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

UPIU National Student Journalism Writing Contest!

Have your written voice heard by millions of viewers and build your portfolio.

What matters to you most at this critical time in your life? Submit a 400- to 800-word article on one of the following topics:

A key racial, gender or sexual issue either on your own campus or at another college across town or across the country

A controversial national political topic about which you have strongly held beliefs and possible solutions

An influential role model in a passionate field of interest—anything from sports to music, business to politics and beyond

The Prize
The grand-prize winner takes home:
$500 cash
An all-expense-paid trip to UPI’s national headquarters in Washington, DC to work with key UPI personnel and to have lunch at the National Press Club
An opportunity for international exposure and local press through a byline seen by millions of readers at upi.com

Judging Criteria
We actively seek op-ed submissions that include current facts relevant to your chosen topic; ask yourself:
Does it convey vital facts within an imaginatively told story?
Is it engaging, with clarity of purpose clearly conveyed?
Does it insightfully contribute to our understanding of your chosen issue or person?
Within these parameters, show us your brilliant written word!

Instructions
All submissions are due by Sunday evening, November 15th, with grand-prize and runner-up winners announced on December 11th.
Submissions are accepted through uwemp’s online system at http://www.uwemp.com/contest

Please submit any questions to contest@uwemp.com

The seasonal flu fairs at the Columbia Morningside campus are scheduled from October 6 through the middle of November. Journalism students, faculty and staff may attend any of the general flu fairs listed on the Health Services website. However, the first available and closest flu fair is Tuesday, October 6 or Thursday, October 15, both are at Lerner Hall. Please keep in mind that we’re currently finalizing event dates, times and locations. Therefore, we recommend checking our website regularly at www.health.columbia.edu.

For more information about the University’s plans and preparation for the H1N1 situation, please visit the Columbia Preparedness website.

Monday, September 21
The International Media, Advocacy and Communications Specialization
Brown Bag: Talk with Reporter Katharine Zaleski, who will talk about her recent travels around the U.S. for her reporting on the health care debate, the future of digital journalism and how to get a job in online media.
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 253

Here is the description:

Zaleski will talk about her recent travels around the US for her reporting on the health care debate, the future of digital journalism and how to get a job in online media.

This will be from 12:30-2pm in room 253 on the 2th floor of the International Affairs Building.
Katharine Zaleski is the Senior Editor at the Huffington Post who oversees special projects. Previously she was the Senior News Editor of the site, overseeing the front page from the month Huffington Post launched in May
2005 until May 2009. Previously, Katharine worked for CNN after graduating from Dartmouth College. She has appeared on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, CBC, Air America, BBC Radio as well as other media outlets.

To get to room 253, ignore the main bank of elevators and find the lone elevator next to the toilet and opposite the office of career services. Take that elevator down to 2, go through the forbidding door on your left and go right down the hall.

Below, a memo aimed at Master’s Project print advisers (broadcast and new media advisers; and those advising the MA Master’s Thesis received separate instructions).
(more…)

Dear Students,

Religious holidays are not official school holidays.

However, students may miss class for religious observances provided they notify professors in advance and make arrangments with them about making up missed work.
Observant professors may choose to reschedule their classes.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

THE VERITAS FORUM-EXPLORING TRUE LIFE

Conversation between Nicholas Kristof and Kaign Christy

Monday, September 21, 2009
Roone Arledge Auditorium– 8:00 pm, doors open at 7:30 pm

Fighting Modern-Day Slavery:

Two Activists Share Stories from the Trenches
In nearly every nation of the world women are enslaved within the multibillion-dollar sex trafficking industry. Thanks to writers and activists, their plight is being told and growing numbers are being set free. Come and hear a prize-winning journalist and attorney tell of their respective journeys into—and work within—the tumultuous world of front-line activism. Presentations by Nicholas Kristof and Kaign Christy, followed by a moderated discussion with J-school professor, Mirta Ojito, and audience Q&A.

Nicholas Kristof
The two-time Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The New York Times has reported on six continents and traveled to over 140 countries. Mr. Kristof’s heart is revealed in his columns in which he often draws attention to health, poverty and gender issues in the developing world—including his prominent reporting of the Darfur genocide. He and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn, have just released “Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” a book that documents the bravery of women around the globe who have survived sexual exploitation.

Kaign Christy
The Director of Operations for Southeast Asia at International Justice Mission, Mr. Christy is an attorney with years of experience advocating on behalf of modern day slaves—in particular, women ensnared in the international sex-trafficking industry. While stationed in Cambodia, he helped local authorities to arrest over 100 traffickers and rescue nearly 300 of their victims—actions that won him the Commander Medal of Sahametrei—the highest award given by the Government of Cambodia to foreign nationals for service to the nation of Cambodia.

Mirta Ojito

Ms. Ojito, now assistant professor at the Journalism School, earned her reputation as a newspaper reporter, first at The Miami Herald & El Nuevo Herald, and later at The New York Times, where she covered immigration, among other beats, for the Metro Desk. She has received numerous awards, including the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s award for best foreign reporting in 1999, and a shared Pulitzer in 2001 for a series about race in America. Her first book, Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus, was released in 2005.

For more information visit www.veritas.org/columbia

A public service announcement from the Virginia Dept. of Health:

GSAS workshops for September 14-18

Topics Covered: Strategic planning, student health insurance issues, successful fellowship applications, leading great discussions

Dear GSAS PhD students,

We hope we’ve planned at least one “survival skills” workshop next week that meets your needs. Please join us:

Tuesday, 4:00 p.m. in 301 Philosophy Hall
Strategic Planning for Completion of Your PhD
Tips and advice for successful completion of your PhD.

Wednesday, 3:00 p.m. in 302 Philosophy Hall
Wednesday Forum: Student Health Services: Q&A with CHS and GSAS Staff
New and continuing PhD students are invited to join us for good advice from Columbia Health Services and GSAS staff. Bring your questions!

Thursday, noon, in 301 Philosophy Hall
Teaching Center workshop: Leading Scintillating, Substantive Discussions
Come for lunch and great ideas for leading discussions that really engage students with their learning and each other.

Thursday, 4:00 in 301 Philosophy Hall
Writing Successful Fellowship Applications
Come get tips and advice on writing successful fellowship applications. Everyone welcome.

Friday, 9 to noon or 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. in 301 Philosophy Hall
Writing Room
Are you writing your dissertation? 301 is reserved for PhD student-writers. No conversations, no cell phones, no internet. Just write with other serious writers. You must be pre-registered as there is room for only 20 students per session. Arrive at the start (9 a.m. or 2:00 p.m.) and stay for the duration. We’re trying to write with limited distractions. (Multiple sessions each semester so you can find a day and time that works for your uninterrupted writing.)

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/calendar/ma_phd_events.html

Friday, 1:00pm in GSAS Teaching Center- 302 Philosophy Hall
Fellowship Consultation Walk-In Hours
Stop by 302 Philosophy for walk-in consultation. Bring your questions or completed essays and we’ll run them and give you feedback.

Want to see upcoming workshops? Want to pre-register for a session with limited slots:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/gsas/calendar/ma_phd_events.html

I (along with our GSAS PhD Office team Steve, Bidi, Salvo and Elizabeth) hope to see you this week at one of our sessions.

Jan Allen
Associate Dean for PhD Programs, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Columbia University
109 Low Memorial Library / Mail Code 4306

UWP Writing Center

The Writing Center is open to undergraduate and graduate students for one-on-one writing tutorial sessions.

The Writing Center can help you build your writing. Consultants who are graduate students from various departments, and have taught in the Undergraduate Writing Program (UWP) work one-on-one to help you become a better writer, thinker, and reader. The approach is to attend to both the short-term goal of improved papers and the long-term goal of improved writing, critical thinking, and reading skills.

The Writing Center is located at 310 Philosophy Hall (the first floor when you come in the main entrance) in the far-back right corner. Sessions are also held in Butler Library behind the reference desk on the third floor.

To learn more, visit: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/uwp/wc/main/main-page/index.html

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 September 25th. 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 September 28th.

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).

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

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

The Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWaG) invites graduate students to join us for an informational kick-off:

*~*~*IRWaG’s Grad Student Welcome & Cocktail Hour*~*~*

*Thursday, Sept. 17th, 2009*

*5:00 - 6:30 pm*

*The IRWaG seminar room, 754 Schermerhorn Extension*

COME for free food & drink; STAY to discover the resources IRWaG has to offer graduate students …

— to learn about fellowship and grant opportunities, workshops to enhance your research, and the Graduate Certificate in Feminist Studies …

— to see old friends and colleagues and meet new ones …

— and to share YOUR input for the 2009-10 programming at the Institute!

ALL graduate students interested in questions of gender and/or sexuality - of all stages, departments, and disciplines - are welcome. Come and join IRWaG’s diverse and interdisciplinary intellectual community!

—

The Institute for Research on Women and Gender Columbia University
763 Schermerhorn Extension MC5508
1200 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10027
212.854.1556
212.854.7466 (fax)
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/irwag

Dear Public Safety Friends,

Great News! Thanks to our consistent partnership with Kryptonite bike locks, our prices for our Kryptonite bike locks have just decreased. What does that mean for you….You receive our discount as well. Here are our new prices for Fall 2009:

Kryptonite U-Lock Krpto lock series 2 -$20 comes with a free bike lock holder.

The NY U-lock- $45 comes with a free holder & $3000 anti-theft insurance for the first year. Free key replacement. Must register with Kryptonite.

The NY Forgetaboutit 3.25 ft Chain- $70 comes with a $3300 anti-theft insurance. Free key replacement. Must register with Kryptonite.

Also Available:

Discount Kensington Ultra Laptop Locks- $30

Free Bike Registration with the NYPD & CU by appointment.

Bike locks & Laptop locks can be purchased at the following locations:

Morningside Campus Public Safety Operations, 9am -5pm,
Mon-Friday oom 111 Low Library

Medical Center Campus Public Safety Operations, 24 hrs
Room 109 Black Bldg, 650 West 168 Street

For more information please call 212-854-8513, CU Crime Prevention.

Thank you for continued help.

Ricardo Morales
Columbia University
Department of Public Safety
Manager Crime Prevention Programs
Crime Prevention Specialist
212-854-8513
www.columbia.edu/cu/publicsafety

Dear Columbia Colleagues and Students,

Greetings from Miller Theatre! As Columbia University’s performing arts producer, we are excited to tell you about the amazing performances in our 2009-10 season and about the discounts we offer to the Columbia community: CU student tickets are only $7 and CU faculty/staff receive 40% off single ticket prices. Click here to join our e-mail list—we will keep you up-to-date on new events and special offers.

Miller’s season launches this week with the Wordless Music Meets Miller Festival. This new series blends indie-rock with classical artists and opens tomorrow with 802 Tour. Recent collaborations with Wordless Music, including The Books and Wolfgang Voigt, were complete sell-outs, as were our genre-mixing concerts last spring featuring Christopher O’Riley playing the music of Nick Drake, Radiohead, and others. We’ve reserved a block of Festival tickets for CUID holders. Quantities are limited; make sure to get your tickets now.

Later this month, we collaborate with Works & Process at the Guggenheim to present The Blue Rider In Performance, exploring the dynamic interaction of music, light, and visual imagery using materials from Vasily Kandinsky’s seminal Blue Rider Almanac of 1912.

Throughout the season we’ll continue our four renowned music series: Composer Portraits, Jazz, Bach and the Baroque, and Early Music; the popular (free!) Lunchtime Concerts in Philosophy Hall, sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and supported by Columbia University School of the Arts; Campus Performers Partnership concerts that feature Columbia’s many talented student musicians and ensembles; and much more.

The entrance to Miller Theatre and the Box Office is on Broadway, just north of the main campus entrance on College Walk/116th Street. Visit www.millertheatre.com for more information and to join our mailing list.

I hope you will join us often this semester. Learn for yourself why Time Out New York magazine describes us as “one of the liveliest musical institutions in New York.”

Sincerely,

Melissa Smey

Director

Miller Theatre

116th Street & Broadway

Phone: 212-854-7799

www.millertheatre.com

Box Office Hours: M-F, 12-6PM

Dear Public Safety Friends,

PC Phone Home for Windows, Vista & Mac is now available for FREE download directly from the CUIT Website, for Students, Faculty & Staff.

Free down load is available for department / personal computers and laptops.

Please follow the instructions on this link to down load. http://www.columbia.edu/acis/software/pcphonehome/index.html

Not needed for down load, please keep your computer’s SERIAL NUMBER or MAC ADDRESS written down in a safe location. This is will speed up the process for recovery.

PC Phone Home & Mac Phone Home is a software that can help the Police & CU Public Safety locate lost or stolen computers anywhere in the world once reported by the owner.

We strongly recommend that departments who have not done so, and have their own IT technician, should make sure they down load this software to their department computers (desk tops & laptops).

This software has been very successful in aiding Public Safety & the Police locate reported lost & stolen computers.

Big Public Safety THANK YOU to CUIT Engineering, CUIT Network Security and CUMC IT for making this happen.

For more information on PC & Mac Phone Home please call:

CUIT 212-854-1919 (Morningside)

CUMC IT 212-305-HELP (Medical Center)

CU Public Safety Crime Prevention 212-854-8513

Thank you for your continued help

Ricardo Morales

Manager Crime Prevention Programs

Columbia University

Department of Public Safety

212-854-8513

www.columbia.edu/cu/publicsafety

Speaking at my workshop on web tools, BusinessWeek columnist Arik Hesseldahl, J’97, praised Evernote as a useful note-taking tool for journalists. Turns out, it’s #1 on this list from Mashable.com of 15 Essential Web Tools for Students:

For much of the world, it’s that special time of the year when students head back to school. The good news for students is that even though that means waking up early and doing homework, there are a number of web-based and social tools to help you get through the school year. From staying organized to improving study habits to making sure you reference your research sources properly, the web can help you be a better student.

See the full list.

- Dean Sreenivasan

RSVP required for event below.

———- Forwarded message ———-
Subject: Re: UNODC - Nicholas Kristof Book Release&Signing - Open Event
15thSept09

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) cordially invites you
to join us for an exciting panel discussion and booksigning featuring New
York Times Pulitzer Prize winning authors/journalists Nicholas Kristof and
Sheryl WuDunn, UNODC Goodwill Ambassador/Academy Award winning actress
Mira Sorvino, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UNODC, and
others. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will deliver opening remarks.

The panel discussion is on Tuesday, 15 September 2009, from 1:15-2:45
(with Q&A) in the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber, immediately followed by
a booksigning in the bookshop.

The focus of the panel discussion will be human trafficking and other
issues affecting women that are featured in the highly anticipated soon to
be released book “Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For
Women Worldwide,” by Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn.

Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn are the first married couple to win
a Pulitzer Prize in journalism; they won for their coverage of China as
New York Times correspondents. Mr. Kristof won a second Pulitzer Prize
for his op-ed columns in the New York Times. He has also served as bureau
chief in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo, and as associate managing editor.
At the New York Times, Ms. WuDunn worked as a business editor and a
foreign correspondent in Tokyo and Beijing.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is the lead UN agency
fighting all forms of human trafficking. UNODC works with governments,
the private sector, and NGOs to combat human trafficking by raising public
awareness, engaging in preventative activities and enhancing the capacity
and skills of criminal justice professionals and policymakers. UNODC is
the guardian and custodian of the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and
Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. In 2007,
UNODC launched UNGIFT, the UN Global Initiative to Fight human
Trafficking.

This event is open to the public with advance registration.
To attend please email Monasebian[at]un.org

Dear Students:

A reminder about the Fall Academic Schedule.

Please be sure to check your schedules at least once a day on SSOL [ https://ssol.columbia.edu/ ] for a couple of weeks - days, rooms, times, sections, etc., may have changed. This is true even if you did not submit an Add/Drop request form.

If you are having difficulty figuring out the start date for your classes based on the way the information displays in SSOL, please refer to http://web.jrn.columbia.edu/students/Fall09.htm It includes exact start dates for all fall courses except for FT RWI, the Master’s Project, and the Master’s Thesis.

Also, please remember that there are no excused absences from skills class. You must attend all five sessions to pass these classes. If you are ill and cannot attend a session, we will work with you to get you moved to another skills class.

Questions to dos@jrn.columbia.edu

MH