Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Journalism Certificate of Achievement

This certificate program is designed to prepare students in Journalism to engage in the world of entrepreneurship. The program’s interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship equips students with relevant tools in exploring various pathways to entrepreneurship such as full-time business ownership, sub-contracting (freelancing), consulting, corporate intrapreneurship or mission-driven social entrepreneurship. Students will utilize common tools and techniques to produce engaging and relevant journalism content materials for various media. They will be able to conceptualize, produce, and deliver meaningful journalistic content that appeals to global and digital market place. Students who opted to take this program will end up starting their own creative boutique to serve various nonfiction storytelling, marketing, and advertising needs of the industry.

The projected number of annual completers for the Certificate of Achievement – Entrepreneurship degree is 3 - 7 students.  This estimate is solely based on course enrollment data for two semesters since the program started in fall 2018.  Projections made were based on the macro and microeconomic environment surrounding the program.

The goals of the Certificate of Achievement – Entrepreneurship in Journalism prepare students in the world of entrepreneurship. The program equips students with the foundational tools necessary for every startup. The program helps develop students not only for for-profit but also for social enterprises that yield positive social impact. It is also aimed at enriching student’s skillset for corporate intrapreneurship. 

The Department of Journalism believes offering an Entrepreneurship in Journalism Certificate of Achievement in conjunction with the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation ought to be a benefit to all students in need of training to embark on freelance careers or build their own publications. To that end, we have selected courses that we believe will assist both types of learner, whether they want to be self-employed or run a publishing company.

Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Apply an entrepreneurial mindset that breeds creativity and innovation in the field of journalism.
• Use terms and concepts related to functional areas of entrepreneurship necessary for startups.
• Analyze the marketing environment to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and areas for growth and development.
• Develop an agile and lean business plan for a startup project/enterprise that is ready for pitching.
• Compare different entrepreneurship pathways in relation to a project or business idea.

The program starts with the introduction of basic entrepreneurial skills needed to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and help the student come up with an idea to bring to market. It also helps students decide what type of entrepreneurship they would like to pursue. The interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum leverages on other areas of excellence from other disciplines to complete the entrepreneurial tool kit required from idea to market. These foundational courses prepare students to acquire intrapreneurial skills that are highly sought by employers today. ENTR 101 Introduction to Entrepreneurship, ENTR 102 Applied Design Thinking and MRKT 140 Introduction to Marketing all address the foundational base of entrepreneurship.

The program focuses students on journalism in conjunction with entrepreneurship and requires nine more units to gain the knowledge and skills needed for job readiness.  For those who are already registered under the Journalism discipline, the Certificate in Entrepreneurship can be stacked over the one they are currently taking.  

First semester                                            Units      Sequence

ENTR 101  Introduction 

                    to Entrepreneurship                3.00          S1, Y1

MRKT 140   Marketing Principles                3.00         S1, Y1

JOUR 21      News Reporting 

                    and Writing                               3.00         S1, Y1

 

                                                                                    Total               9.00

 

Second semester                                       Units       Sequence

DSGN 105   Design Thinking                       1.50         S2, Y1

ENTR 102    Applied Design Thinking 

                    in Entrepreneurship                 1.50         S2, Y1

 

Choose two from the following courses:

JOUR 24      Newspaper Laboratory            3.00         S2, Y1

JOUR 35      Internet Journalism                   3.00         S2, Y1

JOUR 37      Introduction to 

                     Photojournalism                       3.00         S2, Y1

JOUR 22       Feature Writing                          3.00        S2, Y1

JOUR 26       Fundamentals of 

                     Public Relations                         3.00         S2, Y1

JOUR 36       Investigative Reporting             3.00         S2, Y1

 

Total                9.00                

                                                           Certificate Total   18.00     

Recommended areas of emphasis:

 Emphasis: Freelancing (Choose these 2 courses)

JOUR 36 - Investigative Reporting	3.00
JOUR 37 - Introduction to Photojournalism	3.00
Emphasis: Publishing (Choose these 2 courses)
JOUR 24 - Newspaper Laboratory	4.00
JOUR 26 - Fundamentals of Public Relations	3.00

The Certificate of Achievement in Entrepreneurship is relatively new and is continuously evolving. This curriculum is designed to only provide the foundational knowledge for a startup and advises students to take further courses in finance, marketing, or general business to dive deeper to other functional areas of business.

There are 13 community colleges in the Bay Region issuing 52 awards on average annually (last 3 years) on TOP code 0506.40 - Small Business and Entrepreneurship. There are three colleges in the Mid-Peninsula Sub-Region issuing 6 awards on average annually (last 3 years) on this TOP code. There are twelve 4-year universities or colleges offering undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in Entrepreneurship, or BS in Business with concentration in Entrepreneurship (University of California Berkeley, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz, Cal State East Bay, Dominican University, Menlo College, Saint Mary’s College, San Francisco State, San Jose State, Santa Clara University, Sonoma State and University of San Francisco).