UNC board approves biz journalism major

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill‘s board of governors approved Friday a business journalism undergraduate major that will begin in the 2011-12 academic year.

The major will be offered by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

The program is considered a niche major that will offer students the opportunity to receive the training to be a business journalist or a corporate communications representative. The major is intended to cater to 15 students at a time, with an equal number of students from both schools.

Students will be admitted to the major via an application process each fall.

The students will be required to complete at least 22 credit hours from the School of Journalism and at least 16 hours from the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

In the School of Journalism, students will be required to take seven courses, including “Business and the Media,” “Economics Reporting” and “Business Reporting.”

In Kenan-Flagler, students will be required to take four courses, including “Financial Accounting,” “Operations Management” and “The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business.”

The School of Journalism currently offers a certificate in business journalism for its majors, and a minor in business journalism for non-majors. Those programs would continue.

Other universities with undergraduate majors in business journalism include Washington & Lee University and Southern Methodist University.