Sad news and good news as awards program showcases the J-School at its best

The unsettling events of last week at Virginia Tech could happen on any college campus. Many faculty have read disturbing papers that raise concerns. We follow the process, calling counseling centers and urging students to make an appointment. But beyond that, unless we sense a clear and present danger the student is likely to harm himself/herself or others, that’s all we can do. Then we hope and pray.

On a much happier note, the J-School has had terrific success in various competitions and students have received numerous awards.

Our annual Awards Program on Saturday, April 14 was another stellar year for students. The awards, the scholarships, the internships were amazing. And while that program was beginning, the SPJ regional conference was wrapping up, but not before our students garnered even more accolades.

Congratulations to one and all, and a big thank you to Lori Anne Dickerson for her hard work in making the event, once again, a terrific day of celebration. Kudos also to Darcy Greene for her program design.

MSU winners of the SPJ Region 4 Mark of Excellence Awards:

General News Reporting • First Place: Claire Cummings, Michigan State University, “A second son lost”• Second Place: Claire Cummings, Michigan State University, “Protecting cash cows”
Feature Writing • First Place: Melissa Domsic, Michigan State University, “Portraits of Perseverance” • Second Place: Kristen M. Daum, Michigan State University, “Tailor made”
Editorial Cartooning • Second Place: Ryan W. Kimball, Michigan State University, “Cartoons to end 2006”
Magazine Non-Fiction Article • First Place: Yu-Ting Lin, Michigan State University, “Environmental Evangelicals” • Third Place: Carol Navarro and Mairin MacDonald, Michigan State University, “Who Owns the Water?”
Best Student Magazine • Third Place: Staff, Michigan State University, “EJ Magazine”

The Sixth Annual Neal Shine Ethics Lecture was a sad but memorable event with Neal’s recent passing. We paid tribute to him then listened enthralled as Nancy Youssef, McClatchy Baghdad Bureau Chief and Neal’s hand picked lecturer, described what life was like covering the ongoing civil war.

We will be interviewing the second of our two finalists for our Southeast Asia Muslin Studies position this week. At our faculty meeting on Friday we will make a decision on the candidates.

Some faculty will be going to school themselves May 9 & 10 as we train for web skills including shooting and editing video, using Sound Slides and other skills. I will be right there in training, learning from colleagues like Darcy Greene, Bonnie Bucqueroux and Serena Carpenter. Should be fun.

Neal Shine's legacy in journalism

Journalism lost the most amazing reporter, editor and teacher today with the passing of retired Detroit Free Press publisher Neal Shine.

Shine was teacher, boss, editor, counselor, lunch mate, friend. I had him for a class in public affairs reporting two very early mornings a week eons ago back at the University of Detroit (before it was Mercy). He hired me at the Free Press the fall of my junior year as a copy boy, a job title I immediately objected to, and he just laughed and teased.

A consummate journalist, he knew everybody in Detroit and elsewhere, had a network of sources who would tip him off on any and every important story before it broke. He taught us to be fair, accurate, thorough and intrepid. He also taught us that we were human beings first and reporters second. It made our coverage, my coverage richer, fuller, more honest.

When I decided to go to law school, he finagled a scholarship for me so I could stay at the Free Press.

When I eventually left the Free for what was to be a two to three year hiatus, to teach at Oakland, it was difficult to tell him. But two years later, I persuaded him to begin teaching part time, and he created an ethics class that is still modeled today, though no one likely can do it better than Shine. Taking ethics from him was like walking in quicksand as he changed small facts in his evolving scenarios. Most were “ripped from the pages of a newspaper.” He made us think. He made his students think. He made us better reporters and editors and humans because of it.

When he retired for the first time from the Free Press, I lured him to a full time faculty position at Oakland University. He came tenured and ranked, Professor Cornelius Shine. He loved teaching, loved his students. And the feeling was reciprocated. A scant few months later, the Free Press lured him back as publisher. He told me that telling me he was leaving was one of the hardest things he ever did. I knew it was his dream job—from copy boy to publisher. I made him promise to come back, got him a leave of absence, and he eventually returned.

I remember my annoyance when MSU’s School of Journalism received a generous gift from the Free Press to establish an ethics lecture in his name. “Why MSU,” I asked Shine. “You are teaching here at Oakland!” He didn’t know, but he was humbled by the honor.

When the sole (at the time) journalism lab at OU was in sad need of replacement, Neal and I launched the Tin Cup Campaign. He strong armed fellow editors to raise the money to replace the computers. “I get the circulation figures,” he told them. “I know you’re making money, and we need some.” And they gave.

When I came to MSU it was only after exhaustive discussions with Neal. He encouraged me to do so. Now, I liked that Neal Shine Ethics Lecture here at MSU. I made sure we recruited speakers that he felt were relevant. People like Ellen Goodman who he’d hired at the Freep, then he helped her land a job at The Boston Globe. Her speaker fee was far higher than the budget. “Just call her.” Neal said. “Tell her it’s for me.” I spoke to her agent. She never cuts her price I was informed. I used Neal’s name and a half hour later he called back asking how much we could afford to pay.

The next year we had Dan Okrent. Another Shine alum, Dan had just finished a year as the New York Times ombudsman. He came because it for Neal.

This year Nancy Youssef, the Baghdad Bureau chief for Knight Ridder, now McClatchy Newspapers, was his preferred choice. We will be welcoming her for the Neal Shine Ethics Lecture at 4 p.m., Monday, April 16 in the Kellogg Center. It will be a bittersweet day for me as we celebrate his memory and listen to Nancy’s talk.

That’s the impact he had on people. Across Michigan, across the nation, journalism has lost the man who was the soul of a great newspaper, a truly honest, decent and kindly man. Those of us who knew him are far richer because he touched our lives.