28A SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1996
KU EDITION
LAWRENCE IOURNAL-WORLD
Journalism school training students in emerging media
- The high-tech newsroom and the demand for multimedia skills are shaping KU's journalism curriculum.
BY GWYN MELLINGER
JOURNAL-WORLD WRITER
Keeping curriculum on the cutting edge of technological advancement is the biggest challenge facing faculty and administrators in Kansas University's School of Journalism.
"The school's roots are in the study of journalism as practiced in newspapers," said Journalism Dean Mike Kautsch. "However, we are taking into account the fact that newspapers are changing, and they need professionals with new kinds of skills."
As technological developments expand the news newspapers and magazines present information to the public,it isn't enough for journalists to be trained only to prepare copy for print.
"Newspapers often see themselves as information companies, which can serve consumers by phone, by fax, by online computer or any other available medium." Kautsch said.
Not even the dean can avoid the demands of high-tech communication. Kautsch made his comments in response to questions e-mailed to him on the Internet this summer, while he was at the University of Costa Rica on a Knight Fellowship that is part of an academic exchange between that institution and KU.
Enrollment in the journalism school is expected to remain steady this fall, with about 700 undergraduates and at least 85 graduate students.
Even as the journalism school follows the high-tech trend, Kautsch and Susanne Shaw, a professor in the news-editorial sequence, said the school's commitment to traditional journalism remains strong.
Demand also remains high for KU graduates who have been schooled in newspapering.
"Interestingly enough, that's where the jobs are," Shaw said. "We have more jobs that editors call us about than we have students to fill them."
Kautsch said news-editorial students are learning to work with the new technologies through the online services operated by the University Daily Kansan and KJHK-FM, the school's laboratory media. In addition, journalism students will have access to the the school's new integrated media laboratory.
"The lab includes a new multimedia engineer," he said, "and I hope that we soon will see students producing printed lab publications — for other students, alumni and many other constituencies — with audio and video complements and in online, interactive, multimedia forms."
"Essentially, the laboratory consists of all the school's computer-equipped classrooms and electronic and photographic production areas," Kautsch said.
The school really began to pursue that multimedia emphasis a few years ago with development of the business communications track, which supplanted the popular public relations emphasis. Kautsch said that change was a recognition that the school's PR graduates increasingly needed not only strong writing and editing skills but also the ability to collaborate on electronic media projects.
"Business communications has evolved into a successful track that prepares students to support corporate and institutional marketing plans," he said.
Although technology is drawing increasing attention in the journalism curriculum, Kautsch said the school is continuing to develop programs that reflect the trend of combining specialties that once were practiced separately. A prime example is the school's new marketing communications program, which will be launched in January at the Regents Center in Overland Park.
RICHARD GWIN/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
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Susanne Shaw will be acting dean of the Kansas University School of journalism for the fall semester while Mike Kautsch is in Costa Rica.
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