SIUE Department of Mass Communications- Department Handbook

Student Handbook

Welcome to the Mass Communications Department Student Handbook. This book has been designed and written to assist our majors with managing their careers here in Mass Communications. Of course, your faculty advisor is the best person to talk to when you have a question, but hopefully the information placed here can help. Below you will first find information on the educational objectives of our college and our department

New Policy on Departmental Acceptance of Transfer Credit : The department will accept a maximum of 18 semester hours transferred from any other accredited higher education institution toward completion of the Mass Communications major: the remainder of a student's 39 hour major must be completed in this department.

The department will accept a maximum of 9 semester credits transferred from any other accredited higher education institution toward completion of the Mass Communications minor: the remainder of a student's 21 hour minor must be completed in this department.

The burden of proof that a course meets a requirement in the Mass Communications major is the responsibility of the student and the institution from which the course in transferred.

1. The Desired Characteristics and Capabilities of Graduates of our College of Arts and Sciences MORE INFO

2. The Desired Characteristics and Capabilities of Graduates of the Department of Mass Communications MORE INFO

3. Next you will find a reprinting of our department's section of the 2001-2003 catalog, including A list of our Faculty, A discussion of our Curriculum, A description of our beautiful Location on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi river, 20 minutes drive from downtown St. Louis, Career Opportunities, Admission, Retention And Graduation Requirements, Degree Requirements for the Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications, and a List of the Courses we teach in Mass Communications MORE INFO

4. In the next section, you will find advising check sheets for our four professional options: Television/Radio, Print and Broadcast Journalism, Media Advertising and Corporate Communications

5.Next you can read our Operating Policies for the following courses: MC 499, Independent Study, MC 491, Advanced Practices, MC 442, Special Studies in Visual Communications, and MC 495, Readings In Mass Media, and print off an application form for one of these courses. This form is like a contract: it is necessary for you and your professor to fill this out before enrolling in one of these four courses MORE INFO

6.Internship Program Policies are next. MORE INFO

7.All prospective students want to know what our faculty will require them to do. The section titled, Expectations of Mass Communications Majors and Minors, answers many of these questions. MORE INFO

8.Next there is a short section entitled, A Few Words on Safety, followed by our department policy on transfer credit from other accredited colleges and universities, the department policy on incompletes plus a form for a faculty-student agreement on completion of the "I" grade. MORE INFO

9. You can find a section on the scholarships available to undergraduate students in our department. However, there are hundreds of other available scholarships and many different forms of financial assistance available on campus through the SIUE Student Financial Aid Office. MORE INFO

10. Finally, you can read about how Mass Communications students are active in a number of Professional Societies. Beyond the many guest lectures, internships, externships (one-day "tag-alongs") and special events, such as our annual Mass Communications Week, these activities sponsored by our professional societies provide even more professional contacts for our students. We hope that this student manual will be of assistance to you during your academic career in the Mass Communications Department. If you have additional questions, concerns or suggestions, please see your academic advisor or the department chair. MORE INFO

11. Here are some sample script styles. You'll need Adobe's free Acrobat Reader to view these files. Then choose from radio news, 2-column TV newscast, 2-column Instructional Video, TV news editing script, radio commercial with voice-over, Radio commercial with actors, TV commercial, TV commercial storyboard, TV commercial with actors, or TV/Film (single-camera) script WGA standard.