TO: The MA Class of ‘10, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
FROM: Bill Grueskin, Dean of Academic Affairs
Welcome to the Graduate School of Journalism. You are about to embark on one of the most challenging years of your life. In the upcoming months, you will be expected to learn and hone the reporting, writing and editing skills that form the bedrock of incisive journalism, while also developing some of the specialized knowledge and technological acumen you’ll need to advance in our profession.
But before I get into the details, I want to offer you a word of congratulations. We were honored with the largest applicant pool ever last winter. You were admitted to this school after at least two, and often three or four, faculty and staff members read your essays, tests, transcript and clips. The fact that you made it here in this competitive year means that we have great confidence in your ability to succeed at Columbia and beyond.
You also have our admiration. This is a tumultuous time in journalism as the business models that have supported most news organizations are facing huge challenges. Despite that, it is clear that you share our confidence that new models will emerge, and that for those with creativity and courage, this is a time of tremendous opportunity for reporters to practice and distribute journalism in new and exciting ways.
Finally, the faculty and staff of this school believe, as we expect you do, that journalism is integral to a free, open and vital democracy. We want you to learn not just skills but values, not just techniques but the understanding of how a dynamic press fuels the transparency our society needs.
We will first meet as a group at the start of orientation on the morning of September 3, 2009. Between now and then, we want you to be aware of a few things you to think of doing between now and orientation. This memo also includes a summary of important school policies and procedures.
HOW THE SCHOOL IS ORGANIZED
Several departments at the school will affect your life here.
The Dean of Students Office will handle most of your day-to-day needs. This department, run by Prof. Sree Sreenivasan and Assistant Dean of Students Melanie Huff, includes admissions, financial aid and career services. Obviously, you’ve already run the gauntlet with the admissions department. If you have questions or concerns about your financial aid, you should contact The Office of Admission and Financial Aid in Room 203.
As the year progresses, you will hear more from Career Services, led by Ernest Sotomayor. This department is in close contact with employers and will help guide you through the process of identifying and qualifying for opportunities after you graduate.
You will be dealing quite a bit this year with Dean Huff. She oversees the balloting process for courses and also plays a vital role in helping students understand course points, navigate relationships with other schools at Columbia, and deal with school and university policies.
The Academic Affairs Office oversees the school’s curriculum, hiring of adjuncts and placement of faculty in courses. I am the academic dean, and am assisted by Prof. Laura Muha, who is assistant dean for faculty affairs.
The Technology Office, overseen by Larry Fried, handles issues associated with checkout and upkeep of our cameras, recorders and computers.
You may at some point come into contact with other assistant deans here, including Sheila Thimba, who oversees administration and budget; Elizabeth Fishman, who handles communications; Susan Shine, who oversees development; and Arlene Morgan, head of prizes and programs.
Finally, there’s Nicholas Lemann, the dean of this school. He is an accomplished journalist and author, and is also an instructor, teaching classes for M.A. and M.S. students and, like the rest of us, advising master’s projects and theses.
SCHEDULE
For M.A. students, the academic year begins on September 3, 2009. Plan to arrive at 8 a.m. on September 3 so you can get your ID cards. We’ll also have coffee and a continental breakfast on hand. By 9 a.m., we’ll ask you to head to join us for orientation. You must attend orientation. This is where you’ll learn everything from how to activate your computer account to how to use our electronic databases. There’s no makeup session for this.
The regular schedule begins on Tuesday, September 8.
Here is the roster of courses for the coming academic year:
FALL:
Seminar in discipline (arts, business, politics, science), 6 points
- Arts & Culture
Tuesday & Thursday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Room 202
Prof. David Hajdu
- Business & Economics
Monday & Wednesday
4:15 - 5:45 p.m., Room 709C
Prof. Sylvia Nassar
- Politics
Tuesday & Thursday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Room 607A
Prof. Alexander Stille
- Science
Tuesday & Thursday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Room 502
Prof. Jonathan Weiner
Evidence and Inference, 3 points
Tuesday & Thursday
2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Dean Nick Lemann
History of Journalism for Journalists, 3 points
Wednesday
10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Room 607B
Prof. Michael Schudson
Master’s thesis, 3 points
Prof - TBA
Outside Elective, 3 points
SPRING:
Seminar in discipline (arts, business, politics, science), 6 points
Master’s thesis, 6 points
Outside Elective #1, 3 points
Outside Elective #2, 3 points
MA THESIS
Summer is a good time to begin thinking about a topic for your thesis . The thesis is an ambitious work of journalism of about 10,000 words (or the equivalent in broadcast or digital-media projects). It offers you an opportunity to delve deeply into a subject and to make use of your growing expertise in your field of study to deepen your engagement with the issues raised by your topic. You will begin work on it when you arrive, and the first draft will be due on the Monday, Feb. 1, 2010, with the final version due on Monday, April 19, 2010. You should, therefore, try to find a topic that you want to spend months working on intensely. You should also think about a topic in and around New York City. Travel away from the city is difficult to fit in with course work, and of course is expensive. While we hope to have some funds available for this purpose, such funds are quite limited, so a topic you can do mostly from the NYC area is advisable. More information about the MA thesis may be found at http://snurl.com/n7gys
OUTSIDE ELECTIVES
This is a good time to begin the search for outside electives. The responsibility for finding the proper outside courses and securing admission to them rests with each MA student. Your seminar instructor and other faculty are happy to advise you in your search; but you must take primary responsibility. You will have room in your schedule for one outside elective in the fall. You should begin searching as soon as you have a clear idea what you think you want to study. Visit the Columbia Journalism School Web site (http://snurl.com/n7xtg) to see the procedures relating to outside courses and to find out how to explore what is available in different schools and departments. In some cases, classes at other schools may begin before they do at the Journalism School, so be sure to check calendar information carefully. Although we have publicized the MA program to Columbia University faculty members, some professors you approach won’t have a good idea of what it is. You must use the same skills to get into a course that you use to secure an interview with a difficult subject—be patient, explain what you want clearly, and be persistent. We have had great success so far, but our continued success in this area depends to a large degree on your own diplomatic skills. Detailed instructions for registering for outside courses may be found at the web address given above. Your outside courses must, of course, fit your schedule of other courses.
PLEASE NOTE: Students in the Business & Economics discipline take Accounting at the School of International and Public Affairs as their fall outside class. The available sections are listed below. Please send an e-mail to Evelyn Corchado at eoc11@columbia.edu to request let us know into which section we should register you. The sections do fill up quickly so please let us know ASAP.
- School of International & Public Affairs
U6200 section 002
ACCOUNTING FOR INT & PUB AFFRS
Call Number 91403
Day & Time: Tuesday & Thursday 4:10pm-5:40pm Location: To be announced
Points 3
Instructor Alan Brott
- School of International & Public Affairs
U6200 section 003
ACCOUNTING FOR INT & PUB AFFRS
Call Number 95954
Day & Time: Wednesday 6:10pm-9:00pm Location:To be announced
Points 3
Instructor Lee Errickson
SKILLS COURSES
M.A. students will be offered a special skills program on Fridays that will provide them training in digital photo, audio and some basic Final Cut Pro use. We encourage students who don’t already have these skills to take this program.
Below is some general information about the school and its procedures.
REGISTERING FOR CLASSES: You do not register yourself for Journalism School classes; we do that for you.
To register for your outside elective (a graduate-level, subject-area course offered by another school or department), please follow the instructions given at http://snurl.com/lmz4x under “registration details.” Please note that it is usually not possible to get the required approvals until the first week of school.
INTERNSHIPS: Students often express interest in doing internships during their time here at the J-School. While this is not forbidden, it is highly discouraged during the fall semester and encouraged with caution in the spring, because we feel strongly that your studies must come first. Our curriculum is intense and demanding, and students often underestimate the amount of time that it will take them to complete their coursework.
That said, some students do manage to juggle internships and schoolwork successfully, particularly during the spring semester. If you are interested in an internship, you should let Career Services know early in the fall; they will help you to identify appropriate opportunities and hone your applications. Please note that if you wish to receive credit for an internship – and many of the media companies that offer internships require this – your academic adviser must confirm to Career Services that you will be able to handle both internship and coursework. The amount of credit you can receive may be constrained by the 19-point limit; above that level you will face a significant increase in tuition cost). Read more on internships, and about Career Services.
AUDITING CLASSES: Students may audit classes in which they are not formally enrolled as long as the instructor agrees. Please keep in mind that most instructors expect student auditors to attend all classes and participate in all discussions. In addition, university regulations prohibit the instructor from editing or grading your work unless you’re formally enrolled as a student in the class. So before you approach an instructor for permission to audit, think about your workload, especially since you won’t have the benefit of formal feedback from the instructor.
GRADES: The Journalism School has a pass-fail system of grading, which we hope will encourage you to do your best here without making you feel as if you’re competing with your classmates. To give you a sense of your progress, you’ll receive a written evaluation from most of your instructors at the end of each term. Outside electives may be taken pass/fail if you indicate that on the approval form for the course. If at any point during the semester, an instructor feels you are not doing passing work, he or she will inform the Dean of Students Office, which will issue you a letter placing you on warning or, in more serious cases, on probation. The letter also will describe what you must do in order to be removed from disciplinary status. If you have not met the conditions of the probation letter and remain the end of the semester, you will not be permitted to register for the following semester’s classes or to graduate. Copies of all evaluations, warnings and probation letters are kept on file in the Dean of Students Office.
GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS: To graduate, you must successfully pass all required courses and accumulate at least 36 points. The faculty reserves the right to withhold a degree from any student deemed unworthy because of poor performance or unprofessional behavior.
CAUSES FOR DISMISSAL: Faking a story, making up quotes or plagiarizing constitutes grounds for instant dismissal. Students are not allowed to use work they do in one course for another course without the written permission of instructors in both courses.
E-MAIL: When we received your enrollment fee and you were logged into the university system, you were assigned a UNI (short for “university network identifier”), which consists of your initials plus an arbitrarily assigned number.
To activate your UNI, go to http://uni.columbia.edu/
Once your UNI is active, you can log into your Columbia e-mail here. (Your e-mail address is your UNI plus “@columbia.edu”; however, when entering your UNI into the system as a login, leave off the “@columbia.edu” and enter only the letter-number combination.)
All official communications from the J-School and the university will be sent to your Columbia e-mail address; if you wish them to go to another e-mail, you can set up your Columbia account to forward your messages electronically.
TUITION: Your tuition bills are issued by and paid directly to the university, not the journalism school. The university will send you an electronic statement at the beginning of each semester; you can also access it through the Student Services Online link on the university’s website. There is no need to worry if you have not received a tuition bill yet; the university tells us they won’t go out until Aug 10, with payment coming due on Sept 17. Information on payment options, plus access to your online account, can be found at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/sfs/
TECHNOLOGY: You can expect to use both a digital camera and a digital audio recorder while reporting stories for class and for our main student web site, http://columbiajournalist.org. We have this equipment on hand, so it is by no means mandatory for you to purchase your own; however, many students wish to do so. If you are considering this, please take a look at our technology guide for incoming students, where you’ll find suggestions for affordable equipment that interfaces smoothly with the rest of our technology. The guide also includes information on computers and laptops, as well as vendors who give discounts to our students.
DEAN OF STUDENTS BLOG: For one-stop access to information about all aspects of student life at the J-School, check out the Daily Plan-It, a blog published by the Students Affairs Office. On the blog, you’ll find special-event announcements; links to upcoming (and archived) chats and webcasts; transcripts of talks by guest speakers; housing resources; financial-aid information; technology resources; and links to the official school calendars – to list just a small portion of the information you’ll find here. Get into the habit of checking the blog regularly; in particular, we recommend that you read the “Prepping for the J-School” section on the blog.
ACADEMIC & EVENTS CALENDAR: For quick reference, here is a link to the page through which you can access (and import) the J-School’s master calendar.
SOCIAL LIFE: The Society of Professional Journalists, our student organization, organizes a wide variety of social activities, from movie nights and Friday happy hours to the annual Halloween party and the end-of-term faculty roast. Elections for SPJ officers are held in September. The 2009-2010 SPJ adviser is Prof. Duy Linh Tu. Here is a link to the SPJ calendar.
CLASS OF ‘10 FACEBOOK PAGE: Interested in getting to know some of your classmates before you arrive on campus? Join the Class of ’10 Facebook group
MISCELLANEOUS THINGS TO DO BEFORE ARRIVING ON CAMPUS:
