Penn State Intercom......July 12, 2001

College of Communications reaccredited, praised for its diversity initiatives

The College of Communications has been reaccredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC), receiving a special commendation for its strong diversity efforts.

ACEJMC voted unanimously at its annual spring meeting in Portland, Ore., concurring with recommendations for reaccreditation made earlier by the national Accrediting Committee and site-visit team.

The college was judged to be in compliance with all 12 of the accrediting council's review standards.

The site-visit team cited "exemplary commitment, practices and accomplishment on all dimensions of diversity-student recruitment and retention, faculty recruitment and retention and curricular development."

Noting that the college's minority enrollment of 13.1 percent is more than the campuswide average, the report called attention to outstanding freshman-to-sophomore retention rates of the college's students of color (more than 90 percent during the past eight years); the doubling of the number of full-time minority faculty members since the 1995 review; the doubling of minority student enrollment since the last review; and an effective Office of Multicultural Affairs.

The report, which said that the college "has a model program to enhance diversity," cited the discussion of diversity issues in more than 60 different course sections.

ACEJMC is the agency formally recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education for accrediting professional education programs in journalism and mass communications institutions of higher learning.

The next review for the college, which encompasses the departments of Advertising/Public Relations, Film-Video and Media Studies, Journalism and Telecommunications, will be during the 2006-2007 academic year.

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