University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Degrees offered

The School offers a Master's in Mass Communication, a Master's in Strategic Communication, and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication, alongside undergraduate programs. The school awarded the nation's first doctoral degrees in mass communication, with its first two Ph.D. recipients, Donald D. Jackson and Charles Edmund Swanson, graduating in 1948.

Programs and emphasis

Graduate programs emphasize individualized inquiry within a community of learners. By 2022, the school had graduated 335 Ph.D.s who went on to leadership roles in journalism and mass communication scholarship, higher education, industry, and government. The school celebrated its centennial in 2024.

History

Established in 1924, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication has long been recognized as a leader in journalism education. Wilbur Schramm, the school's director, designed its first doctoral program in mass communication in 1943; Schramm also founded the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1936. The school moved into the Philip D. Adler Journalism and Mass Communication Building in January 2005, named for a 1920s Daily Iowan editor who became a regional newspaper publisher.

Key faculty and leadership

Melissa Tully: Director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Wilbur Schramm: Early director who designed the school's pioneering doctoral program in 1943.

Student-run media

The Daily Iowan, the university's award-winning student newspaper and the first daily campus newspaper west of the Mississippi, and DITV, a student-run newscast, are based in the Adler Journalism Building.

Location and contact info

Address
100 Adler Journalism Building
Iowa City, IA 52242-2004
Website
https://journalism.uiowa.edu