Emmy-award-winning journalist Barbara Nevins Taylor is the Journalism Program director and helped spearhead the new B.A. in Communications.
Students will have the opportunity to enroll in new concentrations of Journalism or Advertising and Public Relations towards a B.A. in Communications in the Fall 2024 semester at The City College of New York. The new B.A. is housed in the Media and Communications Arts Department, in the Division of Humanities and the Arts, which also offers a BFA in Film and Video, an MFA in Film, and an MPS in Branding + Integrated Communications (BIC). Both majors consist of 42 credits and begin with the Introduction to Media Studies course.
For journalism, the major begins with MCA 2300 Introduction to Journalism and culminates with a capstone class where students work in teams to cover a big story or a series of stories. It is an immersive journalism experience that gives students the chance to use their communities and New York City as their laboratory. Stories will be published regularly on “Harlem View,” the journalism website. An 18-credit minor in journalism will still be available.
According to Emmy-award winning journalist and Journalism Program Director Barbara Nevins Taylor, the new B.A. reflects increased student demand and interest. In these complicated times, a new generation of students wants to tackle the big questions of the day: economic inequality, immigration, racial injustice, gender equality, climate change, the environment, as well as the joy that sports, culture, and entertainment bring, while recognizing the need to tell truthful stories that lead to greater understanding.
New courses available in the Fall include Creative Thinking for Communication Arts and Journalism & Society: Covering Power. Electives include Sports Journalism, Spanish Journalism, Digital Information Graphics, Latinx Media Studies, and Race & Media. Students will be encouraged to take classes in history, philosophy, the arts, political science, economics, and computer science to provide a foundation for understanding communities and the world at large.
A new course, Media Planning, will be available for Ad/PR students in Fall 2024. Associate Professor Edward Keller is the Program Director.
Faculty, lecturers, and workshop leaders continue to include working journalists from “The New York Times,” “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Daily News,” National Public Radio, ABC News, CBS News, NBCU, WPIX, CNN, and other major news organizations. Students are encouraged to take at least one internship before graduation. Internships play a critical role at CCNY to help students transition from academic to professional life.
Journalism at The City College of New York has a storied history that goes back more than 100 years. CCNY graduates have won top journalism awards and honors, including Pulitzer Prizes, Emmy Awards, Webby Awards, and more.
“Many in our diverse student community want to learn how to cover and report stories that often go untold. The knowledge and skills they gain in the program will prepare them to bring their unique insight into newsrooms and other institutions that prize journalistic analysis and craft,” said Nevins Taylor, who has won 22 Emmy Awards, over 50 journalism awards and honors, and was recently featured in an ABC News documentary and a Netflix docuseries. She practices journalism on ConsumerMojo.com.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi (now Lightcast) puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. This year, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Thea Klapwald
e:
tklapwald@ccny.cuny.edu