The journalism school, in partnership with the business college under the School of Management and Communication umbrella, will begin offering a master’s degree program in communications leadership next fall.
The program will require courses in both journalism and business along with a series of electives.
“It’s designed for communications professionals in the Des Moines area who want to take the next step in the careers,” said Gary Wade, associate professor of electronic media. “This combined effort will help provide the tools and knowledge people need to become editors, station managers, supervisors and so forth.”
The business college is also augmenting its course offerings for undergraduates with a new concentration in law and business that began last fall. The 18-hour concentration, which is open to all students, adds new courses to the business roster.
New courses in the business college cover business organizations such as trusts, partnerships and corporations. In addition, a new survey course covers selected topics ranging from copyright and intellectual property law to sports and entertainment law. The concentration also requires at least one ethics course.
“Looking at what other schools were doing and basing this on the strong desires of our students to work more with business law, we’ve put together this concentration that will really increase our students’ exposure to the law and business,” said Sara Walker, assistant professor of accounting practice. “There has been tremendous interest.”
Beginning next fall, CBPA will also offer a new major in entrepreneurial management. The curriculum will draw from all areas in the school including marketing, accounting, finance and business law. The idea is to prepare would-be business leaders with the tools and thinking they need to succeed.
The curriculum builds to a senior course in which students will create a business plan for a business that they are interested in starting – or act as a student consultant on another start-up plan.
“It will be more than just preparation for starting a business,” said Deb Bishop, assistant professor of information systems. “It will really focus on what it means to be an entrepreneur, the ups and downs of being an entrepreneur and learning to manage all the facets of that mindset.”