Visit team, committee recommend re-accreditation

A committee of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) has recommended re-accreditation for the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications.  

The unanimous vote by the Accreditation Committee occurred in Chicago on March 24. It came after a site-visit team found the department in compliance on all nine standards established by ACEJMC. The site-team finding followed its three-day visit to Reid Hall Feb. 12-14 and review of a two-volume self-study compiled by Journalism Department faculty and staff.

The nine ACEJMC standards are Mission and Governance; Curriculum and Instruction; Diversity and Inclusiveness; Full-time and Part-time Faculty; Faculty Scholarship – Research, Creative and Professional Activity; Student Services; Resources, Facilities and Equipment; Professional and Public Service, and Assessment of Learning Outcomes.

While the department has been accredited since the late 1940s, it had never previously been found in compliance on Diversity and Inclusiveness.

The Accrediting Committee’s recommendation must be approved by the full council in its May 4-5 meeting in Portland, Ore.

Of about 400 journalism/communication/mass communications programs in the nation, only about one fourth are accredited, and fewer than 20 of those are at private universities.

Washington and Lee has  the only accredited journalism and mass communications program in the U.S. News top 25 list of national liberal arts universities. The department stands for re-accreditation every six years.