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

Dear Students:

As you may know, several confirmed cases of mild swine flu have been identified in New York City.

Columbia will follow the guidance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other appropriate agencies in fashioning the University’s responses to a matter of understandable public concern. Currently, there are no changes to University operations or activities based on these public health recommendations. The federal CDC has issued a recommendation to avoid non-essential travel to Mexico during this time.

The best thing everyone can do at the present time is to practice normal precautionary hygiene such as regular hand-washing. If you have flu-like symptoms, it is recommended that you stay home from work or school and avoid public activities.

Tips for Preventing the Flu:

1. Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.

2. Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or the elbow of your arm when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.

3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.

4. Get an influenza shot annually. The current influenza vaccine formulation is not protective against avian or swine influenza. However, a recent study suggests annual influenza immunization of the elderly has a cumulative protective effect, resulting in reduced mortality, particularly in older individuals.

5. Clean things that are touched often. Clean things that are touched often at home, work, or school like door or refrigerator handles, computer key boards / mouse, phone and water faucets.

6. Avoid close contact with others who are ill. Avoid holding, hugging or kissing anyone who has a cold or the flu.

For ongoing updates and more prevention tips, please visit:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/studentservices/preparedness/

University leadership continues to monitor the situation closely and will keep you informed of any developments that affect the CU community.

Additionally, if you are interested in monitoring updates on your own, the most recent information is available on the CDC website:

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/index.htm

Sincerely,

Samuel Seward, M.D.
Assistant Vice President
Health Services at Columbia

Attn: Graduating Students
From: Dean Huff
Re: Year-end Awards for M.S. & M.A. Students
April 22, 2009

Each year on Journalism Day the school confers awards on several top-performing students. Each prize winner will receive a certificate and some will receive additional cash prizes (this depends on how the awards were originally set up). Below you will find the descriptions of this year’s awards.

These awards are open to any M.S. students graduating in this cycle (May 2009, Feb. 2009 and Oct. 2008). Some awards are also open to M.A. students - noted in each award description.

There are two broad categories of awards: those for which students can submit entries that are judged by faculty juries; and those decided by the professors teaching the course for which they are awarded - no submissions are accepted for these.

Please note: There are two awards run and judged by alumni - the Sander and Blood awards, which have already accepted submissions.

Another prize, the Harron Award, is decided by a faculty committee from nominations provided by the J-school community - see separate announcement). All M.S., M.A., Knight Bagehot, and Ph.D. students are eligible.

For juried awards, you may submit applications for no more than two categories (the Blood, Hechinger and Sander awards are not part of the limit), and each application can contain only one story, or segment of a Master’s Project/Thesis no longer than 3,500 words (or 10-12 minutes of video or audio; for new media projects, submit specific URLs in addition to an overall URL, and printouts of the relevant pages).

The decisions of the faculty judges are final, and their deliberations are confidential.

If you are submitting an application for one of the juried awards, you must submit clean, hard copy (or broadcast materials, if applicable, WITH SCRIPTS, or for new media projects, submit specific URLs in addition to an overall URL, and printouts of the relevant pages) to the boxes in 2M07A (in the Career Services area) between Monday, April 27, at 10 a.m. and Monday, May 4 at 10 a.m. IN ADDITION, please e-mail copies of your submissions to cc2964@columbia.edu. If you are coming after business hours, please drop off the entries through the slot of the gray box outside of the DOS offices(Huff/Sreenivasan) PLEASE SUBMIT THREE COPIES OF EACH ITEM.
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American Medical Writers Association-NY

Join us in June for an informational workshop on publication ethics for medical writers and editors. Enjoy conversation with your colleagues across the industry, learn from our panel discussion, and weigh in during break-out groups. Please email Elizabeth Yepez, elizabeth.yepez@informausa.com, program chair, if you want to recommend a panelist. Keep an eye out for more details in our next email or fax.

2) Save the Date: Networking Lunch on Sat. August 22nd, 1pm

Have brunch with your writing buddies on the Upper East Side at Galway Hooker (http://www.galwayhookernyc.com ) at 1 pm on Sat. Aug 22. Space limited. RSVP details in our next email.

Members of Journalism School Community:

In 2008, following inquiries from the NYC Health Commissioner and changes to New York State law, Columbia University convened a tobacco workgroup to consider changes to the University tobacco policies. The group, made up of student and staff representative from 12 different schools and departments, has investigated best practices for tobacco policy on college campuses around the country. The workgroup has forwarded a set of recommendations, including a proposal to prohibit smoking in within the gated areas considered the core of campus. As a part of this policy consideration, we are soliciting feedback from students, faculty, and staff. We invite you to visit the following website to review the proposal (including maps and proposed designated smoking areas) and provide confidential feedback: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/studentservices/docs/smoking/index.html

In addition to providing comments via this website, you may also elect to attend one of the following four open forum feedback sessions:

· Tuesday, April 21, 2009 from 12:00 – 1:00pm in Lerner 477

· Friday, April 24, 2009 from 12:00 – 1:00pm in Lerner 568

· Wednesday, April 29, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:00pm in Lerner 569

· Thursday, April 30, 2009 from 5:00 – 6:00pm in Lerner 569

Following this feedback period, the proposal and community comments will be forwarded to University administration for consideration. A decision on the proposal is expected to be made during the summer of 2009. If you have additional questions or comments, please email Michael McNeil at mm3117@columbia.edu. Thank you in advance for your feedback.

WHAT: New Media Shot Documentary Film Screening
WHEN: April 21, 2009 (Tues). 6:30 to 9 PM
WHERE: Stabile Student Center, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism

Brooklyn Step (27 min)
Produced by Celina Canales, Dana Chivvis, Mariel S. Clark.
Description: The Brooklyn Tech High School step teams take time away from their school work, families, friends, and jobs to practice a dance they love.

My Life After Bear (10 min)
Produced by Chikodi Chima, Heather Grossmann, and Alan Haburchak
Description: In the aftermath of Bear Stearns’ collapse, a former employee shows the human side of the bank’s failure.

Debugging and Decluttering (4 min)
Produced by Karn Dhingra, Jacquelyn Kasuya, Ben Piven
Description: Frederick’s belongings are packed up and moved out by Magic Exterminating so that his studio apartment can be fumigated for bed bugs.

Hostage to Hoarding (4 min)
Produced by Karn Dhingra, Jacquelyn Kasuya, Ben Piven
Description: Having cluttered her East Village apartment for decades, ex-actress Fran begins to combat her problem.

Paliative Care (5 min)
Produced by Greg Emerson Bocquet, Gaia Pianigiani, and Paul Daniel Stephens
Description: In palliative care, there are good deaths and there are bad deaths. Hear the hospital team describe this aspect of end-of-life care.

Hunger (2 min)
Produced by Jamie Oppenheim, Parul Malik, Owen Kiben
Description: escription: Eric Johnson, the 44-year old luxury bus driver was laid off before Christmas. From having a respectable annual income of $54000, today Johnson and his wife have to do multiple rounds of food pantries. But they have not lost faith.

Rise of the Machines (4 min)
Produced by Nicole Breskin, Jenny Brown, and Jeff Otieno
Description: How bagel machines de-ethnicized the bagel and made it an American phenomenon.

Wheat Crisis Havoc (2 min)
Produced by Nicole Breskin, Jenny Brown, and Jeff Otieno
Description: How the wheat crisis hurt business for New York bagel bakers like never before.

Hoop Knight (26 min)
Produced by Collin Crowell and Chris Kieffer
Description: A short documentary film chronicling the nationally-ranked Mount Vernon Knights high school boys’ basketball team and the season it almost lost.

Two Rivers in DC (5 min)
Produced by Lina Ejeilat, Khalil Jetha
Description: Traditional Jazz meets Iraqi Maqam in Amir ElSaffar’s Two Rivers Concert at the Freer & Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C.

Rail Riders (9 min)
Produced by Eric Baliantz, Alex Lowther, and Meredith Melnick.
Description: An exploration of the contemporary freight train rider.

The Making of Rail Riders (2 min)
Produced by Eric Baliantz, Alex Lowther, and Meredith Melnick.
Description: A romp through the sand line with Team Hobo.

———————————————————–
Duy Linh Tu
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice
Coordinator, New Media Program
Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University
2950 Broadway
New York, NY 10024
P: 212.851.0791
F: 212.851.0751
E: dnt3@columbia.edu

The broadcast department invites you to a screening and discussion of four of the MS ’09 radio master’s projects.

akc24@columbia.edu

Summer 2009 Curriculum for Continuing Students (RWI information for new students en route)

MAGAZINE WRITING WORKSHOP (6 points; one workshop needed to graduate)
Day/Time: W 6:00pm-8:00pm
Location: 607A
Instructor: Cathleen McGuigan
First class: May 27
Last class: August 26

ELECTIVES (3 points; two electives needed to graduate)

Section 1
Narrative Writing
Day/Time: R 7:00pm-9:00pm
Location: 601C
Instructor: Kevin Coyne
First class: May 28
Last class: August 27

Section 2
Digital Newsroom for Non Digital Concentration Students (formerly known as New Media)
Day/Time T 6:00pm-9:00pm
Location: 511C
Instructor: Rebecca Leung
First Class: May 26
Last Class: August 11

JOURNALISM, THE LAW & SOCIETY (2 points; one required to graduate)
Day/Time: M 7:30pm-9:30pm
Location: 607B
Instructor: Roger Newman
First Class: June 1
Last Class: August 3

SKILLS OF THE JOURNALIST (1 point; one required to graduate)

Section 1
Digital Skills/Video
Day/Time: Saturdays (5/30; 6/6; 6/13; 6/20; 6/27) 10:00am-12:30pm
Location: 511C Journalism Building
Instructor: Kenan Davis & Dave Mayers

MASTER’S PROJECT (6 points; one required to graduate)
Elena Cabral
Kevin Coyne
Joe Cutbirth
Tami Luhby

You may ballot for one of these (or others whose names will be added here shortly and on the ballot) or you may reach out to other faculty with whom you are interested in working.
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Summer 2009 Planning Schedule
• Wednesday, March 4, 5:30-6:30 p.m.: Information Session
• Tuesday, March 10, 6-7 p.m.: Information Session
• Monday, March 23: Online Summer Survey opens
• Monday, March 30: Online Summer Survey closes
• Monday, April 6: Summer Curriculum posted
• Monday, April 13: Summer Ballot goes live
• Monday, April 20: Summer Ballot closes
• Monday, April 27: PT Students registered for summer classes
• Monday, May 4 – Monday, June 1: Add/Drop period for summer classes

Summer 2009 M.S. Master’s Project Schedule
• Monday, April 20: TV, Radio and New Media pitches by teams due
• Monday, April 27: Broadcast & New Media projects approved/assigned
• Week of May 4: First meetings with MP advisers
• Week of May 18: Second meeting with MP advisers
• Tuesday, May 26: Print project topic approval date
• Week of May 26: Summer classes begin
• Monday, June 29: First draft due
• Monday, July 27: Second draft due
• Friday, September 4: Final project due