The first online graduate business journalism certificate in the country will be offered starting fall 2014 at the Walter Cronkite School.
The certificate, run out of Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, was created to meet a demand from professionals who are covering a business beat or wanting to switch to that beat but lacked the know-how, said Linda Austin, director of the center and creator of the program.
She said it was the first certificate of its kind in the nation.
“This seemed like a good way to leverage the talents of the people in the Reynolds Center as well as the people in Cronkite,” Austin said.
The certificate will consist of five three-credit courses. Classes will include: issues in coverage of business and the economy, critical analysis of business journalism, better business storytelling, investigative business journalism and data in business journalism.
Cronkite Associate Dean Kristin Gilger said the certificate will have rolling admission. Additionally, she said admission requirements will be the same as they are for graduate school at ASU. Fall admission numbers have been proposed but have not been approved yet, according to an email from Austin.
“This is aimed at professionals,” Gilger said. “We’re not going to be teaching journalism skills. It’s not like you can come to us and you’ve never written a news story before and you don’t know anything about how to report … This is really aimed at people who have been in the field and want to develop a special expertise.”
These courses will be like other scheduled online courses and last for seven and a half weeks.
Three out of the five professors who will be teaching have already been selected, Austin said. Robin Phillips, digital director and former editor at the Arizona Republic, Andrew Leckey, Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism, and Stephen Doig, Knight Chair of Journalism, will each be teaching classes.
Doig will teach the data in business journalism class in the spring semester of 2015. He described this class as a “natural fit” for him, considering his background in investigation.
“Business is great topic for investigation, and it is also an activity that produces lots of data,” Doig said. “My course will focus on business data, the places you can get data and the tools that can be used to look for patterns in that data.”
Students can also take just one class without pursuing the certificate, Gilger said. Graduate students can take all five classes as part of their master’s degree, she added.
Advertising for the certificate will be handled by ASU online, Gilger said. She also said the school was hopeful that word will spread as the school meets with business organizations, such as the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
“I’m thrilled that this is happening,” Austin said. “It was about a two-year process from, ‘oh we should look at this’ to it being available. A ton of work and a ton of energy went into this. Everyone from the Reynolds staff and Cronkite administration has been incredibility helpful.”
Contact the reporter at Shaianne.Perez@asu.edu
