The associate professor of strategic communications served as one of five members on the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication accreditation site visit team at Drake’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications in Des Moines, Iowa.
Jessica Gisclair, associate professor in the Department of Strategic Communications, recently served as a member of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) accreditation site visit team at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
During a four-day visit held Feb. 11-14, Gisclair evaluated Drake’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications in collaboration with her fellow site team members. This included: Jennifer Sizemore, founder of Matter – Storytelling for Good LLC; Greg Luft, professor of journalism and media communication at Colorado State University; Sandy Banisky, retired Abell Professor in Baltimore Journalism for the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland; and Johnny Sparks, professor and director of the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication at Ball State University. Sizemore chaired the site visit team.
ACEJMC is the agency responsible for the evaluation of professional journalism and mass communications programs in colleges and universities in the United States, Puerto Rico and outside the country. The council currently has 119 fully accredited programs, including Elon’s School of Communications.
“Accreditation is an opportunity for academic and professional colleagues to provide peer-assessment of academic programs,” Gisclair said. Universities volunteer to participate in the accreditation process, which is considered an essential part of professional journalism and mass communications programs.
Site visit teams are trained by the council and chosen by the executive director in consultation with the officers. ACEJMC maintains a pool of potential team members, including female and racial/ethnic minority practitioners and educators. School of Communications Dean Kenn Gaither has served as a site visit team member from Elon University, as have faculty emeriti Paul Parsons and Don Grady.
Gisclair said the review process allows the identification of best practices that prepares students for future careers as media professionals.
Elon University’s School of Communications has been an ACEJMC accredited program since 2006.
Drake University was founded in 1881 by George T. Carpenter, a teacher and pastor, and Francis Marion Drake, a Union general during the Civil War. Communication education at Drake has a long history, beginning in 1919 when the College of Commerce, Finance and Journalism was established. A separate School of Journalism was created at Drake in 1962, and the institution was first awarded accreditation in 1972.