“How much should the medium dictate the way
we educate a student?” she asked. “The answer
is, ‘not much.’”
Maryland emphasizes creative, real-world
experience. A journalism major worked with a
computer science student to produce a map of
the most dangerous traffic intersections in the
state, Dalglish said. Students also collaborated
with National Public Radio on a Baltimore project.
Many educators say their schools should be
considered by students who don’t necessarily
want media jobs. J-school students learn
communication, critical thinking and writing
while getting a solid liberal arts education,
said Marie Hardin, dean of Penn State’s
Bellisario College.
David Perlmutter, dean of Texas Tech’s College
of Media & Communication bets that a majority
of journalism school graduates over age 35 are
no longer in the profession but use the skills
they learned.
“Personally, I think that’s what’s going to keep
the journalism major alive,” he said.
A “Trump bump” is an unexpected positive.
Undergraduate enrollment in journalism
programs went up nearly 6 percent between
2015 and 2018, the AEJMC said. Journalism is
the most popular major for Bellisario’s incoming
class at Penn State, after having been surpassed
by advertising and PR four years ago.
Kaplan’s master’s program at Syracuse
welcomed 35 new students this fall.
“When Trump starts calling journalists the
enemy of the people and fake news, these kids
get ticked off,” Dalglish said.