Abstract:

Campus media advising is an active area of growth in academia as college campuses often are the testing grounds for new methods of reaching audiences, employing technology, and forging partnerships. Yet the leadership behind campus media remains one of the least studied in academia. While universities, departments, and administrators acclaim their student journalists for their accomplishments, they don't have a uniform approach for structuring the advising position. How is it to be evaluated? as part of service? as part of academic responsibility? It represents a significant portion of a teaching load, yet it rarely is accorded the same status as lecture or lab classes, academic service, or traditional scholarship. The question occurs when advising is viewed as an alternative view of instruction or a type of service. The subsequent question arises as to the required credentials of the advisor; what best serves the students: a candidate with professional experience and an advanced degree or a candidate with a doctorate and little or no experience in the field, but a track record of published research?

This paper looks at the role of the campus media advisor and examines the structure of media programs nationwide. To date, no other research study has examined the relationship between advisor credentials and award-winning programs.

Prior studies surveyed individual organizations, such as the Journalism Association of Community Colleges, College Media Advisers, and others.
These studies looked at the titles, locations, stipend, and other factors of the advisor position within their own organizations. Our study expanded the boundaries.

Using surveys of four nationwide advisor membership organizations and publicly available data from five nationwide campus media competitions, the authors determined the top 98 programs and examined advisor credentials and institutions structure. Student success isn't determined solely by the advisors; a team of faculty teach the skills required for their success.

Ferreting out the number of contests entered over five years, the authors took a close look at the top 21 programs: their awards, their faculty, their advisors, their media, their funding.

In sum, 67 percent of the skills classes leading to campus media participation are taught by non-terminal degree holders.
Of the advisors who hold a doctorate, 66 percent less of the population held that degree when hired.
The professional credentials of the advisors show approximately 62 percent have 15 years or more working in professional media.

Phone interviews with 12 of top 21 programs indicated few would hire tenure-track professors without a doctorate, but ABDs are considered. Consistent also is that MFA does not earn a professor tenure.

For those independent media groups, the relevant media department is careful to promote involvement for students, but consistently fails to follow through with information directing or advising students exactly how to be involved: "visit Room X in Building Y" or "see your advisor for information." Also consistent was the absence of departments noting and promoting the advisor information on their home pages.

Data collected in this new line of research reveals trends in student media success and offer both guidance for advisors to achieve stability in their positions, and has the potential to ultimately alter administration definitions and classification of the advising position,

Keywords:

Campus media, advising, credentials, advisor, broadcast, newspaper, radio, administration, journalism, television, student journalist, communications, mass comm.