Required Credit Hours and Courses for a Major

All students working for a bachelor's degree at Drake must complete the Drake Curriculum (Areas of Inquiry) . A minimum of 124 total credit hours are required to graduate, including 31 to 37 credit hours in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication(SJMC). All SJMC majors must successfully complete JMC 30 Communications in Society, JMC 40 Pre-Professional Workshop, JMC 54 News and Reporting Principles, JMC 59 Introduction to Visual Communications, JMC 66 Media Responsibility OverTime ( JMC 66 Required of students entering Drake after Summer 2003 ), and JMC 104 Communications Law and Ethics. A minimum of 65 credit hours must be taken in Arts and Sciences course work and must include Economics 1, Political Science 1 and Sociology 1. 40 credit hours must be in upper division courses numbered 100 or above.

Area of Concentration: In addition the JMC graduate must have completed a 21 credit-hour block of non JMC courses approved by the adviser and dean. This concentration, taken in a single department or as a unified area of concentration crossing departmental lines, usually is one particularly appropriate to the student's major or otherwise of special interest. At least 12 credit hours in the concentration must be taken in courses numbered 100 and above. Courses taken to satisfy other graduation requirements also may count toward this requirement.

Required Advertising Courses for B.A. Account Management Track

• JMC 76 Advertising Principles - Advertising as a marketing communications tool and socio-economic force. Introduction to relevant behavior theories and techniques of promotional communications as practiced by advertisers and agencies.
• JMC 129 Account Management- The study of Account Management develops the student's understanding of this critical role with an ad agency. During the semester, the student will explore the communications, creative development, budgeting, time management, media selection and research responsibilities of the account manager, and the processes for communications and presentations to clients and prospects.
• JMC 130 Advertising Reasearch - Application of secondary and primary research strategies to solve advertising challenges. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies are explored.
• JMC 132 Media Planning - The media planning process involves the exploration of media habits of consumers and the crafting of an effective series of placements through the purchase of ad time/space. A significant portion of the class deals with media and budget calculations.
• JMC 145 Advertising Campaign Strategy - Planning and executing a complete campaign. Emphasis on analysis of marketing problems, research, expenditures, development of advertising plans and strategies, media selection and creative execution.

See the Forms/Handbooks page for downloadable checksheets!

Required Advertising Courses for B.A. Creative Track

• JMC 56 Broadcasting Principles - An introductory course in radio and television analysis, planning and production. Designed for non-broadcast majors only.
• JMC 76 Advertising Principles - Advertising as a marketing communications tool and socio-economic force. Introduction to relevant behavior theories and techniques of promotional communications as practiced by advertisers and agencies.
• JMC 124 Advertising Copywriting - Introductory copywriting and layout course. Techniques for print, broadcast and Internet media are executed in a laboratory setting. Audience differentiation, media strategy and creative strategy all are considered. Emphasis is on concept development, persuasive writing, visualization and execution.
• JMC 141 Creative Strategy in Advertising - An advanced semester of writing, creating and producing advertising messages for all media. The course focuses on creative strategy. Students work individually and in teams and for actual clients. Professional portfolio to be presented at the end of the semester.
• JMC 145 Advertising Campaign Strategy - Planning and executing a complete campaign. Emphasis on analysis of marketing problems, research, expenditures, development of advertising plans and strategies, media selection and creative execution.

See the Forms/Handbooks page for downloadable checksheets!

Required Courses and Credit Hours Outside Major
All advertising majors must include in their programs Marketing 101 and 115; Economics 2; and Psychology 1. Advertising Creative Majors must take Art 21. Advertising Account Management Majors must take IS 044 or IS 040.

Advertising Minor
The advertising minor is designed to provide students who anticipate careers involving an advertising component, such as Marketing, Management and Business, with a well rounded background in advertising principles and concepts. In addition there will be some exposure to advertising's creative process. The minor is made up of 21 hours in required and elective courses. Advertising faculty are assigned to advise all minors.

Required courses:

Students must choose three of the following:

Advertising minors must also include in their program ECON 1 and 2, PSYCH 1, MKTG 101 and SOC 1.

Academic Preparation
There are no specific courses required; however, students are encouraged to take writing courses while in high school.