Position Statement
Content
SUNY Buffalo State Position Statement
Communications Department Accreditation
SUNY Buffalo State’s communication department is known as being one of SUNY Buffalo State’s fortes in
education. The department is one of only five communication departments with an ACEJMC accreditation in the
state of New York and the only public college with such accreditation. Despite the communication department’s
recent success, some have tried discrediting it on the grounds that only three out of four programs have the
aforementioned accreditation. The accredited programs include journalism, public communication, and media
production, which excludes the communication studies program. To the surprise of the critics, there is a valid reason
as to why this program does not share the same title as the rest of the department.
Reasons Why Communications Studies is Without Accreditation
Many critics will express their concern with the communications department because the entire program is not in
sync in terms of its prestigious title. As said, there is a legitimate reason for this and a valid reason why the
communication study program is not in pursuit of such a title.
Frequently asked questions:
What is ACEJMC and why is
Why are some schools
Why are only some programs
it so important?
accredited, and others are
in the communications
not?
department accredited?
ACEJMC stands for the
Accrediting Council on
ACEJMC’s website notes that
The reason is simple, because
Education in Journalism and
“…Accreditation provides an
there are different criteria for
Mass Communications. They
assurance of quality to students,
each of the different programs.
are an agency responsible for
parents, and the public. In the
The fact that one program lacks
evaluating college/university
accrediting process,
accreditation does not
level programs in journalism
performance of educational units
necessarily mean that it lacks in
and mass communications. They
is measured against national
proficiency. Not all schools or
regularly send people to these
standards.” So some programs
even programs look to seek
schools to evaluate how they
fit ACEJMC’s standards of
accreditation because it does not
operate to see if they fit the
excellence, and others do not.
automatically mean a program is
necessary requirements.
superior.
Response to the Situation
Many will see that the communication studies
program lacks accreditation and assume the worst. In
reality, programs such as the public communication
program have to follow strict and specific criteria
with very rigid standards. This is the case because the
people looking to evaluate the public communication
program have specific credentials in mind. In other
words, the communication studies program is a
generalized program based more on theory, whereas
programs like public communication focus more on
crafting their students for a career in public relations.
The public communication program features
What to Remember
classes that have students take on real clients, which
is an example of something that would grant the
Instead of focusing on accreditation and
public communication program accreditation. The
diminishing everything else, it’s worth noting that
communication studies is more generalized; students
accreditation is only applicable to those programs
learn a little of each program in the communications
that focus on a particular aspect of its field. Just
department. With that being said, it should be
because a program lacks accreditation does not
obvious why it’s not accredited, because it does not
necessarily mean that it’s not good enough.
focus on any particular area.
Instead, people looking for accreditation
This should have no bearing on a program’s
should focus on more their intended studies. The
credibility; it only means that it does not focus on one
communication studies program has no bearing on
particular aspect of communications. As a matter of
the credentials for any other program in the school
fact, many students begin with communication
including those in the communications department.
studies and transfer once they’ve made up their mind.
Communications Department Accreditation
SUNY Buffalo State’s communication department is known as being one of SUNY Buffalo State’s fortes in
education. The department is one of only five communication departments with an ACEJMC accreditation in the
state of New York and the only public college with such accreditation. Despite the communication department’s
recent success, some have tried discrediting it on the grounds that only three out of four programs have the
aforementioned accreditation. The accredited programs include journalism, public communication, and media
production, which excludes the communication studies program. To the surprise of the critics, there is a valid reason
as to why this program does not share the same title as the rest of the department.
Reasons Why Communications Studies is Without Accreditation
Many critics will express their concern with the communications department because the entire program is not in
sync in terms of its prestigious title. As said, there is a legitimate reason for this and a valid reason why the
communication study program is not in pursuit of such a title.
Frequently asked questions:
What is ACEJMC and why is
Why are some schools
Why are only some programs
it so important?
accredited, and others are
in the communications
not?
department accredited?
ACEJMC stands for the
Accrediting Council on
ACEJMC’s website notes that
The reason is simple, because
Education in Journalism and
“…Accreditation provides an
there are different criteria for
Mass Communications. They
assurance of quality to students,
each of the different programs.
are an agency responsible for
parents, and the public. In the
The fact that one program lacks
evaluating college/university
accrediting process,
accreditation does not
level programs in journalism
performance of educational units
necessarily mean that it lacks in
and mass communications. They
is measured against national
proficiency. Not all schools or
regularly send people to these
standards.” So some programs
even programs look to seek
schools to evaluate how they
fit ACEJMC’s standards of
accreditation because it does not
operate to see if they fit the
excellence, and others do not.
automatically mean a program is
necessary requirements.
superior.
Response to the Situation
Many will see that the communication studies
program lacks accreditation and assume the worst. In
reality, programs such as the public communication
program have to follow strict and specific criteria
with very rigid standards. This is the case because the
people looking to evaluate the public communication
program have specific credentials in mind. In other
words, the communication studies program is a
generalized program based more on theory, whereas
programs like public communication focus more on
crafting their students for a career in public relations.
The public communication program features
What to Remember
classes that have students take on real clients, which
is an example of something that would grant the
Instead of focusing on accreditation and
public communication program accreditation. The
diminishing everything else, it’s worth noting that
communication studies is more generalized; students
accreditation is only applicable to those programs
learn a little of each program in the communications
that focus on a particular aspect of its field. Just
department. With that being said, it should be
because a program lacks accreditation does not
obvious why it’s not accredited, because it does not
necessarily mean that it’s not good enough.
focus on any particular area.
Instead, people looking for accreditation
This should have no bearing on a program’s
should focus on more their intended studies. The
credibility; it only means that it does not focus on one
communication studies program has no bearing on
particular aspect of communications. As a matter of
the credentials for any other program in the school
fact, many students begin with communication
including those in the communications department.
studies and transfer once they’ve made up their mind.
