VCU news

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Mass Communications was awarded full accreditation on a unanimous vote during a meeting of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) on May 5 in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Judy VanSlyke Turk, Ph.D., director of the VCU School of Mass Communications, noted that VCU was one of 19 programs to seek accreditation from the ACEJMC this year, but it was one of just four programs to be found in compliance with each of the organization’s nine standards. One member of the review team that visited VCU in the fall hailed the School of Mass Communications as "a program on the move."

“We are extremely proud that the accrediting council recognized the strength of our program and selected us to join the ranks of accredited programs,” Turk said. “The accreditation process is rigorous and demanding, but VCU met every one of the required standards. This demonstrates the depth and quality of the education that we provide here. It’s very gratifying for us.”

Faculty, staff and students gathered at the Commonwealth Ballroom in the University Student Commons to celebrate the accreditation, which endures for six years. Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D., president of VCU, told the gathering "it feels great to be accredited again." VCU’s journalism program was first accredited in 1976. Two years later, VCU founded the School of Mass Communications, which was continuously reaccredited until 2000, when the school chose not to reapply.

Trani said Turk's leadership was the driving force behind VCU's return to accreditation status.

"She has brought back a sense of purpose and a sense of vision to the School of Mass Communications," Trani said.

ACEJMC currently accredits 106 journalism and mass communications academic programs across the country, making accredited programs an elite group among the estimated 500 academic programs in journalism and mass communications in the United States.

Accreditation will give VCU improved access to grants and will enable students to apply to award, scholarship and contest programs that are limited to accredited schools.

Robert D. Holsworth, Ph.D., acting dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences, said the accreditation marks both a culmination and a beginning for the School of Mass Communications. He said the accreditation was "a testimony to how far this school has come," but it was only the start of something bigger.

"What we're seeing right now is just the beginning of what is going to be an extraordinary trajectory for the School of Mass Communications," Holsworth said.

The accreditation vote followed a comprehensive self-study of the VCU School of Mass Communications program, a site visit in November by a five-member team of journalism and mass communications educators and practitioners and a review by the ACEJMC’s Accrediting Committee.

The VCU School of Mass Communications has more than 1,100 undergraduate major and pre-major students. It offers three sequences of study at the undergraduate level: advertising, with both business and strategy tracks; journalism, with both broadcast and print tracks; and public relations. The school also offers a Master of Science in Mass Communications degree with concentrations in advertising, scholastic journalism and strategic public relations. The VCU Adcenter, the advertising master’s degree program, was ranked the top advertising and design school in the country in 2005 by Creativity magazine.