University Of Montana Enhances Journalism Graduate Program

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - Graduate students at the University of Montana School of Journalism are now adding public health and natural resource sciences to their studies.

I spoke with Dave Kuntz, UM Director of Strategic Communications about the collaboration with other disciplines.

UM Journalism School Collaborates with Other Disciplines

“The UM School of Journalism launched a program in conjunction with our School of Public Health and Community Sciences to ensure that students in this graduate degree program at the journalism school are able to take public health classes and get other experiential learning opportunities to be able to excel as they launch into their career covering major public health issues that we've seen are becoming more and more important, both here in Montana and across the country,” began Kuntz.

Kuntz said the graduate program students at the School of Journalism are also collaborating with issues like public health and the environment.

Journalism Grad Students are Becoming Well-Rounded

“Here at UM, we provide our students with a much more multi-discipline approach, and so if you come and study in the graduate school at the School of Journalism, you won't just be taking those journalism classes,” he said. “You'll be taking public health classes and environmental classes and learning legal matters. So you come out of the program just a much more well-rounded person entering into the workforce.”

Kuntz said the multi-disciplinary approach has worked well with the school of journalism graduates.

“We've had this model work really well with other partnerships that the journalism school has conducted in their graduate school, and so this one with the growth of public health and the attention that's gotten, we feel that there's a really natural fit to help develop and train the next generation of journalists to really understand the public health challenges, especially those in rural areas,” he said.

Two Issues Include Wildfire Smoke and Urban Versus Rural Living

Kuntz related just two of the issues being examined including those involving wildfire smoke and how long people live in urban versus rural areas.

“For instance, what are the impacts of wildfire smoke year after year?”, he asked. “Why do people in urban areas live longer than usually those in rural areas? This approach allows journalism students to work alongside our researchers to help tell those stories and really advance the knowledge that we have as a society. So we're just incredibly excited that this program is off to such a good start, and we're looking forward to it growing in the years ahead.”

One graduate student in journalism praised the program that had her reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic and other issues involving public health and the environment.