Journalism students in Taylor Hall are nervously milling about the main office. Instead of their usual autumn morning attire of comfortable jeans and sweatshirts, they have dressed in their finest skirts and suits, intent on making a good impression.

A recruiter from the Associated Press is in the building, and those students quick enough to have squeezed their names onto a sign-up sheet will be interviewed for one of the coveted internship openings at the professional news wire service.

Kent State JMC majors must complete at least one internship for academic credit to earn a degree. But some students compete for the openings because they want the experience, a better resume, or a foot in the door at their dream job.

Nancy Nussbaum, AP news editor for the Columbus bureau, said she normally visits four schools to look for interns but would only be recruiting at Ohio University and Kent State this fall.

We had to limit visits because of time and decided to go with these two because we’ve had success at both schools,” she said on a recent trip to campus. “We do a lot of hiring from both [state and private schools], but it boils down to talent.”

Whatever the level of talent they possess, however, most Kent State JMC majors believe their education is incomplete without a chance to do hands-on work in a professional media outlet.

It’s a belief shared by the current faculty and first established in the curriculum by the founding father of the department, William D. Taylor, Jr., almost 70 years ago. After launching the four-year journalism program in 1937, he made the Journalism Practice course a six-hour requirement for all majors, starting in 1941.

"The course is designed to give the same relative experience for the journalism student as an internship does for a medical student, or practice teaching for the student of education,” read his course description in the 1942 summer catalog.

As the department diversified its range of majors throughout the years, the internship program has remained the backbone of the JMC degree.

Students in print and broadcast media, advertising, and public relations have graduated not only with an academic knowledge of their fields, but a taste of the real world as well.