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

READ CAREFULLY - Graduation Tickets

Graduation tickets are now available.

Each graduate receives four tickets for the Journalism School Graduation Ceremony & four for the University Commencement. If you need more tickets, please arrange to trade with other students. Graduates don’t have to use a ticket for themselves.

To receive your tickets you MUST do TWO things.

1. Complete the graduation survey at http://fs7.formsite.com/cu_jschool_careers/gradsurvey2009/

The survey is used to create a class directory (both your class list serve and the alumni database), employment statistics and a database of employment information indicating the types of position openings in which you are interested. This is very important in determining how we can better help graduates find the best jobs as quickly as possible, and how the school can help make that happen by also collecting feedback on career services.

You willingness to allow career services to circulate your resume is also indicated on the survey.

2. Submit a NEW copy of your resume electronically with the survey. The resume should indicate that you have graduated and include up-to-date contact information. It will be used by the Career Services Office to assist you in your employment search.

You may pick up your tickets from Claudia Castillo in room 2M07A (mezzanine) once you have completed your online graduation survey AND submitted your updated resume. Ms. Castillo will verify receipt of the survey and have you sign for your ticket envelope containing both sets of tickets.

The survey can done 24/7, but Ms. Castillo is available for ticket pick-up/resume submission from 9 am-5 pm only. If you are a part-time student and it is impossible for you to come in, you may contact her (cc2964 or 212-851-0246) about having tickets mailed. Survey receipt verification is still required.

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.

Graduate and undergraduate students, studying at American colleges and universities, who aspire to become foreign correspondents, are invited to apply for one of twelve $2,000 scholarships to be awarded by the Overseas Press Club Foundation.

Winning an OPC Foundation scholarship is more than a cash award. Winners are invited to join the Overseas Press Club family. They are encouraged to network and keep the organization informed of their career moves. From among the scholarship winners, the Foundation also selects up to six scholars and pays travel and living expenses for them to intern at foreign bureaus at such leading news organization as the Associated Press and Reuters and foreign English-language media like Cambodia Daily and the South China Morning Post. In many cases, winning a prestigious OPC Foundation award has helped launch careers.

The judges require that applicants submit a Cover Letter, Resume and Essay. The applicant’s name and school should appear at the top of each page. The Essay of approximately 500 words should concentrate on an area of the world or an international issue that is in keeping with the applicant’s interest. It can be in the form of a story, news analysis or essay. Recent winners have written on such diverse topics as playing black jack on the Trans-Siberian Railroad, political activism in Morocco, and social upheaval in China. Applicants are also encouraged to submit essays showing a strong understanding of, or interest in, global economic issues such as trade, finance, emerging markets, immigration or environmental impacts.

The Cover Letter should be autobiographical in nature addressing such questions as how the applicant developed an interest in this particular part of the world, or how he or she would use the scholarship to further journalistic ambitions. The judges respond well to applications showing strong reporting skills, color, and understanding or passion.

Winners will be contacted in December so that arrangements can be made for them to attend the Foundation Scholarship Luncheon in February 2009 in New York City at the Foundation’s expense. Recipients are expected to attend.

Applicants do not have to be US citizens.
Applications may be sent by mail, fax or email. Please choose one. Email is preferred (Word or PDF).

DEADLINE: Monday, December 1, 2008
Email: foundation[at]opcofamerica.org
Fax: 201-612-9915
Mail: William J. Holstein, President, Overseas Press Club Foundation, 40 West 45 Street, New York NY 10036
Website: www.overseaspressclubfoundation.org

For more information, contact Jane Reilly, Executive Director, at foundation[at]opcofamerica.org or call 201-493-9087.

The Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize launches today, endowed by Benjamin Franklin House Chairman John Studzinski, leading banker and philanthropist. According to Studzinski, “Benjamin Franklin is one of history’s great figures. While he made lasting contributions in many fields, his first passion was writing. He believed in the power of the written word to inform and stimulate debate as the bedrock of a democratic society.”

Each year a question exploring Franklin’s relevance in our time will be open for interpretation in 1000-1500 words by two groups: young people and professional writers. The winner of the Young Writers Prize will receive £500 while the winner of the Professional Writers Prize will receive £1000 plus publication in a leading British newspaper. Entries for 2008 must be received before 15 October. Judges of the young people’s award will include professional writers; judges of the professional writers’ award will include young people. Winning submissions will be posted at www.BenjaminFranklinHouse.org.

For nearly sixteen years between 1757 and 1775, Franklin lived at 36 Craven Street in the heart of London, England. He is one of history’s great polymaths - a diplomat, patriot, scientist, inventor, philosopher and more. He was one of the first American journalists, writing prolifically not only on politics and foreign affairs, but on science, the arts and humanity. In 2006 his Georgian home opened to the public for the first time as a dynamic museum and educational facility. See www.BenjaminFranklinHouse.org.

2008 Theme

What is ethical journalism? Benjamin Franklin said the effects of the written word (delivered by press in his day - in ours by a variety of media) “are more extensive, more lasting.” What are journalists’ responsibilities and why?

Submissions

* Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize - Young Writers Award: Entrants must be 25 or under.

* Benjamin Franklin House Literary Prize - Professional Writers Award: Entrants must be professional writers

Entries of 1000-1500 words must be sent by 15 October to info[at]benjaminfranklinhouse.org. Each entrant is asked to provide their name, address, and telephone number. In addition, entrants for the Young Writers Award should provide their age and place of study, if applicable, while entrants for the Professional Writers Award should provide a CV. Entries can be articles or essays published over the preceding year. For more information contact Alice Kershaw at Benjamin Franklin House, 020 7839 2006 or email info[at]BenjaminFranklinHouseorg.

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, etc., may have changed.

Highlights - when certain classes begin:

September 2 (week of):

• M.S. RWI staggered schedule: Those students whose classes meet on Mondays, will meet on Tuesday. Tuesday classes will meet on Wednesday and so forth.
• Section 1 of Critical Issues [Klatell and Tucher] begins on Wednesday night, September 3, at 6 p.m., in the Lecture Hall. The second class will meet on Friday, September 12, at 12:30 p.m., in the Lecture Hall (the regular class time).
• Skills: Sections 15 (Photo Skills with Smock) & 20 (Radio Skills with Welby/Karr) – see http://web.jrn.columbia.edu/students/Skills_web3.html
• Regular Schedule [as it appears in SSOL] for PT Intro to TV; M.A. classes (see alternate room list in the orientation folder you receive tomorrow); Broadcast for SIPA students; Knight Bagehot & PhD classes

September 8 (week of):

• RWII Electives (except in cases with direct communication from the professor about alternate date); The Literature of Non-Fiction; Friday Critical Issues [first regular day/time class]; Friday Law; Wednesday Law; Thursday Critical Issues; NY as a Foreign Country; Social Impact of Mass Media

September 12:

• Add/Drop Period ends: 7:00 a.m. [ http://deanstudents.blogsome.com/2008/08/21/memo-adddrop-instructions/ ]

For Fall M.S. Master’s Projects: your advisers will be in touch about when classes meet. Many meet on Friday afternoons, but some don’t; the advisers will let you know.

For class times and locations for everything else, you need to go to http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/ and click on “J” and then on “Fall 2008.”

Questions to dos@jrn.columbia.edu

Dear Students:

We invite you to start filling out your Journalism School online student directory. This directory, which is accessible only by current students, faculty and staff, is a great networking tool - and is separate from the class Facebook group (which we hope you will continue to use).

The information you enter in this web directory will then be transferred to the print student/staff/faculty directory, which you will receive in the fall.

We ask that you complete filling out your profile by Aug. 1 - the entire process should take no more than five minutes.

The link to the directory is: http://cujs.photobooks.com

Once you have logged in successfully *both* times, you will be directed to the home page of the directory. On this page you will find the *edit my profile* link. Please click on that link to start filling out your profile.

You will have to upload a current, high-resolution, JPEG picture of yourself. We ask that you submit a basic headshot photo, similar to a passport photo.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Message from LynNell Hancock, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs

Dear Students and Colleagues:

I am pleased to announce three major additions to our new media
efforts at the Journalism School.

The first is the appointment of one our most popular adjuncts, Duy
Linh Tu, to the full-time faculty. Duy (pronounced “Do” - see bio
below) joins us as new media coordinator and an assistant professor of
professional practice. As you know, he has been teaching here for
several years in the new media classrooms. He will intensify his
efforts to “webbify” our fall classes, and to integrate new and
compelling ideas in multimedia storytelling throughout the curriculum
in the years to come. Duy will continue to work with Dean Sree
Sreenivasan, who, as you know, has increased administrative
responsibilities at the school.

In addition, we have created two new post-graduate New Media
Fellowships starting this year. These July-June fellowships will
employ two students who will work closely with the technology staff to
help students and professors alike navigate the world of new media
journalism.

Our inaugural fellows are Kenan Davis and Dave Mayers (see bios
below). Part-teaching assistants, part-technologists, this year’s
fellows are both smart journalists with terrific reporting, writing,
editing and production skills. They will report to Duy.

Please join me in congratulating them. Kenan and Dave officially begin
their duties on July 1, but I am sure you will have other
opportunities to greet them before then.

(more…)

From: Larry Fried, Asst. Dean for Technology

Dear Students,

Please make note of the following technology items as we approach the end of the academic year:

Equipment and Fines:

All checked out equipment should be returned no later than May 15th.

Equipment fines must by paid by May 16th or you may have a hold placed
on your diploma. If you wish to dispute a fine, please email Craig at
ch2314[at]columbia.edu.
(more…)

Come meet the new Student Services team!

All Ph.D students are invited to a fun and relaxing Chef’s Choice buffet at Faculty House on Tuesday, February 26, at 1 p.m.

Please RSVP to Evelyn Corchado at eoc11@columbia.edu.

FROM: Michael Hoyt, Executive Editor, Columbia Journalism Review

Dear students,

In 2004 Farnaz Fassihi of The Wall Street Journal sent an e-mail to friends and relatives about what it was like to be a journalist in Iraq. Somebody in the chain posted the letter on the Internet and it quickly went around the world. Among journalists the reaction was varied: some worried that an objective reporter had revealed too much; others thought the e-mail was dead on.

Meanwhile, something about the personal nature of the note communicated the reality of what Iraqis call “the situation” more forcefully than yards of standard prose. Here at CJR we wanted more, and for our forty-fifth anniversary issue we interviewed some fifty journalists who have covered the war. Out of their anecdotes and insights we have constructed an oral history of the war, the first of its kind, and we invite you read the issue when it comes out next week.

We also invite you to attend a panel discussion with five journalists who have covered Iraq on Thursday, November 2, from 7 to 9 in the lecture hall. These people have studied “the situation” closely, some of them for four years or more. They are:

Deborah Amos: Foreign correspondent for NPR and ABC News. Author of Lines in the Sand: Desert Storm and the Remaking of the Arab World.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Washington Post assistant managing editor, former Baghdad bureau chef, and author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

Ali Fadhil: A physician and translator. He has collaborated with journalists from The Financial Times, Time, The Guardian, People, The Observer, The New Yorker and NPR.

Patrick Graham: Canadian freelance journalist who spent a year with the Iraqi resistance in Fallujah. His work has appeared in The London Observer, Harpers and other publications

Chris Hondros: A prizewinning photojournalist whose work has appeared on the covers of magazines such as Newsweek and The Economist, and on the front pages of most major American newspapers.

We hope you can join us.

Mike

All graduating students should check out the following sites:

• Dean Huff’s End of the Year Manual
• Journalism School Graduation Information & Calendar
• Columbia University 2006 Commencement

Dear Students,

If you graduated in October 2005, February 2006 or will graduate this May, please check out the link at http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/graduation2006/Grad1.htm

This is the information we will be using for the graduation program and to plan the Journalism School event. If your name is missing or any of the information is incorrect, please send an e-mail to mgh2@columbia.edu immediately.

We are now beginning preparations for the printed graduation program and Journalism School graduation ceremony.

All those graduating in May 2006 and those who graduated in October 2005 and February 2005 are required to complete the graduation program form at http://fs8.formsite.com/cjdos/gradprogram.

Please note that this includes dual-degree students who are completing the Journalism portion of their degrees. You are eligible to march with your classmates even though you won’t receive your actual diploma until you have finished both degrees.

THIS IS A DIFFERENT FORM THAN THE ONE YOU SUBMITTED IN HARD COPY TO THE DEANS’ SUITE OR KENT HALL.

DEADLINE: Monday, April 3, 9 a.m.

Reminder: You can track all the Graduation events here:
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/students/graduation2006

Questions to dos@jrn.columbia.edu

Note from Joost van Dreunen, jv2108, aimed at fellow PhD students, but others might find it useful, too.

Instead of forwarding conference deadlines and ‘calls for papers,’
I’m sending you the necessary links to sign up for these
newsletters yourself. Please be aware that some will generate a lot
of daily messages. Here are the (non-videogame) ones I’m subscribed
to:

• DCC-Talk/NYU Forum
  http://forums.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/nyu.pl?enter=dcc-talk
  
• DCC-All/NYU Forum
  http://forums.nyu.edu/cgi-bin/nyu.pl?enter=dcc-all
  
• Call for Papers/U-Penn
  http://cfp.english.upenn.edu/
  
• Media Ecology Association (lots of yammering here)
  http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/mea

  Thusly I resign from spamming the phd mailing list with forwards