Editor's note: Dr. Jan Slater is the Interim Dean of the College of Media at the University of Illinois. She was misidentified in the original version of this story.

Southeast Missouri State University's Department of Mass Media is on thin ice with the organization that assesses and accredits university programs.

The Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications recently downgraded Southeast's status to "provisional." This means the university's mass media program is lacking in some areas. Southeast has a two-year time frame to improve.

For Southeast, being accredited means that its mass media program meets all of the standards outlined by the council, said Dr. Tamara Baldwin, chair and professor of mass media at Southeast.

"This is a very rigorous, rigorous process--very high standards," Baldwin said.

Only 111 mass communication programs in 40 states and the District of Columbia--and one program in Chile--are accredited by the council.

Southeast is a "powerhouse," according to Baldwin, who said that the university is high ranking and will do whatever it takes to see that reaccreditation takes place. Baldwin said this accreditation issue is something that is not being taken lightly by the university.

"[Southeast] has made a conscious effort--a very strong, strong effort--to go after any accreditation that's out there for its programs," Baldwin said. "If a program has an accrediting body, we would like to have our program accredited by the body because we know that means the very highest standards are being imposed."

According to Baldwin, the council sends an accrediting team back to a university it has previously assessed to make sure everything is still meeting its standards. These checkups occur about every six years.

Southeast was assessed in the fall of 2004. After the council deliberated and voted, Southeast was accredited in the spring of 2005.

"It was our first time," Baldwin said. "We were thrilled. It was wonderful!"

According to Baldwin, before the mass media program became accredited, some students were having trouble finding a job after they graduated.

"This department wanted to be accredited because our students were not even getting interviews," Baldwin said.

However, Southeast alumnus Micah McDowell, who has a career in video production, said that whether or not Southeast was accredited made no difference to him or his employer.

"To me, Southeast being accredited meant diddly squat," McDowell said. "I still got a job and wasn't even asked if Southeast had accredited mass communication and journalism programs."

Southeast was re-evaluated for the first time last October.

"A five- or six-member team came back to look at us again ... and recommended that we be provisionally reaccredited," Baldwin said.

Southeast remains provisionally accredited, even though out of the nine standards that the accrediting team assessed, it was in compliance with only seven of them. To earn back full accreditation, the mass media department must improve on "assessment" and "mission and governance" as listed in the Journalism and Mass Communications Accreditation handbook.

"We have been given provisional reaccreditation, and we have two years to get these standards back in line," Baldwin said. "And we're working on it. ... I'm certain we're going to take care of it. We've already gone a long way to get these things done."

Baldwin said that Southeast is collecting all types of data, both formally and informally. However, Southeast was unable to provide the council with organized proof that the data collected--for example, an exit interview--can be translated into how Southeast is improving its classes with feedback from students.

Baldwin said Dr. Jan Slater, the Interim Dean of the College of Media at the University of Illinois, has been invited to the university to help with the feedback problem. Slater is also a member of the council.

A new chair of the Department of Mass Media is slated to be appointed in July of 2012, after Baldwin's retirement.

"What we need to do, we'll do it," Baldwin said. "We're not going to lose the accreditation."