Publishing, MA

The Master of Arts in publishing offers students an innovative approach to graduate education. The degree incorporates coursework from English, mass communication, business, art and multidisciplinary programs. The program prepares students to enter a professional career market where publishing skills are paramount. Such skills range from understanding media law and ethics, manuscript acquisition, book or journal design, graphic design, distribution, and marketing, among others. Students gain practical, hands-on experiences through coursework, internships and an interdisciplinary capstone project.

Program Requirements

Required courses

Students must take both of the following courses, which are pre-requisites for PUBL 5371 - Publishing Capstone.

MCOM 5315 - Media Law and Ethics Credit(s): 3
PUBL 5178 - Publishing and the University Press Credit(s): 1 To 6 (Three hours)

Publishing Coursework

Students will choose 24 hours of coursework from across English (publishing), mass communication (ethics and public relations), art (design) and the Nelson Rusche College of Business (business and related disciplines). No more than 12 hours can be taken in any one area or discipline. No more than six hours can be taken from the College of Business.

Publishing

Students will choose three of the following courses:

PUBL 5372 - Digital Publishing Credit(s): 3
PUBL 5376 - Publication Management and Promotion Credit(s): 3
PUBL 5379 - Academic and Scholarly Publishing Credit(s): 3
PUBL 5384 - Development and Design of Print Publications: Books and Journals Credit(s): 3
PUBL 5386 - Manuscript Acquisition Credit(s): 3

Ethics and Public Relations

Students will choose one of the following courses:

MCOM 5350 - Seminar in Advertising Credit(s): 3
MCOM 5355 - Seminar in Public Relations Credit(s): 3

Design

Students will choose one of the following courses:

ARTS 5376 - Graduate History of Design Credit(s): 3
ARTS 5313 - Graduate Graphic Design Communications Credit(s): 3
ARTS 5314 - Graduate Graphic Design - Typography Credit(s): 3

Business

Students will choose one of the following courses:

ACCT 5311 - Accounting for Management Credit(s): 3
BCOM 5320 - Managerial Communication Credit(s): 3
ECON 5320 - Managerial Economics Credit(s): 3
BUSI 5350 - Executive Leadership Credit(s): 3
MGMT 5371 - Operations Management Credit(s): 3
MKTG 5313 - Marketing Management Credit(s): 3
PADM 5335 - Leadership and Organizational Change in Public Administration Credit(s): 3

Electives

Students will choose two courses from those listed above. No more than 12 hours can be taken in any one area or discipline. No more than three additional hours may be taken from the Nelson Rusche College of Business .

Professional Internship

Students are required to take PUBL 5370 , which is an internship placement designed to provide on-site experience with publishers and businesses where publication is key to their operations. Students will spend a minimum of 150 hours in the placement. Experiences in this course should be distinctly different from those of PUBL 5178 .

Capstone Course

Students are required to take PUBL 5371 with PUBL 5370 . Under the supervision of a project committee, students will complete a publication project, from prospectus to finished publication, inclusive of a marketing and promotion plan. This may be a book, website or journal, among other possibilities, as determined by the student and the project committee.

Admission Requirements

In order to be admitted to the MA in publishing program, students must fall into one of the two categories below:

Category One: Students may be granted clear admittance to the program if they have an overall undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher. Preferably, applicants will have an undergraduate degree in a related field and should have clear career and/or educational goals that can be achieved through the program (outlined in the applicant’s statement of purpose).

Category Two: If students do not meet the criterion in category one, they may still be admitted if they have an overall undergraduate GPA of 2.6 and a 2.8 for the last 60 hours of coursework. Students with these GPAs will be required to take the GRE exam and achieve a score of 155 or higher on both the verbal and quantitative sections and achieve a minimum level of 3.0 on the analytical writing section of the exam.

At the discretion of the division director, students who do not have the acceptable GPA or GRE scores may be admitted to the program on probationary status for one semester only and must fulfill specific GPA and/or course requirements before the start of the next semester.

Application due dates for the MA in publishing are Aug. 1 for the fall semester and Dec. 1 for the spring semester.

Program notes

All requirements for the MA in publishing must be completed within six years of first graduate enrollment.
To remain in good standing, students must have a 3.0 GPA (B average) on all graduate work.
No Ds and no more than two Cs may be counted toward graduate degree requirements.
No more than two graduate classes may be repeated. (Only the second grade counts toward the GPA.) The GPA may not be improved by retaking a course at another university.
Students wishing to transfer graduate credit earned at another university must have written approval from the division director.

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