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 About the Department
The Department of Journalism and Technical Communication focuses on journalistic and other uses and effects of mass and specialized media. To fulfill this role, the department engages in:
- Teaching, to examine with students the knowledge, skills, and values necessary for professional journalistic and related communication responsibilities.
- Scholarship and creative activity, to help understand the nature, process, effects, and problems of communication, the media, and journalism education.
- Interdisciplinary teaching and research, especially as related to science, technical, health and environmental communication.
- Service to the university, professional media, and academic organizations, including outreach to the public and media/communication constituencies.
The JTC department is one of 13 units in the College of Liberal Arts, the largest of eight colleges on the land grant university’s Fort Collins campus that currently enrolls 25,000 students. The department is staffed by 18 full-time faculty and several adjunct faculty from the professional media community.
For more about department organization and evaluation, see the Department Code. More information about the department and its activities can be found in our newsletters and on the recent news page.
Undergraduate Studies
Founded as the Department of Technical Journalism in 1968, the department’s undergraduate B.A. in Technical Journalism has been accredited since 1972. Over 500 undergraduates are enrolled in our five concentrations: Computer-Mediated Communication, News/Editorial Journalism, Television News and Video Communication, Public Relations, and Specialized and Technical Communication. Students also participate in a well-structured internship program with professional media organizations.
The department maintains a highly interactive relationship with the CSU Department of Student Media, which maintains the student-operated Rocky Mountain Collegian daily newspaper; KCSU-FM, a 10,000 watt 24/7 radio station; CTV, which cable casts programming to 25,000 Fort Collins households; and College Avenue, the new quarterly campus magazine.
In cooperation with the Department of Speech Communication, JTC offers an undergraduate minor in Media Studies with an enrollment of 40. The department also plays the key advisor role in the university’s four-department cross-college Interdisciplinary Program in ISTeC, the Information Science and Technology Center. In addition, the department participates in offering a certificate in Political Economy
Graduate studies
Nearly 50 master’s students participate in our M.S. graduate program offered on the main Fort Collins campus and in Denver. The JTC department’s Ph.D. in Public Communication and Technology focuses on two important concerns: the role of information in the public’s understanding of contemporary issues and the impact of new communication technologies in people’s lives.
Ph.D. students complete advanced course work and seminars in communication theory, research methods, and technology-related topics as well as a cognate outside the department. Students also demonstrate their proficiency by completing comprehensive written qualifying exams and by conducting a rigorous independent research project presented and defended in a dissertation.
Department CommitmentColorado State is committed to addressing practical, everyday problems in society – in keeping with the university’s mission as Colorado’s 21st-century land grant institution. Researchers in the JTC department and across campus are national leaders examining public problems involving science, technology, the environment, health and other applied human sciences. Faculty members in the department specialize in how corporations, non-profit organizations, government agencies and media can share vital information on these and other topics with various audiences.
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equal opportunity statement