Hot (and busy) time, summer in the J-School at Michigan State

Summer never seems to slow things down at the J-School or at Michigan State University. We’ve got journalism camps, graduate and undergraduate classes running full steam ahead.

Check out our summer kids camps—we are offering a Cartoon Camp in July. For other happenings at the J-School, see our website at jrn.msu.edu.

One great opportunity for incoming freshmen from the Detroit area is to get their first taste of college by taking JRN 108 Intro to Mass Media at Birmingham’s Seaholm High school at Birmingham Seaholm High School, 2436 West Lincoln Rd. (7/6/ - 8/20/2009).

For the first time ever, we are offering JRN 108 Introduction to Mass Media (3 credits) Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:10-11 a.m. Once the class gets rolling, students will be meeting one day a week online and two days at Seaholm. Instructor Holly Gilbert is a fun, dynamic instructor, and it will be a great introduction to the J-School as your first college class.

Though not eligible for financial aid, these students will be avoiding an anticipated tuition hike for this fall. Hey, if you are an interested freshman, just register as Lifelong Education students. The tuition cost for this three credit courses would be $1,317.75. Make sure you register as a Lifelong Education student NOT a freshman for this course! When you come to campus for AOP (orientation) you will need to go to the Registrar’s Office on the first floor of the Administration Building in the center of campus and be admitted as a Life Long Undergraduate for the summer. In the fall the CAS Advising office will follow-up and move the course into your undergraduate record. For more information, check out this link http://www.reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/EnrReg/LifelongEducation.asp.

Also follow students on their Study Abroad trips. JRN 482/882 Reporting on the British Isles is half-way done, but students are doing amazing work. J-School faculty member (and managing editor of the Virtual Newsroom this fall) Nancy Hanus had a terrific time with students. Check out the class blog . The students are doing amazing reporting on stories now posted on the class blog and getting a solid multiplatform news delivery experience while learning teamwork, too! Nancy’s just back from her half of the term. She really is the innvation leader on this. Faculty member (and soon to be ordained Episcopal priest) Sue Carter is leading the second half of the class. Sue rocks, too!

Howard Bossen leaves next week for JRN 483/883 Photo Communication in Europe.

Cheryl Pell, her staff and the folks at the Mcihgian Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA) are gearing up for a full range of summer offerings from JRN graduate level classes for middle and high school teachers and a week long camp for high school students in early August. All the info can be found on MIPA's website.

Our students’ award winning ways continue. Kelly House won first place in the Hearst Foundation National Writing Competition held in San Francisco earlier this month.

Focal Point students and adviser Bob Gould won an Emmy from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters. Thanks to Bob and also Troy Hale who provided footage of the win. They had a great time. Check out their reaction.

Dr. Manuel Chavez’ book “Empowering Citizenship through Journalism, Information and Entertainment in Iberoamerica” was just released he was co-editor along with Manuel Alejandro Guerrero.

Eric Freedman just signed a book contract with Congressional Quarterly Press for “President and African Americans: A documentary History.” This is his second book co-authored with Steve Jones from Central Michigan University. The two collaborated on their very successful “African American in Congress: A Documentary History.”

The Knight Center hosted its 10th Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institute last week with an impressive round-up of folks including J-Labs’ Jan Schaeffer, alums Shawn Smith (formerly of MLive and now with his own company), Jeremy Herliczek, retired faculty member Bonnie Bucqueroux and current staff member and senior producer Amol Pavangadkar, among others. This year’s GLEJTI featured a lot of hands-on multiplatform training that participants liked so much they even skipped scheduled breaks! Thanks to Dave Poulson, Barb Miller, Chris Kennedy and Jim Detjen for putting it together.

Knight Center Associate Director Dave Poulson’s Great Lakes Echo blog is a great model for next generation news coverage. Check out his work and that of his students. Their five part series on the Great Lakes water levels is well reported and full of amazing info and theories. As a Lake Huron shoreline cottage owner, I shared it with all my neighbors!

I spent an amazing day on Tuesday at MLive.com meeting with editor-in-chief Bill Emkow, a J-School alum. With Michigan as ground zero fro a number of journalism media experiments, MLive is the epicenter of the Newhouse (Booth) effort for a ton of fresh ideas and innovation. MLive’s Detroit blogs launch on Monday. Greeted half dozen J-School alum there including recent grads Jonathan Oosting and Aaron Foley who are leading the Detroit project. Check it out Monday look for the Detroit tab on the MLive home page.

Last week, I spent half a day at the Monroe Evening News doing some Computer Assisted Reporting training with editors and staff. Deb Saul set my visit up. Publisher Lonnie Pepler-Moyer “bought” me at the Michigan Press Association silent auction. I’ve got a Freedom of Information workshop to be scheduled at the St. Ignace News with Wes and Mar Maurer later this summer. J-School faculty member Darcy Greene and Cheryl Pell did a design workshop up north with the newspaper’s staff in early June. We are all auctioned off at MPA.

Darcy had to rush back to Lansing to catch a flight to see her first grandchild—Jimmy T born in Texas three weeks early! Baby, Mom, Dad and grandfolks are doing just fine. It will be an extra special Father’s Day Sunday for Darcy’s son, first time pop Michael.

Still working away on Tandem in Detroit (my Knight Challenge grant innovation incubator project) with The Detroit News’ Jonathan Morgan and Michael Happy.

Whew! Long post. As I said the J-School never seems to slow down—even in the hot days of the summer. We are hard at work on the Centennial celebration and planning for News Summit II on September 11—the start of the State News Alumni Association’s centennial weekend celebrations. Stay tuned. Updates are less frequent in the summer. That’s because we are SO busy!

J-School alums, current sudents--share your info and updates with me! Just comment. For fast uptakes, follow my tweets at JBBJschool.