Diversity at SJMC
The School is actively committed to helping media organizations reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. We consider diversity not only a moral imperative but also a matter of professional and academic excellence. Only journalists and communicators with keen multicultural awareness will be able to convey the stories of diverse groups effectively, and to reach new, diverse audiences effectively. -Dean Paul S. Voakes
Resources
Diversify!
SJMC Diversity Resources
Diversity and the media
The Poynter Institute maintains an extensive list of online resources.
National and state media associations include:
Asian American Journalists Association
National Association of Black Journalists
National Association of Hispanic Journalists
Native American Journalists Association
National Gay and Lesbian Journalists Association
National Association of Hispanic Journalists Denver Chapter
Colorado Association of Black Journalists
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Multiversity television series
An eight-part television series coordinated by School of Journalism and Mass Communication faculty and staff as a showcase of the strengths of faculty, staff and students on issues of race, ethnicity and class on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado.
University of Colorado Office of Diversity and Equity
University of Colorado Center for Multicultural Affairs
Programs for high school students
Pre-Collegiate Development Program
The School is an active participant in the campus’s residential programs for minority high school students each summer. The School conducts a course called Fundamentals of Journalism for the approximately 15 students in the Pre-Collegiate program who take a number of other courses during their six-week stay.
Upward Bound Program
The School also offers journalism courses for Upward Bound participants in a summer residential program for nearly 100 Native American high school students.
American Society of Newspaper Editors high school project
The School's most recent step forward in outreach has been the agreement between the School and the Rocky Mountain News. With a grant from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Rocky Mountain News will enhance the journalism program at George Washington High School with computer equipment and assistance from Assistant Professor Kirby Moss to help the students upgrade the student newspaper. The School is creating a course called Practicum in Scholastic Journalism, whereby students of color will teach and mentor the high school journalists once a week, and the faculty instructor will likewise guide the high school journalism teacher.
Journalism Student for a Day
First-generation and students of color from local high schools spend a day at the School meeting other prospective students, faculty, staff and current students. They also tour the CU campus.
Programs for current students
Retention of Minority Students
The School has a multi-faceted approach to retention of diverse students including creating a comfortable campus environment, offering scholarships and including diversity in the curriculum.
The Multi-Ethnic Media Organization
The Multi Ethnic Media Organization (MEMO), a student group open to all students of diverse backgrounds in the School, has begun its own Journalists of Tomorrow High School Recruitment Program. A small group of students visits highly diverse high schools to discuss applying to college and studying journalism and mass communication. MEMO also provides leadership and a mentorship program for incoming freshmen. MEMO assists students with applications to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication as well as with scholarship opportunities, career information and networking opportunities.
Association of Women in Communication Student Chapter
AWC is a professional organization that champions the advancement of women across all communications disciplines by recognizing excellence and promoting leadership.
Diversity welcome
The School hosts a diversity welcome with Denver’s KUSA-TV, Channel 9, each fall. Students meet media professionals from the Denver area.
Work-study positions
The School actively recruits students of diverse backgrounds to apply for student assistant positions that provide them an opportunity to meet and interact with faculty, staff and professionals who visit the School.
Scholarships and Internships
Students accepted into a unit of the CU-LEAD Alliance (such as the Journalism Diversity Scholars Program) are awarded annual scholarships of $1,000 each, renewable upon adequate academic progress and fulfillment of CU-LEAD participation requirements. In addition, a number of privately donated scholarships target SJMC majors who are first-generation, female or minority students.
Several students in the School have been recipients of the prestigious CU McNair Fellowships which offer year-long scholarships and mentoring support for outstanding students to encourage them to continue study at the graduate level.
The School coordinates the Gannett Diversity Internship, in which an outstanding broadcast news student is awarded a paid internship for the academic year at KUSA-TV, Channel 9 in Denver, a station owned by Gannett Broadcasting and affiliated with NBC.
The minority scholarship/internship model is also present with Denver advertising agency Karsh & Hagan. The firm offers a yearlong scholarship to an advertising student of color and employs him or her the following summer as an intern.
The School has also succeeded in placing many Chips-Quinn Scholars in newspaper internships over the last few years.
Through the generosity of private donors, the School has offered travel opportunities to students of color allowing them to attend conferences of the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and a national job fair sponsored by the California Chicano News Media Association. The School also actively urges its students of color to take advantage of the annual Minority Day job fair of the Colorado Press Association.
The School stays current on other external opportunities for first-generation and students of color. Staff and faculty actively encourage diverse students to apply for scholarships offered by professional journalism associations for Asian American, Hispanic, Black and Native American journalists; the Latin American Education Foundation; Colorado Association of Black Journalists; Hispanic Alumni Association of CU; the Black Alumni Association of CU; the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and Journalism and Women Symposium.
Diversity in the curriculum
The deepest and perhaps most subtle manifestation of retention is in the ways diversity is addressed in the classroom. The more students are encouraged to explore issues of representation, identity, community, bias and perspective, the better they will be prepared to work in professional settings and influence thoughtful, ethical, inclusive decision-making.
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