Belmont Journalism History
The Journalism major became part of the Belmont University curriculum in 1986, as one of four programs in the newly created Communication Arts Department. It began with five majors and one full-time faculty member, Thom Storey. Storey now leads the Department of Media Studies. Majors include the New Century Journalism Program, Audio-Visual Production, Mass Communications and Public Relations.
The student newspaper, The Belmont Vision, began biweekly publication in 1986. The journalism program also became a member of the Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC) in '86. In its early years the program's focus was on print journalism. Internships were created with local and regional newspapers and magazines. The Vision quickly gained respect with major awards from the SEJC. The small program hosted the annual convention of the SEJC in 1989 and the Vision was named second best overall newspaper in the Southeast. Over the years the student publication has produced the conference's Student Journalist of the Year, more than two dozen individual awards in on-site competition at the annual conventions and more than 70 individual writing, design and photography awards.
The program has produced a Fulbright Scholar and in 2002 its first Freedom Forum Chips Quinn Scholar. Our students have served internships at major metropolitan newspapers, CNN, CBS News, Fox News Chicago and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Our portfolio-based approach gives students hands-on training from the day they begin classes and offers a wide variety of professional internship opportunities locally and beyond.
Today there are approximately 50 majors and we are experiencing rapid growth as word spreads about the New Century Journalism Program. A growing faculty brings years of professional experience in newspapers, magazines, TV and radio to the classroom. With the addition of digital journalism to the curriculum students will be exposed to latest information and technology in mass communication in the high energy world of news and information distribution.
