The national Accrediting Committee for ACEJMC voted 14-0 during its March 11-12 meeting in Chicago in favor of granting full accreditation to Elon's School of Communications. Details...
Once the vote is sustained in May by the larger Accrediting Council, Elon will become only the 18th private college or university in the nation to have an accredited communications program. Others include Syracuse, Columbia, Northwestern, Miami, Baylor, Marquette, and the University of Southern California. In all, 105 colleges and universities in the world are recognized by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC).
In a 22-minute presentation of the Elon program, Dean Terry Hynes of the University of Florida called Elon “a special place” where “you can actually feel that faculty care for students, and that students appreciate the faculty.” She cited the School’s strong curriculum, praised the faculty as genuine teacher-scholars, and complimented the School’s successful efforts to assess student learning.
Dean Hynes led a site-visit team that spent four days at Elon in October, interviewing faculty, visiting classes, talking with students, and probing curriculum, budget, technology, scholarship and public service. In Chicago, she reiterated Elon’s strengths as listed by the team:
- Dedicated and collegial faculty
- Service-learning orientation that pervades the School and campus culture
- Very effective School leadership and administration, and very supportive central university administration
- Open, friendly School and campus culture that creates a strong community for students and supports their engagement in a wide variety of activities
- Excellent School facilities and equipment
- Deeply rooted university and School culture of strategic planning, tied to equally strong plan implementation.
Calling the Elon experience “a joy of a visit,” Dean Hynes said she had never seen during her 23 years in the accreditation process a program so well-focused and supported in the quest for national accreditation. Of the 18 communications programs under review this year, only four — Elon, Virginia Commonwealth, South Dakota State, and the University of Georgia — received compliance in all categories.