3219 College Street
Savannah, GA 31404
Academic Year Represented
2025
Mission Statement
The department’s mission is to develop students in journalism and mass communications in a student-centered environment that fosters understanding of African American and other diverse cultures in the world, prepared to integrate multiple skill sets suitable for further academic advancement or for local, national, and global professional employment in an ever-changing media landscape.
Technology/Equipment/Facilities
Two dedicated iMac labs, each with 20 computers; three classrooms equipped with iMacs; a sound-proof audio lab with a sound booth and production equipment/software; two TV studios with a three-camera set up, production room, and green screen technology; a JMC Student Media Center suite with three audio/video production labs, a conference room, and workroom; a Strategic Communication Center office and workspace; and the Tiger’s Roar newspaper offices and production space.
Undergraduate Degrees Offered
Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications
Graduate Degrees Offered
None
Majors
A four-year program leading to a degree in Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communications.
Tracks within Majors
(1) Journalism, (2) Public Relations and Strategic Communication, and (3) Multimedia and Digital Communications
Internships Accepted for Credit
The unit has one professional media internship course with three semester hours of credit – COMM 4902: Professional Media Internship. In this required course, students may earn a maximum of three semester hours of internship credit based on at least 80 completed work hours per course credit hour. Every semester, at least 30 majors enroll in the internship class and work at sites supervised by a professional in the field.
Internships Facilitated
The internship coordinator is responsible for identifying and screening all internship sites, monitoring student performance, communicating with site supervisors about the performance and the quality of work produced by JMC’s interns in the workplace. Internship sites have included television stations, communications departments, radio stations, broadcasting companies, media companies, record companies, government agencies, and PR firms.
Experiential and/or Immersion Programs for Credit
The department has a professional internship program and a practicum course.
Online Options
Courses offered fully online include Strategic Campaign Principles, Intro to Communications Theory, Mass Media and Society (summer), Media Ethics & the Law (summer), plus some special topics and independent study courses.
Study-Abroad Options
The department participates with the Office of International Studies to internationalize the curriculum. JMC students have participated in study abroad programs in East Africa, China, Brazil, Panama, Japan and the Caribbean. A forthcoming excursion will travel to Aruba.
Graduate Programs
None
Department Budget
$76,349,600
Amount Spent per Student
$4,801
Undergrad Student Fees
$787
Undergraduate Student Fees Exclusive of Housing and Meal Plan
$1,426
Undergraduate Student Fees for Housing and Meal Plan
$7,504
Undergrad In-State Tuition
$2,610
Undergrad Out-of-State Tuition
$9,705
Average Undergraduate Financial Aid
$11,379
Average Undergraduate Student Debt
$7,378
Graduate Student Fees
$None
Graduate In-State Tuition
Graduate Out-of-State Tuition
Average Graduate Financial Aid
Average Graduate Student Debt
Total Accredited Unit Enrollment
159
Undergraduate Enrollment
159
Graduate Enrollment
0
Number of In-State Students
130
Percentage of In-State Students
82
Number of International Students
1
Percentage of International Students
1
Male
70
Female
89
Not Specified
White
Black
125
Asian
Hispanic/Latino
Pacific Islands or Native Hawaiian
Native American or Native Alaskan
Other
34
Average Size of Skill Based Classes
11
Average Size of Non-Skill Based Classes
32
First Year Student (Freshman) Retention Rate at University
96
Four Year Completion Rate
25
Six Year Completion Rate
40
Full-Time Employment within Six Months of Graduation
Full-Time Employment Within Field of Study
Part-Time Employment Within Field of Study
Full-Time Employment Not In Field of Study
Part-Time Employment Not In Field of Study
Attending a Graduate Program
Unemployed
Unknown Status
Full-Time Faculty
6
Part-Time Faculty
7
Faculty with Tenure
4
Faculty on Tenure Track
0
Untenured Part-Time Faculty
7
Untenured Full-Time Faculty
2
Percentage of Faculty within Scholarship or Research Field
33
Male
70
Female
30
Unspecified
0
White
7
Black
62
Asian
7
Hispanic/Latino
16
Pacific Island or Native Hawaiian
Native American or Native Alaskan
Other
7
Faculty-to-Student Ratio for All Classes
11
Faculty-to-Student Ratio for Skill Classes
32
Comments on Quantitative Numbers
Department budget and faculty information are based on accredited unit data for 2018-2019. Undergraduate and graduate student data are from 2017-2018; course size data from spring semester 2019; employment data are based on a 2015 alumni survey.