Scholarship winners notified, Neal Shine Lecture Online

Stay tuned for upcoming events next year including the Walter and Syrena Howell Essay Contest on media bias. The winning essay writer will receive a $1,000 award and a $3,000 scholarship. In addition, next fall’s seniors must apply in the spring for a fully paid year of tuition from the Mary Adelaide Gardner Trust Fund. Check your email, the website and the bulletin boards for more information.

If you missed the Neal Shine Ethics Lecture on November 20, you can view the entire lecture on SpartanTV . Under the monitor on the screen click "On Demand", then scroll down to "Special Lectures." Click on the and select the "Neal Shine Lecture."

M.L. Elrick, Jim Schaefer and Brian Kaufman of the Detroit Free Press did a superb job detailing their now year long effort covering the Detroit Mayoral scandal. The most poignant moment came at the beginning of the lecture when all three stood up to announce they were each wearing one of the late, great Neal Shine’s blazers. Elrick, wearing a remarkable green suit coat (and we LOVE green around here), teased Neal’s wife Phyllis about the color. Since the lecture, the former Detroit mayor's chief of staff has now also plead guilty and faces jail time and restitution just like the former Mayor. Good solid watchdog journalism at its best.

Keeping that kind of journalism is so important and increasingly rare what with buyouts, layoffs, staff recutions, consolidations, sales and mergers of media companies. It's a real shake-up of the news industry. This is also a time for tremednous opportunity for students in the J-School and recent graduates. You will be leaders changing the industry.

If you applied for a scholarship, stay tuned. Professor Dickerson has notified the winners.The Outreach Committee was hard at work going through applications this afternoon. Decision will be announced soon—in time to help pay for some of next term’s tuition costs. Remember you must turn in a written thank you note to the donor before any scholarship money is released.

Good luck on exams and good luck to all of us on the faculty who will be grading them.