University of Nevada, Las Vegas Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs 4505 S. Maryland Parkway Las Vegas, NV 89154-1099

702.895.2322

UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS

External Reviewers Report

Program Reviewed: April 9-10, 2015

Degrees: B.A. and M.A. in Journalism & Media Studies

Program Chair: Lawrence Mullen

Dean: Robert Ulmer

Reviewers Names and Institutions: Marianne Barrett, Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass

Communication

Dorothy M. Bland, University of North Texas Mayborn School of Journalism

Date of Report: May 8, 2015

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I. Mission and Goals

Based on materials provided by the UNLV team, the mission of the Hank L. Greenspun

School of Journalism and Media Studies (SJMS) is to prepare students to become thoughtful

scholars and researchers and effective professionals in broadcast and print journalism, integrated

marketing communication, public relations and media studies. Faculty engage students in a

supportive environment of scholarship and service, stressing theoretical and practical knowledge,

critical thinking and social responsibility. The Greenspun SJMS offers a Bachelor of Arts and

Master of Arts degree in Journalism & Media Studies. Further, it is stated that the schools

mission is to cultivate communication and research prowess with media while at the same time

preparing students to innovate in a constantly changing media environment. This review is

limited to the undergraduate program at the universitys request.

The schools mission statement is appropriate to summarize expected student outcomes

in relationship to the college. How the Greenspun SJMS fits into the overall mission of the

Greenspun College of Urban Affairs was less clear and there is ample opportunity for the SJMS

to expand collaboration with other units in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs, which

includes the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Criminal Justice, the

School of Environmental and Public Affairs, Marriage and Family Therapy Program and the

School of Social Work. The SJMS mission statement is aligned with the universitys mission as

it includes a focus on students, stresses research and scholarship as well as faculty. It is worth

noting there is no reference to staff members and they are a critical component to the schools

operation and success. There also is no reference to the online or digital world, which are key

growth areas in media today.

II. Do the goals of the program seem linked appropriately to:

A. Student outcomes

B. The department/college

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The layout of the questions below follows the format of the self-study of which you should have received a copy prior to your campus

visit.

Please use the questions below as guidelines for your final report. Feel free to add information and comments to this outline.

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C. The university (See Appendix 2 for UNLV Goals)

The Greenspun SJMSs self-study does not specifically address the programs goals. It

focuses instead on how it is aligned with the universitys core themes:

Promote student learning and success;

Advance and support research, scholarship and creative activity;

Foster inclusion and community engagement.

A summary for how the Greenspun SJMS is performing relative to each of the core

themes follows.

The objective to promote student learning and success is a reasonable expectation and

results are mixed. Serious concerns were raised by industry professionals and students about

whether the SJMS is maximizing its potential. Given the ever changing landscape in the

journalism and media industries, it is important that curriculum adjustments evolve more

quickly. Class scheduling bottlenecks and advising staffing issues must be addressed. More

details on curriculum and advising concerns are in Sections IV-VII of this document.

As for research, scholarship and creative activity in the last five years, members of the

SJMS faculty have published five books; two of which are forthcoming and one of which is an

edited volume. They also published a monograph, 26 refereed journal articles, five book

chapters, 11 book reviews, and 10 other publications including encyclopedia entries. They were

active at conferences with 39 invited presentations and 33 refereed conference papers. Members

of the faculty engage in creative works such as photography exhibits, videos and online

magazine articles. One faculty member won the colleges Research Award in 2013, and was the

recipient of a senior scholar research grant from the Association for Education in Journalism and

Mass Communication. Another was recognized with an award at a national journalism history

conference and a third won a statewide award for photography. Three faculty members presented

their research at the universitys first annual Academic Achievement Gala. The schools faculty

apply for a variety of grants and one was the Primary Investigator on a $1.2 million MacArthur

Foundation Grant through the Clark County Library System. This faculty member also has

received grants from the Bureau of Land Management and the Public Lands Institute. With a 3-3

teaching load routine and limited research support, the output of the faculty is appropriate.

The objective of the core theme to foster inclusion and community engagement centers

on creating an inclusive environment that values and encourages tolerance and respect. Implicit

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in this is diversity. The self-study notes, besides whatever an individual course might build into

a syllabus, there is no systematic implementation of this objective in the program. This is

troubling especially because Las Vegas is an ethnically and racially diverse community. In fact,

the City of Las Vegas Economic and Urban Development Department and Redevelopment

Agency materials indicate the populations of both the City of Las Vegas and Clark County are

majority non-white. In fact, a third of the population is Hispanic and 10 percent is African

American. http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/files/Demographics.pdf Although the SJMS faculty is

about 50 percent women there are no people of color on the faculty. The most recent tenure

track faculty member to be hired is international.

The only outreach the SJMS seems to do is with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

(OLLI) through which a couple of faculty members conduct courses for retired and semi-retired

community members. Given the schools mission and the fact it is a school of journalism and

media studies, one would expect community outreach and engagement to be more extensive than

it is. KUNV, a non-commercial radio station that is part of the school and UNLV-TV, the

campus television channel does some community outreach and some attention is paid to

promoting awareness of a diverse and changing world. JOUR 475, a Global Media class is

required of all majors.

III. Need/Demand for Program

A. Is the need/demand for the program in line with what you know of similar

programs?

The SJMSs self-study provides a list of the local and regional companies and

organizations that employ the schools alumni and provide internships to its current students.

However, it is difficult to assess the need/demand for the program because of the lack of relevant

data and analysis of those data. The SJMS, especially its chair seems to lack an understanding of

the key metrics related to enrollment, retention, graduation and budget.

The structure of the program also makes it difficult to determine how many of its students

are majors and how many of its students are pre-majors who may or may not become majors

after completing the required pre-major courses. However, according to the self-study, the

freshman cohorts in Fall 2010, Fall 2011 and Fall 2012 were 54, 45 and 55 respectively.

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Because the school has not systematically tracked enrollment in its classes it is difficult to

determine what areas of study attract the most students. From our conversations with faculty and

students, it appears student demand is strong for broadcast and integrated marketing

communications and less so for print journalism or media studies.

In terms of anticipated needs for program graduates over the next three to five years, the

self-study presents a mixed picture. While noting the job outlook for photojournalists,

broadcasters and newspaper reporters is strong, it also notes those three jobs are at the very

bottom of the list provided by CareerCast.com.

The SJMS does not systematically track its graduates and the self-study provided limited

anecdotal data on its graduates ability to find jobs in media.

The self-study also notes students are being encouraged to tell stories by data.

However, as detailed below, the curriculum emphasizes theory and concepts rather than skills,

making it difficult to assess the degree to which students are being taught those storytelling

techniques.

IV. Quality of Program

The review team visited with full-time faculty, professional staff, some students and

spoke with industry professionals during the April visit. The facilities, which include two high-

definition TV studios, the 14,700 watt KUNV radio station, the UNLV cable TV station and a

200-seat auditorium, are top notch. However, faculty and staff expressed concerns that there is

no maintenance budget for updating equipment that was new when the 122,700 square foot

building opened in September 2008. The professional staff appear to be talented, enthusiastic and

energetic.

Perhaps the key challenge faced by the department is its lack of focus. Faculty members

struggled to articulate UNLVs Greenspun SJMS brand or claim to fame. In addition to the lack

of focus, the emphasis on conceptual courses at the expense of providing a balance between

classes that are theoretical with those that teach the students they skills they will need to be

prepared to enter 21st media professions was cited as a key challenge. We agree.

Outside of New York City and Los Angeles, Las Vegas is arguably the third hot spot in

the nation for entertainment. One faculty member suggested the school take advantage of its

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location in Las Vegas and build its curriculum around entertainment and sports. UNLV could be

the epicenter for entertainment journalism and media-related training in the U.S.

Feedback was mixed on the overall quality of the program. While some faculty said the

program is doing a good job given resources available, there appears to be a serious disconnect

between the faculty and the students and industry professionals. A broadcaster said the program

has a pretty good reputation for TV production and its integrated marketing communication

program. However, one representative of Greenspun Media described the program as outdated

and shared his concerns that SJMS is providing a 1970s education to students who need to be in

a 2015 environment. Another industry professional said the SJMS is not living up to

Greenspuns expectation that the program would become one of the leading journalism schools

in the nation. One faculty member told us when the school had the opportunity to hire a new

tenure track instructor it didnt hire one who could teach journalism skills.

The curriculum requires 120 credit hours to earn a B.A. degree with a minimum of 42

upper division credits. According to the website, students are pre-journalism majors until they

have completed the following pre-major courses:

JOUR 100 (Introduction to Journalism and Media Studies)

JOUR 101 (Critical Analysis of the Mass Media)

JOUR 102 (News Reporting and Writing)

UNLV General Ed Core of 16-18 credit hours including ENG 101 and 102

Of the three required JOUR courses pre-majors take only one, JOURN 102 introduces

students to the basics of journalism. The required JMS core is 21 credits. Of the seven courses,

only twoJOUR 435 Media Research and JOUR 499 Internship are skills based.

The catalog lists almost 50 journalism classes with a healthy assortment of electives such

as JOUR 321 (Avid Certified Editing) to JOU 447 (Online Games, Virtual Worlds and Social

Networks). However, faculty and students said some classes in the catalog have not been

offered for years. If a class wont be offered for two or more years, should it remain in the

catalog? It also appears that some faculty members have been allowed to teach two courses that

could be condensed into one. For example, interviewing is typically part of a Reporting I class.

Yet, there is JOUR 102 (News Reporting & Writing class) as well as JOUR 493 (Interviewing

class) in the catalog.

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Some of these issues were identified in the undergraduate student survey, the results of

which were included in the self-study materials. In the survey, 61% of students reported there are

not enough classes. . .some core curriculum classes are offered only once a year. Students also

said the pre-requisites for some classes are not clearly layered so students only discover this

when trying to register. These concerns were reinforced in our conversations with students

during our visit to campus.

Additionally, the students said the school needs to offer more Integrated Marketing and

Communications classes as well as other practical classes focusing on real world examples and

diversified technologies. One student said JOUR 435 Media Research was closed with 28

students and the school did not offer a second section for students who needed the class.

Several faculty members said there have been some discussions about pursuing

accreditation by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications

a few years ago. However, that is not a reasonable short-term goal given the issues raised about

curriculum, leadership and allocation of human resources. The average full-time tenure-track

faculty member has a teaching load of about 3-3, and non-tenure track faculty members typically

have a higher teaching load.

A faculty member described the state-of-the art broadcast production facilities as the

best kept secret in town and another faculty member stated, Weve moving toward a media

studies program, but students want to be practitioners. Internships are required, and that is one

of the strengths of SJMS. Students gain valuable experience with the Studio G newscasts,

Virtual-Rebel website production and participation in the regional ad team competitions.

However, students also said communication regarding internships is ad hoc. While there is an

internship fair, pre-requisites and eligibility for enrolling in an internship are not clear.

In addition to teaching and service, research, scholarship and creative activity are

important components in evaluating an undergraduate program. Based on interviews and

information in the self-study, faculty members are engaged in meaningful scholarship with 26

referred journal articles, five book chapters, 11 book reviews and five books published in the last

five years. It was good to see faculty have presented 39 invited presentations and 33 refereed

conference papers as well as 17 creative works including photo exhibits, videos and cyber-

magazine articles. There are more opportunities for collaboration within the College of Urban

Affairs, the Brookings West Center on a variety of topics ranging from energy to health. It was

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disappointing that more UNLV students were not scheduled to participate in coverage of the

Broadcast Education Association/National Association of Broadcasters Show held annually in

Las Vegas.

V. Student Outcomes

A. Has there been improvement in the student outcomes in recent years?

B. Are the trends comparable to what other programs are experiencing?

C. What suggestions do you have to improve the outcomes?

The self-study notes assessment reports of student learning outcomes are designed to

articulate student learning objectives; demonstrate use of direct and indirect instruments;

evaluate student learning outcomes; make curricular and/or pedagogical changes to inform

decision-making; and align results with the Universitys Undergraduate Learning Outcomes.

The Greenspun SJMS has articulated a set of student learning outcomes and

communicates those objectives to students through advising, catalogs and syllabi. It is still in the

process of discussing its Milestone Experience, but it will likely present students with the option

of using either JOUR 408 Media Criticism or JOUR 485 Media and Society as their Milestone

Experience. Since JOUR 485 is currently a required course, but JOUR 408 Media Criticism is

not, it would be advisable to use the required course as the Milestone Experience.

The self-study also notes the school is in the process of revising its alumni survey, but it

is unclear whether the revision was completed and deployed in fall 2014 as planned.

The school did conduct focus groups in 2013 to get insights on its strengths and

weaknesses and made some changes to its curriculum as a result of those conversations. For

example, it changed the textbook used in the First Amendment class and supplemented the

textbook with readings. It also increased the amount of hands-on time in some computer classes,

added weekly news quizzes to others and updated the text and approach used in the online

course, JOUR 101.

In terms of student outcomes it is hard to tell whether those have improved. If the

measures are retention and graduation rates, its clear that those outcomes havent improved. In

fact, the six-year graduation rate for the 2007 cohort is 35% worse than it was for the 2005

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cohort. These trends not only run counter to other programs, but are well below the universitys

stated goal of a 60% six-year graduation rate.

As noted in other sections of this report, to improve student outcomes the significant

issues with academic advising must be addressed, the curriculum needs to be streamlined and

enrollment better managed so that students are able to get the classes they need when they need

them.

VI. Student Completion

A. Do there seem to be any barriers to students completing their degree in a

timely manner?

There are significant and troubling barriers to students completing their degrees in a

timely manner: a shortage of required classes; unclear course pre-requisites; inadequate advising.

The number of degrees conferred and the time to degree is troubling. In 2005-2006 the

school conferred 191 degrees. That dropped to a low of 73 in 2012-13. The five year trend is:

2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014

88 80 77 73 82

By cohort the six-year graduation rates for the school are:

School University

Fall 2005 40.9% 54.5%

Fall 2006 16.7% 36.7%

Fall 2007 25.6% 44.2%

The schools performance in terms of graduation rates is clearly significantly below the

universitys goal of 60%.

Much of this can be attributed to bottlenecks in the curriculum that include the

requirement that students complete 16-18 credits of the universitys General Education core;

English 101 and 102 and a nine-credit Journalism and Media Studies core before being

considered for the school.

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Additionally, until very recently the school capped its classes at 20 or 25 which made it

unlikely students would get the courses they needed when they needed them. For fall 2015 the

cap for some classes has been raised to 35, still well below what is acceptable for an

undergraduate lecture-style class in the discipline.

Further, there are only two full-time advisers for the 2500 students in the Greenspun

College of Urban Affairs; six times the standard ratio established by NACADA, the national

association of academic advisers.

The lack of adequate advising was cited as a concern in both the undergraduate student

survey and in our conversations with students. Forty-seven percent of students responding to the

survey said they are not able to see an adviser as often as they need. Students said, it takes a

month to schedule an appointment; they dont answer voicemails. Students also said their

adviser was not familiar with the class order and class requirements of the program.

VII. Quality and Adequacy of Resources

The amount of resources available to the school is less of an issue than the mismatch

between what is available and what is needed. The department currently has 9 full-time faculty

members and approximately 415 students. At 46:1 the student-faculty ratio is in line with that of

top journalism and media studies programs. However, the composition of the faculty is not

adequate to obtain the desired outcomes. Given the strong diversity in the student population

and the demographics of the City of Las Vegas and Clark County, it was disappointing to see

there are no full-time faculty members of color.

The schools curriculum is heavy on theory and light on skills. Top programs do a better

job of balancing the two areas. A review of the curriculum and conversations with the schools

faculty revealed a lack of focus and an emphasis on media studies rather than on journalism. One

faculty member noted, the faculty are not in alignment with students; the faculty are more media

studies; the students are more industry and practice-oriented as there is a substantial number of

first generation college students in the Greenspun SJMS.

When the school has the opportunity to hire faculty it should focus on hiring those who

can teach the students the skills they will need to compete with graduates of other journalism and

media studies programs for 21st century media jobs. The school should also re-evaluate its core

curriculum and replace some currently required courses with those that provide students with

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opportunities to learn and apply key skills including reporting, interviewing, writing, editing and

working with multimedia tools.

Two areas that need immediate attention are the Advising Office and course scheduling

process. Students repeatedly complained, both in the survey and in our conversations with them

that graduation has been delayed a year or more because they were ill-advised or could not get

the classes they needed to graduate.

The newly hired Director of Advising has already taken steps to improve the advising

process, but is limited in what she can do given there are only two full-time advisers and four

graduate assistants for 2500 students. The NACADA (the national advising association)

recommendation is that there should be a ratio of about one adviser per 300 students. In our

conversation with the Director of Advising we recommended streamlining some processes by

making commonly used forms available online for students to access as needed. This would

reduce the need for students to set up an advising appointment to simply pick up a form.

The reviewers did not meet with the development officer for the College of Urban

Affairs, but there is concern that the development officer is more of an event planner than a

fundraiser. The SJMS team needs help in developing skills for grant writing, alumni engagement

and fundraising.

Concerns were raised about keeping current with technology, aging infrastructure and

faculty size. Overall, the amount of physical resources (i.e. equipment) is less of an issue than the

disconnect between what students need and faculty priorities. The perception there is a need for

more research assistants when more than 95 percent of students are undergraduates was

especially striking. A cultural shift is needed in some cases so that future faculty hiring is more

student-centric, and aligned with what the SJMS wants its niche and brand to be. As openings

occur, it will be critical to include students and industry interests plus re-align hires with high

enrollment growth areas in the SJMS.

VIII. Commendations

The facility has more than 12,000 sq. foot of broadcast space and is quite

impressive.

The professional staff operating the radio and TV station are energetic and well

trained.

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IX. Recommendations

Director Lawrence Mullen has been selected to participate in the Scripps Howard

Academic Leadership Academy at Louisiana State University in June 2015. He is

encouraged to work with the team to revise the curriculum, explore converting some

large lecture classes to an online model and weed out courses as needed to make room for

the digital age.

The leadership team is encouraged to develop a written strategic plan with faculty and

staff input that is aligned with the universitys goals by the end of the fall 2015 semester.

This includes fundraising, grant writing and integrating more diversity in the faculty.

Budget mentoring is needed.

Promotional copy on the UNLV website states one of the goals is to capitalize on our

location and faculty interests in entertainment media with creative and socially relevant

research projects. This is an excellent goal. How will you operationalize it? Perhaps

SJMS can better utilize the 200-seat auditorium for classes, leasing it out for market

research and/or work with the casino industry on some of their video/digital project

needs.

The media managers group is a resource to help develop a business plan and rate sheet to

allow weekend and off-hour usage of recording studios. This will help develop revenue

streams to address equipment concerns.

The UNLV website states there is a need to develop cross-disciplinary certificate

programs with the William S. Boyd School of Law, the William F. Harrah College of

Hotel Administration, College of Business, College of Education and Department of

Music. We suggest you focus on one a year and not overlook opportunities in the sports

arena or other units in the College of Urban Affairs.

The UNLV website states there is a plan to create a professional student agency that

works with campus and community group on media projects like advertising campaigns,

pod casts, web streaming and electronic magazines. We suggest a written plan be

produced by fall and suggest you request a FT staff person to oversee this and manage the

process. The person needs to know he/she has P&L responsibility.

The lack of systematic alumni engagement needs to be addressed immediately, and seek

help from the Alumni Relations and Development Offices. The last e-newsletter found

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on the website was dated Spring 2009. The team is encouraged to continue to update its

website daily and generate an alumni e-newsletter at least quarterly to be sent to alumni,

administrators, major donors and other key supporters.

X. Final Statements

A. Are there any other comments you would like to make about the program that

are not covered in other sections?

While most of our concerns are addressed in other sections of this report, because some

of them are so troubling, they bear repeating here. Our overarching concern centers on students

inability to complete their degrees in a reasonable period of time largely because of bottlenecks

in the curriculum, an inadequate number of classes available for them and an academic advising

operation that is woefully understaffed. The program lacks focus, places too much emphasis on

theory at the expense of providing students with the necessary skills to compete in 21st century

media industries and has weak leadership. The school needs to overhaul its curriculum, better

manage its enrollment and rethink/raise the enrollment caps of its lecture courses. Ongoing

mentoring for the department chair and opportunities for professional development should be

considered.

As openings occur it will be crucial to diversify the faculty to incorporate those with

digital skill sets and to better reflect the demographics of the City of Las Vegas, Clark County

and the SJMSs undergraduate student body.

The school is fortunate to have outstanding facilities and a top-notch professional staff. It

should tap the expertise of those staff members and develop ways to generate revenue from those

facilities.

NEXT STEPS

Please send this completed report to Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Carl Reiber at: carl.reiber@unlv.edu.

Expect your check to be mailed within 3 days of UNLV receiving the report.

If you have not received your check within 2 weeks of submitting your report, contact Kristene Fisher at kristene.fisher@unlv.edu,

702-895-5182.

Thank you for your assistance with this program review!