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Jun. 13, 2017 Missourian reports: Students in the University of Missouri Science and Agricultural Journalism Program were told Monday that it is going away. Current students will be able to finish their degrees, program chair Sharon Wood-Turley said in an email. "I need to share the news with you that due to the severe budget crisis the University is in, they have made the decision to 'phase out' the Science and Ag Journalism Program," Wood-Turley said. By Wednesday, the news had riled alumni of the program who said they would fight to save it from the budget ax. The 95-year-old program is a cooperative effort of the School of Journalism and the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. One of its top faculty members, Bill Allen, retired in May after 13 years at MU. Of the program's 16 graduates in 2016-17, nine found employment, four are attending graduate school, and two were interviewing, with one reporting uncertain plans, Wood-Turley said. Thirty students are enrolled in the program, and three have been admitted for the fall semester. Two of those admitted have paid their deposits, Christian Basi of the MU News Bureau said in a Wednesday email. Marilyn Cummins on Wednesday described the news as a punch to the gut. An associate editor at Red Barn Media Group and 1980 MU graduate, Cummins praised the specialized knowledge she gained through the agriculture journalism program and said it was the reason she was hired straight out of college. "I truly believe that there is a value to the state and to the university and to the general public to keeping this specialized training going," Cummins said. Tyne Morgan hosts the U.S. Farm Report, a nationally broadcast weekly show about agriculture, and graduated from MU in 2008. Agriculture journalism, she said, is the only reason she chose MU. "I had a wide array of agriculture knowledge as well as the experience from being in the journalism school," Morgan said. Cummins and Morgan also emphasized the value of the networking they were able to do through conducting their studies in both the agriculture and journalism schools. "I still have those relationships today. I still utilize those relationships today," Morgan said. Although small, the agriculture journalism program produced a Truman Scholar, a Truman Scholar finalist and a member of Mizzou '39 in 2017. Graduates of the program consistently go straight from school into a career. "Try to find an unemployed agricultural journalism student. Just try," Mike Deering, executive vice president of the Missouri Cattlemen's Association, said in a Wednesday e-mail. Deering graduated from MU in 2004. "When I graduated from ag journalism, every other person with that major had a job lined up," said Morgan, who graduated from MU in the midst of the Great Recession. A group of ag journalism alumni are in the process of drafting a letter to MU administration asking them to save the program. Alumni also have taken to Twitter to voice their support, using the hashtag #SaveMUAgJ. "I understand budget cuts more than anyone, because right now I'm reporting on budget cuts that are impacting farmers and ranchers throughout the country," Morgan said. "I just don't want to see ag journalism be on the chopping block." Alumni plan to continue to organize their efforts through social media. "There comes a time when you have to speak up and make a little noise," Deering said. "I join a lot of alumni in that effort." Tweet |
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