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Mass Communications Advising

Students are responsible for fulfilling all of the graduation requirements of the School of Mass Communications and the university that are described in the school’s undergraduate manual, in the directory of classes and in the university catalog. Advising assists students in meeting these requirements. Here are answers to some frequently asked advising questions.

Advisers: All school advisers are located in the Communication and Information Sciences Building on the Tampa campus.

The School of Mass Communications adviser for pre-majors in room 3082 of the Communication and Information Sciences Building on the Tampa campus will assist students who have not yet fulfilled all school admission requirements and who are not yet mass communications majors. Pre-major advising is by appointment and walk-in. For more information, click here.

The School of Mass Communications program assistant for undergraduate advising in room 3084 of the Communication and Information Sciences Building on the Tampa campus will assist students who have fulfilled all school admission requirements and students who are admitted majors by explaining school admission requirements, transfer policies, general school, college and university academic procedures, and school, college and university graduation requirements. The program assistant also will provide and explain Student Academic Support System (SASS) degree audits, which detail student progress. Major advising is by appointment and walk-in. Call 813-974-6802 for more information.

Faculty advisers, who are experts in their respective fields, will help majors select courses (most of which must be taken in a strict sequence) and will provide advice regarding internships and other professional opportunities. All faculty advisers have office hours. Students should call or use electronic mail to make advising appointments as needed (and students should keep all appointments that are made). Students should take notes during advising appointments and should ask questions if suggestions or requirements are unclear. Names and telephone numbers for these advisers can be found by calling 813-974-2591 or 813-974-6802. Electronic mail addresses are available under the “Faculty” listing on the school Internet site. Although a student can ask any mass communications faculty member for advice, the student’s assigned faculty adviser is designated by the first letter of the student’s last name. If the faculty adviser has an off-campus assignment for a semester, the sequence head can provide assistance until the adviser returns.

Tracking Progress: Interpreting SASS reports is critical to enabling students to independently track academic progress, plan future term enrollment and discover problems that may delay completion of degree requirements. Students may print SASS reports without the assistance of the undergraduate program assistant. To print a SASS undergraduate degree audit on a computer in CIS 3012 at USF Tampa or elsewhere, students should open Internet Explorer software and visit the University of South Florida home page at www.usf.edu. Students should select OASIS and click on the SASS undergraduate degree audit link on the Florida Academic Counseling and Tracking for Students (FACTS) Web site. On the left hand menu column of the FACTS welcome page, students should select College Advising Tools. On the College Advising Tools page, students should select Institutional Degree/Program Audit. On the next page, students should select the University of South Florida on the pull-down list and then enter the appropriate number and PIN. When the SASS audit appears, it may be printed. If there are problems, students should follow Help instructions. For help in understanding SASS audits, students should see the school undergraduate program assistant or a faculty member in the appropriate sequence.

Obtaining Mass Communications Class Permits: Mass communications is a “limited access” major. With the exception of “Mass Communications and Society,” all seats in all mass communications courses require a permit. Course permits are available only to students who have met all mass communications entrance requirements, have been formally admitted into the School of Mass Communications, have completed prerequisites for the course and have obtained signed approval from faculty advisers.

To facilitate permits for students, the School of Mass Communications schedules advising and permitting sessions prior to fall and spring registrations. Notices announcing the dates of these permitting sessions are posted several weeks in advance. Although attendance at the permitting sessions is not mandatory, students are strongly advised to attend because the advising and permitting sessions are the first and best opportunity to secure enrollment in classes with extremely limited seating capacity. Each student should print a current SASS and schedule a meeting with the appropriate sequence adviser to discuss mass communications course selections for the upcoming registration. It is the student’s responsibility to complete paperwork correctly—writing legibly and including the student identification number, phone number and mass communications sequence. Special attention should be given to ensuring that course prefixes, course numbers and reference numbers are correct. Failure to do so may result in an inability of those processing paperwork to read the student’s request for courses and therefore, the student’s schedule may be adversely affected.

Mass communications permits serve as a “seat reservation” until the first day of classes. Students should register as soon as their OASIS registration appointment time allows. Checking on the university’s Internet site for seat availability for mass communications courses will be misleading because it will only indicate the number of students who have registered—not those who have permits.

Please also note that the school does not place “holds” on student registration and cannot remove holds initiated by other university offices. It is the student’s responsibility to contact the appropriate offices in a timely fashion to resolve problems that may delay or cancel registration.

Full Classes: If a class is full, a student may ask to be put on a class standby list. The instructor will receive this list on the first day of classes. A student on standby must attend the first class session with an “add” form that will be available during the first week of classes. The student should complete the form and bring it to first class meeting. If the instructor admits the student by signing the add form, the student should take the form to the undergraduate program assistant in CIS 3082, who will enter a permit so student may register for the class. Finally, please note that the School of Mass Communications permits students but does not register students. Registration, dropping and adding are the responsibility of the student.

USF St. Petersburg Classes: Many mass communications courses are offered by the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at USF St. Petersburg. If (1) a student is an admitted School of Mass Communications major at USF Tampa, (2) meets all Department of Journalism and Media Studies admission requirements, (3) has the appropriate prerequisites and (4) wants to take a course offered by the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, the student will be permitted to enroll in a course in the week prior to the beginning of the semester if the Department of Journalism and Media Studies determines there are unfilled seats. If there are no unfilled seats, the student will be put on a standby list and must attend the first day of class. For more information, interested students should see the undergraduate program assistant for academic advising in the School of Mass Communications at USF Tampa.

Before registering to take MMC 2100 on the USF St. Petersburg campus, USF Tampa students majoring in the School of Mass Communications also must take the English diagnostic test at USF Tampa. They must score 120 or higher to be admitted to MMC 2100 on the USF St. Petersburg campus. When they return to the USF Tampa campus to continue taking classes, they will be required to take the English diagnostic test a second time and score 140 or higher. (USF St. Petersburg Department of Journalism and Media Studies students who take MMC 2100 at USF St. Petersburg and wish to take classes in Tampa or later transfer to the School of Mass Communications in Tampa will be required to take the English diagnostic test and score 140 or higher.)

In general, the School of Mass Communications requires majors to take a minimum of 22 of the 37 required mass communications hours at USF Tampa. Exceptions will be decided on a case-by-case basis. Students should see the undergraduate program assistant for academic advising for more information.