University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School of Journalism

The USC Annenberg School of Journalism, tracing to a 1916 journalism program and formalized as a school in 1933, is one of two schools within USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, offering undergraduate and graduate journalism and public relations degrees alongside a student-run multiplatform newsroom and a national health-journalism training center.

Degrees offered

The School of Journalism offers a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations, plus undergraduate minors in Advertising, News Media and Society, Public Relations, and Sports Media Industries, and an interdisciplinary minor in Nonprofits, Philanthropy and Volunteerism. At the graduate level it offers a Master of Science in Journalism, a Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism, a Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism (The Arts), and a Master of Arts/Master of Science in Strategic Public Relations. A progressive degree option lets USC undergraduates complete a bachelor's and the MS in Journalism or MA in Specialized Journalism in less time than the two degrees would normally take separately.

Programs and emphasis

The MS in Journalism is a deadline-driven, cross-platform program covering writing, reporting, producing, coding, and publishing in a converged news environment, with coursework in social media, data journalism, data visualization, and emerging mobile platforms. The Specialized Journalism MA is designed for experienced professionals and recent graduates developing expertise in a specific storytelling medium (text, audio, documentary video, or augmented reality) and beat; the Arts variant lets students draw on coursework across USC's six arts schools for arts and culture criticism and reporting. Undergraduates take a broad-based liberal arts curriculum and are encouraged toward double majors or minors outside the school.

The school's Center for Health Journalism, founded in 2004 as The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships under founding director Michelle Levander and then-dean Geoffrey Cowan, trains working journalists nationally and in California through paid fellowships (National, California, and Data Fellowships) that pair reporters with mentors and reporting grants for investigative and explanatory health coverage; by 2019 its National Fellowship alone had trained more than 900 journalists since 2005.

History

USC's journalism program began in 1916. In 1933 it became the School of Journalism within the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; public relations studies began within the School of Journalism in 1959. In 1971, Ambassador Walter H. Annenberg's support led to the founding of the USC Annenberg School of Communication, backed by an $8 million gift in 1972 that also funded a new building. In 1994 the school was reorganized to bring the School of Journalism and the Department of Communication Arts (previously both housed in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences) under the Annenberg umbrella as two schools. In 2009, USC's Board of Trustees renamed the unit the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. A $50 million lead gift from the Annenberg Foundation in 2010 funded Wallis Annenberg Hall, which opened in 2014 as the school's current home; the Annenberg family and foundation have given more than $350 million to USC in total since 1971.

Key faculty and leadership

Willow Bay: Dean, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Gordon Stables: Director of Schools and Clinical Professor of Communication, overseeing the School of Journalism.
Christina Bellantoni: Director of the Annenberg Media Center.
Michelle Levander: Founding Director, Center for Health Journalism.

Student-run media

Annenberg Media, a student-led multiplatform newsroom founded in 2015 and independent of university administration, publishes across web, social, audio, and television, and includes Annenberg TV News, Annenberg Radio News, and Dímelo, a Latino-focused channel launched in 2016. Annenberg Media succeeded Neon Tommy, a student news outlet that operated from 2009 to 2015 under founding faculty director Marc Cooper. Both operate out of the Annenberg Media Center, a student-driven newsroom with three professional studios inside Wallis Annenberg Hall.

Location and contact info

Address
Wallis Annenberg Hall (ANN)
3630 Watt Way
Los Angeles, CA 90089

Website. https://annenberg.usc.edu