MURFREESBORO, Tenn — Middle Tennessee State University's School of Journalism and Strategic Media is celebrating its 50th year of teaching students reporting, storytelling, breaking news and everything in between, according to MTSU.
The program began in 1972 when Ed Kimbrell started the Department of Mass Communications, which included sequences in advertising and public relations, news-editorial, graphics and photography, and broadcasting, the university said. The department then became a school after adding radio and TV courses which evolved into the College of Mass Communications in 1989.
The college was later named the College of Media and Entertainment in 2015, MTSU said.
According to the university, the program now offers two degrees and 10 concentrations with more than two dozen faculty and 300 students.
“What I really admire is that it continues to provide the foundation for journalism, advertising, public relations, sports media, and media design while constantly evolving to address the changes in the industry," said College of Media and Entertainment Dean Beverly Keel.
To celebrate the school's 50th year, a fundraising and networking event was held on April 12 in the Miller Education Center.
"The school’s anniversary events kicked off earlier this month with news executives from Knoxville’s NBC affiliate WBIR leading a day-long symposium on television producing and reporting for journalism students," the university said.
the event promised to connect some of MTSU's students with esteemed alumni, with all proceeds from the tickets going to the School of Journalism and Strategic Media.
"Alums from MTSU's School of Journalism and Strategic Media currently work as news reporters, anchors at major television and radio stations and newspapers, including WBIR-TV (Knoxville), WKRN-TV (Nashville), WVLT-TV (Knoxville), The Tennessean, NewsChannel 5 (Nashville), Main Street Media, the Associated Press, WSMV-TV (Nashville), Sirius XM Radio and more," MTSU said in a release about the event.
The release went on to list notable alumni now working within the industry, including WBIR's own, Katie Inman.
MTSU also noted a few highlights over the years of the program including:
- In 2010, a journalism student created an award-winning insert in The Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro covering cleanup efforts in the aftermath of the April 2010 tornado outbreak that caused millions in damages.
- In 2013, MTSU's School of Journalism was named one of the "50 Best Journalism Schools and Programs at U.S. Colleges and Universities" by journalism professor Dan Reimold of the University of Tampa.
- In 2021, School of Journalism and Strategic Media students earned a top-10 win in the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program for its November 2020 TV news special, "100 Years of Broadcasting."
Visit MTSU's website for more information on the School of Journalism and Strategic Media.