By Shruti Kumar

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) hosted a Merrill College administration roundtable event on the evening of Monday, April 8. The organization invited all journalism students to Knight Hall to openly discuss their education at UMD.

The event featured a panel of four Merrill College administrative figures: Dean Lucy Dalglish, Associate Dean Rafael Lorente, Assistant Dean Josh Madden and Internship and Career Advisor Adrianne Flynn. Topics of discussion included the college’s curriculum, diversity, internships and student disabilities.

Lorente, who has worked with Merrill College since 2001, noted that the recently introduced curriculum allows journalism students to better combine their interests instead of having to decide between the two concrete broadcast and multiplatform paths.

“The new curriculum isn’t just about fixing [problems] but also anticipating what someone three years from now might need,” Lorente said.

Despite the introduction of a new course of study, the journalism students said the lack of internships that count for Merrill College credit makes fulfilling the graduation requirement difficult. Flynn said the university’s primary goal in addressing this issue is acquiring funds for students to travel farther from campus for credits.

The panel also responded to student concerns about the lack of cultural representation within the school. Dalglish, who has been the dean since 2012, discussed recent hires and assured students that the college is taking steps to improve its diversity.

“It is time to rewrite our diversity plan,” Dalglish said. “We have hired… two African American faculty members [and] a south Asian faculty member.”

Julia Lerner, a senior multiplatform journalism major and rhetoric minor, honed in on the topic of diversity and requested that the panel also account for students with disabilities. Drawing from her personal experience as a student with type I diabetes, Lerner said she hopes faculty will be respectful and account for disabilities when enforcing university policies.

“Philip Merrill [College of Journalism] has been such a great experience [but having a disability] can be kind of alienating… [but] I’m not looking for my professors to be my doctor,” Lerner said. “There are some aspects of diversity that are never addressed… If  [UMD faculty] had a little bit more compassion for disability as a whole, that [is the goal].”

Dalglish responded by saying that the university is open to allowing a student-run meeting to spread awareness on addressing disabilities in the classroom.

The roundtable event concluded with the panel thanking students and professors for attending.

“Sometimes the best training out there is when you guys talk to us,” Dalglish said.