Internships
Through the Center on Media and Society and UMass Boston Career Services, students are encouraged to pursue internships with local media outlets and other professional organizations concerned with communication.
Recent internship hosts include WGBH Radio, WUMB Radio, The Boston Globe newspaper, and a number of other broadcasting and publication organizations.
Research
Students also have the opportunity to participate in research conducted by Communication Studies program faculty. For example, a recent study examined the effect of the graphic images of 9/11 shown in the news on viewers’ long-term psychological well-being.
Center on Media and Society
The Center on Media and Society, part of the McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at UMass Boston, was created in April, 2004 as a resource for the university, the community, and the professional worlds of journalism and politics. Its founding director, Ellen Hume, is a former White House correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and former executive director of the Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She also serves as a faculty member in the Communication Studies Program. Professor Mark Schlesinger serves as academic advisor to the Center.
The activities of the Center complement and enhance academic courses and research in Communication Studies. Media Nation, for example, was a student-produced daily newspaper during the Democratic National Convention, published as an insert in The Boston Globe. Current research at the Center includes the Ethnic Media Project, which has as its goal enhancing the quality and reach of Boston’s ethnic media. The Project includes workshops and an accessible database.
Scholarships and Fellowships
The program sponsors the Robert Risse Prize, awarded each year to an outstanding graduating senior with a minor in Communication Studies.