Cornerstone’s journalism program is taking a new route and changing from a bachelor of arts to a bachelor of science degree.

The new program will be offered to current students and incoming freshmen starting in the fall 2009 semester. The three-year degree lets incoming students avoid tuition and room and board costs of a fourth year while also giving them the advantage of entering the work force one year earlier.

“I am excited about offering incoming freshmen the opportunity to complete in just three years their journalism degree in news-editorial, public relations or visual communication emphases,” said Alan Blanchard, associate professor of journalism, who heads the journalism department. Other instructors include: Emily Zoladz, photojournalism, Michael Shead, photojournalism, Bob Becker, sports journalism, Ann Byle, journalism, and Dave Murray, journalism.

“In addition to providing students with double or triple the off-campus, hands-on practical internship and practicum experience in places like Washington, D.C., or Chicago, CU students will also have the competitive advantage in the job market of having developed familiarity with ‘new media’ audio and video skills, along with expertise in writing, editing, web/print design and digital still photography skills. And all of this preparation is undergirded by CU’s foundational commitment to instilling a Christian worldview through mentorship by Christian professors, strategic Bible courses and biblically focused liberal arts educational core courses,” Blanchard said.

“Journalism is a degree that requires a lot of practice. The BA degree is more of a liberal arts and the BS degree will allow students to graduate with 120 credit hours instead of 129,” said Tim Detwiler, associate provost for traditional programming.

The BS degree will allow journalism students to focus on more classes centering around  journalism instead of extra electives.

Detwiler said Cornerstone is designing a journalism super major, so that it does not require a minor. “It will allow students to graduate in fewer hours and permit them to concentrate on journalism.”

Currently the journalism program includes three emphases: journalism, photojournalism and public relations. The new BS degree changes the emphases on the journalism major and as well as creating other core changes. The journalism BA major would now be titled “BS editorial.” Public relations journalism will remain the same and photo journalism will be called “visual communication.”

“The BA degree will no longer be offered, but I believe that the BS degree will better prepare students for the marketplace,” Detwiler said.

Blanchard said the new news-editorial emphasis will allow students to spend a semester doing political reporting in Washington, D.C., or practicing reporting for a media outlet in Chicago.

The BS degree at CU is unusual because it requires journalism BS students to take eight credits of foreign language, whereas most BS degrees require no foreign language credit.

Along with all of the changes in the journalism degree, internship hours and requirement are also being modified. The news-editorial emphasis goes from 6 hours of internship to 22 hours of internship experience. Public relations and visual communication emphases go from 6 hours to 12 hours of practice and experience.

The new degree allows journalism majors to get more hands-on experience with their field of choice and to evaluate their job possibilities for after they graduate.