The University of Rhode Island
Department of Journalism
History

Journalism has been offered at the University of Rhode Island since 1932, when the Bulletin of what was then Rhode Island State College included English 11-Journalism, English 12-Editorial Writing and Copy Reading, and English 13-Technical Journalism.

In 1959, when plans were under way to create an independent Department of Journalism, President Francis Horn explained to the Board of Trustees that students in Journalism courses had been "developing steadily in recent years," and 42 credit hours were offered. The trustees, apparently concerned about the professional nature of the major, were reassured by Horn that the Arts & Sciences faculty, "not usually kindly disposed toward professional curriculums," supported the journalism major. Nonetheless, the trustees asked that the program be submitted to several journalism educators for comment. With their generally positive responses in hand, the board in April 1960 approved establishment of the Department. Its first chair would be Robert W. McCreanor, architect of the major. Horn wrote to McCreanor: "The Board was very insistent that we develop a first-rate Journalism Department . . . a program of high quality."

The original major was "designed to provide a professional preparation for journalism that is grounded soundly in the humanities and sciences." There were two sequences -- newspaper reporting and editing, and radio-television reporting and editing -- and students were required to have a minor. There were two full-time faculty members and 15 courses, including one called Press Conference, in which students met weekly to conduct a group interview with a newsworthy person and then write news stories.

The graduating class of 1961 included two journalism majors; since then, more than 1,100 individuals have earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. Although the number of majors was a concern in the 1960s, journalism's popularity has seldom waned since the mid-1970s. In the spring of 2003, there were about 165 majors. Since the fall of 1990, the department has maintained a Macintosh-equipped Reporting/Writing/Editing Lab. Broadcast students now use digital cameras and have access to state-of-the-art video editing equipment. The curriculum today includes two dozen courses for students interested in print media, radio and television news and public relations. And although the department's mission statement today is longer, it sounds remarkably like that drafted by its founders: ". . . a course of study that is strongly grounded in the liberal arts. . . . The focus is on reporting, writing, editing and producing the news for print and broadcast."