared core requirements and a shared capstone experience. In addition, students select an area of emphasis (AOE), allowing them to specialize in a specific medium: print, television or visual journalism.

Print journalism students learn news and feature writing, beat reporting, copyediting and design, immersion reporting, online research and writing, public affairs reporting and editorial writing. They are required to have 500 or more column inches of bylined writing published in campus or off-campus news media.

Television journalism students produce news stories and programs in a professional television studio using the latest digital technology. Students learn broadcast news writing, television field reporting and newscast production. They showcase their work on a student-produced newscast, “WVU News,” which airs on West Virginia Public Television and is available online at iTunes.wvu.edu.

Visual journalism students learn photojournalism, videography, media design and multimedia reporting and story producing. Students produce still photography, slideshows and multimedia packages for regional media and web-based projects.

All journalism majors have the opportunity to participate in cross-disciplinary, immersion journalism projects, such as “West Virginia Uncovered: Multimedia Journalism from the Mountains,” “Starting Over: Loss and Renewal in Katrina’s Aftermath” and “Taking Part: The Artists with Disabilities Project.”

Journalism Program Requirements

Journalism majors earn a Bachelor of Science in Journalism (BSJ) degree upon successful completion of the program.

To graduate, all SOJ majors must complete a minimum of 128 credit hours.

In addition to SOJ core course requirements, journalism students must complete the required courses for their area of emphasis (AOE). Journalism majors must also take a specified number of courses outside the SOJ. They are also required to complete a minor (or second concentration) and fulfill the General Education Curriculum (GEC) requirements approved by the SOJ.

Students pursuing the print journalism or visual journalism AOE are also required to publish at least 500 column inches of bylined writing or 30 bylined photographs in the news media. Other types of news media publications (e.g., infographics, online multimedia, blogs) may be accepted as well. Students should consult their program chair about this graduation requirement.

Finally, the SOJ’s accreditation guidelines require that students take a minimum of 80 hours outside of the SOJ, 65 of which must be liberal arts courses. Typically, students meet those requirements through the GEC and minor courses but should consult with their academic advisor to insure they are on track to graduate.

Students should refer to the following documents when planning their schedules:

For more information, contact the SOJ’s Director of Advising Jan Boyles at (304) 293-3505. ext. 5414 or jan.boyles@mail.wvu.edu.