Student Policies and Procedures
Introduction
This is designed to provide students in the School of Mass Communication with a summary of the policies and procedures of the department. You should read it carefully and keep it with your other academic program materials for reference. You should also, of course, become familiar with:
Advising
It is important for you to know the academic requirements that apply to you and to meet them. Degree requirements are listed in the Arts and Sciences section of the Bulletin.
Try to keep up-to-date the "Degree Program Course List" form (DPCL) that shows your progress through the degree program. Update it, especially before seeing your adviser at pre-registration times. One DPCL is kept in your official folder in the School of Mass Communication office; you should maintain one yourself as well.
Assignment of advisers
When you arrive on campus, you will be assigned an adviser. As time goes on and you come to know other faculty members, especially those teaching in your sequence, you may wish another adviser. To change advisers simply fill out a short form in the School of Mass Communication office.
Pre-registration advising
It is essential that you meet with your assigned adviser at pre-registration periods so that he or she can answer whatever questions you may have and guide you in proper selection of courses. Your assigned adviser must authorize your online registration by activating your code.
Before each pre-registration period, advisers post outside their offices appointment sheets that list the hours they are available for advising. You should sign up early for an appointment. You cannot show up on the last day of pre-registration and expect your adviser to be waiting for you. And if you pre-register late in the period or fail to pre-register, you cannot expect to get the courses you want or the times you prefer.
A relatively short time is allotted during pre-registration periods for advising, and at those times advising is normally limited to course selection. If you wish a detailed transcript review and counseling, get together with your adviser well in advance of pre-registration.
Unfortunately, errors sometimes occur during the advising process, much as we try to avoid them, so know what you need to take and chart your progress carefully. You are ultimately responsible for knowing and meeting all of your requirements.
Prerequisites
Pay careful attention to the prerequisites for each course as specified in the course descriptions in the Bulletin. You may not take a course until you have successfully completed all of the prerequisites for it, and you may not take a prerequisite at the same time you are taking the course for which it is a prerequisite. The reason is that a prerequisite provides basic material that you must know before going into a more advanced course.
CMMN 100 and CMMN 101 are prerequisites for all of the other courses offered by the department (except Common Curriculum courses).
Word processing requirement
Many courses offered by the School of Mass Communication require in-class writing. Therefore, every student in communications must be able to type in a basic word processing program.
Co-curricular activities
As a communications student, you should involve yourself in one of the activities closely related to your studies such as The Maroon, the university’s weekly newspaper; the Wolf yearbook; the Wolf magazine; the Ad Team or the Bateman Team.
Participation in such activities will help to give material you are learning in the classroom greater meaning, it will provide you with experience, and it will give you samples of your work that can demonstrate to potential employers your capabilities and your interest in the field. It also will allow you to work with and get to know other students with similar interests. And it should be fun as well.
Student editors normally seek out staff members at the beginning of the year, but they welcome anyone at any time. If you are reluctant to get involved because you don’t know anyone on the publication, keep in mind that all those people who seem to be so at home in the activity office also walked in one day without knowing anyone else.
Students are also encouraged to join organizations closely related to their fields of study such as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Public Relations Student Society of America, and the Ad Club. Journalism studentsare eligible for membership in the New Orleans Press Club, an organization that gives them the opportunity to come into close contact with working professionals.
Juniors and seniors who rank in the top 10 percent of their classes will be invited to join Kappa Tau Alpha, the national society honoring scholarship in journalism and mass communication.
Internship program
Newspapers, radio and television stations, advertising and public relations firms, and other organizations in the New Orleans area with communications needs have openings for communications students, and if you have demonstrated knowledge in the area of the internship by meeting certain prerequisites, you may earn up to three hours of credit for approximately 150 hours of work during the semester.
Internship information forms and applications are available in the School of Mass Communication office. You must have completed your application for an internship before beginning work at the internship.
Graduation preparation
As a major in Mass Communication, you must have a 2.0 GPA in communications courses in order to graduate.
Minors in Mass Communication must have at least a 2.0 GPA in communications courses in order to graduate.
Application for graduation
In the semester before you intend to graduate, you should make application for graduation in Student Records. A course audit will be prepared at that time to show precisely which courses you must still take in order to be certified for graduation. The sooner you have the audit completed, the sooner you can work out any problems that may exist. The audit is conducted in the Office of the Dean of the College of Social Sciences, and any questions you have about the audit should be addressed to that office, but your adviser will be happy to work with you to help resolve any problems.
Facilities
The School provides students with excellent learning facilities in digital communications. The equipment in the various labs and studios, including cameras, tape editing units, computer equipment, enlargers, and the like, is expensive to replace. In using the facilities, you must learn to treat the equipment as professional tools.
Drinks, ashes, or food spilled on or near any piece of equipment may destroy it. Therefore, no smoking, drinking, or eating is allowed around any equipment in lab. If you ignore these regulations or abuse equipment in any manner, you will be barred from further use of any departmental equipment for the remainder of the semester in which the offense occurs.
Communications Fee
A $100 per semester fee is assessed of all communications majors. Rather than charge students a fee for every lab course in which they enroll, this per semester fee reduces the financial burden of communications students taking more than one communications lab course per semester and amortizes those costs over the four-year college career of the major. Revenue from this fee is available solely to the School of Mass Communication to maintain a greater consistency in the quality of its course offerings and facilities.
Scholarships
The School of Mass Communication does not award general scholarships. The Editor of the Maroon, The Photoeditor of the Maroon and the Editor of the Wolf are awarded Sendker Fellowships for their work on these student media. The funds for these fellowships are provided by a generous endowement from the estate Joseph and Juanita Sendker, longtime publishers of the Plaquemines Gazette.
Students are eligible for various scholarships offered by outside organizations, however. Among local groups giving scholarships are the Press Club of New Orleans, the Greater New Orleans Broadcasters Association, and the Ad Club. The faculty makes recommendations for the scholarships. Announcements of those and other scholarships are posted on the appropriate bulletin boards.
Awards
The School of Mass Communication each year honors one outstanding student in each sequence who has shown excellence in scholarship and in participation in school activities. The awards are normally made at the Social Sciences Honor Convocation held each spring.
If you have further questions about programs and practices within the School of Mass Communication, contact your adviser or the school office. The office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30-12:00 and 1:00-4:45. Telephone (504) 865-3430.
Revised July 2005.