51ĀŅĀ×

Strategic Plan

E.W. Scripps School of Journalism Strategic Plan

Created 8/18/2025

Ratified by faculty 10/20/2025

Strategic Vision

Establish the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at 51ĀŅĀ× as the center of ethical information-based content creation that meets the demands of an evolving industry, study body, and audience.

Goals

  1. Enrollment ā€“ increase by 30 % within the next five years
    1. Continue focus on growing strategic communication track
    2. Maximize the universityā€™s current focus on graduate education to add a fourth Ph.D. student
    3. Increase recruiting efforts in conjunction with alumni and advisory board
      1. Visit at least four area high schools each year with current students, alumni, and faculty
      2. Connect nearby high school programs with student organizations on campus, including the Post, SPJ, and Backdrop
      3. Create partnership with Ohio DECA, which hosts competitions in marketing and advertising, to provide judges and advertise the program.
      4. Continue partnership with Scripps National Spelling bee to host regional competitions and introduce even younger students to the School
  2. Communication - Audience engagement up 25%
    1. Social media posts to average one post a day / five days a week
    2. Create and streamline student social media team
    3. Increase mentions of the School by 25 %
      1. Develop a pipeline between faculty, students, alumni and university communications and marketing.
      2. Highlight key faculty developments, alumni achievements and student success
    4. Establish two new industry connections each year
      1. Two grant applications a year
      2. Provide resources and training to help faculty establish industry partnerships for student away, internships, or class projects
      3. Highlight connections with NEXT?! Agency and capstone classes
      4. Develop quarterly newsletter for advisory board members and alumni
      5. Establish professional development fund for faculty to replace ā€œtravel fundā€
      6. Signature event each year
        1. Build off success of Schoonover Symposium, Tyler Weymouth First Amendment series to solidify Schoolā€™s reputation in the industry.
        2. Use student feedback to focus on events that are more future focused.
          1. Content creatorā€™s summit
          2. Audio Journalism
          3. Independent news
          4. Strengthen local news
          5. News Deserts
    5. Build better connection with students
      1. Hold at least two capstone events to educate students on opportunities within the School
      2. Increase response rates to first destination survey and freshmen and senior knowledge surveys to more than 75%
      3. Create a student poll where students can share their feedback on potential events, speakers, and classes each semester
      4. Provide incentives for students to participate (course credit, gift card, lunch with the director)
  3. Curriculum Development ā€“ redesign decade old school curriculum to preserve flexibility, meet industry demands, offer innovative and forward-thinking classes, and push students to design the media they want
    1. Create tiered system of courses that teach the foundations of journalism and strategic communication while providing flexibility
      1. Core tier (law, ethics, media and democracy, precision language, news writing or strat comm writing)
      2. Intermediate skills tier (three skills courses in areas students choose)
        1. For example a student could take three broadcast courses or a broadcast, narrative journalism, and podcast course.
        2. Strat comm majors could specialize in media planning, PR promotion, creative concepts, online buying
        3. Offer more variety in this area and fewer sections of the classes students have been taking.
      3. Experiential Learning
        1. Establish ways for all students to participate in an experiential learning course within their track
          1. NEXT agency for strat comm
          2. SEO magazine, WOUB, community journalism for news and information
          3. Design pathway to receive feedback and course credit for student media work.
  4. Facilities upgrade refresh ā€“ ensure students have the tools they need to step right into industry and/or the experience to go solo
    1. Lasher Learning Center as co-working / classroom / event space
    2. Easily accessible podcast studio with audio and video capabilities
    3. Digital broadcast streaming lab for classes but also for student projects and ideas, similar to the podcast studio
      1. Incorporate feedback from student outreach into long-range facility planning
      2. Communicate clearly to students the tech they need and what they can borrow from the School