A new interdisciplinary minor for business journalism – The Greyhound

The Economics and Communications departments come together to create an interdisciplinary minor in Business Journalism. Not only can students gain a better understanding of the business world, but they will also learn about communication and the importance of journalism.

Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics Dr. Jeremy Schwartz is excited about the program and can’t wait to be a part of it. The required business courses are microeconomics and macroeconomics with one business elective. Business electives range from finance, marketing, accounting and economics.

“If we could have students who were interested in journalism, who would not only take journalism classes but also have a background in business and economics, they would just be better, better reporters in the field… students would be more marketable because them, both the communication skills, but also the expertise in the area they may be reporting on,” said Dr. Schwartz.

The Chairman of the Department of Communications and Professor Dr. Masudul Biswas has been working with the Department of Economics to get a finite idea of ​​the minor. The business community already has other journalistic specialties and could be added to that list. At Sellinger Business School, a student’s economic knowledge is a key factor when it comes to business journalism. Required communication courses are media writing and business journalism with one elective course in journalism and storytelling.

“Business is a very big school. Those who minor in communications (are) business school students. 73% of our minor last time I checked are business students. So they mainly do advertising, PR and digital media,” said Dr. Biswas.

As part of the communications department, Professor Rob Terry teaches the business journalism course here at Loyola. Prof. Terry has worked at the Baltimore Business Journal, Washington Business Journal and a business and technology magazine in Montgomery County, Maryland. He has worked in business journalism for more than twenty years. He teaches his students a general understanding of the business world and the components involved, and how the economy and markets are affected. Professor Terry hopes that students will take this knowledge and apply it to whatever they want to do.

“I think just having a general knowledge of all these things, as I’ve been telling students all semester, can come in handy, whether you’re writing a piece of business journalism on deadline, or you’re writing a press release . , or if you’re working on a website project for a large company and they want you to tell their story online in a digital way that resonates with readers, then all of those things apply,” said Prof. Terry.

An interdisciplinary minor in business journalism will be something that people in both communications and economics can register for from the fall of 2024.

“For students to learn how companies, markets and economies work, and what impact they have on companies, organizations and people. I think this is invaluable knowledge that you can use in any area of ​​communication, honestly, not just in business. It is not just journalism, but it is still complex. It is constantly evolving,” said Prof. Terry.