Assessment and Accountability - BYU School of Communications

Public Accountability

Program Outcomes

The School of Communications exists to help students become professional and scholarly communicators whose messages contribute to a better society by benefiting the organizations for which they work and the audiences they reach.

Effective Communication

Students will communicate effectively with their audiences: Specifically, students will do so by planning and preparing mass communication messages in the appropriate style, using the appropriate research methods and appropriate technologies to best serve audience needs.

Professional Practice

Students will act professionally in their practice: Specifically, students will be able to practice communication within legal boundaries, while exhibiting standards of professional behavior and demonstrating sensitivity to ethical behavior. Students will also be literate in the language of the media industries.

Mass Communication Processes

Students will be scholars of the mass communication process: Specifically, students will be able to apply relevant theory to communication practice, understand factors that shape their profession, value freedom of speech in the marketplace of ideas, and think critically about the relationship between mass media and society.

Applying Gospel-Centered Values

Students will apply Gospel-centered values as they contribute to society: Specifically, students will respect diversity and agency in a global society, be able to exercise moral reasoning when faced with ethical dilemmas, and show a commitment to making a difference within their sphere of influence.

Student Enrollment

The School of Communications is host to four limited enrollment programs: Advertising, Public Relations, Journalism and Comms Studies. The following reflects the total number of students enrolled in the major or in Pre-Comms status.

Source: CFAC Academic Advisement

Graduation and Retention Rates

Graduation rates are calculated from the first term a student attends BYU. Only students whose initial college term was at BYU are included. Note that many students take two years off to serve a mission for the LDS Church. Therefore, the six and seven-year graduation rates are the most representative calculations (because most students serve missions, BYU’s seven-year rate is equivalent to five-year-plus rates used by other universities). The retention rate represents those students who are still Communications majors one year after admission to the program.

Source: BYU Academic Reporting

Job Placement

Based on graduate surveys taken one year after graduation, the following reflects full-time employment of BYU Communications graduates, both inside and outside of the field.

Strategic Plan

The Department’s current five-year strategic plan was adopted in 2013. It can be read here.

Faculty Evaluation of Chair

The faculty’s 2013 evaluation of the department chair and associate chairs can be read here.