It looks like spring’s here at last! Hooray! This month, I’m sharing updates on the School of Media and Journalism’s (MDJ) path toward reaccreditation through the .
MDJ was provisionally reaccredited during the 2021-2022 academic year and fully reaccredited during the 2023-2024 year. Programs are evaluated every seven years, and our clock began ticking in 2021-2022. This means MDJ is preparing for a full reaccreditation review to take place during the 2027-2028 academic year. While that may seem distant, our work begins now.
As I talk about accreditation, I want to draw your attention to an organizational change in MDJ: the Advertising program is moving to the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship on July 1. Meanwhile, faculty in our Digital Media Production, Journalism, and Public Relations programs have voted unanimously to pursue reaccreditation with ACEJMC.
During the 2026-2027 academic year we’ll be focused on preparing a comprehensive self-study demonstrating the efficacy of our programs in preparing the next generation of media professionals. , including everything from administration to facilities to faculty research to student advising and more. But it’s ACEJMC’s standard focused on assessment of learning outcomes that I want to talk about today.
MDJ has a comprehensive assessment plan that includes student entrance and exit surveys; student and supervisor internship reports; evaluation of capstone coursework by media professionals; curriculum mapping; and periodic administration of an alumni survey.
And it’s time again for that alumni survey. I invite all MDJ alumni and those who graduated from our programs when we were known as the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) to complete this survey. This survey is a vital indirect measure of our success. Your feedback helps us understand how well your MDJ/JMC education prepared you for the workforce.
Your feedback helps us “close the loop” -- a process of taking real-world insights and translating them into concrete improvements to our instruction. Without your candid responses, we can’t accurately measure where we’re succeeding and where we need to evolve to meet industry standards.
An assessment process like ours is most effective when it engages the professionals who define our industry. In addition to completing the survey, we’d be delighted to have you more deeply involved in the MDJ community. We’re looking for alumni and friends of the school to:
- Help evaluate student work for our capstone evaluations.
- Assist with curriculum assessment and the review of degree program learning outcomes.
- Provide industry insight as we adapt to the rapidly changing media landscape.
Your expertise ensures that our written assessment plan isn’t just a document on a website, but a living strategy that keeps MDJ at the forefront of media and journalism education. If you’re interested in getting involved, please send an email to mdj@kent.edu We’d love to hear from you.
Thank you for your continued support of our students and our mission!