ABSTRACT
Programmatic review or assessment is a fact of life for universities and colleges. There are at least four kinds of reviews that communication and journalism and mass communication (JMC) units normally might face. First, there are reviews that are linked to the periodic self-studies required as part of a school’s regional accreditation in the Middle States, North Central, Northwest, Southern or Western Association of Colleges and States (see Allison, 1994). Second, within JMC, there are reviews required of those programs that desire accreditation from the Accred-iting Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC). There are also other quasi-accrediting bodies like the Public Relations Students Society of America that
recommend curricula to programs. Third, there are reviews that are initiated and conducted by a unit in order to establish credibility for the unit within a larger administrative structure at either the divisional, school, college, or university level. Finally, there are unit reviews that are “forced” on a unit by an administration that wants to see change and feels the unit is intransigent. In all four kinds of reviews, outside reviewers are usually brought in to evaluate a unit’s strengths and weaknesses.
