Students will have the opportunity once again to declare journalism as a minor as it was reinstated after being dropped in 2003.

The 18-credit program begins in the summer and will emphasize online communication and building civic engagement. Classes will include writing and reporting, taking photos and video, and media law and ethics. A final class will allow students to create their own journalistic professional project of interest.

“I think the capstone is the coolest class,” said David Cuillier, director of the School of Journalism. “It’s where you take everything you learned and you get to produce something interesting and fun.”

Students can finish all the classes, except for the final class, during the summer sessions. The introduction to journalism class will be taught in the summer pre-session on campus. The journalism school will accept 45 students into the minor on a first-come, first-served basis. Tad Sallee, a media arts sophomore, declared the new journalism minor along with nine other students.

“I am hoping to get more speaking skills [from the minor],” Sallee said. “I hope to learn the business aspect of it and learning to make a career out of it. I’m looking forward to it.”

The minor was suspended in 2003 because the number of majors increased and the School of Journalism needed to ensure majors could graduate on time.

“I was really disappointed because I wanted to declare my minor back in September, but they weren’t going to offer it,” Sallee said. “Then they reoffered it in December or November, and I was like ‘Yeah I’m going to go for it.’ I guess it was meant to be.”

Cuillier explained that the skills learned in the minor could be applied outside of the journalism realm.

“I think it’s crucial that every U of A student has really good communication skills when they graduate from here, because it will help in any career,” Cuillier said. “The ability to gather information, sift through it, synthesize it, figure out what’s important and then communicate effectively — those are skills that everybody wants.”

Betsy Bolding, a UA alumna and journalism major said she agrees with Cuillier and that journalism skills are what people need to write a memo or make a proposal.

“I worked for Governor Babbitt in the late ‘70s to mid-’80s,” Bolding said. “And a staff person’s memo can be very, very influential if it’s well-written and well-presented. Elected officials rely on research a lot to make recommendations.”

An informational meeting will be held on Jan. 15 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in the Marshall Building, room 311, for students who are interested in the minor.