Baccalaureate Degrees
A bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ball State University will provide you with a comprehensive, hands-on learning experience that will prepare you for an exciting career in a dynamic, rapidly evolving profession. Because journalism is all about being out there in the world—covering stories and uncovering the truth—our program emphasizes immersive projects and internships.
Through our program, you’ll gain a diverse set of skills across all facets of communication while getting to develop a deeper specialization in a single area through one of our concentrations. Ball State’s bachelor’s degree in journalism provides a comprehensive, hands-on learning environment for practicing the art of storytelling through all types of media: print, video, audio, social, blogs, apps, and more. Students gain journalistic experience in state-of-the-art facilities using the latest cutting-edge technology in student media organizations, professional student organizations, and a working newsroom lab.
In the media design and development major, you’ll master the process and art of visual storytelling using strong design, across all mediums, to deliver powerful experiences that drive audience engagement. Our award-winning faculty are agile and adaptive, embracing a fast-changing media landscape that pushes innovation and entrepreneurial learning. Through immersive projects, working in student media and at the strategic communication agency, students gain meaningful work experience in engaging audiences using the information design process, design methodology and visual presentation techniques in storytelling.
As a strategic communication: advertising major, you’ll develop skills to promote economic wealth, environmental wellness, human well-being, and wisdom through advertising.
Through our bachelor’s degree in advertising, you will learn how to create and place engaging advertising across media platforms to reach audiences and achieve clients’ communication goals.
In our program, you’ll gain experience with research, strategy, design-thinking, project management, creative advertising, media planning, account planning, and account management. And you’ll learn how to support decisions and determine whether your advertising campaigns were successful by using analytics.
In the strategic communication: public relations major, you’ll learn how to connect organizations to audiences with messages crafted to drive awareness and engagement.
Our professors teach and employ cutting-edge technology, tools, and techniques. We also focus on planning, executing and assessing PR campaigns using the latest metrics. As professionals do in the working world, we look for how effective strategies and tactics can change opinions, attitudes and behaviors in our target publics.
In the teaching major in journalism, you’ll graduate ably equipped to engage your students in writing, design, and digital storytelling. We work closely with Ball State University’s Teachers College to craft a curricular experience that balances advocacy and excellence in the classroom. Because a huge part of learning how to teach is actually doing it, you’ll take the same journalistic storytelling and multimedia design classes as other school majors in addition to spending several weeks working alongside a secondary teacher, followed by 16 weeks of student teaching.
All program areas in the journalism department allow you add secondary concentrations to your major. In some cases, optional concentrations have enrollment restrictions. You should talk with your advisor before adding a secondary concentration area.