Goal 1

Design a flexible curriculum to teach storytelling across multiple platforms and media, paying close attention to trends and changes across communication industries.

Strategy 1

Create early opportunities for students to practice their storytelling skills. 

Critical Tasks:

• Create boot-camp opportunities to give students immersive experiences in narrow but highly valuable storytelling skills.
• Create first-year seminars that give students an opportunity to practice their storytelling skills.

Strategy 2

Revise curriculum to emphasize digital and social media storytelling.

Critical Tasks:

• Explore reducing lower-division requirement to one of three general education courses (Introduction to Media and Culture; Introduction to Media Effects; Introduction to Social Media). 
• Develop a more robust group of 4000 level capstone and advanced courses targeted to student success.
• Incorporate digital media in every 3000 and 4000 level courses.
• Create a storyteller-in-residence program that attracts first-rate professionals to the School.
• Create Iowa Stories Lab to foster innovative technology use in our courses.

Strategy 3

Enhance advising opportunities to assist students in navigating the curriculum.  

Critical Tasks:

• Enhance faculty mentorship program in the School.
• Create guided pathways to use as models for choosing upper-division elective courses.

Metrics:

• Number of first-year seminars
• Number of bootcamps
• Number and quality of 4000 level capstone courses
• Inventory of digital media assessments in 3000 and 4000 level courses
• Creation of Iowa Stories Lab
• Development of pathways for use in advising materials
• Increased contacts between students and faculty mentors

Goal 2

Help JMC students succeed in college and in the first steps of their professional lives.

Strategy 1

Provide students with at least three high impact practice (HIP) opportunities during their time in the major.

Critical Tasks:

• Flag HIP opportunities for students in advising documents.
• Securing additional external resources to support HIPs.
• Develop process for counting how many HIP opportunities students take advantage of during their time on campus.

Strategy 2

Enhance offerings within the School to increase the academic preparedness of students.

Critical Tasks:

• Use advising resources to identify at-risk students for early intervention.
• Develop Graduate School Information Workshop for juniors and seniors who may have an interest in pursuing a graduate degree.
• Implement metacognition modules in the School’s lower-division required courses.
• Strengthen the peer mentor program and use the Student Center as a hub for JMC students.

Strategy 3

Enhance offerings within the School to increase student wellness.

Critical Tasks:

• Create a faculty, staff and graduate student lounge for enhancing work culture.
• Offer wellness opportunities specifically tailored to under-represented population in the School’s community.
• Develop a shared understanding of SDS accommodations to provide support and clarity to students.
• Offer CPR training to faculty and staff.

Strategy 4

Develop a broader array of training opportunities to prepare students to enter the job market.

Critical Tasks:

• Assist the School’s Professional Advisory Board in creating a “Gateway Experience” for graduating seniors.
• Revamp JMC-supported student groups.
• Create a faculty professional mentoring day for undergraduates.
• Offer financial training for early and late career undergraduate majors.

Strategy 5

Develop a broader array of networking opportunities to help students identify internship and job opportunities.

Critical Tasks:

• Create a webinar series in which alumni educate students about opportunities in particular career paths within specific geographic areas.
• Create opportunities for current graduate students to network with alumni of our program.
• Develop profession-specific speed-networking opportunities for students.

Strategy 6

More aggressively place student work in national competitions and increase number of students who win these awards.

Critical Tasks:

• Work with The Daily Iowan to create a more intentional process for producing award-worthy student work.
• Engage students to learn about award-worthy projects they may have completed during internships.

Metrics:

• Number of HIP opportunities in curriculum
• Amount of external resources for undergraduate experiences
• Development of Gateway Experience Program
• Number of speed networking events
• Development of Webinar series

Goal 3

Foster a supportive environment within the School that builds success through the inclusion and participation of diverse groups and perspectives.

Strategy 1

Provide more training opportunities for faculty and staff.

Critical Tasks:

• Work with faculty and staff to ensure that everyone completes the UI BUILD program.
• Require all faculty and staff who serve on search committees to complete the UI implicit bias training.
• Pursue more immersive and experiential DEI training opportunities for faculty and staff.

Strategy 2

Offer DEI training opportunities to undergraduate students.

Critical Tasks:

• Host public forums that raise issues of race, gender, sexuality, etc. for discussion within our community
• Engage with college and campus units working on DEI issues to ascertain the availability of training opportunities for students.

Strategy 3

Create a more inclusive School environment.

Critical Tasks:

• Develop more inclusive celebratory events in the School.
• Add a field for a diversity statement in online job applications for all full-time faculty job descriptions.
• Continually update DEI concepts and themes in the undergraduate curriculum.
• Explore opportunity to create a student advisory board for the School.
• Increase faculty, staff, and student diversity.

Strategy 4

Support faculty and staff in becoming leaders in DEI initiatives on campus, and in the professions and disciplines.

Critical Tasks:

• Support faculty in creating and teaching courses within the UI BUILD program.
• Offer faculty training to lead public forums in the School on diversity-related themes.
• Encourage faculty to assume leadership roles on campus related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, such as diversity councils.

Metrics:

• Completion of BUILD Program
• Number of DEI Training Opportunities for faculty, staff and students
• Number of Public Forums
• Development of SJMC Student Advisory Board
• Number of BUILD courses taught by faculty
• Number of faculty assuming DEI leadership roles on campus

Goal 4

Address the needs of underrepresented faculty, staff, and students to ensure they have access and opportunities to be successful in the School.

Strategy 1

Actively seek more resources for students from underrepresented populations.

Critical Tasks:

• Create a paired mentorship and internship program for students from underrepresented groups.
• Actively work to raise scholarships for this population of students.

Strategy 2

Support underrepresented faculty to be successful in their careers.

Critical Tasks:

• Provide resources for underrepresented faculty to attend national and international professional conferences.
• Facilitate early career mentorship opportunities for early career faculty.
• Offer early-career financial support for under-represented faculty.

Strategy 3

Engage university administrative units that support underrepresented faculty, staff, and students.

Critical Tasks:

• Incentivize faculty and staff to offer their time and skills to administrative units that support under-represented groups.
• Offer more services and training in the School for underrepresented faculty, staff, and students.

Metrics:

• External resources raised for underrepresented students
• Paired mentorship program
• Number of career advancement opportunities, amount of financial support, and number of services for early-career faculty
• Development of incentives for faculty and staff to work with administrative units supporting underrepresented groups in the School

Goal 5

Address the needs of international faculty, staff, and students to ensure they have access and opportunities to be successful in the School.

Strategy 1

Provide additional academic support for international students.

Critical Tasks:

• Create a peer mentoring program in our doctoral program for international students.
• Increase writing support for international students.

Strategy 2

Increase resources to attract and retain international faculty and students.

Critical Tasks:

• Collaborate with international students to aggressively pursue college and university fellowships and awards.
• Develop summer support opportunities for international students.

Strategy 3

Engage with college and university units that support international faculty, staff, and students.

Critical Tasks:

• Offer more services and training in the School for international students.
• Incentivize faculty and staff to offer their time and skills to UI International Programs and the Obermann Center.

Metrics:

• Development of writing support for international students
• Development of peer mentoring program
• Number of graduate fellowships and awards
• Summer opportunities for international graduate students
• Number of services dedicated to international students
• Participation of faculty and staff with International Programs and Obermann Center activities

Goal 6

Enhance the School’s relationship with the communities and professions we serve. 

Strategy 1

Create partnerships with companies in the professions in which our students seek jobs.

Critical Tasks:

• Develop and maintain a database of organizations that have partnered with SJMC in service learning opportunities for students.
• Develop and maintain a database of organizations which hire our students as interns and employees.
• Enhance support for our internship and career placement office in the School.
• Support community-engaged learning experiences, like the Coralville project.

Strategy 2

Support translation of research and creative activity into applications usable by the communities and industries we serve.

Critical Tasks:

• Create communication plan to disseminate our research and creative activity to our professional and community partners.
• Create incentives for faculty to engage with professional associations in the industries we serve.

Strategy 3

Improve communication with the communities and professions we serve.

Critical Tasks:

• Develop a communication plan.
• Enhance opportunities for members of the Professional Advisory Board to serve as ambassadors for the School in professional communities.

Strategy 4

Increase alumni engagement with the School.

Critical Tasks:

• Actively diversify membership on the School’s Professional Advisory Board by gender, race, age, and professional expertise.
• Continuously review governing documents of the School’s Professional Advisory Board to ensure its active engagement with alumni.

Metrics:

• Creation of database of outreach and engagement partners
• Increased financial support for JMC internship and career placement activities
• Development of communication plan for disseminating research and creative activity
• Amount of resources available for faculty to participate in industry events
• Development of Ambassador Program for the PAB
• Amount of diversity on the PAB

Goal 7

Promote publicly engaged scholarship, creative activity, and teaching.

Strategy 1

Revise School governing documents to include incentives for publicly engaged scholarship and creative activity.

Critical Tasks:

• Integrate publicly engaged scholarship, creative activity, and teaching in the School’s tenure and promotion policies.
• Integrate publicly engaged scholarship, creative activity, and teaching in the School’s merit review process.

Strategy 2

Explore investments the School might make to amplify publicly engaged scholarship, creative activity, and teaching.

Critical Tasks:

• Integrate publicly engaged scholarship, creative activity, and teaching in the School’s tenure and promotion policies.
• Create an event series in the School for faculty to present their research and creative activity in public forums.
• Support faculty to present their research and creative activity in public forums.

Metrics:

• Integrate public engagement and outreach activities in JMC promotion & tenure and merit review documents
• Development of colloquia series for faculty to present their work
• Number of faculty presenting their work in public forums

Goal 8

Enable faculty to become leaders in their disciplines, and advance innovative media research and creative activity that makes a significant impact within the society, the professions, and the disciplines.

Strategy 1

Create an environment within the School that enables faculty to pursue research/creative activity.

Critical Tasks:

• Maintain equitable distribution of service within the School.
• Organize teaching loads to ensure that faculty have equal time to pursue research/creative activity.
• Leverage college and university resources to provide faculty with more training in the practice of seeking grants.
• Create a structure within the School to nominate faculty for professional recognition.

Strategy 2

Make the School a destination for high-level research and creative activity in the disciplines and professions we serve.

Critical Tasks:

• Make targeted Investments in the School’s doctoral program.
• Recruit and retain high-performing doctoral and postdoctoral students.
• Actively seek additional resources for faculty to conduct research and/or pursue their creative activity.
• Recruit and retain high-performing faculty.
• Pursue external resources to create the School’s first endowed chair.

Metrics:

• Service and teaching load distribution in the School
• Amount of grant-seeking training for faculty
• Number of faculty winning professional recognition
• Amount of investment in the SJMC doctoral program
• Citation Ratings for faculty
• Citation Rankings Comparison w/Peer Institutions
• Endowed Chair