The School of Journalism and Mass Communications offers a new visual communications major this fall for students interested in studying photojournalism along with graphic and multimedia design.
The major merges photojournalism and design for students interested in the visual side of journalism, advertising and public relations, program chairman Van Kornegay said.
"It finally fills a gap for people who want the creative aspects," Kornegay said. Visual communications, like all journalism majors, outlines 90 hours of liberal arts courses and 36 hours of journalism courses. But 18 hours of the journalism portion focus on visual communications areas, such as photojournalism, graphic design, informational graphics and Web design.
Kornegay said the major also enables students to tailor their electives to fit specific interests in more conventional mass communications areas such as copy editing, reporting, advertising and public relations.
Kornegay said visual communications students must also create a portfolio of their work over the course of their studies, which they must present to a faculty panel for review before they graduate.
Kornegay said the idea for a concentrated visual communications study originated with the visual area teachers, who believed a demand for such training existed among students.
When the initial approval process for the new major began in 2002, 400 journalism and mass communications students were surveyed, and 20 percent to 25 percent of the participants expressed interest in the major.
Katie Williams, a second-year student, switched her major from print journalism to visual communications.
"This major offers more diverse classes that are involved within the journalism field," she said.
The major, Kornegay said, gives students who prefer the visual areas of journalism the opportunity to study their interests.
"Students will no longer be in classes they don't really want to be in," he said.
April Adams, a third-year student who switched her major from advertising to visual communications, said she believes the visual communications major will suit her interests better than her previous major.
"I wanted a major that would allow me to do the things I love, but also teach me to be financially successful at what I love," Adams said.
Kornegay said the school also needed a visual communications major because of high demand in the journalistic profession for this type of training.
Reports show that jobs will grow in this area above average in the next six years, Kornegay said.
For more information about the visual communications major, contact Kornegay at 777-6147 or kornegay@sc.edu.
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