We are happy to report that the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents has approved the changes to our program. Starting in fall 2008, the program's name will be the Master of Arts in Health Journalism and Communication. Our curriculum changes, including the development of separate emphasis areas in Health Journalism and Health Communication have been approved.

The program, launched in 2003, was formerly the M.A. in Health Journalism. During the 2007-2008 academic year, we revised the program based on feedback from our students, from our advisory board and other professionals, and from market surveys. Our goal is to improve the educational experience of our students by providing them a curriculum that will broaden their career prospects, especially in a time of flux in the journalism industry.

While we have interest from journalists who want to develop their skills in reporting on health for the media, we have found slightly different interests among the health professionals in our program. Many would like to expand their communication skills, though they may not necessarily want to pursue a career in traditional newsroom journalism.

Some students are interested in developing their writing and communications skills to work in health care organizations and want to develop skills in communicating to diverse audiences (patients, practitioners, families) through various media channels, while others want to advance health promotion and education through other means of communication. All of these require knowledge of complex health topics and skills in accurate research, balanced reporting, and engaging storytelling.

We believe our new curriculum, which includes separate emphasis areas in Health Journalism and Health Communication, will deliver those fundamental skills while better serving all of our students.

We have also expanded our program so that recent graduates are now eligible, in addition to professionals with work experience in journalism, communication, health, or science.