Three new stars in the J-School line-up

Senior Melissa Sanchez won a third place Hearst Journalism Award in the In-Depth Writing Competition. She won for the terrific story she did while working last summer at the Miami Herald.

Two J-School faculty members are among five distinguished journalists to be inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame in April. Cheryl Pell and Sue Carter join a stellar induction class for 2007.

Cheryl Pell, Executive Director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, has transformed that organization into a nationally and internationally respected scholastic education program. Literally thousands of high school and middle/junior high school students attend conferences and workshops sponsored by MIPA. Hundreds of teachers through the state have earned certification in courses overseen by Pell. She has also led the ongoing fight to restore student press rights to high school students in the state. (That's Cheryl above.)

With a series of documentaries, including her work as co-leader and producer on the successful Polar Trek 2001 where she organized, led and documented 12 women’s ski trek to the North Pole, L. Susan Carter has had a distinguished career in both radio and television news. She launched her career in 1973 and WVIC in Lansing, before moving to ever larger markets eventually working for WXYZ, WWJ and WDIV in Detroit.

Congratulations to Melissa, Cheryl and Sue!!

Proficiency test dates scheduled!!

We’ve scheduled the spring 2007 term proficiency test is for students hoping to enroll in JRN 200 in the upcoming summer, fall and spring terms.

Test dates are Monday, January 29. Check-in is at 4:45 p.m. by 145 CAS for the 5 p.m. test and 5:45 p.m. for the 6 p.m. test.

The second test date is Friday, February 9 at 2:45 p.m. by 145 CAS for the 3 p.m. test and 3:45 p.m. for the 4 p.m. test.

Make sure to bring your student ID with you. We will provide pencils for the test.

Results will be emailed to you approximately five days after the test date.

In other J-School upcoming events, we have an A-list roster of speakers coming to campus this term. Mark your calendars.

The roster includes:
· * Bill Emkow and Shawn Smith, MLive, Friday, Feb 2, 10-12.
· Jeff Alexander, guest of the Knight Center, Wednesday, February 14, details TBA, speaking on his book on the Muskegon River and how to be a successful journalist.
· * Chet Rhodes, Deputy Multimedia Editor, washingtonpost.com, Friday, Feb. 23, 10 -12 room TBA, lunch following for interested faculty
· * Jennifer Carroll, Vice President new Media Content, Gannett, Friday, March 16,10-12 room TBA, lunch after with interested faculty.
· Neal Shine Ethics Lecture: Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers’ Baghdad bureau chief, in mid-April.

* Indicates speaker of special interest as we begin the digitization of the curriculum.

In other J-School news, Info graphics whiz Karl Gude’s blog (www.visualeditors.com/gude) was voted the best blog as a recent Society of News Design conference in Orlando. Gude joined the faculty this past fall after 30 years as a graphics editor most recently for Newsweek.

Doctoral student Serena Carpenter will be attending a Convergence Seminar for College Educators at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida in February. Competition is fierce to be accepted. Congratulations, Serena! She is a hot item on the job market with her intest in online journalism and digital delivery.

Graduating doctoral student Brad Love was recently hired by the Univeristy of Texas at Austin. You go, cowboy! Congrats!

Welcome back! Check out the new courses and speakers in the spring term

Welcome to 2007. We have an exciting term upcoming with several new classes and lots of lectures and special guests.

Our graphics guru, Karl Gude, is teaching a general information graphics class and a news graphics class. His students are already hard at work creating models of the human body.

Master’s students are taking the first ever digital public affairs reporting class running the entire 15 week term. Students who took the immersion class last May continue to tell us how valuable the course was. All journalism students need to learn how to report the news online with different elements including words, video, audio, photos, graphics, info boxes, interactive elements and blogs. Alternative news delivery to iPods, cell phones, etc. is part of this brave new world.

Students in and out of the class, faculty and media professionals will be invited to special Friday talks by professionals including Jennifer Carroll, vice president new media content at Gannett (March 16), and Washington Post Deputy Multimedia Editor Chet Rhodes (February 23).

Other upcoming speakers include Jeff Alexander of the Muskegon Chronicle on February 14 and Nancy A. Youssef, Iraq Bureau Chief, McClatchy (formerly Knight Ridder) Newspapers
as the Neal Shine Ethics Lecturer in April.