University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication - History

History

English professor Edward Kidder Graham taught the first journalism course at UNC, English 16: “Journalism.” The two-credit course was described as “the history of journalism; the technique of style; the structure of the news story; and the study of modern journals” in the 1909-10 academic catalog.

The Department of Journalism was founded in 1924 with Gerald W. Johnson, an editorial writer for the Greensboro Daily News, as its first chairman. With a six-course curriculum, students could earn a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree.

The department offered its first broadcast journalism course, Journalism 67, “Radio News and Features,” in 1943. In 1946, faculty member Stuart Sechriest taught the first photography course, Journalism 80, “News Photography.”

Lola Lee Mustard became the school’s first female faculty member in 1948.

Led by UNC journalism graduate Holt McPherson in 1949, the School of Journalism Foundation of North Carolina was incorporated to raise funds to advance journalism at the school. The money collected provided student aid, chaired professorships and equipment. The foundation continues to fulfill this mission today.

The department became the School of Journalism Sept. 1, 1950, with Skipper Coffin as dean. Coffin was succeeded in 1953 by Norval Neil Luxon, at the time an assistant to the president of Ohio State University.

Luxon created the master’s of arts program in 1955, and the first M.A. degree was awarded in 1957. The doctoral program began in 1964.

The school was first accredited by the American Council on Education in Journalism (ACEJ) in 1958. Since that time, the school has earned reaccreditation every six years.

The school moved into Howell Hall during the fall semester of 1960.

Lester Carson, the school’s first black student and one of the first black undergraduates at the University, graduated in 1963. The same year, Karen Parker, the University’s first black female undergraduate, enrolled in journalism classes.

Luxon relinquished his deanship in 1964, and Wayne Danielson became dean. Danielson left the school in 1969, and John B. “Jack” Adams took over. Adams' tenure included the implementation of the spelling and grammar test developed by faculty members Tom Bowers and Richard Cole. The test still is required of all students to graduate with a journalism degree. On Feb. 1, 1975, NBC News aired a report about the test on a national television newscast.

As of 1977, accreditation was granted on a sequence-by-sequence basis. As a test case in 1978, the school became the first journalism program in the nation to receive unit-wide accreditation.

Richard Cole became dean in 1979 after Adams stepped down. The same year, Harry Amana became the school’s first black faculty member.

Carol Reuss revived public relations courses in 1980 – more than 50 years after Robert Madry taught two educational publicity courses. By 1982, PR was an optional specialization of the news-editorial sequence, and by 1991, public relations became a separate sequence.

With Reed Sarratt as president, the school formed the Journalism Alumni and Friends Association (JAFA) on Jan. 26, 1980. The group continues to keep alumni connected to the school. The N.C. Journalism Hall of Fame was created in 1981 to honor individuals who have made outstanding and career-long contributions to journalism. Honorees have to have been born in or become distinctly identified with North Carolina. Dean Cole and Gene Robert of the Philadelphia Inquirer created the school’s Board of Visitors – now the Board of Advisers – during the 1988-89 academic year. The board is a vehicle to involve a variety of alumni and other media professionals more closely in the school.

The school changed its name to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication to more accurately reflect the diversity and broadness of instruction. At the time, more than 70 percent of the school’s undergraduates were in programs other than news-editorial journalism.

The school created the visual communication sequence in 1991, and the dissolution of the Radio, Television and Motion Pictures program in 1993 brought several new faculty members to the school. The broadcast sequence became electronic communication in 1994.

In 1995, the Park Foundation of Ithaca, N.Y., which later became the Triad Foundation, pledged $5.5 million for the first five years of the Park Fellowship Program, funding graduate educations in the school. The foundation also gave $1 million to construct the Park Library in Carroll Hall. It continues to be the school’s largest benefactor.

The school moved from Howell Hall to its current location in Carroll Hall in 1999.

“Carolina Week,” the school’s student-produced newscast, debuted Feb. 2, 2000, under the supervision of professors Charlie Tuggle and Richard Simpson.

Cole stepped down as dean in 2005, and longtime faculty member Tom Bowers served as interim dean.

Jean Folkerts, former director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, became the school’s seventh dean in 2006. In 2009, Folkerts led the school through reaccreditation and oversaw the implementation of an ambitious new curriculum to better reflect the changing media environment.

Folkerts stepped down as dean on June 30, 2011, and faculty member Dulcie Straughan was interim dean until January 2012, when Susan King became dean.

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