Worries Over Possible Merger Of FIU's School Of Journalism

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Florida International University's Journalism & Mass Communication standalone school may be going away.

All this amid lagging  fundraising and enrollment to a school that by some measures is impressive.

According to our news partners at the Miami Herald, graduates have  won eight Pulitzer Prizes. The school has a first-of-its-kind Spanish language journalism master's program and it has a top three national ranking for degrees awareded to Hispanic students.

Still, FIU is now considering the merger between its  journalism school and College of Architecture + The Arts.

Despite the possible move, journalism would still be an available degree track as would the school's offering in broadcast media, public relations, and advertising.

FIU Provost Kenneth Furton presented his plan to the Dean's Advisory Board last month but the response was mostly negative. The board is made up of local and national professionals in the communications fields.

There is concern that a less prominent journalism school would possibly struggle even more with fundraising and enrollment since it would be a turn off for media-focused donors.

FIU hasn't yet committed to the change but a formal announcement is expected this week.

Also on the table is a plan to merge the College of Education with the College of Arts and Sciences.

Provost Furton insisted the moves aren't about cost cutting saying the only jobs that would be eliminated from the move would be a couple of dean positions.

He defended the plan saying having the colleges merge would encourage collaboration between professors and promote fundraising. He also promised the quality of education would not be impacted.

The university has been offering journalism courses since 1974 but the freestanding school was born in 1991 when it was accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. The university still has the accreditation today - something only about a quarter of U.S. journalism schools have.

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