JMC is actively committed to helping media organizations reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. It does this through focused recruitment and retention efforts aimed at preparing underrepresented students with the skills and support to excel as media professionals.
JMC takes full advantage of its proximity to Denver, a major media market. Distinguished media professionals regularly serve as adjunct faculty. Hundreds of Denver and Boulder media organizations provide wide-ranging internship and career opportunities. Students consistently are offered highly competitive internships at leading Denver television and radio stations, newspapers, advertising agencies, public relations firms, and government, nonprofit, and corporate public information offices. Competitive internships are available locally and nationally to students at award-winning newspapers, magazines, advertising and public relations firms, government and social service agencies, radio and television stations, cable television systems, video production houses, online media, and other operations, including USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek, ABC, MTV, NewLine Cinema, National Public Radio, Leo Burnett, TBWA\Chiat\Day, CBS, NBC, CNN, Bloomberg, C-SPAN, and Discovery Channel.
Technology is changing the way information is delivered, and the Journalism and Mass Communication Program is at the forefront of this shift, incorporating new technologies into its curriculum to make newsgathering, broadcasting, public relations, and advertising more accessible to audiences. Students use technology to create new media possibilities, renewing audience trust by collaborating with them to communicate important information. All lab courses—reporting, editing, advertising, public relations, radio, television, new media, and photojournalism—contain no more than 20 students. Broadcast students use a state-of-the-art digital broadcast studio in CU’s ATLAS center with its 1,000-square-foot studio furnished with the latest equipment.
The Journalism and Mass Communication Program is accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communications. It is a fundamental principal of the ACEJMC that education for journalism be broadly based. Undergraduate students take about two-thirds of their college course work outside of the school and approximately one-third in the school.
Many successful alumni proudly trace their careers back to student-run media and professional organizations here. CU Sports Magazine is a weekly televised program that follows collegiate athletics. KVCU, the university's 24-hour radio station, broadcasts to the Denver area. Cultural Currents is a newsletter that focuses on issues of diversity in media coverage and personnel. NewsTeam Boulder is a twice-weekly cable news show produced by students in the advanced broadcast classes. The CU Independent is a student-run online news source for the campus, at www.cuindependent.com.
All news-editorial students complete internships at local daily newspapers and magazines as reporters, copy editors, online editors, or photographers. Students participate in chapters of the Advertising Club, Society of Professional Journalists, the Multi-ethnic Media Organization (MEMO), Association for Women in Communication, and Journalism Board, the student government organization.
An ambitious year-round program helps students locate quality internships suited to their specific career goals. Many students complete two or more internships by graduation. Students perform internships at magazines, weekly and daily newspapers, advertising and public relations firms, businesses, and at government and nonprofit agencies. Others do broadcast and cable television internships in Denver. Opportunities for multimedia internships abound.
Students regularly obtain nationally competitive internships through the Politics Journalism Semester in Washington, D.C., the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, American Society of Magazine Editors, the Advertising Club of New York, and the Chips Quinn Scholars.
In recent years students have served as interns The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Skiing, Backpacker, Sports Illustrated, The Today Show, High Noon Entertainment, MTV, Fox Sports, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Children's Hospital, and IBM and top ad agencies throughout the United States. These include Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, DDB, BBDO, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Young & Rubicam, Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Publicis, and Arnold Worldwide.
Internships are also available in communities throughout the state, including Colorado's mountain resort areas.
Graduates of the Journalism and Mass Communication Program hold key positions throughout the United States in advertising, news, entertainment, government, education, business, and law. Many participate in the alumni Career Network to help new graduates get started in their field by providing advice and contacts. The Student Resource Center fields local and national job opportunities through its contacts with employers and hosts on-campus interviews with a wide variety of employers. With the student Journalism Board, it sponsors major career and internship events each year. The center also assists students and graduates by offering individual counseling and a regular series of workshops on résumé preparation, interviewing, and career planning specifically for media careers. The center maintains a library of media directories and career planning resources and offers students extensive lists of websites related to media jobs.
Through the Center for Environmental Journalism, JMC seeks to enrich and elevate the quality, range, and significance of media coverage of environmental issues. The CEJ is home to the prestigious Ted Scripps Fellowships in Environmental Journalism, which provide working journalists with a one-year opportunity to deepen their understanding of environmental science, policy, law, and journalism.
The Resource Center for Media, Religion, and Culture is a clearinghouse of information for those interested in exploring the intersection of religious and media-related practices in the everyday lives of contemporary adults and their families.
Journalism and Mass Communication, in conjunction with the Office of International Education, encourages students to participate in the university's study abroad programs. Study abroad usually is undertaken during the junior year. Since an additional semester may be necessary to meet graduation requirements, prospective majors are urged to plan early and seek advising from the journalism and mass communication associate director. Programs are offered in more than 70 countries worldwide. Information and application forms are available at the Office of International Education, University of Colorado Boulder, 123 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0123, or studyabroad.colorado.edu.