News Archives
ATTENTION ALL JOURNALISM MAJORS & FACULTY: COME TO JOURNALISM'S FIRST ANNUAL END-OF-YEAR SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT & PICNIC. Saturday, May 10, 5 pm until dark at the Boyden Fields across from Boyden Gym. It's the end of the year and time for softball and grilling as we celebrate the end of another great year. RSVP to Eric Athas, Amber Vaillancourt, or Courtney Smith. Feel free to bring food and drink.
CONGRATULATIONS TO VENUZA LAVEAUX FOR RECEIVING THE 2008 BACHERMAN AWARD AND DEVON COURTNEY FOR RECEIVING THE CROWLEY COLUMN AWARD!
CONGRATULATIONS TO JOURNALISM MAJORS FOR RECEIVING THE FOLLOWING AWARDS:
Katie Huston, Senior Leadership Award; Louis Harris and Shaneka Davis, the William Field Alumni Scholarships; Michael Phillis, the Chester Weinerman Award; Adam McGillen and Christina Cernak, the "Red" Curtin Award.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TOP 10 SENIORS INDUCTED INTO THE KTA HONOR SOCIETY:
Katie Huston, Kathryn Bergquist, Joseph Modugno, Kristen Forrelli, Meghan Murphy, Heather DiMaio, Charles Thompson, Julie Halpin, Lauren Proctor, and Masa Pozar.
CAMPAIGN 2008: AN ENDLESS CYCLE? The Journalism Program presents a panel discussion featuring Jill Lawrence, USA Today, Mark Stencel, Governing magazine, Mary Carey, Daily Hampshire Gazette. Moderated by Steve Fox, UMass Journalism professor and former washingtonpost.com editor. 4-5:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, 168C Campus Center. Refreshments. All are welcome!
A NEW DAY FOR THE UMass JOURNALISM PROGRAM. Last week Journalism unveiled its new journalism wireless mobile lab. With the help of the SBS Dean's Office and the Office of Information Technology, the students began using the lab last Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. Unlike a normal classroom, the mobile lab allows students to experience a newsroom-like environment while learning the essential tools of online journalism. Click here for the slideshow.
Journalism professor Norman Sims was interviewed by Poynter on the publication of his new book, "True Stories: A Century of Literary Journalism." Read more... (02/19/08)
Award-winning Journalist Brings Multimedia Talents to the Classroom. Read more...
WMUA New Persons Meeting Wed., Feb. 13, 7 p.m. in Campus Center 803. All interested students are welcome. For more info, email Zach Claudio, station manager at manager@wmua.org
Workshop on coops at the Boston Globe will be held Wed., Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. in Bartlett 219. Everyone welcome. Read more...
Mariane Pearl, author of A Mighty Heart, will be speaking as part of th Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Hardman Lecture Series on Wednesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Church Street Center Auditorium. MCLA is in North Adams. Free.
The New England News Forum, based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will co-sponsor a free, public symposium that will assess the impact and reporting of casino gambling in New England on Tuesday, March 11 at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn. Public officials, journalists, researchers and a top industry executive will participate. Read more...
Steve Fox will be giving a presentation, "Opening up the Newsroom with Blogs," at the New England Press Association's Annual Convention (NEPA) this Saturday, Feb. 9. His presentation will be part of a workshop for editors and reporters who want to learn about the latest advances in technology and for publishers looking for a more cost-effecive business model. l be a presentersession entitled,
Rebooting Your Newsroom: Adding blogs, podcasts, citizens and the Web will run from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Read Ralph Whitehead's 01/14/08 column in the Boston Globe... (01/18/08)
Steve Fox has been selected by the Poynter Institute, along with a select group of journalists from around the world, as a participant in their Poynter Multimedia Journalism for College Educators in February, 2008. (01/09/08)
Read Ralph Whitehead's column 01/07/08 in the Boston Globe. (01/08/08).
New UMass student-run web site, AmherstWire.com, is looking for student journalists.
The site--set to launch in February--will focus on covering the war in Iraq and the presidential campaign from a local perspective while also reporting general and breaking news stories. We are looking for enthusiastic volunteer reporters who are interested in getting multimedia journalism experience. Past knowledge in video, audio and blogging is a plus, but not required. Mostly, we want hard working students eager to be a part of this new project. This is a terrific opportunity to learn the essential tools of multimedia reporting, while also enhancing your resume. Anyone interested should contact Eric Athas: ericathas@gmail.com.
PODCASTING AT UMASS. Professors BJ Roche and David Perkins, along with and from Journalsim 392W, Writing for the Web, offer testimonials on the benefits of having students podcast. Read more...
Katie Huston, a senior journalism major from Michigan, was awarded the prestigious Marshall Scholarship. Three of her referees for this honor are associated with the journalism program: Norm Sims, Rick Newton, and Madeleine Blais. Katie is also managing editor of the Daily Collegian and a peer advisor in the journalism program. (12-4-07) Read more...
If you missed Buzz Bissinger's talk on Wed., Nov. 14, two students from Steve Fox's Journ 397G class, created video/slideshows. One is a video/audio link from Eric Athas and the other a video slideshow of the event from Meagan Patton. (11/16/07)
JOURNALISM MEET AND GREET OPEN HOUSE Wednesday, November 7
from 3-5 p.m. Bartlett 107
Sponsored by Journalism Peer Advisers. Is there anything you wanted to know about the Journalism major, but didn't know who to ask? Do you have general questions about your UMass experience that you wanted answered as registration approaches? Then stop by the Journalism Majors Meet and Greet open house, next Wednesday, November 7 from 3-5 p.m. in Bartlett 107! Journalism major peer advisers Eric Athas, Katie Huston and Amber Vaillancourt will be on hand to answer your questions about: Journalism courses, getting involved with student media (Collegian, WMUA, UVC-TV), internships, double majors and minors, gen eds, global eds, Commonwealth College, Five College Exchange, studying abroad and anything else that's on your mind. Free pizza and drinks will be served. We'll also have a wide variety of fliers available with more information and contact info. Hope to see you there! The Journalism Peer Advisers
JOURNALISM PROGRAM LECTURE SERIES ON BROADCAST & MEDIA PRESENTS H.G. "BUZZ" BISSINGER, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Friday Night Lights, speaking on "The Art of Non-Fiction Storytelling." Wednesday, November 14, 2007 7-8:30 p.m. in the Cape Cod Lounge of the Student Union Building. Pizza and booksigning, 6:15 p.m. This is part of the Extra Credit Card Program. Ask your Journalism professor how you can earn extra credit points by attending.
What do Richard Dawkins, Jackie Robinson, St Teresa, and Madeleine Blais have in common? They all can be found in the book 360° of Reading, a literature guide for college bound students, by W.E. Poplaski. Maddy's book, In These Girls Hope is a Muscle, has been included along with 359 other recommended works of literature and nonfiction. (10/25/07)
New England Society of Newspaper Editors / New England Newspaper
Association's annual conference will be held at the Quincy Marriott on Thursday &
Friday, Oct. 25 & 26.
This is a great opportunity for students to rub elbows with and draw inspiration from editors and publishers of dozens of newspapers from across New England. More complete conference information is available at http://nenews.org/stories/163.html Please pay particular attention to a the panel on the morning of Friday, Oct. 26: "What are journalism schools teaching, and why?"
The panel will consider how Journalism schools see the changing field of professional journalism (economically as well as technically) and how (or if) we are
shaping our curricula to address those changes, as well as talk about how the delivery of information news via new media is affecting some classic values of journalism, such as intelligence, curiosity, reporting, and writing. Panelists include Tracy Breton, an investigative reporter for the Providence Journal and journalism instructor at Brown; Steve Fox, formerly an editor at http://washingtonpost.com and now a journalism instructor at UMass-Amherst; Traci Griffith, an assistant professor of journalism at St. Michael's College; Rich Hanley, graduate director of journalism & interactive communications at Quinnipiac University; and Linda Levin, chair of journalism program at the University of Rhode Island. Any students interested in attending should contact Steve Fox or call, 413-545-5923.
TUESDAY, OCT. 16, 2007, ILONA MEAGHER, author of MOVING A NATION TO CARE, a book about post-traumatic stress syndrome among American troops returning from Iraq. 7-10 p.m., Food for Thought Books, 106 N. Pleasant St., Amherst. Read more...
TUES., OCT. 30, 2007, MADELEINE BLAIS: STORIES WORTH TELLING: A GUIDE TO THE ART OF THE MEMOIR. 6:30-8 p.m., Sunderland Public Library, 20 School St., Sunderland. Call 413-665-2642 for more information.
Part of the Sunderland Public Library's author series. Madeleine Blais is the author of Uphill Walkers: Memoir of a Family, In These Girls Hope is a Muscle, The Heart is an Instrument: Portraits in Journalism. SHe is a Pulitzer Prize-Winning journalism, a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and a professor of Journalism at UMass-Amherst.
Streaming video of the first lecture of the Journalism Program Lecture Series on Broadcast and the Media of the Fall 07 semester, "The New New Journalism: Challenges & Opportunities of Multimedia Reporting," with Chet Rhodes of Washingtonpost.com; Patrick Stiegman, ESPN.com; and Emily Sweeney, The Boston Globe is available for viewing at: http://www.archive.org/details/NewNewJournalismUMASS
Karen List, Journalism Director, wrote, "Tonight's panel, "The New New Journalism: Challenges and Opportunities in Multi-Media Reporting," exceeded our expectations. Our hope was to turn students on to multi-media reporting by showcasing it in this year's first Kantor lecture. We did that and more. Memorial Hall was bursting with Journalism majors
and alums, and no one left early. Patrick Stiegman, ESPN executive editor, told the students that new technology should be "like your skin," and both he and Chet Rhodes, assistant managing editor of washingtonpost.com, made it clear that journalism students today will need multi- media skills to be competitive in the job market. Emily Sweeney, a reporter from the Boston Globe with her video camera in hand, embodied all they were saying. After the panel, conversations about internships, jobs and return visits were flying. Alums were as
excited as our students. Journalism professor BJ Roche introduced the panelists, and Steve Fox, also of Journalism, moderated the program. Alum Peter Billman Goleme was there too with his South Hadley High School journalism students. This was a spectacular start to what will be a great, great year." (10/2/07)
Professor Norman Sims, Reflections on Literary Journalism and the New Media. Profiled on College of Social & Behavioral Sciences web site, 9/10/07
An Evening Celebrating the Literary Genre of the Memoir, with Moderator: Madeleine Blais and Panelists Carole Gaunt and John Hanson Mitchell. Tuesday, 9 October 2007, 7 - 9:30 p.m., Memorial Hall, University of Massachusetts
The General Book Department of the University Store at the University of Massachusetts will host an evening devoted to the literary genre of the memoir. The event is free and is open to the public and to members of the five-college community. Acting as moderator for the event will be Madeleine Blais, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for her feature writing for The Miami Herald‚s Tropic Magazine, and member of the English faculty at the University of Massachusetts since 1987. She is the author of three distinguished books. The Heart Is an Instrument: Portraits in Journalism (The University of Massachusetts Press, 1992) collects her Pulitzer-winning feature articles. With In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle (Warner Books, 1996), she evocatively chronicles the state championship of the Amherst High School girl‚s basketball team during their 1992-93 season.
Of her most recent book, Uphill Walkers: Memoir of a Family (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002), Anita Shreve has written that: "I can‚t remember having read a memoir in which I‚ve trusted the writer as much, or been as charmed." Blais, who was a finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Award in non-fiction for In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle, was the recipient of The Chancellor‚s Medal in 2001, the highest honor to be awarded to an individual for "exemplary and extraordinary service" to the University.
Well-known for her commitment to her students, Blais has expressed that journalism is capable of a "power to capture . . . what was real, the music of what happens, and to impound all those details that defy embellishment." With respect to her pedagogical ideology, she says: "Students are required to do some serious thinking about their own lives; not just finding the story, and the plot, and the arc, but also considering the material from a longer viewpoint."
The panelists for the evening include Carole Gaunt, a UMass alum, who is the author of Hungry Hill: A Memoir (University of Massachusetts Press, 2007), and John Hanson Mitchell, the editor of Sanctuary: The Massachusetts Audubon Magazine, who has recently published his memoir entitled The Rose Café: Love and War in Corsica (Shoemaker & Hoard, 2007).
Gaunt, also an award-winning playwright, documents her life growing up in Springfield‚s "Hungry Hill," an Irish-Catholic working-class neighborhood, in the late fifties and early sixties. John Hanson Mitchell, winner of the 1994 John Burroughs Essay Award, has concentrated much of his work on a single square mile tract of land known as Scratch Flat, located 35 miles northwest of Boston. He has written four books dealing with the natural and human history of the tract, the best known of which is Ceremonial Time (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1984), a fifteen thousand-year history of the area. In 2000, he was honored with the New England Booksellers‚ Award in Non-Fiction for the entire body of his work.
Professor Karen List was honored at the annual convention of the Assn. for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in August in Washington, D.C.
Prof. List, Director of the UMass Journalism Program was recognized by Kappa Tau Alpha, the national journalism and mass communication honor society, for her outstanding service to the organization, both for her four years as national president and vice president and for her 17 years "as chapter advisor, mentor and scholarly role model." She founded the UMass KTA chapter in 1989 and won the national KTA Advisor of the Year Award in 2003. (08/07)
Journalism Lecturer Meredith O'Brien-Weiss writes about Parental Blogging in Summer Issue of UMass Magazine.
Read more...
Journalism Program Chosen to Create New England News Council
The Journalism Program has been awarded a $75,000 grant to establish a New England News Council
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Read All About It: Journalism Major Thrives at UMass Amherst
“People think students aren’t interested in current events,” says Professor Karen List, head of the Journalism program. “And some people think students don’t major in journalism these days because they don’t want to change the world. From where I sit, they still do.”
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Journalism Program Earns Top Online Honors
Although it remains young as academic programs go, UMass Amherst's Certificate of Online Journalism Program is already packing a real punch with a first-rate faculty and a far-flung student body—and, now, with a top award in innovative continuing education.
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Kantor Lecture Series Offers Journalism Students Involvement Opportunities
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