Article

Spanish-English journalism master's program
first in nation for bilingual reporters

     North Miami (Dec. 3) – The School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SJMC) at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami has launched a brand new Spanish-English master’s program in journalism, the first of its kind in the nation.
     This program offers six courses in Spanish and six in English, and it is designed for students who want to be trained to report and write news in Spanish and English for print and broadcast media. The courses taken in English include such topics as Theories of Mass Communication, The Language of Visual Communication and Advanced Investigative Reporting Techniques. The courses taken in Spanish include Thinking Like a Writer, Advanced Print News Reporting and Advanced On Camera News Reporting. The master’s, which is 36 credit hours, can be completed in one year if students enroll fulltime.
     Applicants interested in joining the program should send their application to FIU no later than Feb. 15, 2007 to begin studies in the Fall 2007. Students entering the graduate program are required to meet minimum requirements for undergraduate GPA or the EXADEP (Graduate Records Examination in Spanish). For more information, please visit the School of Journalism and Mass Communication website at http://jmc.fiu.edu or write to the program’s coordinator, Julie Lopez, at lopezju@fiu.edu
     The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at FIU offers programs in advertising, journalism, public relations and television. With an enrollment of more than 2,100 students, 81 percent minority, it is home to the nation’s first Spanish-English language journalism master’s program, a leading graduate in business journalism, an internationally-recognized advertising program in partnership with the Miami Ad School and one of the top-ranked public relations programs in the nation.
     Editor and Publisher magazine says the SJMC “now takes the lead in training Hispanic journalists.” The school has become the go-to place for hosting top industry trade events and alumni and faculty have won a number of prestigious awards, including a total of eight Pulitzer Prizes and several Silver Anvils, Clarions, Clios, Addys, Tellys and Silver Microphones. It is also ranked number one in the nation for graduating Hispanics with bachelor’s degrees in communication. FIU is Consumer Digest’s “best value in public higher education.”