Philip Merrill College of Journalism | University of Maryland

A Message from Dean Lee Thornton

reetings from College Park and the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. The Merrill College is, in the words of The Washington Post (February 2001), "one of the nation's best" journalism programs. We have gained that distinction by blending prize-winning journalists, world-class media scholars and nationally recognized professional programs while taking advantage of our location inside the Beltway just miles from the world's greatest news laboratory -- Washington, D.C.

The school's mission is simple: to produce the best possible journalists for the world's leading news organizations. Undergraduates are prepared for careers in newspapers, magazines, TV news and online media outlets through a program that incorporates rigorous courses in news reporting, writing, research, law, history, ethics, multimedia skills and visual journalism into a traditional liberal arts curriculum. Master's students are immersed in intensive, one-year programs in print, broadcast and online journalism. And doctoral students are prepared for careers as media scholars, professors and critics.

Recent graduates are editors, reporters and producers at The New York Times, The Washington Post, CBS, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, America Online, The Associated Press and many of the nation's other top news organizations. Alums from earlier years include two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Jon Franklin ('70), who has returned to teach at the College; former CBS News anchor Connie Chung ('69); Pulitzer winners Jane Healy of the Orlando Sentinel ('71), Patrick Sloyan ('62) of Newsday and Sarah Cohen ('92) of The Washington Post; Jerry Ceppos ('69), the top news executive for the former Knight Ridder newspaper chain; Jay Kernis ('74), managing editor of CNN; and DeWayne Wickham ('74), a nationally syndicated columnist for USA Today and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Students learn from a faculty that includes six Pulitzer Prize winners -- Franklin, David S. Broder, Gene Roberts, Haynes Johnson, Ira Chinoy and Deb Nelson -- and internationally known scholars such as media historian Maurine Beasley, gender and media scholar Linda Steiner and media economist Douglas Gomery. Joining the regular faculty are several dozen adjunct professors who are leading Washington journalists.

Located inside the Beltway, just miles from the White House, the College's proximity to the news capital of the world allows students to participate in internships throughout the academic year at The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, USA Today and a wide array of Washington news bureaus. In the summer, students intern at top news organizations around the country. Advanced print students enroll in Capital News Service, an intensive full-time reporting program in Washington and Annapolis. Nearly 600 stories are written each year and appear with bylines in newspapers such as The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun. The CNS program, created in 1990, has alumni in most major news organizations around the country and is a key reason why the nation's biggest newspapers travel each year to College Park to recruit Maryland students.

Broadcast news students produce and anchor a nightly news show, Maryland Newsline, which reaches more than 500,000 households in suburban Washington on the College-operated UMTV station. And like their print colleagues, broadcast news students participate in area internships during the academic year as well as TV news internships around the country during the summer. Since 2002, Maryland journalism students won best student-produced daily newscast three times, as named by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Online journalism students work on Maryland Newsline, a political and public policy Web-based news magazine produced by the College. And all students can participate in some of the school's many professional programs, including the monthly magazine American Journalism Review, the Journalism Center on Children and Families, the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowships for international journalists. The College also is home to two independently run professional journalism organizations, the National Association of Black Journalists and the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.

But perhaps the most important element of our College is its size. We are -- by design -- much smaller than all of our major competitors (approximately 500 undergraduate students and 70 graduate students). This allows us to offer small labs and seminars and provide the kind of one-on-one professional and academic counseling that is critical to a first-rate journalism education. We hope you'll take a close look at journalism at Maryland.

Lee Thornton, Ph.D., the Richard Eaton Chair in Broadcast Journalism,is an award-winning former CBS White House correspondent and producer for CNN. She is interim dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.