The Daily Plan-it / Dean of Students Blog, Columbia J-school

Student Group Room Request Policy

In an effort to streamline room request bookings we ask you to please follow the new Student Group Room-Request Policy outlined below:

- Please assign one member of your team to submit requests for your entire group.
We have had a lot of instances where two students request a room for the same event.

-Please do not forget to send requests to the rooms list serve: room-requests@lists.jrn.columbia.edu
*You must use your Columbia e-mail to submit the request otherwise it won’t go through.

-If you want to book the Stabile Student Center for an event you need to e-mail room-requests@lists.jrn.columbia.edu and also copy Susmita Saha ss3045@columbia.edu who is the new Student Services Coordinator. Susmita is always updating the Stabile Student Center Google calendar so that student groups can see when the space is available, and can plan events accordingly.
You can check Stabile Student Center availability at the following Google Calendar: http://bit.ly/bKCvDA

-Events in the Student Center must be open to the entire J-School community. No group of students should be
forced to leave the space because of an event. If you need to change the set-up for the Stabile Student Center please
post a note at the entrance to the student center, at the entrance of brad’s café, and on the bulletin board
a day before the event is scheduled to occur. Note the date and times you need the space cleared for set-up before the
event and afterwards for resetting.

-You must submit a room-request before using the student center and of course all other rooms at the J-School.

On a side note, we created a Spring 2010 Class Room Schedule for the J-School. It shows when classes meet and at what time.
This does not reflect all other bookings made by faculty and staff at the J-School, but it can serve as a tool for knowing when to schedule events. http://bit.ly/ctt2EF

Dear PT Broadcast Students,

On Monday, February 8, at 7 pm, in 607B, we will be holding a briefing session about the 3rd semester documentary Master’s Project, the Broadcast/Print hybrid Master’s Project and Radio Master’s Projects.

Please note that we will be holding information sessions on the summer curriculum, balloting and the Master’s Project for other concentrations in March.

Dear Students:

The faculty invites students to nominate names for two graduation-related speakers. The final decision is made by the faculty, but they would like to see your suggestions.

THE COLUMBIA JOURNALISM AWARD is the school’s highest honor and is a “lifetime achievement” prize. This person is, in effect, your main graduation speaker (and will be addressing you in front of your parents and guests). Recent winners: Jim Amoss, David Halberstam, Seymour Hersh, Paul Steiger, Joseph Lelyveld, Pete Hammill, Carl Rowan, Joan Didion, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee (see full list on awards wall outside glass door in front of Deans Suite on seventh floor). See the 2009 speaker below.

THE PRINGLE LECTURE is typically given by a journalist covering national affairs. The lecture is given at one of the smaller graduation-related ceremonies and is ONLY to students and faculty, with no guests. Recent lecturers: Farnaz Fassihi, Michael Kinsley, Molly Ivins, Mary McGrory, Jay Harris, Tom Bettag, Cokie Roberts, Dana Priest. See the 2009 speaker below.

FORM: To give your suggestions, fill in the 30-second form here (all fields are optional):

DEADLINE: Monday, March 1, 2010 - 1 p.m.

Please remember: This is NOT a vote. The faculty just wants to get a sense of what names are proposed.

PLEASE NOTE: Continuing part-time students are invited to attend the ceremonies and are welcome to nominate speakers.

Thanks for playing,
The Office of Student Affairs

JUST FYI, the 2009 Speakers:

The Columbia Journalism Award (and therefore, the main graduation speaker for you and your guests) is ALEJANDRO JUNCO DE LA VEGA, a courageous, crusading Mexican newspaper pioneer.

From Prof. Josh Friedman: Alejandro Junco has made it his life’s work to achieve true freedom of speech in Mexico. Born in 1948, in Monterrey, he was educated both in Mexico and the United States, obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969. He returned to work on El Norte, the struggling family newspaper in Monterrey, a large industrial city in Mexico. Junco began to introduce new ideas into the Mexican journalism scene and created one of the most influential and creative media conglomerates in Latin America. He pioneered the use of Internet there; he introduced ethics that were unfamiliar at other Mexican newspapers. And he has been a crusader against political corruption and violent attacks on Mexico’s civil society by increasingly ferocious drug mafias. He took on every part of the establishment defying government bans, union boycotts and increasing danger to his journalists. From the start at El Norte, Junco barred reporters from taking bribes and hired one of his former journalism professors to train his reporters in the fundamentals of news reporting and ethics. He bet the family resources on his dream of creating an ethical, quality newspaper in Mexico City, investing $50 million in family money. The result is Grupo Reforma, seven newspapers with dailies in Mexico’s three largest cities: Reforma in Mexico City; Mural in Guadalajara; and El Norte in Monterrey. Junco has made so many enemies that last fall, he moved his family from Mexico to Texas after drug dealers came to his ranch near Monterrey and threatened to harm them. Junco is a recipient of a Maria Moors Cabot Medal, awarded by Columbia University.

On Journalism Day (students, faculty and staff only), the Pringle Lecture will be delivered by JOSHUA MICAH MARSHALL, founder of Talking Points Memo.

BIO: Josh Marshall is the editor and publisher of Talking Points Memo, TPMmuckraker, TPM Election Central and TPMCafe.
He has written for numerous publications across the United States and abroad, including The American Prospect, The Atlantic Monthly, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Post, The New York Times, Salon and Slate. He received a George Polk Award in 2008 for reporting on the 2007 US Attorney firing scandal that led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and a Sidney Hillman award in 2006 for reporting on President Bush’s attempt to phase out Social Security. Marshall graduated from Princeton in 1991 and holds a doctorate in American history from Brown. He lives in New York City with his wife Millet, their sons Sam and Daniel and their dog Simon.

His site: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

The Language Maintenance Tutorials are designed primarily to meet the needs of Columbia’s graduate and professional school students. We offer conversation groups and individual tutorials with instruction focused on everyday spoken language at very competitive fees. Courses are designed to provide students with prior language proficiency the opportunity to maintain and advance their language skills. The tutorials generally meet once per week for 10 weeks during the semester.

Registration for the tutorials is going on now until February 5th. If you are interested in enrolling, you should register in the office of the Language Resource Center. The tutorials and conversation groups will begin around the week of February 8th.

We offer tutorials* in many languages, including, but not limited to:

Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Chinese, Czech, English, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Uzbek, Wolof, Zulu

*A minimum of two years of language education at college level is required for all the languages.
For other languages, more information about the program or advisement with respect to placement, please contact Bruno Guaraná, bcg2111@columbia.edu.

Fees
Individual Tutorials
An individual tutorial can be tailored to your specific language needs. It consists of ten sessions of 90 minutes each.
Columbia students: $650
Non-Columbia students: $900
Conversation Groups
A conversation group has from two to five students, coming from different fields of study. It meets ten times in sessions of 120 minutes each.
Columbia students: $500
Non-Columbia students: $650

• A non-refundable fee of $30 due at the time of registration will be counted towards the cost of the individual tutorial or conversation group.
• Payment can be made in cash, checks made out to Columbia University, or VISA and Mastercard (we are sorry we cannot accept American Express).

* If you would like to be considered as a tutor, please visit our website to register online.

For More Information:
Bruno Guaraná
bcg2111@columbia.edu
(212) 854-9226

Language Maintenance Tutorials
www.lrc.columbia.edu/lmt

From CU Department of Public Safety-

Here is a great tool to use for mobile & smart phone devices on how to get around NYC by Subway, City Bus, Taxi (costs) or walking, for people on the go or who are NEW to New York City. On some devices you can down load a FREE appl to your phone or bookmark it to your Blackberry / smart phone device. For more information click here:

http://www.hopstop.com/member?action=login&username=&error=&location=%2fmember%3f&keep_logged_in=y&page=

The Alice! Health Promotion Program is pleased to announce the launch of A!sleep an interactive website focusing on supporting students with adopting and maintaining healthy sleep behaviors. As part of our ongoing campus-wide sleep initiative, the purpose of this website is to provide additional tools to help further enhance the sleep health of Columbia University’s Morningside campus. As we roll out our new website over the coming semester, we ask for your assistance in getting the word out to the students in your school and distributing materials related to the sleep initiative. A representative from Alice! will be delivering a packet of promotional materials related to the sleep initiative to your office in the upcoming days.
Not only is sleep an essential component of physical and mental health, it also significantly impacts academic performance. This combination makes it an especially important issue to address with Columbia student populations. As you probably know from your conversations with students, they often adopt irregular sleep patterns, forgoing sleep to balance academic, extracurricular, and social commitments, or experience difficulty sleeping due to stress. Insufficient sleep quantity and quality can have a variety of negative effects. These include decreased cognitive and motor performance; decreased memory retention and recall; increased stress; and decreased immune function. Associations have also been found between long term sleep loss and obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mood disorders.

The A!sleep website provides students with the opportunity to take a free on-line sleep assessment which offers both tips on healthy sleep habits and instant personalized feedback on their sleep behaviors. There is a version of the assessment available for faculty, staff, and alumni. Additionally, the website includes:

• A sleep diary to assist individuals in managing their sleep routines or identifying daily activities that may be impacting their sleep,
• Series of ZzzCards, electronic postcards with various tips on how to maintain healthy sleep behavior,
• General sleep information, and
• On and off campus resources.

Questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions about our sleep website or initiative can be directed to Susan Hochman (sh2537@columbia.edu or 212-854-5453). We look forward to working with you on this and other health initiatives, and greatly appreciate your support.

OFFER: Office hours for the Digital Media Fellows + other resources

Folks: please make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to work with our DM Fellows this semester. A description of what they offer - along with several other resources is below. All questions to dmfellows@jrn.columbia.edu

The DM Fellows have office hours by appointment each weekday during Spring Semester (1/25-5/14) at the following days/times:

Monday:
• 10-5 Open Lab in 501a
  10-1 Alan by appt
  1-6 Michele by appt

• Tuesday:
  2-6 Michele by appt

• Wednesday:
  1-5 Meredith by appt
  5-8 Alan by appt

• Thursday:
  1-5 Kenan by appt

• Friday:
  10-1 Meredith by appt
  

  Email dmfellows@jrn.columbia.edu no later than the day before to schedule an appointment.

  There is a calendar showing available timeslots here:
  http://bit.ly/dmfellows-cal

  Also please be considerate of your fellow students and let us know as far ahead of time as possible if you need to cancel or change an appointment.

  Finally, remember that there are many helpful guides and how-tos at http://bit.ly/dm-tips

  And that the DM Fellows have a tutorials site at digitaltutorials.jrn.columbia.edu

  Annd for even more tutorials, you can head to http://www.lynda.com/portal/columbiaand log in with your Columbia ID for access to a ton of in-depth tutorials.

  As always, if you have questions, please email us.

  Thanks,

  - DM Fellows -
  dmfellows@jrn.columbia.edu

Greetings from Alice!

As we get moving into 2010 and the spring semester, the Alice! Health Promotion Program (part of Health Services at Columbia) is happy to have you as a part of our dynamic university community.

In our office we work to support your efforts at achieving personal and academic success. To assist we offer a myriad of programs and services. Check out the following:

A! Sleep getting optimal sleep can be challenging throughout one’s lifetime. We’ve just launched a new website where you can complete a personalized sleep assessment (with individualized instant feedback), resources, and tools to help you enhance your bedtime performance. Alice! & Health Services at Columbia are committed to helping you achieve a good night’s rest so that you stay healthy and perform at your best!

CU Move is a free online exercise motivation and tracking program that offers the University community an opportunity to learn about, design, and record personal fitness activities. Many people make a plan to be more active in the New Year – let Alice! help keep you on the path to success.

Go Ask Alice! is the leading health question and answer Internet resource for college students with an archive of over 3,000 in-depth responses to questions sent to Alice!’s inbox. If it’s on your mind, it’s probably on Go Ask Alice! You can also sign up to “Get Alice! in Your Box” – our once weekly update of what’s new on the site.

Stressbusters are teams of students who deliver neck and back rubs to the Columbia University Morningside campus. You can get them for free at select CU public events, and you can bring them to your organizations, residence hall, school, or office. Every Wednesday during the semester you can drop into the Wien Hall Lounge from 4-5pm for a stress break and receive a brief neck and back rub. Stressbusters will be back in action beginning January 28th. Look for Stressbuster events in other locations throughout the year. Check out the Calendar and the Stressbusters website for more information.

Alcohol Self-Assessment Interested in learning more about your own drinking? Take a short self-assessment to assist in understanding your use of alcohol and connect to resources that support lower-risk alcohol consumption and support your academic success!

Helpful Resources

Alice! Health Promotion Program

Health Services at Columbia
Related Q&As from Go Ask Alice!

Stress, anxiety, and learning to cope
CU Move — Columbia’s online exercise motivation and tracking program
Why can’t I stay awake in class?

What kinds of alcohol are best for health?
How Go Ask Alice! works

We wish you success in all your ventures this semester. Here’s hoping that 2010 will be filled with health and joy.

Alice! Health Promotion Program

108 Wien Hall

alice@columbia.edu

CUPID, Columbia University Partnership for International Development is looking for new members! We hope you consider joining us.

CUPID is a student-led organization established in 2004 across graduate schools at Columbia University to facilitate multidisciplinary dialogue, awareness, and action on international development. CUPID is officially recognized by the Interschool Governing Board.

Our first meeting, open to all graduate students, will take place January 25th at 8 pm. To find out the location and get involved please join our list serve: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cupid/Join.html

CUPID sponsors forums, development dialogues, an annual conference, community development projects and many social events to provide students with the opportunity to learn about international development and actively contribute in this area. Our annual conference will be held on February 12. This year’s title is ?Health: A Universal Dialect(ic) Elections to join our Board will take place in March 2010.

For more information visit CUPID’s website, our blog and find us on Facebook:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cupid/index.html

Please email asc2162@columbia.edu with any questions.

Dear Public Safety Friends,

Public Safety Crime Prevention will be engraving & registering laptops & other electronics with the NYPD & CU Public Safety tomorrow (Wednesday) 1/20/10 from the hours of
11AM - 2PM, Law School 1st floor in front of room 103.

A unique Police number is engraved on the property and will be registered with the NYPD & CU from New York to California including Alaska & Hawaii.

This is a FREE & very effective program that has helped in the recovery of lost or stolen property. In a most recent recovery, the NYPD arrested an individual who was in possession of stolen property belonging to one of our Doctors at the Medical Center, thanks to our Operation ID Program.

Also available will be:

FREE NYPD Blue Light program- Same as above except invisible ink is used & can be viewed with a special police light. Excellent for Cell Phones!

Kensington Ultra Laptop Locks- Discounted- Special pricing for Columbia University only.

PC or Mac Phone Home Stolen Laptop recovery program. Down load it from the CUIT website, FREE for students, faculty and staff. www.columbia.edu/acis/software/pcphonehome

Not needed for down load- Note down your computer’s serial number or Mac Address, keep it in a safe location. In the event of a theft, this will help speed up the recovery process. The link above will show you how to get this information.

For more information please call 212-854-8513.

News21 2010
Brave Old World: Aging America
Faculty: Professors Paula Span and Duy Linh Tu

Few demographic shifts will strike our country with as much force as the aging of our population. To choose one illustrative statistic: The number of American over 95 has jumped 60 percent – to 435,000 – just since the 2000 Census.

Medical advances have given our elders more years of life, but not necessarily healthy ones. Most will need long-term care for an average of three years. Yet the national programs that support them in old age date to 1936 (Social Security) and 1965 (Medicare); they were never designed to cope with so many people reaching such advanced ages and requiring so much help.

Our News21 fellows will report on both the public aspects of this change, the way government policies and the American economy are adapting or failing to, and the private dramas, since families bear the greatest share of responsibility for senior care. We’ll use a panoply of storytelling techniques and tools: long-form writing, interactive graphics, audio and video, photography, social media, all fed by energetic, in-depth reporting. We will require professional-level work and emphasize journalistic innovation. We’ll also work hard to draw our work to the attention of national media outlets, advocacy and research organizations, policymakers and the public.

Who should apply? Fellows will have strong skills in one or more of the above formats, and will want to develop them further by applying them to meaningful stories. They’ll work individually with experienced editors and digital producers; they’ll have travel budgets that allow them to follow projects where they lead; they’ll have a chance to collaborate with fellows on seven other campuses around the country. Think of News21 as a post-doc grant, one fewer than 100 journalism graduates in the U.S. will receive.

The News21 program begins in late May and runs through the end of July; fellows will receive a $750 weekly salary for 10 weeks. To prepare, they must also attend a weekly no-credit course for 10 weeks, beginning in March and meeting Thursdays from 2 to 4:30. It will incorporate speakers, reading and discussions about aging, to help fellows develop and focus their reporting projects; it will also include advanced digital media training. We’ll require no assignments except those that allow fellows a running start, so that they can begin traveling, reporting and working as soon as the summer program starts.

Applications for News21 2010 open at 7 a.m. on Monday, January 25 at http://www.formsite.com/columbiaspj/news21

The application closes at 5 p.m. on Monday, Feburary 8.

We’ll notify fellows of their selection by February 22.

Apartment Alert:

Headed to Columbia this semester? Don’t have a place to stay yet? All you want to do is sublet my convenient-to-Columbia apartment from mid-January or early February 2010 (right as the spring semester is starting) through early or mid-March 2010 (which should give you plenty of time to find a longer-term lease).

My sun-flooded, 600-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment is renting for $400/week from mid-January or early February through early March. The sublet dates, like my travel plans, are flexible. The price includes high-speed wireless Internet access and the use of spanking-new appliances (a stereo, dishwasher, washer/dryer combo, refrigerator, and gas stove).

Skylight? Check. Clawfoot tub? Check. Asian furniture and Buddha sculptures and silk pillows and plants bursting with green health? You got ‘em. There’s a little bedroom balcony where you can survey Sugar Hill, this historic part of Harlem. It’s quiet (without TV, with respectful neighbors, on tree-lined 158th Street and Edgecombe Avenue, bordering Highbridge Park). It also happens to be gorgeous (see attached photos).

The immediate neighborhood is convenient in that my building is feet away from a bus stop, one block from the subway, two blocks from the library, and three blocks from the grocery store.You can zip to Columbia in 15-20 minutes by traveling four stops on the train…or you can take a leisurely two-mile walk downtown, rambling along the Hudson River.

If you’re interested in subletting, have questions, or would like to see more photos, please email me by Friday, January 15 at the latest and tell me a bit about yourself. I plan to finalize the sublet by Friday, January 22 (a week before I may head off to India on assignment as a journalist).

Thanks!

Molly M. Ginty
Columbia J-School Class of 1996
212-531-1679
mollymaureen@juno.com

Dear J-School Community,

As you know, Claudia Castillo has left Student Affairs to assume her new responsibilities as Assistant Director of Academic Affairs.

Susmita Saha has just joined us as the new Student Services Coordinator.

Susmita has an MA in Higher Education Administration from Columbia Teachers College and a BA in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin.

Her work in higher education includes coordinating the placement of students in summer clerkships at the Columbia Law School, working as a graduate recruiter for the University of Illinois-Springfield, and serving as an international student adviser at Eastern Michigan University. Before graduate school, she worked as a policy analyst for the Illinois Senate.

Please join me in welcoming her to the Student Affairs team.

From Dean Huff, Asst. Dean of Students

The Add/Drop period for M.S. students begins January 8 at 7 a.m.

During this period, students may request a change of classes.

Students may no longer lobby professors for spots in their classes. Add/Drop is handled on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please note that this is only a REQUEST and we cannot guarantee your request will be accommodated.

On each Add/Drop request form you may request to add one class AND drop one class.

It is possible to simply fill out the “Add” or “Drop” portion if you are a PT, MA or KB student not looking to switch, but merely to add or drop a class.

The Add/Drop request form will be available as of 7 a.m. on Friday, January 8. Additional information on the Add/Drop request process is listed below. Please read it carefully before submitting a request form.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ADD/DROP REQUESTS:

The Add/Drop period Friday, January 8, at 7 a.m. to Friday, January 29, at 7 a.m.

Add/Drop forms are processed on a first come, first served basis.

If your form is submitted correctly you will receive a request confirmation e-mail within 24 hours. Please remember to include the @columbia.edu after your UNI.

You will NOT receive an e-mail from our office saying that your request was granted or not granted.

To learn if your request was granted, you must keep checking your class schedule on the web using STUDENT SERVICES ONLINE. All requests remain on file during the add/drop period.

You do not need to submit multiple forms for the same Add/Drop request. If I am able to grant requests I do it as soon as possible but sometimes it takes days for a space to open in a class. Sometimes the space never opens up. In most cases, if you want to add a class I have to wait to see whether someone else wants to drop it.
Please remember that you are submitting an Add/Drop REQUEST.

There is no guarantee that I will be able to approve your request. Until you see a change reflected on your class schedule on STUDENT SERVICES ONLINE, your request has not been approved.

I will NOT drop you from a required course unless I can get you into the course you have requested. If you have more than one preference, you may for a given course, in the notes section of the Add/Drop form, indicate so. Simply complete the add portion of the form with your first preference and in the notes section give me the same info about your second, third, etc., choices. You must include the call and course numbers if you indicate other preferences in the notes section.

Please be certain that you are not requesting a class that conflicts with any of your other classes. You may only have ONE class that meets on a Monday/Tuesday and ONE that meets on a Thursday/Friday. Requests not in accordance with this rule will be ignored.

And finally, remember that if you are requesting to add a course, you are also probably planning to drop a course. DON’T forget to request to drop the course and please do it on the same form you use to request a class.

The only way I will be able to approve most requests is by knowing which courses will be dropped by students.

SAMPLE FORM BELOW (information is fictional)

Program/Contact Information (information below is fictional)

Your Name: SUSIE J-SCHOOLER

PID: C000213126

E-mail: sjs2009@columbia.edu

Phone: 917-123-4560

Program: FT Master of Science

Concentration: Newspaper (M.S. students only)

Stabile: No

Please enter the details of the course you would like to ADD: (information for completing this section is at the Directory of Classes - see instructions at the top of the add/drop form)

Class Number: J6000; Section Number: 20; Call Number: 81350

Title: Covering Fish

Class Type: Seminar

Class Days: Monday/Tuesday

Please enter the details of the course you would like to DROP: (information for completing this section is at the Directory of Classes - see instructions at the top of the add/drop form)

Class Number: J6000; Section Number: 16; Call Number: 72241

Title: Reporting on Snails

Class Type: Seminar

Class Days: Monday/Tuesday

ADD/DROP FORM - http://fs8.formsite.com/cjdos/AddDrop

FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND
333 East 46th Street, Suite 1K
New York, NY 10017
(212) 370-1054
ATTENTION: FOREIGN GRADUATE STUDENTS OF JOURNALISM

The Foreign Press Association is offering a minimum of three scholarships to foreign graduate students of journalism in the United States, one for $10,000.00, one for $7,500.00 and the other for $5,000.00. The awards are meant to encourage the pursuit of a career in journalism focusing on international affairs.

Applicants must:
Submit a one page statement of purpose about why they feel they deserve a scholarship. Indicate if financial aid is needed. List all scholarships and fellowships you have received towards your studies in the United States.

2) Submit an OP-ED article (maximum 750 words)
In Chris Anderson’s new book,”Free: The Future of a Radical Price” he states that newspapers need to accept that content is never going to be worth what they want it to be worth and they will need to reinvent their business. “Out of the bloodbath will come a new role for professional journalists,” he predicts. “There will be more of them, not fewer, as the ability to participate in journalism extends beyond the credentialed halls of traditional media. But they may be paid far less, and for many it won’t be a full time job at all. Journalism as a profession will share the stage with journalism as an avocation.”
As a student of journalism, how do you relate to this hypothesis?

3) Present proof of enrollment in a Graduate program of Journalism.
4) Submit two letters of reference:
a) from a current professor (DEAN SREE’S NOTE: if you can’t get a reference in time, include a Fall class evaluation)
b) from an editor you have worked for.
5) Submit only two samples of published or broadcast work. If work is in a foreign language, please send it with an English translation.
6) Submit a curriculum vitae. Outline your previous experience in journalism and academic background.

Five separate copies (collated) of all submissions must be sent.

The awards will be presented at the Annual Awards Reception in May 2010.

Submissions must be received no later than December 30, 2009.
EXTENDED DEADLINE: Monday, Jan. 11, 2009 (you have to till the end of the day to get it downtown; but if you bring your package by noon to Dean Sree’s office, we’ll send them all together by messenger).

Send to:
Suzanne Adams
FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION SCHOLARSHIP FUND
333 East 46th Street, Suite 1K
New York, NY 10017
Phone: (212) 370-1054

The Foreign Press Association, founded in 1918, is the oldest foreign press organization in the United States. We have a current membership of over 500 representing print, broadcast and photographic media from 55 countries.

Dear M.S. students,

We are nearly done assigning students to classes and wanted to give you an update on where things stand:

We hope to have your spring class lineup available in SSOL (https://ssol.columbia.edu/ ) by Saturday, December 19. We have made every effort to accommodate as many students as possible in courses, but as happens every year, everyone doesn’t get every first choice. Some classes had 35 or more first-choice ballots.

Add/Drop will begin at 7 a.m. (EST) on January 8 - http://fs8.formsite.com/cjdos/AddDrop/index.html . Add/Drop is processed on a first-come, first-served basis, so if you would like to try to get into a class for which you’re not enrolled, you’ll want to make your decisions by the first week of January. That said, a number of spaces become available in certain classes after the semester begins on Jan. 21.

We will be offering an additional section of the Feature Writing elective, which will be taught by Prof. Christopher Scanlan. (This is in addition to Feature sections taught by Profs. Span and Lehmann-Haupt.) Those interested should submit an Add/Drop form for the course.

We have made some adjustments in the City Newsroom workshop so students will work on two sites rather than three. That means one site will focus on Brooklyn another on the Bronx; we won’t do Queens. The Brooklyn site will be overseen by Profs. Michael Shapiro and Michael Hoyt. The Bronx site will be overseen by Connie Rosenblum, former editor of the New York Times’ City section, and Prof. Elena Cabral. Each site will have approximately 15 students in the Monday/Tuesday section and 15 in the Thursday/Friday section. We will email a questionnaire sometime in early January to gauge enrolled students’ interest in which borough they want to cover, which media they are most experienced in, etc.

We now have a few additional spaces open in Prof. Crist’s Personal & Professional Style. If you would like to switch to this seminar, please fill out the application at http://fs8.formsite.com/cjdos/PPStyle by January 8.

To accommodate demand, we are planning to offer an additional section of Flash skills. It will be populated with students who requested Flash via the ballot.

At this point, we do not expect to offer the Wednesday Business and Economics Reporting elective. Most of those students are being accommodated in one of the Business seminars taught by Profs. Herman and Mitchell-Ford.
Best regards,

Deans Huff, Grueskin, Muha and Sreenivasan

Dear Students,

The Business School’s cross-registration system ( http://www3.gsb.columbia.edu/crossreg ) goes live tomorrow at 10 a.m. It closes at midnight on January 8.

The link will provide you with information on the available classes as well as an enrollment application.

On January 14, I will notify those Journalism School students who apply with a decision.

For M.S. students, the Business School class would be taken in lieu of your Wednesday elective. An outside course meeting on any day other than Wednesday will require special permission from your seminar or workshop professor.

For M.A. students, this class would be the second of your two electives (Corporate Finance is your first).

Please let me know if you have any questions.

MH

Dear Students:

I suspect some of you, like me, have been caught off guard by the cold and find yourself in sudden need of warm accessories.

Here are some stores close to campus recommended by staff & faculty:

Sree Sreenivasan:
The only store I know close to the campus is Paul’s Shoe Repair (don’t ask!), on Broadway between 112th St & 111th St. It’s a tiny store that sells hats, gloves, scarves, etc. I just returned from a quick trip there with a woolish hat ($5) and gloves ($8)
Hours: 8:30 am-6 pm, I believe. Phone: 212-865-3508

Sue Radmer:
-Liberty House, a women’s clothing store, for more stylish &
colorful accessories.
-A sidewalk vendor outside Liberty (though I’m a traitor to both
Liberty and Paul’s for mentioning this).
PS — the repair guy at Paul’s is a wizard.

Ruth Padawer:
You might also recommend Housing Works, a non-profit nice-quality used-clothing store
on Columbus Ave between 74th and 75th (and in dozens of other
locations around the city) that uses its proceeds to fight AIDS and
homelessness. You can get great, cheap stuff there, and help others while doing so.

Room in a great apartment near the University.

I would like to offer a room for rent in my apartment. Available Jan. 1. Here are the details.

Room in large lovely apartment near main campus (120th St.). Room has queen bed and work desk, ample closet space. Doorman. High ceilings, full of light. Broadband. Share kitchen. $1050. Contact jcd35@columbia.edu or call John at 202 362 9226.

The Society of Professional Journalists, in its mission to improve and protect journalism, is always looking to honor exceptional and extraordinary students who are pursuing a career in the profession, and the dedicated educators who teach them. We do so annually with two programs: the Mark of Excellence Awards <http://www.spj.org/a-moe.asp> and the Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award <http://www.spj.org/a-teaching.asp>.

*Mark of Excellence Awards* <http://www.spj.org/a-moe.asp> The future of journalism is in your hands, and your collegiate pursuits are accomplishments that should be recognized. Nationally recognized, in fact.
SPJ honors great student journalism with its annual Mark of Excellence Awards <http://www.spj.org/a-moe.asp>. The awards offer categories for print, radio, television and online collegiate journalism.

*NEW THIS YEAR:* Entrants can submit work online <http://awards.spj.org/>.
The new format allows you to submit easily and efficiently.

The contest is open to anyone enrolled in a college or university in the U.S. studying for an academic degree in 2009. SPJ members may enter for $9.
The non-member fee is $18. Contest rules and categories are here<http://www.spj.org/moe-categories.asp>
.

*The deadline is Jan. 27, 2010*. Visit the SPJ Awards site for more information and to enter.
The awards are open to all student journalists, so please feel free to share this information with your friends and professors. If you have any questions, contact Awards Coordinator Lauren Rochester at (317) 927-8000 ext. 210 or awards@spj.org.

*Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award*<http://www.spj.org/a-teaching.asp>
This award <http://www.spj.org/a-teaching.asp>, made annually, honors a journalism educator and recognizes outstanding teaching ability, contributions to journalism, journalism education and contributions toward maintaining the highest standards of the profession.

Nominations are open and encouraged from students, former students, colleagues and department heads, as well as professionals in the field.
There is no fee to nominate someone. Click here for the submission requirements <http://www.spj.org/a-teaching.asp>.

*All nominations and supporting materials must be postmarked by March 18,
2010.* The honoree will be recognized at the 2010 SPJ Convention and national Journalism Conference, Oct. 3-6 in Las Vegas.

Good luck!

Karen Grabowski

Society of Professional Journalists

Tuesday, December 08, 2009
• WNYC Radio Show
On The Media presents Bob Garfield’s Chaos Scenario

Bob Garfield
The media are collapsing. Newspapers. Magazines. TV. Radio. Everything. On the Media co-host Bob Garfield explains why it’s happening, and how the Internet might – but probably won’t – replace what is lost for audiences, advertisers, Hollywood and society.
The yin and the yang of mass media and mass marketing–so marvelously, mutually sustaining for 400 years–have decoupled. The digital universe that pried them apart is itself a marvel, shifting power from the few to the many and altering human behavior not to mention economies, on a grand scale. The question for business–as well as government, religion, science, politics, academia and every other institution hitherto operated from the top down–is what to do now.
Bob Garfield, co-host of On the Media, spent more than four years, and explored five continents, seeking answers along the way. Beginning in a Denmark cow pasture, he roamed from Estonia to Australia, Israel to England, Montenegro to Brazil, California to Conshohocken, PA., trying to locate the pathways out of chaos. Along the way, he contrived what he calls the art and science of Listenomics, a set of principles for taking advantage of the very power shifts that so threaten The Powers That Be. His terrifying and entertaining tale is meant to help you sort it all out.
Brooke Gladstone will moderate a discussion at the end of the event.

The Greene Space at WNYC
44 Charlton St. (at Varick Street)

Tickets $10 at wnyc.org/thegreenespace

Students: Here is an invitation for some of you to have a peek at the Thomson Reuters headquarters here in New York City. Details follow, including email address for registering. Note: Space will be capped, so DO NOT signup for this if you are not completely certain you will attend. If you register, get a spot and don’t show, you will be keeping someone else from attending.

On-Location: Thomson Reuters
Tuesday, December 8th
5:30 to 7:00 pm

Calling aspiring journalists! Don’t miss a rare opportunity to tour the ultra-modern Times Square headquarters of one of the world’s leading news information sources. An early pioneer in digital media, last year Reuters Group joined forces with The Thomson Corp. The result is a news and information power-house that leads the way in financial, legal, scientific, healthcare and media coverage and maintains a strong worldwide reach with offices in 93 countries.

Mike Stepanovich, managing editor
Alisa Bowen, SVP, head of consumer publishing
Keith McAllister, global editor, Online
Jim Impoco, enterprise editor

Space is limited; register early
Student On-Location

For location and to register: info@cencom.org

Dear Journalism Students,

The evaluation system (https://courseworks.columbia.edu/) for students to provide feedback about their classes will be live for the Fall 2009 semester on Monday, December 7, 2009.

RWI and MA Seminar in Discipline professors will be scheduling lab time for you to complete these. If you are not enrolled in either of these courses, please complete all your evaluations on your own. The deadline for completion is Monday, January 18, 2010.

Your role in providing feedback via course evaluations is of vital importance to the Journalism School. The information is used not only by future students to make informed balloting choices but also by faculty to evaluate their syllabi and to refine their practices and by the administration to make curriculum decisions and assess professor performance.

Course evaluations are one element in tenure, promotion and contract decisions; they can affect professors’ careers at Columbia.

We ask that you take your time and seriously reflect on your learning experience as you provide an honest answer to each question.

Please note, we have no control over the system once the deadline has passed. Every semester students contact us after the deadline asking to fill in the form or to make edits to their evaluations, and there is nothing we can about those situations. Please be certain to complete all evaluations by the, Monday, January 18 deadline.

You do not have to complete all the forms in one sitting. However, once you begin working on the form for a given class you must complete and submit it before exiting the system. Partially completed forms are not stored.

Please be aware that professors won’t have access to your evaluations of them until after they have submitted their grades and evaluations of your performance.

Between Monday, December 7 and Monday, January 18, you will receive reminders for each evaluation that you have yet to complete. These automatic reminders are generated by the CourseWorks system.

Thank you for your assistance.

Questions to dos@jrn.columbia.edu

David Shipley: Covering Conflict
Wednesday, December 2, 6:30-8pm
World Room, Journalism Building, 3rd Floor
2950 Broadway

A conversation with DAVID SHIPLEY, op-ed editor at The New York Times. He also served in the Clinton Administration as Senior Presidential Speechwriter and was the executive editor of The New Republic Magazine. Moderated by Mark C. Taylor, Chair of the Department of Religion.

Co-sponsored with Columbia Journalism School and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.

All events are free and open to the public. No tickets, no reservations required. For more information, please visit http://ircpl.org

The American Language Program (ALP) offers part-time courses to broaden and improve your mastery of spoken and written English, at intermediate and advanced levels of proficiency.

Our 3-point and 6-point programs help students to develop grammatical accuracy, pronunciation skills, fluency, listening and reading comprehension, and writing ability. We also offer special fluency and pronunciation classes that meet two hours per week (enrollment is limited).

Before registering for part-time courses, new students must apply online by December 24, 2009.

View the Spring 2010 schedule online.

Advising
For guidance on course offerings and registration, please attend one of the below advising sessions. No appointment necessary.

• January 13, 2010, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., 208 Lewisohn Hall, Columbia campus
• January 14, 2010, 12:00-6:00 p.m., 208 Lewisohn Hall, Columbia campus

For more information about our part-time and intensive English courses, please click here.

NEW STUDENTS

New students taking only ALP English classes and new students enrolled in Columbia degree programs who want to add an ALP class must:

1. Apply online
The application fee will be waived for students currently registered at Columbia University.

2. Take the English Placement Test online by January 8, 2010, 5:00 p.m.
This test is for placement purposes only and does not signify certification or completion of any English learning level. This is not necessary if you have already taken ALP ECT – English Certification Test.

Tuition exemption may cover the cost of these courses for Columbia University employees, but students are responsible for any fees. Please contact your departmental administrator or the benefits office to inquire about tuition exemption.

CONTINUING STUDENTS

Continuing ALP students should register by contacting in the ALP office at alp@columbia.edu by December 24, 2009. In your email, please include your full name, your UNI, and the course.

For other inquiries, please contact:

American Language Program
Columbia University
School of Continuing Education
203 Lewisohn Hall
212-854-3584
alp@columbia.edu

Greetings colleagues:

Alice! is currently recruiting students to be a part of our team with a stress and coping intercept interview process.  Please share the information below with students that may be interested.

In health,
Michael

Qualitative Research Opportunity - Alice! Health Promotion Program

What:  Be a part of a team of qualitative researchers investigating how students cope with stress at Columbia. 

When:  Fall 2009

Details:  You will be trained to conduct brief intercept interviews on the Morningside campus.  Intercept interviews will take place weekdays.

Time commitment:  1 hour of training & a minimum of 5 hours of interviewing students.

Compensation:  $50.00 Barnes and Noble Gift Card

This is a great opportunity to build your research skills.

Email Susan Hochman sh2537@columbia.edu  for more information and/or to apply.

Move with Alice!

Why wait until January?  You can resolve now to be active through finals, the holidays, and into 2010.  Being active can give you the momentum you need to power through the rest of the semester and coast into winter break. If you need a boost to get started, consider joining CU Move.  As a reward for your effort, you can earn shirts, water bottles, music gift cards, and more. Beyond these great incentives and countless health benefits, physical activity can help you improve concentration, increase energy levels, and relieve stress.    

CU Move is an exercise motivation and tracking program that offers the University community an opportunity to learn about, design, and record personal fitness activities using an online, interactive tool. Participants set individual exercise goals and record progress on their personalized exercise journal. CU Move is free and open to all Columbia students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Progress is measured according to the number of minutes a user spends exercising. The goal is to spend at least 100 minutes per week doing physical activity.

Helpful Resources
CU Move
Alice! Health Promotion Program
Health Services at Columbia
Dodge Fitness Center

Related Q&As from Go Ask Alice!

Exercise motivation… for stress reduction
No time for working out
Fitting exercise into a busy schedule
Exercise for people with physical disabilities
Health benefits of yoga

Wishing you a strong finish to a successful semester.
Alice! Health Promotion Program
108 Wien Hall
alice@columbia.edu

__________________________________
Michael P. McNeil, MS, CHES, FACHA
Interim Director, Alice! Health Promotion
Health Services at Columbia

212-854-5453
mm3117@columbia.edu

Downstate NY Coordinator, The BACCHUS Network
Ask me about affiliating! 

Alternate IATF Liaison, ACHA

Audio from Spring Class Preview, Friday, Nov. 13, 2009:
http://qtstreaming.jrn.columbia.edu/lectures/2009/springpreview1113.mov

Ballots go live at 8 p.m on Friday, November 13 are now live!!!! See link below.

Welcome to the Spring Ballots for M.S., and Knight Bagehot Students

Please carefully follow the instructions below.

1. First, please read the Spring Curriculum thoroughly. Some information has been added and some changed since the document became available.
2. You may read students’ evaluations of many of the classes and professors at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/journalism/evaluations/. You will have to log in using your UNI and password.
3. Please select from the list below the ballot option that best describes your status.
4. To complete the ballot you will need your Columbia e-mail address and PID (If you have lost your PID, please refer to http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2005/11/14/faq-how-do-i-find-my-pid/)
5. The ballots are NOT handled on a first-come, first-served basis. As long as you make the deadline (Tuesday, November 17, 8 a.m.) you have equal standing with all other students.
6. If your ballot is received after the deadline, you will be placed in classes on a space available basis.
7. If you made a mistake or changed your mind, please resubmit your ballot. Your most recently-submitted ballot as of the deadline (Tuesday, November 17, 8 a.m.) will be the one processed.
8. If you experience any problems using the ballot, please send e-mail to dos@jrn.columbia.edu
9. Please note we cannot promise students they will gain a seat in any specific class.
10. Students continuing with the Master’s Project will be automatically registered for it.
11. Students may only take one class that meets on Monday/Tuesday and one that meets on Thursday/Friday. This means that if your seminar is on a Monday, your workshop has to be on a Thursday/Friday. Or if your workshop is on a Thursday or Friday, your seminar has to be on a Monday or Tuesday.

Please answer all questions carefully.
Spring 2010 M.S. Ballot

Dear Students (M.A. & M.S.)

The Columbia Business School plans to post their list of Spring 2010 Business School courses available for cross-registration on December 10.

The B-School web-based cross-registration system will allow you to see what’s available and to enter your cross-registration requests online, beginning December 11 at 10:00 am. The deadline for students to submit their requests is midnight, January 8. The B-School will then look at all the requests from all the schools, and let the J-School DOS office know how many seats we can have for our students in each course by January 14. We will then notify you if you will be able to have a spot in your class of interest.

It is very important that M.S. students ballot for Journalism School electives of genuine interest to guard against the possibility that you aren’t able to get into a Business School course. Please note that priority is given to M.A. Business discipline students for cross-registration spots.

Business School courses begin on Wednesday, January 20.

SPRING SEMESTER PREP (updated several times a week)

Spring 2010 Curriculum is now live at http://bit.ly/columbiajspring2010

Here’s the schedule for Spring Semester Prep - events and dates to help you prepare for the Spring Semester. All the information will be available electronically, but you are encouraged to attend any events/briefing sessions you can. Please note we are offering events on a variety of dates and times. All this is subject to change, so please check back often.

Deans Sreenivasan and Huff will be available throughout October and November to discuss your options and help you plan for the Spring, as are your RWI professors, who serve as your advisers the rest of your time here.

PLEASE NOTE: Most of this is aimed at M.S. students, but others are welcome to attend. The M.A. and Ph.D. curricula are more standardized and similar to the Fall ones, thus requiring little prep.

• We expect to have the Spring 2010 M.S. curriculum available on Friday, November 6. Until then, you may refer to this link to get a sense of what we will likely be offering: Spring 2009 M.S. Curriculum
• If you want to check out evaluations of past spring classes, go to https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/cu/journalism/evaluations/index.html

All dates can be imported into your Google calendar via bit.ly/columbiajschool

• Tues, October 20, 1:30-2:30 p.m., Stabile Student Center: Spring prep meeting with the Deans: focus on Spring Semester questions and dealing with Fall RWI mid-semester and final evaluations.
• Monday, October 26, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Stabile Student Center: Spring prep meeting with the Deans: focus on Spring Semester questions and dealing with Fall RWI mid-semester and final evaluations.
• Tuesday, October 27, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Stabile Student Center: Spring prep meeting with the Deans: focus on Spring Semester questions and dealing with Fall RWI mid-semester and final evaluations.
• Wednesday, October 28, 8:15 a.m., Stabile Student Center:BOOK WRITING SEMINAR - Preview & Application Instruction session with Prof. Sam Freedman. .
• Wednesday, October 28, 5:30 p.m., Stabile Student Center: CITY NEWSROOM - Preview session with Prof. Michael Shapiro
• Thursday, October 29, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Stabile Student Center: COVERING RELIGION SEMINAR- Preview & Application Instruction session with Prof. Ari Goldman and Dean Melanie Huff.
• Monday, November 2, 5 p.m.: Applications due for Covering Religion; Personal & Professional Style
• Tueaday, November 3, 5:00 p.m.: INTERNATIONAL NEWSROOM SEMINAR- Preview session with Prof. Ann Cooper
• Tueaday, November 3, 5:30 p.m.: RADIO WORKSHOP - Preview session with Prof. John Dinges
• Thursday, November 5, 6-7 p.m., Stabile Student Center: CONSUMER JOURNALISM information session.
• Friday, November 6: Spring 2010 M.S. curriculum announced
• Friday, November 6, 5 p.m.: Applications due for Investigative Project (non Stabile)
• Monday, November 9, 8:45-10 a.m., Stabile Student Center: Breakfast with the Deans - Please join Dean Lemann and other deans for an informal opportunity to share your thoughts about the school, the Fall and Spring curricula (MA, MS, PhD) and anything else on your mind. Get some coffee or breakfast at Brad’s and join us.
• Monday, November 9, 12:15- 1 p.m., Stabile Student Center: MAGAZINE WRITING B information session with Prof. Stephen Fried
• Friday, November 13: Students notified of application results for Book Writing; Covering Religion; Personal & Professional Style; Investigative Project
• Friday, November 13, 4:00-7:30 p.m., Lecture Hall: Spring Preview Session - an evening when professors who teach Spring seminars, workshops and new electives are invited to present three-minute previews of their classes. Typically, most professors present and all M.S. students gather for this session. M.A. students interested in taking one of their two electives at the Journalism School are also welcome to attend to hear about the new electives. (M.A. students seek to add these courses via Add/Drop in January). Please note that only a handful of classes have individual briefing sessions (as listed above), so it is critical that you attend this large gathering.
• Friday, November 13, 8 p.m..: Spring Ballots go live; close Monday, November 16, noon You can submit ballots any time during that period - NOT first come, first served.
• Tuesday, November 17, 8 a.m..: Spring Ballots close.
• [ And don’t forget Lucille’s Ball, the annual J-School Holiday Party & Faculty Roast - in mid-December, date TBA - you absolutely have to be there!]
• Late December: Students will be registered for their Spring courses.
• December 20-Jan. 19: Winter Break; work on Master’s Projects for M.S. students (first draft due Tuesday, Jan. 19)
• January 8-January 29: Add/Drop period
• Wednesday, Jan. 20, 9:30-noon: ALL-CLASS EVENT: “Surviving & Thriving in the Spring Semester: Making the Best Use of Your Remaining Months at Columbia” - Mandatory for FULL-TIME M.S. students; others welcome. Presented by DOS Office and Career Services.
• Tuesday, January 19: M.A., and other University classes begin
• Thursday & Friday, Jan. 21 & 22: M.S. Workshops/Seminars begin

Also see:

FAQ: How do I switch concentrations?
FAQ: How do I take an outside elective?

TIP: In the Spring semester at J-School, I wish I had… (alumni tips)

Deans Sreenivasan and Huff are available throughout November to discuss your options and help you plan for the Spring, as are your RWI professors, who serve as your advisers the rest of your time here.


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