THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE

FACULTY SENATE

Senate Document Number 5811S

Date of Senate Approval 04/07/11

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Statement of Faculty Senate Action:

APC Document 46: Change title, credit hours, and prerequisites for MCOM 327, 329

Change titles, credit hours and descriptions, for MCOM 351, 353

Effective Date: Fall 2011

1. Delete: On page 203, catalog listing for MCOM 327:

327 Editorial Writing Workshop (2)

Editorial writing in a standard newspaper format. Emphasis on utilization of factual material to support opinion, news judgment, and argument construction. Even years Spring.

Add: On page 203, in place of deleted entry:

327 Editorial Writing (3)

Editorial writing in a standard newspaper format. Emphasis on utilization of factual material to support opinion, news judgment, and argument construction. Prerequisites: MCOM 201 and successful completion of Journalism Concentration Entrance Exam, or permission of instructor. Odd years Spring.

Impact:

This is designed to change the Editorial Writing course from a two-hour workshop into a three-hour comprehensive course. Students will need to pass the concentration entrance test to declare the MCOM major before taking this class. Resource Impact: Not significant as the additional one hour is balanced by the removal of several courses, and the shifting of several courses from four to three hours. The impact of increasing or decreasing the frequency of offering for individual courses is balanced in the overall two-year plan of course offerings. The entire curriculum is offered in two years, and no adjunct faculty are required for this. Should adjunct funds become available, these will be used to increase sections and/or reduce enrollments of MCOM 104, 201 and VMP 205, which are already multiple-section, every-semester courses with enrollments of 30 to 40.

Rationale:

The department is moving away from two-credit workshops in the journalism curriculum. It has proven to be difficult for creating departmental-offerings schedules, student schedules, and for continuity of instruction. In journalism, writing competent editorials requires knowledge of newswriting principles. The prerequisites help insure that students who enroll are adequately prepared for the work of the course. Some courses in this proposal are offered more often than in the past, some less often, and some are eliminated. These changes in semester of offering will provide coherent curriculum structure over time.

2. Delete: On page 203, catalog listing for MCOM 329:

329 Copy Editing Workshop (2)

Reading and editing copy. Sentence and paragraph restructuring, lead clarification, and word choice. Emphasis on news judgment as a basis for editorial decisions. Every other Fall.

Add: On page 203, in place of deleted entry:

329 Copy Editing (3)

Reading and editing copy. Sentence and paragraph restructuring, lead clarification, and word choice. Emphasis on news judgment as a basis for editorial decisions. Prerequisites: MCOM 201 and successful completion of Journalism Concentration Entrance Exam, or permission of instructor. Even years Spring.

Impact:

This is designed to change the Copy Editing course from a two-hour workshop into a three-hour comprehensive course. Students will need to pass the concentration entrance test to declare the MCOM major before taking this class. Resource Impact: Not significant as the additional one hour is balanced by the removal of several courses and the shifting of several courses from four to three hours. The impact of increasing or decreasing the frequency of offering for individual courses is balanced in the overall two-year plan of course offerings. The entire curriculum is offered in two years, and no adjunct faculty are required for this. Should adjunct funds become available, these will be used to increase sections and/or reduce enrollments of MCOM 104, 201 and VMP 205, which are already multiple-section, every-semester courses with enrollments of 30 to 40.

Rationale:

The department is moving away from two-credit workshops in the journalism curriculum. It has proven to be difficult for creating departmental-offerings schedules, student schedules, and for continuity of instruction. The prerequisites help insure that students who enroll are adequately prepared for the work of the course. One must know how to write copy in order to edit copy. Some courses in this proposal are offered more often than in the past, some less often, and some are eliminated. These changes in semester of offering will provide coherent curriculum structure over time.

3. Delete: On page 203, catalog listing for MCOM 351:

351 Public Relations Workshop (2)

Exploration and creation of press releases, fact sheets, backgrounders, feature stories and other persuasive communication media. Development of crisis communication plans and internal and external public relations strategies. Fall.

Add: On page 203 in place of deleted entry:

351 Public Relations Writing and Production (3)

A writing workshop focusing on the exploration, application and production of public relations tactics including both traditional media and social media. Prerequisite: MCOM 201 and successful completion of Journalism Concentration Entrance Exam, or permission of instructor. Spring.

Impact:

This modification is designed to change the Public Relations course from a two-hour workshop to a three-hour comprehensive course. Resource Impact: Not significant as the additional one hour is balanced by the removal of several courses and the shifting of several courses from four to three hours. The impact of increasing or decreasing the frequency of offering for individual courses is balanced in the overall two-year plan of course offerings. The entire curriculum is offered in two years, and no adjunct faculty are required for this. Should adjunct funds become available, these will be used to increase sections and/or reduce enrollments of MCOM 104, 201 and VMP 205, which are already multiple-section, every-semester courses with enrollments of 30 to 40.

Rationale:

The department is moving away from two-credit workshops in the public relations curriculum. It has proven to be difficult for creating departmental schedules of offerings, student schedules, and for continuity of instruction. Requiring MCOM 201 as prerequisite should have been there all along. In journalism, writing competent press releases requires knowledge of newswriting principles and knowledge of Associated Press Style rules taught in MCOM 201. Some courses in this proposal are offered more often than in the past, some less often, and some are eliminated. These changes in semester of offering will provide coherent curriculum structure over time.

4. Delete: On page 203, catalog listing for MCOM 353:

353 Advertising Workshop (2)

Exploration and creation of effective advertising copy. Emphasis on involvement devices, rational and emotional techniques, integrated marketing communication, and media selection. See department chair.

Add: On page 203, in place of deleted entry:

353 Advertising Writing and Production (3)

A writing course focusing on the exploration, application and production of advertising tactics including both traditional media and social media. Prerequisite: MCOM 201 or permission of instructor. Even years Fall.

Impact:

This modification is designed to change the advertising craft course from a two-hour workshop to a three-hour comprehensive course. Resource Impact: Not significant as the additional one hour is balanced by the removal of several courses and the shifting of several courses from four to three hours. The impact of increasing or decreasing the frequency of offering for individual courses is balanced in the overall two-year plan of course offerings. The entire curriculum is offered in two years, and no adjunct faculty are required for this. Should adjunct funds become available, these will be used to increase sections and/or reduce enrollments of MCOM 104, 201 and VMP 205, which are already multiple-section, every-semester courses with enrollments of 30 to 40.

Rationale:

The department is moving away from two-credit workshops in the public relations curriculum. It has proven to be difficult for creating departmental schedules of offerings, student schedules, and for continuity of instruction. Requiring MCOM 201 as prerequisite should have been there all along. Writing effective advertising copy requires knowledge of Associated Press Style rules, taught in MCOM 201. Some courses in this proposal are offered more often than in the past, some less often, and some are eliminated. These changes in semester of offering will provide coherent curriculum structure over time.