Publishing, M.A.

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 IDS 571 - Publishing Capstone.

ENG 578 - Internship in Publishing Credit(s): 1-3
MCM 515 - Media Law and Ethics Credit(s): 3

Publishing Coursework

Students will choose 24 hours of coursework from across English (publishing), Mass Communications (ethics and public relations), Art (design) and the College of Business (business and related disciplines). No more than12 hours can be taken in any one area or discipline. No more than 6 hours can be take from the College of Business.

Publishing

Students will choose three of the following courses:

ENG 571 - History of Journal and Book Publishing Credit(s): 3
ENG 572 - Digital Publishing Credit(s): 3
ENG 576 - Publication Management and Promotion Credit(s): 3
ENG 579 - Academic and Scholarly Publishing Credit(s): 3
ENG 584 - Development and Design of Print Publications: Books and Journals Credit(s): 3
ENG 586 - Manuscript Acquisition Credit(s): 3

Ethics and Public Relations

Students will choose one of the following courses:

MCM 550 - Seminar in Advertising Credit(s): 3
MCM 555 - Seminar in Public Relations Credit(s): 3

Design

Students will choose one of the following courses:

ART 546 - History of Design Credit(s): 3
ART 570 - Advertising Design II Credit(s): 3
ART 571 - Typography Credit(s): 3

Business

Students will choose one of the following courses:

ACC 511 - Accounting For Management Credit(s): 3
BCM 520 - Managerial Communication Credit(s): 3
ECO 520 - Managerial Economics Credit(s): 3
GBU 550 - Executive Leadership Credit(s): 3
MGT 571 - Operations Management Credit(s): 3
MKT 513 - Marketing Management Credit(s): 3
PBA 535 - 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 College of Business.

Professional Internship

Students are required to take IDS 570 , 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 ENG 578 .

Capstone Course

Students are required to take IDS 571 with IDS 570 . 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, a website, or journal, among other possibilities as determined by the student and the project committee.

Admission Requirements

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

Category One: A student may be granted clear admittance to the program if she/he has 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 a student does not meet the criterion in category one, she/he may still be admitted if she/he has 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 M.A. in publishing are Aug. 1 for the fall semester and Dec. 1 for the spring semester.

Program notes

All requirements for the M.A. 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.