School of Media & Communication Facts

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The Western Kentucky University School of Media & Communication's reputation for excellence and tradition of success continue to attract outstanding faculty and top students from across the nation. The School boasts 27 Pulitzer Prize winners among its alumni and faculty while WKU students consistently place near the top of the overall William Randolph Hearst Competition and have finished first 23 of the past 28 years in the photojournalism category of that contest.

The School features the Mountain  Workshops as well as professional television and photography studios. Students are afforded extracurricular opportunities including our award-winning student newspaper, yearbook, newscast, and the Emmy Award winning public television station and public radio network. The School also provides students with numerous internship, workshop and international experiences. We are dedicated to making sure our students have every opportunity to become leaders in their chosen professions.

 

Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Data reflects unduplicated enrollments, official headcount of primary major as of census date.

Total	524	454	419	386	382	378	381
WKU School of Media & Communication Undergraduate Enrollment With P-Majors Split	Fall 2018	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021	Fall 2022	Fall 2023	Fall 2024
Broadcasting (seeking admission), AB (#726P)	94	84	69	66	58	60	46
Broadcasting, AB (#726)	114	108	93	70	65	57	68
Film (seeking admission), AB (#667P)	69	59	64	61	27	32	28
Film Production - Seeking Admission, BFA (#530P)	0	0	0	1	40	36	30
Film Production, BFA (#530)	0	0	32	47	49	57	59
Film, AB (#667)	57	53	28	33	38	36	38
Journalism (seeking admission), AB (#736P)	61	38	33	30	24	28	28
Journalism, AB (#736)	43	44	36	35	37	33	30
Photojournalism (seeking admission), AB (#750P)	35	29	29	15	24	14	3
Photojournalism, AB (#750)	51	39	35	28	20	6	12
Visual Journalism and Photography (Seeking Admission), AB (#752P)	0	0	0	0	0	18	28
Visual Journalism and Photography, AB (#752)	0	0	0	0	0	1	11

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Data reflects unduplicated enrollments, official headcount of primary major as of census date.

Total	524	454	419	386	382	378	381
WKU School of Media & Communication Undergraduate Enrollment With P-Majors Combined	Fall 2018	Fall 2019	Fall 2020	Fall 2021	Fall 2022	Fall 2023	Fall 2024
Broadcasting, AB (#726)	208	192	162	136	123	117	114
Film Production, BFA (#530)	0	0	32	48	89	93	89
Film, AB (#667)	126	112	92	94	65	68	66
Journalism, AB (#736)	104	82	69	65	61	61	58
Photojournalism, AB (#750)	86	68	64	43	44	20	15
Visual Journalism and Photography, AB (#752	0	0	0	0	0	19	39

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, full-time, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students retained in their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students retained at WKU but in a different major are not counted as retained.

Percentage of Students Retained in Same Major	Retained in First Major After 1 Year		Retained in First Major After 2 Years		Retained in First Major After 3 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2018	55.5	47.3	35.9	34.5	33.6	28.8
Fall 2019	42.6	51.8	32.0	37.6	30.3	30.0
Fall 2020	40.7	49.5	35.6	34.7	34.7	27.9
Fall 2021	40.6	50.3	35.4	38.4	33.7	32
Fall 2022	59.0	54.8	49.5	42
Fall 2023	46.9	56.1

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students retained in the same department as their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students retained at WKU but in a different department are not counted as retained.

Percentage of Students Retained in Same Department	Retained in First Department After 1 Year		Retained in First Department After 2 Years		Retained in First Department After 3 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2018	63.3	50.0	56.3	38.4	52.3	32.3
Fall 2019	54.1	55.0	47.5	41.7	44.3	33.6
Fall 2020	55.1	52.2	47.5	38.2	47.5	31.4
Fall 2021	61.5	53.4	55.2	42.3	53.7	35.6
Fall 2022	67.6	58.1	59	46.6
Fall 2023	70.4	59.9

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL 25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students retained in the same college as their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students retained at WKU but in a different college are not counted as retained.

Percentage of Students Retained in Same College	Retained in First College After 1 Year		Retained in First College After 2 Years		Retained in First College After 3 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2018	68.0	57.2	61.7	47.0	56.3	40.9
Fall 2019	60.7	61.3	54.1	49.2	50.0	41.0
Fall 2020	62.7	59.0	55.9	46.5	53.4	39.4
Fall 2021	65.6	60.1	59.4	50.6	57.9	44.5
Fall 2022	77.1	64.3	64.8	55.2
Fall 2023	74.5	65.7

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students retained in the same college as their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students retained at WKU but in a different college are not counted as retained.

Percentage of Students Retained at WKU	Retained at WKU After 1 Year		Retained at WKU After 2 Years		Retained at WKU After 3 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2018	74.2	72.9	69.5	66.3	63.3	59.0
Fall 2019	79.5	76.8	68.0	67.0	62.3	57.7
Fall 2020	73.7	72.8	64.4	62.8	62.7	54.9
Fall 2021	79.2	76.6	67.7	68	67.4	60.8
Fall 2022	87.6	77.9	76.2	71
Falll 2023	80.6	78.2

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, full-time, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students graduating from their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students graduating from WKU but in a different major are not counted as graduated.

Percentage of Students Graduated From Same Major	Graduated From First Major in 4 Years		Graduated From First Major in 5 Years		Graduated From First Major in 6 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2008	14.3	11.7	23.4	16.6	24.0	17.1
Fall 2009	19.7	12.7	23.2	18.1	25.4	18.9
Fall 2010	18.4	15.1	25.0	20.1	25.0	20.8
Fall 2011	17.5	14.0	25.3	19.9	25.9	20.5
Fall 2012	14.5	15.8	18.6	20.5	18.6	21.5
Fall 2013	22.8	15.6	29.8	21.0	29.8	21.7
Fall 2014	23.0	18.9	29.8	24.2	31.1	24.9
Fall 2015	24.1	21.2	29.7	26.2	30.4	26.9
Fall 2016	27.0	22.1	29.6	25.8	30.3	26.5
Fall 2017	26.5	23.4	29.6	27.5	30.2	28.1
Fall 2018	28.1	24.3

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, full-time, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students graduating from the same department as their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students graduating from WKU but in a different department are not counted as graduated.

Percentage of Students Graduated From Same Department	Graduated From First Department in 4 Years		Graduated From First Department in 5 Years		Graduated From First Department in 6 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2008	18.8	14.1	29.2	20.2	29.9	21.2
Fall 2009	23.2	15.4	29.6	22.7	32.4	23.9
Fall 2010	22.3	17.1	29.4	23.7	30.1	24.8
Fall 2011	24.7	16.2	34.3	23.8	35.5	24.6
Fall 2012	22.1	18.6	28.3	24.9	28.3	26.4
Fall 2013	30.4	17.9	40.9	24.8	40.9	25.8
Fall 2014	29.2	21.2	32.9	27.6	39.1	28.5
Fall 2015	20.7	23.8	36.7	29.9	38.0	30.9
Fall 2016	32.9	24.6	36.2	29.2	36.8	30.3
Fall 2017	34.0	26.4	37.7	31.0	38.9	31.8
Fall 2018	42.2	26.8	47.7	31.9	48.4	32.4

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 5AUG24.
Reflects first-time, first-year, full-time, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
Reflects only students graduating from the same college as their first term, primary major.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students graduating from WKU but in a different college are not counted as graduated.

Percentage of Students Graduated From Same College	Graduated From First College in 4 Years		Graduated From First College in 5 Years		Graduated From First College in 6 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2008	24.7	18.6	37.0	28.2	38.3	30.0
Fall 2009	30.3	19.6	40.1	30.0	44.4	32.0
Fall 2010	26.5	21.7	37.5	31.6	38.2	33.6
Fall 2011	28.3	19.9	40.4	31.1	42.8	32.7
Fall 2012	27.6	22.7	37.9	32.0	37.9	34.3
Fall 2013	32.2	22.3	45.0	31.8	45.6	33.7
Fall 2014	33.5	26.6	44.1	35.3	45.3	36.8
Fall 2015	34.8	29.4	43.0	37.2	44.9	38.6
Fall 2016	38.8	30.4	44.7	36.5	45.4	37.9
Fall 2017	41.4	32.4	46.3	39.3	49.4	40.5
Fall 2018	43.8	32.7	52.3	39.9	53.1	40.7

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Prepared by WKU Institutional Research 9JUL25.
Reflects first-time, first-year, full-time, baccalaureate degree-seeking students.
'School of Media & Communication' includes students whose first term, primary major was in the School of Media & Communication.
Students are counted as graduated if they graduated from WKU with any baccalaureate degree.

Percentage of Students Graduated From WKU	Graduated From WKU in 4 Years		Graduated From WKU in 5 Years		Graduated From WKU in 6 Years
	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %	School of Media & Communication %	WKU %
Fall 2008	26.6	26.5	44.2	44.2	50.0	49.9
Fall 2009	35.9	27.3	54.2	45.1	59.9	50.0
Fall 2010	35.3	30.1	54.4	47.8	58.1	51.9
Fall 2011	30.7	28.5	50.6	46.8	54.2	50.6
Fall 2012	36.6	31.7	51.7	48.3	53.8	53.3
Fall 2013	35.7	30.9	51.5	48.0	53.8	51.6
Fall 2014	38.5	36.7	51.6	51.8	57.1	55.0
Fall 2015	38.6	40.1	51.3	54.8	53.8	57.4
Fall 2016	42.1	40.0	50.7	51.4	51.3	53.8
Fall 2017	48.1	42.4	56.2	53.9	59.9	56.1
Fall 2018	50.0	44.2	59.4	56.1	61.7	57.8

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For further information regarding WKU Facts visit: https://www.wku.edu/instres/fact_book.php

 

Accreditation Complaints Statement

NOTICE TO STUDENTS

The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication invites all students and other persons to report incidents in which they can present evidence that a journalism/mass communications unit has violated accreditation standards.

The School of Media & Communication at Western Kentucky University, like all other accredited units, is required to inform all students of this invitation.

Such reports must be made in writing to:

Marie Hardin, Chair, Accrediting Committee
Dean
Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications
Pennsylvania State University
201 Carnegie Building
University Park, PA 16802
(814)863-1484
mch208@psu.edu
(Term expires 2024)

 

MC maintains records of all complaints it receives and their resolution. The School of Media & Communication is required to maintain records of student complaints and their resolution.

A copy of the accreditation standards is available in the School's office JRH 216.

For more information, visit the ACEJMC Homepage.