CURRICULUM

All Health and Medical Journalism students are required to take four core courses, one area of concentration course, two or three Grady elective courses and three cognate courses in relevant health and medical fields outside of Grady College. Students with limited journalism experience must also take an introductory Graduate Newsroom course, which includes a weekly multimedia lab.* Courses typically count for three credit hours each. Students on graduate assistantships will also enroll in three credit hours for their assistantships each semester.**

During their first fall semester, all journalism M.A. students are required to take both JRMC 8000: Proseminar in Mass Communication and JRMC 8010: Mass Communication Research Methodology (descriptions in drop-downs below). During this semester, it is not recommended that students take other courses in addition to JRMC 8000, JRMC 8010, JRMC 7340 (or other Grady elective for exempted students), and the three credit hours of a graduate assistantship (JRMC 7005).

See Grady’s M.A. degree requirements and the UGA course bulletin for more information about UGA courses and majors.

*An undergraduate degree in journalism or demonstrated professional experience in journalism is required for exemption from Graduate Newsroom. Students who wish to be exempted from Graduate Newsroom should get permission of the department. Students who are not required to take Graduate Newsroom must fill those three credit hours with an additional Grady elective course (descriptions in drop-downs below).

**Grady offers a limited number of graduate assistantships for master’s students; however, you cannot apply for these awards. Enrolled students are nominated by the Graduate Studies Office, according to criteria established by the Graduate School. See Prospective Graduate Student FAQs for more information.

  • Proseminar in Mass Communication (JRMC 8000): Research traditions in mass communication, with emphasis on historical developments within the field and intellectual perspectives of mass communication researchers. Major research streams and methodologies are introduced, discussed, and critiqued.
  • Research Methodology in Mass Communication (JRMC 8010): Quantitative and qualitative methodologies of mass communication research, with emphasis on the research process, concepts and issues of research design, and methods of data collection. Topics introduced include measurement, sampling, focus groups and interviewing, survey and experimental design, and data analysis.
  • Health and Medical Journalism (JRMC 7355): Students will learn to report critically and write clearly about health and medical information that originates with peer- reviewed journals, scientific meetings, government and institutional sources, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, watchdog groups, and academic experts.
  • Advanced Health and Medical Journalism (JRMC 7356): Challenges students to dig deeper into connections between scientific research, politics, culture, and health care. Health of poor people in the South need not be the main thrust of stories written for course, but the theme remains important. Advanced students will research, write, and revise a major feature article for publication.
  • Graduate Newsroom (JRMC 7340): A practical introduction to journalism for incoming students with limited journalism experience. Students will learn the foundations of journalism as a public service, analyze and compare print, broadcast and online media, learn basic multimedia skills, and report and write publishable news stories in a simulated newsroom environment. The accompanying weekly multimedia lab teaches skills in audio and video story production, personal website development and social media use to promote students’ work. In years with major national, state or local elections, students may be required to report on election proceedings and outcomes.
  • Public Health Communication (JRMC 8160): Focuses on problems, issues, and research in public relations. Course objectives include understanding advertising and public relations approaches to health communication, examining how advertising and public relations affect health beliefs and behaviors, applying advertising and public relations theories, principle and practices, and incorporating audience and stakeholder needs into strategic communication plans and message design. 
  • Risk Communication (JRMC 8170): Introduction to the field of risk communication, a topic that has been receiving increased attention because of terrorism threats. Theories and research about risk communication come primarily form five domains: environmental disasters, personal risk-taking behaviors, industrial hygiene, terrorism, and crises of corporate reputation. Students will examine the theories, research, and practical applications of risk communication in each of those domains. 
Available electives are subject to change based on semester and instructor availability. In previous years elective options have typically included the following:  
  • Mass Media Law (JRMC 8025)
  • Special Topics in Journalism (JRMC 8350)
  • Factual Literature (Narrative Journalism) (JRMC 8350)
  • Feature Writing (JOUR 7190)
  • Critical Writing (JOUR 7590)
  • Digital Design and Aesthetics (JOUR 7010)
  • Data Gathering and Visualization (JOUR 7380)
  • Investigative Reporting (JOUR 7390)
  • Entrepreneurial Journalism (JOUR 7430)
  • Managing News Organizations (JOUR 7640)
  • Ethics and Diversity (JOUR 7320)
  • Credibility, the News Media, and Public Trust (JOUR 7420)
  • History of American Mass Media (JRLC 7490)
  • New Media Production (NMIX 6110)
  • New Media Photography (NMIX 6200)
  • Rich Media Production (NMIX 6310)
  • New Media Design (NMIX 6490)

Health and Medical Journalism students are required to take three courses outside of Grady College in health-related subjects. Available cognates are subject to change based on semester and instructor availability. Some cognate courses require permission of their department, and some cognate courses have prerequisite courses which must be taken first. Below are listed courses which have previously been approved as HMJ cognates, but students may choose courses not on this list, as long as they get approval from Sabriya Rice, Dr. Janice Hume, and Dr. Jeff Springston.  

  • ALDR (AFST) (LACS) 4710/6710: International Agricultural Development
  • ANTH 6540: Health, Biology and Culture: Introduction to Medical Anthropology
  • ANTH 6590: Ecology and Evolution of Human Disease
  • ANTH 6790: Human Adaptation
  • BIOS 7010: Introductory Biostatistics I
  • DMAN 7100: Disaster Management 1
  • DMAN 7200: Disaster Management 2
  • DMAN 7400: Disaster Management 3
  • DMAN 7500: Disaster Management 4
  • ECOL 6080: Principles of Conservation Ecology and Sustainable Development
  • EHSC 7010: Fundamentals of Environmental Health Science
  • EPID 7010: Introduction to Epidemiology I
  • EPID (HPAM) 7700: Public Health and Healthcare Ethics
  • EPID 8500: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
  • EPID 8550: HIV/AIDS Pandemic
  • EPID 8610: Principles and Practice in Global Epidemiology
  • FDNS 6400: Advanced Macronutrients
  • FDNS 8530: Nutrition and Disease Processes I
  • FDNS 8550: Nutrition and Disease Processes II
  • GRNT 6000: Perspectives on Aging
  • HPAM 7010: Introduction to Health Policy and Management
  • HPAM 8600: Health Economics
  • HPAM 8850: Cost Effectiveness in Health and Medicine
  • HPRB 7270: Resource Development and Program Implementation
  • HPRB 7370: Social Marketing of Health
  • HPRB7500: Community Health Promotion
  • HPRB 8410: Human Ecology of Health and Illness
  • PADP 8610: Economics of Health Policy
  • PHRM 8600: Drug Targets in Signal Transduction Pathways
  • SOWK 6011: Social Welfare Policy and the Social Work Profession