Strategic Plan

Our Strong Foundation

For over 100 years, the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication has embodied a trailblazing spirit. Our faculty lead groundbreaking research, pushing the boundaries of knowledge in the evolving media landscape. Our alumni are trailblazers, shaping industries with innovative ideas and fearless storytelling. Our students thrive in a culture of exploration and innovation, equipped with the tools and support to forge new paths in a rapidly changing communications environment. Whether they pursue careers in journalism, strategic communication, or media entrepreneurship, our trailblazing legacy provides the foundation for their success.

The Hubbard School advances research, education, and community engagement, offering remarkable opportunities for students, faculty, alumni, and partners. Join us in pushing the limits of what’s possible.

The Importance of the Hubbard School

At the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication, we believe that trailblazing communication — ethical, inclusive, and informed; accurate, persuasive, and timely — can change the world.

Trailblazing and timely communication can help leaders, policymakers, and citizens influence and take action on some of our biggest challenges, from social media misinformation to health equity. It can help organizations tell their stories in ways that connect with their audiences.

This kind of professional communication is what we do best.

At the Hubbard School, we’ve spent the last 100 years training the top journalists, advertisers, and communicators in their fields. We’ve adapted to dramatic transformations in media and communication during that time.

We know exactly what it takes to help our students to do exceptional work and make an impact in whatever field they choose. We know how to give our faculty the latitude, resources, and opportunities to break new ground in their areas of expertise.

Now, we’re ready to do more, and we’re aiming higher than ever before.

The stakes are high. The time is now. 

Today’s most important stories are extraordinary in size and scope: artificial intelligence, predictive analytics and data governance; human health, climate change and misinformation; race, representation and equity; immigration and social cohesion; free expression, democracy and the rule of law. 

Tackling such issues requires communicators to be fluent in the foundational principles of their fields. This includes understanding how to identify credible sources of information and the role of free and represented media in the democratic process.

To succeed today, communicators must also pair these fundamental skills with entirely new types of expertise.

They must learn visual communication skills and understand how to analyze and identify relevant information from vast troves of data. They must connect with audiences in new ways and through new platforms. They must learn and implement these skills in workplaces that were physically transformed first by the pandemic and now strategically by rapid technological change advancing applications of generative artificial intelligence to the communication workforce.

Our faculty integrates theoretical and practical skills to offer students opportunities to apply their professional training in partnership with relevant professional communities, and non-profit and corporate partnerships across science, technology, health, finance, sports, policy and communication industries.

Our researchers offer clarifying insight on the fundamental skills of communication while also navigating the new world of media and journalism. We will give the next generation of journalists, communicators, and researchers the knowledge and resources to excel.

Mission

To improve the practice of journalism and strategic communication through trailblazing advancements in teaching, research, and community outreach.

Our Purpose: Prepare students to become trailblazers and leaders in journalism, media, and strategic communication.
Our Promise: Deliver rigorous education rooted in the arts and social sciences, fostering critical thinking in a diverse, global, and intellectually dynamic environment.
Our Potential: Have a transformative impact on journalism and strategic communication locally, nationally, and globally.

A Namesake that Inspires Innovation

The Hubbard School’s trailblazing legacy stems from its namesake, the Hubbard family, whose members have launched radio stations, television stations, and even direct-to-home satellite services across the country as part of Hubbard Broadcasting.

The company has earned Marconi, Murrow, DuPont, and Peabody broadcasting industry awards, as well as Crystal Awards for outstanding community service.

Hubbard is a name synonymous with innovation, creativity, and sustained excellence. It fuels our work and encourages us to aim even higher with our goals. 

The School is proud of trailblazing alumni who have been innovators and leaders: William Allard, Mukhtar Ibrahim, Christine Freuchte, Raymond Mithun, Dave Mona, Jorg Pierach, Michele Norris, Eric Sevareid, Otto Silha, and Roy Wilkins.

The Hubbard School Advantage 

We are ready to lead the way in this new environment, and our confidence is borne from more than 100 years of experience and growth. 

• The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, the system's flagship institution, ranks in the top 15% of U.S. universities nationally and is one of only 62 members of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU). 
• Located on the East Bank of the Minneapolis campus, the School’s proximity to the East Bank light trail is a gateway to a top 10 communications, media, sports, financial, and business center in the U.S., if not the world. 
• The Hubbard School is situated within the College of Liberal Arts, which ranks 3rd among U.S. public universities for its academic excellence in the social sciences. It has built creative partnerships with schools, departments, and programs across campus to help students delve deeply into topics such as ethics, health, democracy, and civil society.
• As part of the very first cohort of schools to earn accreditation from the American Council on Education for Journalism in 1948, we’ve served as a training ground for some of the nation’s most distinguished media luminaries and communicators. Our students are among the best and most diverse in the country, and due to its commitment to inclusive excellence, the School has the best retention and graduation rates of any accredited, public university program in the country. 
• The Hubbard School attracts faculty and researchers who develop pathbreaking insights committed to applied work to enhance the professions, media industry, and society. 
• The Twin Cities media market is vast and growing. Companies including 3M, Best Buy, Colle+McVoy, Ecolab, Hennepin Theatre Trust, Fast Horse, Fallon, Land O’Lakes, MinnPost, MPR, Padilla, Sahan Journal, Target, and The Minnesota Star Tribune are eager to hire our graduates. 
• Students with national and international ambitions can fuel their growth through our connections with companies such as the New York Times, Weber Shandwick, CNN, the Washington Post and CBS News.
• Our alumni — successful across fields of advertising, public relations, and journalism, among others — want to open doors for today’s driven students.
• The Hubbard School and the Minnesota Journalism Center have strong linkages with the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, Minnesota Newspapers Association, Society of Professional Journalists, Minnesota Public Relations Society of America, American Advertising Federation, as well as a range of nonprofit and commercial media and academic institutions across the country and around the world.
• Through its entrepreneurial spirit, new accredited and certified degree programs, and commitment to innovation and diversity, the School has built on a 100-year legacy of excellence, with a trailblazing focus on innovation that is recognized within the Twin Cities, nationally, and globally.  

Trailblazing Across Time

• 1920s: Established a journalism department that quickly grew to 110 students by 1924.
• 1930s: Launched the M.A. in journalism and awarded the first graduate degree.
• 1940s: Opened Murphy Hall; became the School of Journalism and gained accreditation.
• 1950s: Established a doctoral program, awarding the first Ph.D. in 1956.
• 1960s: Expanded into broadcast journalism, public relations, and visual communication.
• 1970s: Created special entrance requirements due to rapid program growth; established the Minnesota Journalism Center.
• 1980s: Expanded facilities and established the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics & Law.
• 1990s: Renovated Murphy Hall and enhanced its technology infrastructure.
• 2000s: Received a transformational gift from Hubbard Broadcasting; launched the M.A. in Strategic Communication.
• 2010s: Established distinct undergraduate majors; launched annual photojournalism and creative media conferences.
• 2020s-present: Expanded online learning, launched AI-driven courses, and celebrated the School’s 100th anniversary.

The Hubbard School Today

The Hubbard School served a record of 2,250 students (including 971 majors) in spring 2024 compared to 1,852 students (787 majors) in spring 2017. 

Spring 2024 students

• 594 strategic communication - advertising and public relations majors
• 223 professional journalism majors
• 154 media and information majors
• 188 student minors in digital media studies or media and information

Graduation Rates

• Median time to degree: 4.0 years; average time to degree: 3.94 years (2023 data)
• 96.6% of students over the past 10 years graduated in 6 years
• 95.2% of students from 2022 and 96.1% of students from 2023 graduated in under 6 years 
• 84.5% of students finishing in 2023 graduated in 4 years or fewer (note: 2023 was a pandemic cohort)
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During 2023-24, the school’s programs generated 22,711 earned credit hours compared to 18,162 earned credit hours in 2017-18, reflecting 25% growth in earned credit hours in six years.

The Trailblazing Strategic Plan Framework

This strategic plan is built on four transformative priorities that will guide our growth and impact in the coming years: 

Trailblazing Together: Advance the School's Leadership Position, Expand as a Hub for Trailblazing Media Research, Build an Innovative Infrastructure and Accelerate Dissemination on Research Innovations.

Transformative Priority 1: 

Strengthen the Hubbard School’s Leadership in Journalism and Strategic Communication

The Hubbard School has a trailblazing track record and demonstrated commitment as a global leader in advertising, journalism, media and public relations education. More than ever, tomorrow’s professionals will need to define questions and explore answers with a broad and diverse intellectual toolbox, with a curiosity that recognizes that insights may be found across our disciplinary areas and the many communities we engage with. That’s why, as we go forward, we must broaden and deepen our students’ academic and practical work. 

We seek to activate our classrooms and centers as connected hubs supporting and leading industry-relevant insights both locally and globally. More than ever, tomorrow’s professions must define questions and explore answers. There are unparalleled interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary strategic opportunities to advance education in data science, ethics, artificial intelligence, and political and health communication. 

The Hubbard School’s educational centers, including the Minnesota Journalism Center, Health Communication Research Center, Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and the Law, and Strategic Communication Hub, will synergistically grow the interdisciplinary reach and impact of its educational impact by expanding its academic strengths and deepening its connections with other University of Minnesota units.

The School will appoint outstanding faculty; develop new programs, degrees, and certificates; explore new modes of pedagogical delivery; and enlarge its public-facing professional development and community engagement programs.

Must Dos

1. We seek to activate our classrooms and centers as connected hubs supporting and leading industry-relevant insights. The School must prepare students with a broad and diverse intellectual toolbox and a curiosity that recognizes that insights may be found across our disciplinary areas and the many communities we engage with.  That’s why, as we go forward, we must broaden and deepen our students’ academic and practical work.
2. The School will focus its educational programs on a winning trifecta of trailblazing journalism, media, and strategic communication for the public interest—in teaching, research, community engagement, and innovation—so that the University is increasingly known for its distinctive contributions to data science, political and health communication that seriously studies health and well-being, democracy and political psychology, media ethics and the law, and the use and effects of artificial intelligence, media and misinformation. The School will use this distinction to strengthen its brand, reputation, and strategic positioning.
3. Examine the character, need, challenges, and opportunities of communication and societal issues of importance, undergirded with an unshakeable commitment to ethics, belonging and inclusion. The School will seek to plan educational events, programs, research and engagement opportunities that serve individuals, communities, and society.
4. Grow strategically by attracting and retaining gifted faculty, practitioners, and staff and developing and refining degrees, certificates, and programs designed to meet changing student needs, evolving technical and professional opportunities, deepening its capabilities, growing its presence, and increasing its educational impact.
5. Attract, support, and educate a diverse student body; help every student learn, thrive, and grow; and continue to maintain best-of-its-class retention and graduation rates so that the School is widely recognized for the quality, excellence, and preparedness of its students and alumni.

Quick Wins

1. Embrace and integrate the Minnesota Journalism and Silha Center’s approaches to education and engagement to catalyze innovation, accelerate expansion into new arenas of strategic communication research and education, and increase public engagement and outreach.
2. Increase the number of distinguished fellows and adjunct faculty with extensive professional experience in communication and journalism and other relevant fields.
3. Draw on the strategic position of the Hubbard School’s Twin Cities location to expand internship opportunities and industry partnerships to position the Hubbard School as the state-wide leader in media, journalism, and strategic communication education and training.

Transformative Priority 2: 

Expand the School as a Hub for Trailblazing Media Research

In our world of dramatically unfolding and unpredictable change, the need for informed, thoughtfully engaged media professionals has never been more acute. In this digital world of continuous live conversation, tomorrow’s media professionals will require new tools, research evidence, and practices to gather, analyze and interpret information to meet public demand and fulfill their irreplaceable role in both democratic politics and market economies.

Must Dos

1. Amplify the School’s reputation as an innovative hub by building significant research capabilities focused in journalism, media ethics and the law, strategic communication, and health communication to better illuminate, understand, and disseminate the best approaches and most successful innovations designed to have the most significant impact.
2. Significantly build faculty strength and excellence by recruiting and retaining leading senior and junior tenure track faculty members. Enhance the professional development and growth of all faculty in the School.
3. Broaden and deepen the Hubbard School’s affiliations with other scientific institutions and agencies, leading scientific research organizations and interdisciplinary centers, and other universities and academic societies—thereby enhancing the quality and impact of thoughtful engagement designed to build bridges between the Hubbard School and other schools and colleges of communication and journalism, and more broadly between scientists and society.
4. Develop and build innovative approaches to teach, research, and disseminate reliable and thoughtful communication about artificial intelligence, media and data analytics, media law, politics and health as these evolve and increasingly impact the world.
5. Expand research center communication and branding efforts so that the Hubbard School becomes an integral hub of University of Minnesota research initiatives advancing investigations related to media, journalism, and strategic communication, particularly related to data, health, and political science initiatives on campus. Doing so will expand private, state, and federally funded research and the impact of that research so that Minnesota becomes the recognized leader in engaged and impactful research through its unique approach to data science, political and health communication.
6. Become a widely recognized center of and model for advancing communication about data science, health and political communication through innovative pedagogy, sustained research and scholarship, and multi-channel outreach.
7. Become a recognized leader in the area of ethical communication that effectively addresses pressing issues such as disinformation, misrepresentation, authenticity and generative artificial intelligence, and drive discoveries to transform professional practice to enhance the trust and reach of communication.

Quick Wins

1. Recruit and train the next generation of academic leaders through the Mass Communication MA/PhD program.
2. Expand the impact of the Strategic Communication MA program to develop the next generation of leaders in the professions.
3. Leverage the network of the Minnesota Journalism Center to support a more vibrant, equitable, and sustainable ecosystem for journalism in Minnesota through educational initiatives, outreach and engagement, and applied research.
4. Strengthen the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and the Law to support research and engagement in areas where legal and ethical issues converge and to monitor changes in law or in journalistic practice that may result.
5. Develop the Strategic Communication Hub and establish other centers and institutes focusing on significant, emerging issues of contemporary communication and journalism.
6. Ensure consistent and deliberate commitment to best practices in journalism, strategic communication and media engagement through direct engagement with industry professional advisory boards providing and timely programmatic innovation.

Transformative Priority 3: 

Accelerate Industry Engagement to Connect Our Work to the World

In an information society, expanding the reach and impact of actionable research and professional insights to the industries we serve offers the opportunity for the school to make a significant impact nationally and internationally through the translation of research into practice. To address this, the school must revisit its roots in educating students to become informed citizens and deeply engage with industry professionals to prepare graduates for society and support societal understanding of the importance of independent media and ethical communication practices for society. 

Must Dos

1. Build a culture of curiosity and innovation by supporting undergraduate and graduate student faculty-mentored research through supporting Honors, Dean’s First-Year Research Experience, University Research Opportunities Program, and Fellowship experiences.
2. Ensure consistent and deliberate commitment to best practices in journalism, strategic communication and media engagement through direct engagement with industry professional advisory boards providing and timely programmatic innovation.
3. Significantly build research and professional partnerships  and excellence by identifying cross-disciplinary collaboration and research partnership opportunities within the school, at UMN, and beyond.
4. Increase student, faculty, and alumni professional networking opportunities to identify opportunities for faculty-industry partnerships, enhance professional skill development and mentoring, and industry engagement.
5. Create a robust alumni, donor and community engagement program to nurture the work of the school’s research centers to help solve challenges critical to the industries we serve.

Quick Wins

1. Foster a school-wide culture that promotes, rewards, and celebrates research, creative activity, innovation, and community engagement through annual graduate student awards, faculty research day, and alumni recognition activities.
2. Leverage the school’s faculty and research center strengths to identify and promote actionable research and professional insights through its official communication channels (e.g., Murphy Reporter, website, social media).
3. Develop an annual school-wide engagement calendar of events and establish an annual fall industry engagement event recognizing trailblazing faculty, alumni, and emerging student leaders to increase planful industry engagement.
4. Engage alumni and industry partners in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the School’s center engagement activities.

Transformative Priority 4: 

Build a Sustainable and Innovative Financial Structure

The Hubbard School is trailblazing in its approach to strategic and entrepreneurial growth, with a history of exceptional academic leadership; an outstanding, collegial, inclusive and diverse community of faculty, students, and staff; and a sound financial foundation. The school’s reach and impact will be limited only by its imagination. And its achievements and influence will be enhanced and stimulated by its synergistic successes within the liberal arts and new opportunities to extend its influence within and beyond the university. 

Must dos 

1. Carefully build a contemporary leadership and administrative organization structure that anticipates evolving changes in higher education and empowers strategic growth and thoughtful innovation for the Hubbard School and its educational programs.
2. Reconceive the present Hubbard School center support model to integrate administrative and communication support to enable strategic growth, better explore meaningful opportunities, enhance pedagogical and research excellence, and achieve greater social impact.
3. Ensure a strong financial foundation by reviewing the financial model for the School’s educational programs and grow a significant endowment to fund new faculty chairs, attract outstanding scholars and teachers; increase financial aid and enhance student well-being; support and sustain organizational capacity; ensure cutting-edge facilities and technologies; and stimulate continuing innovation and programmatic development.
4. Ensure a strong technological infrastructure that takes advantage of the rapid advances in artificial intelligence, fully supports pedagogy and scholarship, and encourages more connected partnerships for students, faculty, and programs both in Minnesota and around the globe.
5. Nurture and sustain a culture that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and access, fostering a sense of belonging and ensuring respect for all members of the Hubbard School community.
6. Explore and develop ways of building meaningful new entrepreneurial revenue streams that will strengthen the Hubbard School’s financial position while expanding its reach and impact.

Forging the Future of Media

The Hubbard School’s trailblazing history sets the stage for an even more ambitious future. In an era of rapid technological change, we are ready to lead the way, ensuring that our graduates are not only prepared for today’s media challenges but also equipped to create the future. Join us as we continue our trailblazing journey, shaping the next century of journalism and strategic communication.