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College and Departmental Opportunities for Transformational Learning

Department of Communication

What internship, fieldwork, service learning, and/or practicum opportunities are available in your program?

The Department of Communication requires all its Bachelor of Science students to arrange and complete the Senior Project, which is an Internship with a communication business. Most students complete these in the Duval area, but some students arrange for their internships in other cities, such as New York or Tampa , or, as even fewer do, in a location abroad, such as London or Nantes . These Internships require each student to spend at least 240 hours doing work with the Intern Host. For example, one Electronic media student arranged his internship with Channel 17 where he was quickly assimilated into the daily work of preparing programs for broadcasting. His change from student studying broadcast TV to being part of a team of actual broadcasters was immense and a challenge to his skills and personality. He had to adapt to the new circumstances by developing a new, professional personality and approach to his work. This fall semester, we have 90 such transformational stories happening. Many of the students will, as a result of their experience with their internship hosts, be hired by those hosts or similar communication outlets. This course is a source of pride for the department, but it is a means for a transformational experience by most students undertaking the experience.

What opportunities are available for undergraduate research or creative projects in your program?

All our majors are required to take the Mass Communication Research Methods course in which students plan an individual research project or, depending on the professor, the class engages in a class research project, using one or more of the methods covered in class.

All of our campaigns classes, including PR and Adv Campaigns, conduct research about the real, not-for-profit clients as part of the campaign-planning and execution strategies covered in those classes. This fall term, ADV students researched the history, competition, and possible means for developing the visibility and effectiveness of Girls, Inc. They made a presentation to the head and representatives of that organization, a rival of the Girl Scouts of America. In that presentation, they reported the results of a survey of 400 young persons likely to have heard about Girls, Inc. and offered campaign suggestions along with budget levels to those making decisions about how to help Girls, Inc. grow and become more effective within specific areas of Jacksonville .

Finally, all our journalism students engage in research for all the stories they write.

Creative Projects:

Almost every course in the B.S. track is applied, which requires students to produce creative projects, typically multiple creative projects per semester. For example, all our journalism students produce news and feature stories for publication in The Spinnaker , Folio Weekly and The Florida Times-Union . Our broadcast students produce a monthly half-hour public affairs television news show that airs on the local CW affiliate (formerly the WB network affiliate). Our advertising and PR students create press kits, ads and PR and Ad campaigns for local not-for-profit agencies, such the Wolfson's Children's Hospital, Girls Inc., and the Susan. G. Komen Foundation, among many others. Clients are free to use all ad and PR ideas and related-products (such as brochures and direct-mail pieces) generated for the campaigns, which provide clients with thousands of dollars for free consulting services.

What study abroad opportunities are available in your department?

Our department regularly offers study abroad courses to study media systems, advertising practices, interpersonal communication, and cross-cultural communication, among other communication-related topics, depending on the course and the professor. One such example happened Spring 2005 when Drs. Beasley, Sayre, and Perkins created a new Study Abroad course comparing the state-owned-and-operated media system in Italy with the United State 's commercial system. Students attended classes at UNF regarding the United States' and Italy's media system structures, political structures, religious orientations, and press philosophies, including similarities and differences, and then traveled to Italy for a 9-day intensive study of the Italian media system, then returned to UNF for several more weeks of debriefing.

Last summer, Dr. Paula Neimeyer took a group of UNF students to Nantes , France , to visit the U and community there, to listen to presentations by the faculty there and to inquire into the nature of journalism and public relations as practiced there. All returned with an enlightened idea of how the French practice… well, everything, differently than we do. One student in particular decided to stay the remainder of the summer to take a French course and then continue to study there at the university in her chosen subject of public relations. She spent the fall there and has accumulated 15 credits that will be transferred back to UNF to apply toward her B.S. in Communications. Needless to say, she demonstrates how dramatically a student can be transformed—and not just have a transformative opportunity.

What other transformational and experiential learning opportunities exist for your students?  

Because our department offers an applied curriculum, we frequently create nontraditional TLOs for our students via our courses. One such example is Dr. Paula Neimeyer's fall Applied Journalism course, in which journalism students interview families identified by the United Way as being in need, then write stories about their needs for publication in the Florida Times-Union for its annual holiday Hope Fund stories. Dr. Neimeyer's students and their stories have raised more than $1 million dollars for local families in need since the project began, and this year have raised more than $100,000 as of mid-December. Students in this course are changed forever as they experience the power of the press to positively affect people's lives. Each is a story to tell about how transformation can occur in our communication program experiences.