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Los Angeles: Departments
Journalism
Joseph Brandt, former president of the University
of Oklahoma, launched the graduate Department of Journalism in February,
1950, with Professors Robert Harris and Harva Sprager. In the mid-1960s,
Brandt and Harris were still on the faculty, which then numbered
nine members and was chaired by Walter Wilcox. There were 19 students
in that first class; in 1965 the average class numbered 35, and
by the mid-1960s enrollment exceeded 50. No undergraduate degree was awarded,
though 11 undergraduate courses were offered.
The department curriculum gradually evolved to
meet the changing trends and demands of modern journalism. The basic
objective of the department remained the same, however--to graduate
a student who is a capable writer as well as an intelligent observer
of society. Interrelated with the usual courses in news writing,
magazine writing, editorial writing, and public relations, were
such courses as The Reporter and Society, Issues in the News, journalism
law and ethics, studies in the various mass media, journalism history,
and the foreign press. There was also an internship program in which
every student worked two days a week for six weeks with the staff
of a metropolitan newspaper, magazine, or public relations firm.
Two original laboratory publications, the California
Sun and the Sun Magazine, were still coming off the press in the mid-1960s.
The newspaper, published weekly, changed from its original standard
size format to a tabloid. The magazine was published annually and
was a showcase for the department's writers. Serving the alumni
was the semiannual Reporter. The Review, originally intended as
a laboratory publication for undergraduates, developed into a widely
circulated quarterly magazine, but was suspended in 1963 due to
lack of funds.
After moving from Haines Hall to the Physics-Biology
Building and then to temporary barracks, all facilities were brought
together in 1961 in the remodeled basement of the Economics Building.
A linotype machine, presses, and other equipment enabled the department
to print all of its publications on campus. source
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