In today’s accelerated media environment, the faculty of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication believes that the best journalism and media education is deeply rooted in the liberal arts. Such an education teaches students to think critically and holistically. Our program emphasizes issues of institutional power and professional responsibility. The craft of writing is paramount in our endeavors. We stress that training in the latest technology is important, but reflection on the uses of that technology is just as vital. We teach students to be engaged citizens and nimble, ethical professionals. We prepare our students to flourish in global communities.

It is on this foundation that our program is based. We educate our students to be mediators of public life through the information they share and the stories they craft, work that is as accurate as it is truthful.

We demonstrate these commitments in the classes we teach and the research and creative activities we pursue.

Mission

We tell stories that change the world.

Vision

Graduates who change the world through their storytelling.

For decades, the SJMC has been known as the “writing school” among its peers, a School deeply embedded in the liberal arts and dedicated to the craft of writing.  Our new strategic plan builds on this reputation and pulls it into the 21st Century. The centerpiece of our strategic plan is to become known as the pre-eminent multimedia storytelling School in the Midwest. Today, all forms of writing are moving online, and multimedia dominates online cultural production. Thus, our interest in multimedia storytelling is a natural extension of our longstanding brand. While of course our peers teach multimedia storytelling, none has embraced it as a signature theme. In addition, no other unit in CLAS teaches multimedia storytelling. Thus, this pivot offers the School an opportunity to own a niche in the broader marketplace, and allows it to make a unique contribution to CLAS program offerings.

Our mission statement and strategic plan are available per our accreditation standards: "The unit has a written mission statement and a written strategic long-range plan that provides vision and direction for its future, meaningful short-term measurements, identifies needs and resources for its mission and goals and is supported by university administration outside the unit. The unit posts its mission statement and strategic plan in a prominent, easy-to-find place on its website" (Standard 1: Mission, Governance and Administration).

Strategic Plan

The School's strategic plan was adopted in 2020 and is updated annually. It consists of four pillars to align with the CLAS guidelines. SJMC will be releasing a new strategic plan in 2025.