TRUCKEE MEADOWS COMMUNITY COLLEGE
PROGRAM/UNIT REVIEW
DEAN’S RECOMMENDATION
PROGRAM/UNIT REVIEWED: Journalism
Self Study Committee Chair(s):
Neil Whitehurst
Division: Liberal Arts
Year of Review: 2013-2014
Date Submitted to PURC: October 1, 2014
Dean’s findings of strengths and weaknesses of the program/unit:
This area provides courses that support general education and opportunities for students to meet the requirements for entry
into the Journalism program at UNR. It is to be commended in keeping to its assessment schedule and submitting CARs on
time. In addition, this area supports the Echo student newspaper and has recently launched an online version.
With the exception of one course (JOUR 101) this area suffers from a severe lack of enrollment in all of its other courses,
including those that would satisfy the pre-major requirements at UNR. It is critical that this area re-evaluate its current
course offerings and work diligently to increase enrollment. The value of having a student newspaper is not in question,
however, given the lack of enrollment in the courses to produce the Echo bring this practice in to question. Given this lack
of enrollment it will be critical for this area to undergo a study to determine all modifications needed so that the college can
continue to offer this discipline.
Summary action recommended for program/unit: Continue courses, with significant modifications to offerings and the
Echo newspaper.
Recommendations for development strategies and anticipated time lines:
I support the recommendations in the report as indicated below and offer the following to provide additional clarity and
timelines for implementation.
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Mission
o The mission statement is incomplete and needs to be revised.
o There are no primary goals and objectives of Journalism. The goal listed is that of a faculty member and
does not speak to the goals and objectives of the discipline. If this discipline is to be continued clear goals
and objectives must be developed.
o There are many factors that may affect this discipline in the future, however they were not addressed. Issues
to be addressed will be the continued influence of the internet, social media, and the evolution of print
journalism in response to these and other factors. These issues must be addressed by the Journalism area.
Prerequisites
o The report highlights pre-requisites, however, the pre-requisites and co-requisites listed at UNR are
incorrect. It is important for this area to ensure our curriculum in this area is in alignment with UNR and it
may also explain why we do not have many students in these courses as some of our current pre/corequisites are more stringent than at UNR. In addition, several of the courses that we have in common with
UNR have different titles and different course descriptions.
o In delving more in the data available regarding retention in 101 vs the other offerings it is true that there is
a difference but the average retention in 101 is 64% (Fall 12-Spring 14) which is lower but not at the levels
suggested by this report. It may be worth this area exploring if a ENG 101 pre-requisite is truly warranted
based on data regarding previous enrollees in this course.
Dean’s Recommendation
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Curriculum
o Based on the last PUR a series of courses were created to respond to some of the online factors however
these courses have not been offered due to low demand. In looking at the curriculum offered at UNR some
of the courses that we offer do incorporate those beginning skills and so it is imperative for this area to
work to ensure that our curriculum is current with UNR. This may do away with the need for these specific
courses, that haven’t been offered, and meet the needs for the students as well.
o Given the lack of enrollment in the sections for the Echo newspaper it is recommended that the Echo be
produced in a different medium (ie., non-course based). Currently enrollments in those combined sections
are a handful of students and cannot be maintained.
o Lack of enrollment has resulted in the cancellation of the majority of courses in this area. There needs to
be a full assessment conducted on which, if any, of these courses should be maintained.
Degree needs
o This report asserts that, “Journalism is the only TMCC transfer discipline without a degree or certificate.”
This is an untrue statement as we have many disciplines, such as Sociology, Dance, Social Work, Women’s
Studies, to name a few that transfer and do not have a degree/emphasis or certificate. Given the low demand
for these courses there does not appear to be student interest at this time.
o The report indicates that the data suggests students taking Journalism courses are pursuing a bachelor’s
degree and therefore an emphasis is warranted. However, this is a misunderstanding the data. The data
provided by IR simply indicates that students are interested in pursuing some sort of degree at TMCC. Most
of the students taking Journalism 101 do not go on to take other JOUR courses and so therefore are likely
using the 101 to fulfill general education requirements. The AA transfer degree allows students to easily
transfer to UNR and pursue a degree in Journalism if desired. The report implies that using the AA degree
will result in a loss of credits which is not true. In addition, it must be again noted that the lack of demand
for other JOUR courses besides the 101 argues against the need for an emphasis in this area.
o If this discipline is to continue to be viable it must work on recruitment activities for the courses offered.
Retention, SFR
o As noted above the JOUR 101 retention rate is lower than the other JOUR courses, however the other JOUR
courses also have enrollments of 2-9, in comparison to 21 students in 101. The report further asserts that
the high retention rate in the other JOUR courses support the idea of have an AA in Journalism, without
acknowledgement of enrollments of 5 students in those other courses.
o The student faculty ratios are very low for these courses that are primarily the core courses for pre-majors
in the discipline of JOUR for transfer to UNR. No analysis is given as to why this may be the case.
 Based on this data recruitment strategies and a re-analysis of what courses should be offered should
be developed and implemented. This could include an investigation if a certificate is needed, as
indicated in the report.
Facilities/Technology Needs/Funding Allocations
o Given the level of enrollment the one dedicated 18 station room is sufficient. At this time there are no plans
to include TV production.
o The lab fees are adequate at this time however it is important to note that the changes that have been
indicated by Adobe needs to be addressed (see Dean’s analysis of budgets). Currently IT is exploring
options given that this change will also impact several other programs that use this software.
o The report indicates that Journalism should have a “line item” established so that it may “compete for state
funding along with the rest of TMCC disciplines.” This statement indicates that this area does not
understand the budget allocation of disciplines and how resource allocation works at the college. Journalism
is supported by state dollars as are other disciplines and has 3 other budgets that it can use to meet its needs.
These budgets appear sufficient at this time (please see Dean’s analysis).
Identify resources necessary for implementation of recommended development strategies:
The above recommendations need faculty time and commitment. In order to promote these courses as a possibility for
transferring to the university it would be important to work with the Journalism school in a series of meetings to ensure our
curriculum is current in regards to the transfer curricula.
Describe impact of recommended development strategies on Division planning:
If the decision is made to reform this area, the above recommendations will become part of the overall yearly planning, by
department, within the Liberal Arts.
Describe impact of recommended development strategies on program/unit faculty:
Given the retirement of the one Journalism faculty it will need to be determined how to implement these strategies if a
decision is made to continue this discipline.
Dean of Liberal Arts:
Name
Armida Fruzzetti, Ph.D.
Dean’s Recommendation
Signature
Date
Electronically submitted
10/1/14