General Program Information
For the baccalaureate degree, 120 credit hours of credit must be earned and all students are required to take discipline-specific exit examinations. In addition to meeting all department requirements, majors must meet the College of Arts and Sciences requirements for B.A. and B.S. degrees.
The concentrations in advertising and broadcasting consist of prescribed sequences of 33 credit hours of coursework. The journalism and public relations concentrations require 36 credit hours in mass communications, and public relations also requires six credit hours in speech. In addition, public relations majors must take SPCH 2300 to satisfy the university core.
In the mass communications major, 80 credit hours must be completed outside of mass communications courses, and at least 65 of those 80 credit hours must be in traditional liberal arts subjects.
No more than 12 credit hours of transfer credit may be applied to the requirements in mass communications concentrations.
Specialized minors of 21 credit hours may be designed for individual students in advertising and broadcasting with the prior approval of the department. The Journalism Minor consists of 24 credit hours of prescribed coursework. No minor is available in public relations.
Students must consult regularly with a departmental advisor to avoid problems in scheduling. For other problems, see one of the career advisors listed below.
Students majoring in a Mass Communication concentration may not double-major or minor in another concentration in Mass Communication.
| Sequence |
Advisor |
| Advertising |
Steve Marshall, D. J. Jessee |
| Broadcasting |
Dan Brown |
| Dance |
Cara Harker |
| Journalism |
Mary Alice Basconi |
| Public Relations |
John King and Lise Cutshaw |
| Speech |
Wesley Buerkle |
| Theatre |
Pat Cronin |
| Undecided |
Dan Brown |
| Women’s Studies |
Karen Cajka |
ETSU Academic Proficiency Requirements
Writing: Students must complete a minimum of four writing-intensive courses. At least two of these courses must be in the major field of study. At least two of the four courses must be at the 3000-4000 level.
Oral Communication: Students must complete a minimum of two oral communication-intensive courses. At least one of these courses must be in the major field of study.
Using Information Technology: Students must pass the information technology proficiency exam or successfully complete CSCI 1100 - Using Information Technology during their first calendar year or prior to accumulating 33 semester credits at ETSU. In addition, students must complete at least one using information technology-intensive course in the major field of study.
Transfer students may be subject to reduced number of intensives.
See ETSU Academic Proficiency Requirements for details.
Return to: