If you're reading this column on the Internet, on your Blackberry or squinting to see it on your iPhone, then Valparaiso University has you to thank.

The VU graduate school has seen enrollment for its technology master's programs -- like digital media and information technology management -- hop up enough that it has added another nontraditional media horse to its stable: a sports media degree program.

This isn't a journalism bachelor's degree, this is a master's degree that will synch ethics classes with technology and live-sports production to help churn out journalists for the new millennium.

As The Times' sports coordinator for new media, I have Valparaiso University to thank.

Here's the thing: Regardless of which side of the "survival of newspapers" debate you come down on, newspapers are changing, and those that survive will be the ones that change with technology.

VU's communications department recognized that and opted to help us all out.

"What we try to do is identify emerging markets," said David Rowland, dean of VU's graduate school. "We look at our strengths, what can we do, what is an emerging market and how can we put the two together. That is what led to our sports media program."

The new degree was officially announced last week, so there's not a cohort of sports media students yet. In fact, right now, there's only one.

But as the degree program grows -- and until the economy picks up, there'll be a gluttony of journalism graduates coming out of schools with nowhere else to go -- what these applicants need to realize is that as technology waxes and wanes, their own program will need to move with it.

Imagine that it takes two to four years to finish a master's degree, then take a look at what technology has produced in the past three years: the iPhone, Twitter and Blu-ray Discs.

If you were an avid reader of a newspaper Web site three years ago, you've seen changes from format, to content, from linking stories, to streaming live video.

Combining that with practical journalism concepts will create the newest batch of sports reporters.

VU has the perfect storm of circumstances with its proximity to Chicago, its requirement by the Horizon League to webcast certain athletic events, which creates opportunities for internships, and that it's in a state that already has a school with a sports journalism undergrad degree -- Indiana University.

"We saw this as a large undergrad pool that had the opportunity for more training or a specialization," said Douglas Kocher, chair of VU's Department of Communication. "While true conventional media is fading, you can see through blogs, facebook, Twitter, we have to become more adept to handle news today."

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach her at hillary.smith@nwi.com.