The Challenges And Successes Of Department Governance: A Look At HBCU Journalism And Mass Communications Unit Administrators

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are facing challenges to their continued existence on several fronts. One is fiscally, as federal funding for education has been cut and the responsibility for paying for higher education has been levied on students and parents. Another challenge is the amount of endowment dollars available to them and lastly, there are questions today as to if HBCUs are still needed in a society that has allowed African-Americans to enroll in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Administrators of the 55 Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) units at HBCUs have to lead with an eye on tradition while dealing with current financial issues. The administrators are faced with the personal challenge of tenuous term limits - served at the discretion of higher administrators - and teaching two or three classes. They work under larger units and have minimal authority over budgets, hiring, or strategic planning for their units. Their faculty work full course loads and few have tenure. How do they keep the institution’s mission and move to the future of possible accreditation

Higher Education: How Freshmen And First-Year Journalism And Mass Communication Students At HBCUs And PWUs Used The Internet In Their Decision

This study set out to explore how the Internet was used by Journalism and Mass Communications Program students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominately White Universities in their college choice and if these institutions were able to provide the information the respondents were looking for in their search. The study found students that attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities still report the availability of financial aid and other funding as a major reason they make their college choice. The study also found Journalism and Mass Communications units as a whole may not be providing this information to students that are using the Internet to research their future college opportunities

High School Journalism Advisors and African American Students

This study examined whether African American participation in high school journalism is lower than the participation of other students in the State of Kansas. Past research has found that participation in high school newspapers and yearbook staff is often the pathway for students to consider careers in journalism. For the sake of this study, participation was defined as any school-directed journalistic activity or program where students are allowed to produce content. This study used a questionnaire sent to 100 high school advisers and teachers, experimentally accessible in the state, administered over three years as the survey instrument. The response rate was 71 percent of 100 teachers from 98 high schools. Kansas has a statewide population of less than 4% African Americans. Therefore, to be as representative as possible, only the top 20 Kansas high schools with at least a 20% African American enrollment were selected to provide data. Contact information was selected from the Kansas Scholastic Press Association (KSPA) and the Journalism Education Association (JEA), and census data were selected from Kansas. The study also examined the value placed on the activity and participation of students in high school publications and clubs had on inclusivity for all students. In addition, advisers were asked when students could enter newsrooms if there were any prerequisites to be on yearbook or newspaper staff and if advisers were actively recruited for these positions. Lastly, the study sought to duplicate a study completed in 1992, which was written to see if there were programs to make high school journalism programs more inclusive by 2000. Does the possible loss of African American high school journalists present a later loss of essential voices in the media and the media messages in the future

HBCUs: Accreditation, governance and survival challenges in an ever-increasing competition for funding and students

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are facing challenges to their continued existence on several fronts. One is fiscally, as federal funding for education has been cut and the responsibility for paying for higher education has been levied on students and parents. Another challenge is the amount of endowment dollars available to them and lastly, there are questions today as to if HBCUs are still needed in a society that has allowed African-Americans to enroll in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Both of these challenges are contingent on the most critical issue – accreditation. The loss of accreditation of units and entire institutions has forced several HBCUs to shutter their doors. In 2016 alone, four presidents have been fired due, in part, to of accreditation and budgetary shortfalls. HBCUs are more than learning institutions; they are also cultural and economic incubators in their localities and regions. A loss of HBCUs creates a loss of valuable opportunities for first generation students of all races, researchers and voices in our American society

A Link To The Future: A Pilot Study Look At How Historically Black Colleges And Universities With Journalism And Mass Communications Units Use The Internet In Recruiting

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have had the ability to recruit African-American students since the 1860s by stressing a sense of inclusion and family through their mission statements and community outreach. There was little to no competition for African-American students from predominantly white institutions until integration was fully implemented a hundred years later in the 1960s. HBCUs, by their standing in the community, have been a gateway to first generation college students, regardless of race or social class status and "many continue to have 'open' admissions policies, welcoming all who wish to attend college, regardless of previous academic performance.   Today, HBCUs have to actively recruit students – students that can now apply and enroll in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) – with the use of technology that includes the Internet.  How has the digital divide changed from its classification in the 1960s?  How are African-Americans using the web and are HBCUs using the Internet to inform, recruit and enroll African-Americans today?   This pilot study looks at HBCUs that have Journalism/Mass Communications units to examine if their websites have a good sense of usability and interactivity for African-American students looking to go to college, primarily as first-generation students

Journalism and Mass Communication Students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominantly White Institutions: Saying Goodbye to the Digital Divide

This is the published version, also available electronically from https://doi.org/10.5430/wje.v3n2p1The digital divide has been described as the distance or gap in access to information based on race, ethnicity, income,education and geographical location. This study examined how freshmen and first-semester journalism and masscommunications students at five Historically Black Colleges and Universities have been able to bridge the divide. Itis important to know that HBCUs educate more than African-Americans, however the majority of students atHBCUs come from lower socio-economic levels than students that attend Predominantly White Institutions. Therespondents in this study are self-described as daily moderate to heavy Internet users. Their parents and guardians arealso frequent Internet users. The study examines the uses and gratifications of the respondents and if their institutionswere able to help them find information on school funding. The study’s results are completely portable to otherdisciplines and all colleges and universities regardless of size or scope

The Challenges And Successes of Department Governance: A Look At HBCU Journalism and Mass Communications Unit Administrators

This is the published version, made available with the permission of the Clute Institute. Per their conditions of use, the publisher "provides immediate open access to their journals on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, remix, tweak, build upon, print, search, or link the full text of the articles in this journal provided that appropriate credit is given."Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are facing challenges to their continued existence on several fronts. One is fiscally, as federal funding for education has been cut and the responsibility for paying for higher education has been levied on students and parents. Another challenge is the amount of endowment dollars available to them and lastly, there are questions today as to if HBCUs are still needed in a society that has allowed African-Americans to enroll in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Administrators of the 55 Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) units at HBCUs have to lead with an eye on tradition while dealing with current financial issues. The administrators are faced with the personal challenge of tenuous term limits - served at the discretion of higher administrators - and teaching two or three classes. They work under larger units and have minimal authority over budgets, hiring, or strategic planning for their units. Their faculty work full course loads and few have tenure. How do they keep the institution’s mission and move to the future of possible accreditation

Higher Education: How Freshmen and First-Year Journalism and Mass Communication Students At HBCUs and PWUs Used The Internet In Their Decision

This is the published version, made available with the permission of the Clute Institute. Per their conditions of use, the publisher "provides immediate open access to their journals on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, remix, tweak, build upon, print, search, or link the full text of the articles in this journal provided that appropriate credit is given."This study set out to explore how the Internet was used by Journalism and Mass Communications Program students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominately White Universities in their college choice and if these institutions were able to provide the information the respondents were looking for in their search. The study found students that attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities still report the availability of financial aid and other funding as a major reason they make their college choice. The study also found Journalism and Mass Communications units as a whole may not be providing this information to students that are using the Internet to research their future college opportunities

A Link To The Future: A Pilot Study Look at How Historically Black Colleges and Universities With Journalism and Mass Communications Units Use The Internet in Recruiting

This is the published version, made available with the permission of the Clute Institute. Per their conditions of use, the publisher "provides immediate open access to their journals on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, remix, tweak, build upon, print, search, or link the full text of the articles in this journal provided that appropriate credit is given."Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have had the ability to recruit African-American students since the 1860s by stressing a sense of inclusion and family through their mission statements and community outreach. There was little to no competition for African-American students from predominantly white institutions until integration was fully implemented a hundred years later in the 1960s. HBCUs, by their standing in the community, have been a gateway to first generation college students, regardless of race or social class status and "many continue to have 'open' admissions policies, welcoming all who wish to attend college, regardless of previous academic performance. Today, HBCUs have to actively recruit students – students that can now apply and enroll in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) – with the use of technology that includes the Internet. How has the digital divide changed from its classification in the 1960s? How are African-Americans using the web and are HBCUs using the Internet to inform, recruit and enroll African-Americans today? This pilot study looks at HBCUs that have Journalism/Mass Communications units to examine if their websites have a good sense of usability and interactivity for African-American students looking to go to college, primarily as first-generation students

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

This is the published version, also available here: http://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/jri/vol1/iss2/10.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