Leaders in Journalism Education: Administrators at ACEJMC Accredited Programs and Non-accredited HBCU Programs Critique the Standards

Abstract

Administrators of journalism and mass communication units have had to make decisions on how they would lead their units into the future. For over 70 years, the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) has been the agency that provided leadership in this endeavor. This study surveyed administrators of programs of accredited and also non-accredited journalism programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), asking them to critique and discuss their thoughts on the nine standards. Nearly unanimously the administrators agreed that accreditation, or as those not accredited stated, “best practices”, are essential. The study focused on three Standards: diversity of students and faculty (Standard 3); scholarship: research, creativity, and professional activity (Standard 5) and assessment of learning outcomes (Standard 9). This paper was the result of a 2-year study and included distributing a survey and in-depth interviews.