History Of The Program

The study of journalism at Northeastern started with George Speers. In 1950, he helped create the New England Press Association, an organization inspired by his dedication to community journalism. A decade later, while running Northeastern's public relations department, Speers introduced a handful of journalism classes within the English department. He wanted to teach young writers about the value of community reporting. Demand for the modest program grew quickly.

It was a critical time for the profession: President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, the Vietnam War was under way and the Civil Rights movement was unfolding in newspapers and on television sets. "People realized how important the news media was to them," said LaRue Gilleland, a veteran newspaperman who served as director of Northeastern's journalism program from 1981 to 1992. "The public, in those days, had a lot of confidence in the media," he said. "And all those things worked together to focus attention on the media's importance."

Speers, along with two other full-time professors, carried the program through the '70s, until Gilleland took the job as chairman. "LaRue had the vision and the jawbone to say 'Look, we've got to put this program on the map,'" said Bill Kirtz, another veteran journalist and professor at the School since 1973. "So he started hiring. LaRue gave the program academic heft."

As a condition for accepting his new post, Gilleland persuaded the university to replace the School's 17 manual Royal typewriters with a fleet of electric ones, more lab space to provide a photojournalism dark room and to hire three more full-time faculty members.

Under his leadership, the department flourished. "The media at that time, in the late '70s early '80s, had the most respect publicly that it ever had," said Gilleland. "Watergate was not too many years before that. It was a high point for public confidence. And I think a lot of young people saw this as a calling [because] they could contribute to society."

In 1987, the department hit two major milestones: It was elevated to School status, and it launched a graduate program. Today, there are 14 faculty members, a full-time cooperative education coordinator responsible for placing students in jobs across the country, and a long list of visiting adjunct lecturers from news organizations and public relations agencies in Boston. We have 400 undergraduate and about 40 graduate students. We have well-equipped writing and design labs. And our journalism community, ranging from first-year students to Pulitzer Prize-winners, has enabled us to maintain the spirit that drove George Speers to start a program he believed could make a difference.

• Professional Concentration
• Research Concentration
• Journalism and Public Policy Concentration
• History Of The Program
• Journalism In Boston
• Selected Course Descriptions
• Field Experience At Northeastern
• Admission to the Program

• Student Organizations
• Student Media
• Student Work
• Journalism Staff
• Journalism Co-op
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