Academic Programs / Communications & Theater
Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media
Matthew Lombard, Ph.D., Chair
215-204-5401
lombard@temple.edu
Jack Klotz, Assistant Chair
215-204-5401
jklotz@temple.edu
Department Office:
Annenberg Hall Room 205
Undergraduate Contact:
Bill Mooney, Director of Recruiting
215-204-1884
bmooney@temple.edu
www.temple.edu/btmm
The Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media provides students the knowledge and skills to create, analyze and manage media content and institutions responsibly.
Theory and practice are integrated into all areas of study in the major. BTMM students learn how to produce, evaluate and manage media content for traditional and emerging media in a variety of genres including information (news and documentary), music, comedy, sports, drama, and commercial and noncommercial persuasion campaigns. They study institutions that create, distribute and analyze media products (e.g., production studios, television and radio networks and audience measurement companies) and learn how to create and operate successful media businesses. BTMM students learn to think purposefully and critically about media, and examine media roles in history, culture and society from many perspectives. And they learn how to act ethically as they interact with the world both in careers in media institutions and as citizens.
The BTMM curriculum is made up of courses in three areas:
1) Media Production & Performance: The conceptual and technical tools needed to create media content in a variety of formats and genres. Students who study in this area develop strong professional skills as well as critical and analytical abilities that enable them to evaluate content for various media. They are prepared for careers as producer, writer, videographer, and talent in traditional and emerging media.
2) Media Business & Entrepreneurship: The practical and ethical ways to start, operate or participate in an enterprise that creates, produces, and/or distributes media content. Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media entrepreneur, media production freelancer, and owner/operator of a production company, station or channel.
3) Media Analysis: Critical understanding of the roles of media in contemporary life, including media technology as a cultural force; the nature of media institutions, audiences, and texts; and the media as a source of shared social identities. Students who take these courses are prepared for careers as media consultant, editorial or technical writer, community activist, corporate communication producer and market research analyst.
The flexible degree requirements allow students to emphasize one or more concentrations, including:
- TV Production
- Radio Production
- Media Performance
- Recording Industry
- Media Management
- Media Entrepreneurship
- Analysis of Social Processes in Media
- Analysis of Media Institutions
Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
Summary Requirements:
- Temple University Core Curriculum requirements, including completion of library orientation, also known as the Temple Information Literacy Tutorial (TILT).
- School of Communications and Theater requirements.
General Requirements:
- Minimum of 40 credits in BTMM / maximum of 54 credits in BTMM
- Maximum of 71 credits in the School of Communications and Theater
- Each course that fulfils a requirement for the major must be passed with a C- or better
- All prerequisites must be met unless exempted in writing
- No more than 20 transfer credits may be applied to the BTMM major
- Minimum GPA of 2.0 in the major
- No more than 8 credits in Kinesiology and Dance activities courses
Course Requirements:
- BTMM Foundation Courses: 1011 (Mass Communication Theory), 1021 (Mass Media and Society) and 1041 (Media in Everyday Life) must be completed within in the first 45 credits at Temple University. Students transferring in 45 or more credits need complete only two of the three BTMM foundation courses; at least one BTMM foundation course must be completed at Temple, unless exempted by the Chair of the department.
- At least four courses numbered from 3000- 4999, excluding Internship, Practicum, Independent Study and Independent Project
- At least one of the following: Internship (BTMM 4785) or Practicum ( BTMM 4596, 4787, or 4887)
- BTMM 4039: Senior Seminar taken during final 30 credits
Internships and Senior Seminar:
The academic experience for all BTMM majors culminates with an internship or practicum and the Senior Seminar. Together, these courses provide students the opportunity to explore their potential professional futures.
Internship opportunities exist locally (at virtually every media-oriented organization in the greater Philadelphia region), nationally (in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other US media markets), and internationally (in London, England, and Tokyo, Japan, through the School of Communications and Theater's International Studies program.) To qualify for an internship, students must have Junior or Senior standing, a minimum of 2.5 GPA in the major, and passing grades (C-) in the BTMM foundation courses.
There are three practicum options. In the TV Practicum (BTMM 4596), students produce a weekly live-to-tape TV newsmagazine that airs on local cable TV. A summer offering, TV Production Workshop (BTMM 4787), also fulfills the requirement for a practicum and involves the production of various content also for broadcast on local cable. The Radio Practicum (BTMM 4887) involves work at Temple University's Jazz and Classical music radio station, WRTI 90.1 FM, a National Public Radio affiliate.
Suggested Semester-by-Semester Plan
Year 1 Fall |
|
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
English |
1002 |
College Composition |
3 |
CO |
MATH |
1011 |
College Mathematics or other math core |
3 |
QA |
SCT |
1001 |
Freshman Seminar |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one Foundation course from: |
|
|
BTMM |
1011 |
Mass Communication Theory |
4 |
|
BTMM |
1021 |
Mass Media and Society |
4 |
|
BTMM |
1041 |
Media in Everyday Life |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BTMM |
Core |
Library Orientation (TILT) |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one Arts Core course from: |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PHILOS |
1061 |
Art and Society |
3 |
AR |
Theater |
1201 |
Acting for Non-Majors |
3 |
AR |
|
or others |
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
14 |
|
Year 1 Spring |
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
MATH |
1012 |
Elements of Mathematical Thought |
3 |
QB |
|
or other math core |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one Foundation Course from: |
|
|
BTMM |
1011 |
Mass Communication Theory |
4 |
|
BTMM |
1021 |
Mass Media and Society |
4 |
|
BTMM |
1041 |
Media in Everyday Life |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one course from: |
Consult with Advisor |
|
|
BTMM |
1655 |
Intro to Media Management and Organization |
3 |
|
BTMM |
1701 |
Intro to Media Technology |
3 |
|
BTMM |
2141 |
Mass Communication Research |
3 |
|
BTMM |
2221 |
The Broadcasting System |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one American Culture Core course from: |
|
|
ANTHRO |
1064 |
American Culture |
3 |
AC |
History |
1102 |
U.S. History Since 1877 |
3 |
AC |
THM |
1496 |
Leisure in American Culture |
3 |
AC/WI |
|
or others |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
IH |
1196 |
Intellectual Heritage I |
3 |
IA |
Total |
|
|
16 |
|
Year 2 Fall |
|
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
IH |
1297 |
Intellectual Heritage II |
3 |
IB |
|
|
|
|
|
Select one Sci & Tech Core course from: |
|
SA |
Physics |
1001 |
Physics: Motion & Matter |
4 |
|
Physics |
1005 |
Light, Art, and Nature |
4 |
|
Physics |
1003 |
Acoustics |
4 |
|
|
or other science core |
|
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BTMM |
|
Select 2000-3000 level |
3-4 |
|
BTMM |
Foundation |
Select from 1011, 1021, 1041 |
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one Individual and Society course from: |
|
IN |
ANTHRO |
1062 |
Intro to Anthropology |
3 |
|
GUS |
1021 |
Urban Society: Race, Class and Community |
3 |
|
Law S.B.M. |
1001 |
Law In Society |
3 |
|
PHILOS |
1062 |
Morality and the Law |
3 |
|
SOC |
1376 |
The Sociology of Race and Racism |
3 |
|
SOC |
1166 |
Money: Who Has It, Who Doesn't, Why It Matters |
3 |
|
|
or other IN core |
|
|
|
Total |
|
|
17-18 |
|
Year 2 Spring |
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
Select from: SB Science Courses |
|
SB |
Sci & Tech |
|
|
3-4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one International Studies or Language course from: |
|
IS |
Lang |
(Placement Test) |
|
3-4 |
|
ANTHRO |
1061 |
Cultures of the World |
3 |
IS |
ANTHRO |
1065 |
Origins of Cultural Diversity |
3 |
IS |
Dance |
2803 |
Dance in Human Society |
3 |
IS |
|
or other third world |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
BTMM |
Elective |
Select 3000-4999 |
3-4 |
|
BTMM |
Elective |
2000-3999 |
3-4 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Pick One |
3 |
|
Total |
|
|
15-19 |
|
Year 3 Fall |
|
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
Select one Writing course from: |
|
|
WI |
BTMM |
3196 |
Writing Workshop |
3 |
|
BTMM |
4296 |
History of Broadcasting |
4 |
|
BTMM |
4496 |
Global Telecommunications |
4 |
|
BTMM |
4497 |
Mass Media and Children |
4 |
|
BTMM |
4596 |
Broadcast Production Practicum |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one Race course from: |
|
|
|
|
Core |
Race |
3 |
RS |
|
|
|
|
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective -Pick One |
3 |
|
BTMM Elective |
2000-3999 |
BTMM Elective - Pick One |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Select one International Studies/Lang course from: |
|
IS |
Lang |
|
|
3-4 |
|
|
or International Studies |
|
3 |
|
Total |
|
|
15-17 |
|
Year 3 Spring |
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
BTMM |
3000-4999 |
BTMM Elective - Select one |
3-4 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
BTMM |
3000-4999 |
BTMM Elective - Select one |
3-4 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
2 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
Total |
|
|
17-19 |
|
Year 4 Fall |
|
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
BTMM |
4785 |
Internship |
2 |
|
BTMM |
4039 |
Senior Seminar |
3 |
|
BTMM |
Elective |
BTMM Elective - Select one |
3-4 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
2 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
Total |
|
|
16-17 |
|
Year 4 Spring |
|
|
|
Department |
Course # |
Course Name |
Hours |
RCI |
BTMM |
Elective |
BTMM Elective - Select one |
3-4 |
|
BTMM |
4785 |
Internship |
2 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3 |
|
Elective |
|
Open Elective - Select one |
3-4 |
|
Total |
|
|
15-17 |
|
*Four year total must equal 126 credit hours.
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