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Department of Journalism
School of Communication
Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts
 Detailed InformationProgram of StudyAs technology transforms journalism, the need for thoughtful, ethical, and informed news professionals is growing. Today’s journalists must employ both traditional and new media practices in order to effectively present news. Across a variety of media, Emerson graduates are covering the news–from local and national radio and television, to print and online publications.
Whether students’ interests lie in broadcast, print, or multimedia, the Emerson College M.A. in journalism curriculum and state-of-the-art facilities arm them with the needed skills, while allowing them the freedom to explore their professional potential in specializations that include column writing; political, sports, or environmental reporting; and cultural affairs, among others.
For more information about Emerson’s M.A. in journalism, prospective students should visit http://admission.emerson.edu/admission/graduate/academics/jrl.cfm. Research FacilitiesThe Emerson College library has more than 200,000 volumes, 20,000 journals (paper and electronic), 8,000 e-books, 10,000 non-print materials, and 10,000 microforms in its collection that focus on communication studies and the performing arts. Students also benefit from the Fenway Libraries Online (FLO) program, which features online catalog access to nine other libraries in the greater Boston area.
M.A. candidates gain valuable, hands-on experience in the Media Services Center, which provides students with access to a video studio, several nonlinear editing suites comparable to those of any television studio in a major U.S. city, and approximately 2,400 films, videos, laser disks, and DVDs. The center is the home of audio, video, and multimedia production facilities. Financial AidEmerson College offers several financial assistance programs that make an Emerson education possible: merit-based awards (domestic and international applicants), low-interest federal loans (domestic applicants only), federal work-study (domestic applicants only), private loans (domestic and international applicants), student employment (domestic and international applicants), and alternative payment plans (domestic and international applicants). For detailed information, students should visit the Office of Student Financial Services Web site at http://www.emerson.edu/financial_services. Cost of StudyTuition for the 2008–09 academic year is $886 per credit hour. Other fees vary and may apply. Living and Housing CostsThough on-campus housing is not available for its graduate students, the Emerson College Office of Off-Campus Student Services offers assistance in finding housing, including: local apartment listings, realtor lists, temporary accommodations, search tips, pertinent neighborhood information, a roommate networking service, and more. Costs for housing are comparable to those of rental properties available in larger East Coast cities. Student GroupMore than 950 graduate students representing forty-five states and sixty countries are enrolled in Emerson programs. Student OutcomesEmerson’s journalism graduates are found across the nation and throughout the world investigating, reporting, and editing in a range of media. They are reporters, editors, producers, news directors, and anchors with employers such as Arizona Republic, Associated Press, Dateline NBC, Lycos News, MSNBC, New England Cable News, Quincy Patriot Ledger, and Boston’s WGBH-TV. LocationSituated in the heart of downtown Boston, Emerson offers access to the vast resources of a city that is home to the nation’s finest educational institutions and an international hub of culture, media production, writing, publishing, communication, commerce, and medical innovation. Boston is a career launching pad for Emerson’s students, many of whom intern or work at world-renowned organizations throughout the city. Emerson students from around the country and the world absorb the city’s unique blend of local and global culture, and many find that Boston is an education in itself. The CollegeEmerson College, founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson, has expanded upon its original mission of promoting the study of oratory and the performing arts by offering some of the nation’s most distinctive graduate programs in communication. ApplyingEmerson’s graduate programs welcome applicants from across the United States and around the world. Admission is competitive and selective. Emerson is looking for students whose academic and professional backgrounds, communication skills, and passion for the field meet the demands of their chosen program and promise a successful career.
The application deadline is June 1 for domestic applicants and May 1 for international applicants. Applications that are not complete by the final deadline are not reviewed by the admission committee. Applicants are responsible for ensuring the completion of their application. Application fees are nonrefundable; application forms and supporting materials become the property of the Office of Graduate Admission once they are sent to the office, and they will not be returned.
All application materials, with the exception of GRE test scores, must be submitted together in one package to ensure a timely review. A complete application includes the application form (students may apply online or they may download the PDF version), the application fee ($60 for domestic applicants; $75 for international applicants), official transcripts from all colleges/universities previously attended, three sealed letters of recommendation (by persons best able to assess academic and professional qualifications, including motivation, goals, and potential), GRE test scores, an essay, and a professional resume.
Applicants whose native language is not English must provide evidence of English proficiency by submitting official TOEFL or IELTS test results. (Applicants from India and the Philippines are considered nonnative English speakers and are required to take the TOEFL.) Emerson College’s school code for the TOEFL is 3367; no department code is needed. For more information about these tests, prospective student can visit http://www.toefl.org or http://www.ielts.org. Minimum TOEFL scores are 550 paper-based, 213 computer-based, and 80 Internet-based. The minimum IELTS score is 6.5. Applicants who do not meet this requirement are not reviewed for admission.
Decisions are made on complete applications within six to eight weeks.
Deadlines for merit-based and federal aid applications for fall are March 1 and April 1, respectively. For more information about financing a graduate education, students should visit: http://www.emerson.edu/financial_services/info-grad.cfm/ The Faculty and Their Research
- Janet Kolodzy, Acting Chair and Associate Professor; M.S.J., Northwestern. Ms. Kolodzy has been a reporter, writer, and producer, including positions as senior writer/editor at CNN International, senior producer at CNN World Report, and assistant state editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer. She was one of twelve journalists to receive a Michigan Journalism Fellowship in 1990–91 to study at the University of Michigan, where she concentrated on Eastern European history, politics, and culture. Ms. Kolodzy spent the summer of 1999 working for CNN Interactive. Her primary areas of interest are international news and the impact of convergence on journalism.
- Emmanuel Paraschos, Professor and Graduate Program Director; Ph.D., Missouri–Columbia. Dr. Paraschos was formerly the Dean of the European Institute for International Communication in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and Chairperson of the Journalism Department at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. He served as a Fulbright Professor in Scandinavia where he taught at the Norwegian Institute of Journalism, and at universities in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. He has been published in, among others, Journalism Quarterly, Journal of Communication, College Press Review, and Journalism Educator. His most recent book is Media Law and Regulation in the European Union and his most recent book chapter is “Religion and Freedom of Expression Law in the European Union,” from Religion, Law and Freedom: A Global Perspective. Since 1994, he has served as copublisher of Media Ethics magazine. In 1995, he won Emerson’s Irma Mann Stearns Distinguished Faculty Award. His primary areas of research and expertise are media law and ethics, global journalism, print and multimedia journalism, propaganda and the press, news media and foreign policy, and the role of the press in a democratic society.
- Paula Childs, Journalist-in-Residence and Internship Coordinator; M.A., Harvard. Ms. Childs has spent her entire professional career as a print and broadcast journalist. She cohosted an Emmy Award-winning weekly news magazine show at Channel 7 in Boston and also worked as a reporter at television stations in Denver and Atlanta. She began her broadcast career as a radio reporter and news director and has also worked as an editorial page columnist for Tab Community Newspapers. Her areas of interest include media ethics and the changing world of media convergence.
- Marsha Della-Giustina, Associate Professor; Ed.D., Boston University. Dr. Della-Giustina has had a long career as a television news producer. Among her honors are a Gracie Award, a National Commendation Award from American Women in Radio and Television, and awards from the National Education Writers Association and the National Association of Government Communicators. She has two Emmys from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Society of Professional Journalists National Advisor Award, a Distinguished Broadcast Journalism Education Achievement Award, and a Curriculum Design Award from the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press. Her primary areas of interest include media management, political journalism, international affairs, and gender issues.
- Michelle Johnson, Journalist-in-Residence; M.S., Columbia. Johnson, a former editor for the Boston Globe, was part of the team that launched the Globe’s award-winning regional news Web site, Boston.com. Prior to moving into new media, she was an editor for the Globe for 13 years and later a personal technology columnist. She has extensive experience writing for both print and online media. At the Globe, Johnson served as assistant political editor and senior assistant business editor before being named editorial manager of Boston.com. Johnson was awarded a Knight Fellowship in 1993. She has also received awards from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA). She has conducted numerous workshops for a variety of professional journalism associations, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists; NABJ; NLGJA; the American Society of Newspaper Editors; and UNITY, Journalists of Color, Inc.
- Jerry Lanson, Associate Professor; M.A., Missouri–Columbia. A columnist and writing coach, Mr. Lanson joined the faculty at Emerson in 1999 after four years on the faculty at Syracuse University. Mr. Lanson is a former deputy city editor and peninsula bureau chief of the San Jose Mercury News in San Jose, California. He was part of the city-desk staff awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. He is the coauthor of two textbooks, Writing and Reporting the News and News in a New Century: Reporting in an Age of Converging Media, and has coached editors and reporters at newspapers ranging from the Christian Science Monitor to the Boston Globe. Among his honors is a National Teaching Award from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. His areas of interest include journalism ethics and the impact of new media on reporting and writing.
- Mark Leccese, Assistant Professor; M.A., Boston College. Mr. Leccese spent almost 30 years covering politics and government as a wire service reporter; a daily newspaper reporter; the editor-in-chief of Tab Community Newspapers, the largest circulation of weekly newspapers in New England; a correspondent for the Boston Globe; and the State House bureau chief for a large chain of Massachusetts newspapers. He has also been a magazine writer and editor, a literary critic, and a writer and editor at bizjournals.com. He recently served as the associate editor for the Boston Business Journal. His freelance work has appeared in the Columbia Journalism Review,The Quill,Boston Magazine, America, the Boston Phoenix, zooba.com, beansprout.net, and Boston.com. His primary area of interest is the effect of the Internet on the public discourse about politics and public policy.
- Paul Niwa, Scholar-in-Residence; M.S., Columbia. Mr. Niwa has launched and helped launch two international television networks, six newscasts, and a streaming media newscast for NBC, CNBC, and StockHouse Media, Canada’s largest Internet company. As Senior Vice President at StockHouse, Mr. Niwa was responsible for content at the company’s eight global editorial centers. In 1999, he helped NBC create Early Today, and in 1996 he launched the award winning NBC Asia Evening News in Hong Kong. He produced CNBC’s Today’s Business and the nationally syndicated newscast This Morning’s Business. He has won two Golden Mike awards for radio reporting and documentary.
- Melinda Robbins, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Georgia. Dr. Robins has extensive international journalism and media experience. She has been a reporter and editor of the New Haven Register and the Journal-Courier in Connecticut. She has served as a media consultant for the Jamaican government and a Fulbright Scholar teaching journalism in Uganda and has done research on women journalists in Tanzania. She has conducted workshops for journalists in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Tonga. Her research interests include media in developing countries, issues of representation, and gender.
- Carole Simpson, Leader-in-Residence; B.A., Michigan. Veteran journalist and longtime weekend anchor of ABC World News Tonight, Ms. Simpson joined the faculty at Emerson in 2007. The three-time Emmy winner brings four decades of print, radio, and television experience to her teaching and mentoring of students. Ms. Simpson began her career in her native Chicago, working in community newspapers, radio, and local television. She joined ABC News in 1982 and has worked as senior correspondent and weekend anchor. Awards for her work include two DuPont-Columbia Awards, a Peabody Award, and the Milestone in Broadcasting Award from the National Commission of Working Women. Ms. Simpson is also a founder and board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation. Her areas of interest include social issues, the First Amendment, and women’s leadership in media. She is currently writing a book about her experiences as an African American woman in news.
Correspondence and InformationEmerson College Office of Graduate Admission 120 Boylston Street Boston, Massachusetts 02116-4624 Telephone:
617-824-8610 Fax:
617-824-8614
Email:
gradapp@emerson.edu
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