UMKC ranks 7th in online journalism programs in the U.S.

  UMKC was ranked by Forbes as one of the top choices for an online degree in journalism. 

 The program sprang to life in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID pandemic when there was more need for more online options for students. 

“Covid opened some doors about the ideas of what could be done to online programs and so I would guess that finding that and seeing that students can actually acclimate and handle the workload and be successful with it probably opened up the possibilities for it,” said Jeffri Chadiha, professor at UMKC and NFL senior columnist.

  Dr. Peter Morello, an Associate Professor Emeritus teaching some of the offered courses, said that after hearing the news he felt like he was “having an out of body experience”

“I was very surprised but I also thought at the same time it’s confirmation of the good things that the department has been doing in both communication and journalism,” Morello said.

  While online courses can make it harder for students to connect to the work, Dr. Ye Wang, chair of the department of communication and journalism, wants to integrate them well for easier connection to UMKC.

“We are not only optimizing the offerings, we are also integrating high impact learning opportunities in those in-person sessions so that the benefit with engagement can be spread out so even when they (students) are doing their online courses, the impact will still make them feel that they are a part of the family at UMKC.” Wang said. 

  Forbes released the list in August 2025 and chose 10 out of the 52 total nonprofit colleges that they considered.

  The program opened up the doors for more students to look into journalism at UMKC.

“I think it makes it easier for the students, and it makes sense to have that program in place,” Chadiha said.

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