Alum Jemele Hill shares what it's like to be black, femail, covering sports

J-School alumna Jemele Hill was featured in a Q & A in the Daily Columbia Journalism Review. Check out her thoughts at www.cjr.org. In the search box just type in her name.

After six years covering sports at the Detroit Free Press she is now a sports columnist at the Orlando Sentinel.

J-School's Man of Steele Wants YOU!!

Alum Jeremy Steele writes: THEY CAN'T PLAY FOOTBALL, but Michigan State University students are proving they can reorganize an SPJ chapter. Ten students joined us Friday to talk about restarting the student chapter in the School of Journalism. If you missed it the first time, join us at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 6 in the Deeb Conference Room (Room 191) of the Communication Arts & Sciences Building. Our organizing committee is planning to choose officers and begin planning programs. Since 11 a.m. is like the break of dawn for the college crowd (especially on Friday), we'll provide morning-friendly snacks. Special thanks to J-School adjunct faculty members Vic Rauch, who has agreed to be faculty adviser, and Cindy Kyle, who will assist. We're also looking for donations to cover future food expenses and financial aid to help students pay SPJ dues. Interested or need more information? Contact Mid-Michigan Pro Chapter President Jeremy Steele at jeremywsteele@gmail.com.

Mairin MacDonald wins film critic scholarship

This just in from Dr. Kim Piper-Aiken, our broadcast guru: Third year Focal Point Team Member Mairin MacDonald is the recipient of the first Lesley Nagy Broadcast Film Critics Association Scholarship.

MSU J-School alum Lesley Nagy selected Mairin's winning essay this past weekend. Nagy is a film critic for KBWB-TV in San Francisco who graduated from MSU in 2000.

MacDonald will receive a $550 scholarship (as will Focal Point!) and is the official film critic for the Focal Point TV News Magazine. In that role, MacDonald will host the new Focal Point Critic's Corner and will provide film critics for each show this semester.

Congratulations to Mairin!!

Rules are rules!!

I need your help. I know it may seem impossible to sit through a class without coffee, soda, food and candy, but that's what you have to do in the labs. I have to refrain from eating and drinking in them, too!

The tech folks report that a new Mac keyboard was already fried by a spilled pop this month.

MSU spent a bucket load of money over the summer to replace computers, put in new tables and chairs, lay down new carpet and paint the walls. (Some of the colors are admittedly...vibrant.)

So, I am asking your cooperation. No food, no drink in the labs. Faculty have to abide by and enforce the rules, too.

Thanks.

The J-SAC is in business

We had a terrific first meeting with a small but enthusiastic group of J-Students. These members of the Journalism Student Advisory Council (J-SAC) will represent the concerns, issues and ideas that percolate up from you, their constituents.

The steering committee members of the J-SAC this year are Sherry Bagnall (bagnalls@msu.edu), Mike Hogan (hoganmi1@msu.edu), Vildana Kurtovic (kurtovi1@msu.edu) and Caitlin Scuderi (scuderi@msu.edu). Please contact them and/or me if you have any ideas or issues.

Here are two questions that came up at the meeting:

Why can students only take up to four credits of internship? The national accrediting body that we belong to (the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications) is very strict on its requirements. Internship credit is limited to a maximum of four credits. That's why we encourage students to take one-credit internships and build their experiences. I know many of you would like to take a lot more internship credits, but we want to make sure you have a well-rounded education because that will make you a better journalist...really!

Why can't J majors take more than 40 credits in journalism and other classes in departments like APRR, TISM and COM within the College of Communication Arts and Sciences? Again, it's a rule made by our accrediting body. You can exceed the 40 credit limit, but that means you will also have to graduate with more than 120 credits from MSU.

If you have similar questions, just let me know!

JBB

Check out The Intern

Carrie Hoover, J-School senior and State News design editor, had a nerve wracking but totally satisfying week. She won top honors at the Society of News Design (SND) Intern contest.

The grueling process started when she applied last May. She was one of ten semifinalists who were put through their paces at the SND national conference in Orlando last week including being wakened at 4 a.m. with the breaking (phony) news that Osama bin Laden had been captured. She had to design a front page for the story.

Top design editors from the Orlando Sentinel, The Arizona Republic and the San Jose Mercury News winnowed the competitors down to five. SND attendees made the next cut voting Carrie into the top three. After a Quiz Bowl complete with buzzers where Carrie smoked the other two finalists, she was named the best of the best of student designers. Congrats, Carrie!!

She got to pick her internship for next summer. Her choice: the San Jose Mercury News. She completed an internship this past summer at The Virginian Pilot.

Along with Carrie, four other MSU students, all members of the Edmund C. Arnold chapter of SND on campus attended the annual conference along with three faculty: Darcy Greene, Cheryl Pell and Karl Gude. The four other students were Allisence Chang, Travis Ricks, Nick Mrozowski and Jessica Nowak.

You can see Carrie's video at http://snd.org/theintern/Hoover.html