Alex  Kraus '07 wins national reporting award

Alex Kraus, a junior in the print journalism sequence, is one of nine winners of the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.

Kraus will travel to Japan and South Korea for 12 days this summer. The competition is sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation.

The competition attracted entries from nearly every state in the union. It was judged by a panel of journalism professionals and educators.

Other universities represented by the winners include Northwestern, Yale, American, Indiana and Illinois.

Summer interns

Here are the journalism and mass communications majors who served summer internships in 2006:

Sarah Bloom (’07), CNN; Cara Burton (’08), ABC News; Ashley Cassels (’07), Muze, Inc.; Megann Daw (’08), Chesapeake Home Magazine; Kelly Evans (’07) Reuters’ Washington Bureau; Kaylee Hartung (’07), NBC News; Emily Hulen (’08), Vanity Fair and Milton Glaser; Suzanne Humphries (’07), Jill Stewart; Alex Kraus (’07), USAToday.com;  Chris Lauderman (’06), The Times-Union, Jacksonville, Fl.; Alex Laymon (’07), CBS;  Pat McGlone (’07), The Baltimore Sun; Dargan McMaster (’08), South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and Chernoff, Newman, Silver, Gregory; Abri Nelson (’08), Fairfax County Times; Shelley Orman (’07), The Austin Business Journal; Jenny Ratzel (’07), Brides Magazine; Whitney Rothstein (’08), Beber, Silverstein & Partners; Marshall Rule (’07), Clear Channel Radio; Kate Shellnutt (’08), The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk; Bibeka Shrestha ('07), The Seattle Times; Yujia Song (’07), The New York Times, The Shanghai Daily; Britt Staniar (’07), Bloomberg News; Doug Sweeney (’07), The New Haven (Conn.) Citizen;  Kiltie Tompkins (’07), SNL Financial; Scott Voelker (’07), Street & Smith, Charlotte, N.C.; Megan Ward (’06), The Charlotte Observer; Stephanie Wiechmann (’07), NPR, Charlotte, N.C.; Kristi Williams (’08) WIBW-TV, Topeka, Kan.

J-students take on UVA business school

This year's participants were (from left): Kate Shellnutt, 08, Scott Voelker, 07, Nina Coolidge, 08, Kelly Evans, 07, Mary Childs, 08, Pat McGlone, 07, Chris Lauderman, 06, Kristin Evans, 06, Britt Staniar, 07, and Lizzie Newland, 06.

For the second consecutive year, journalism students at Washington and Lee University participated in a mock news conference with students at the University of Virginia's McIntyre School of Commerce. This year's event took place Friday, March 31.

 The W&L students researched three companies in advance but did not find out the "news" each would announce until they arrived in Charlottesville. They then quickly prepared questions to pose to the UVa students during each 25-minute news conference. At the end of the three events, four professionals critiqued the behavior of both sets of students.

J-alum, Rhodes Scholar returns to campus

Pat Lopes Harris, ’91, the university’s most recent and only female Rhodes Scholar, addressed new Phi Beta Kappa initiates March 8 in Lee Chapel.  To watch the speech click here.

Harris, until recently a staff writer with the San Jose, Calif., Mercury News, majored in journalism and politics at W&L. She was on campus Mar. 6-9 and lectured in journalism classes in addition to delivering her address, "Coeducation's Unfinished Business," to the Phi Beta Kappa/Society of the Cincinnati Convocation.

Her visit was also part of the university’s year-long Celebration of Women, marking the 20th anniversary of coeducation in the undergraduate division. For more information on the Celebration of Women, click here.

Lea Booth, '40, dies; former publicist, professor
Augustus Lea Booth, '40, W&L's first sports publicist and a former director of public relations and Journalism Department faculty member, died May 10 in Lynchburg. He was 88. Booth also served for nearly 30 years as executive director and president of the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges. He was a member of the University's Athletic Hall of Fame and received an honorary doctor of laws degree from W&L.
To read Booth's full obituary, click here.
 

2004 Summer internships

Nearly three dozen junior and sophomore majors spent the summer of 2004 as interns at newspapers, television stations and public relations agencies.

Most were with journalistic organizations, including: Tran Kim, a Pulliam Fellow at the Indianapolis Star; Ann Stewart Banker with Fox News in New York City; Beau Leitner with the Baton Rouge Business Report; Kaela Harmon with South Carolina Educational TV; and Allison Perry with WDBJ-TV in Roanoke. Three students secured news internships in other countries: Megan Zingarelli with CBS in London; Sreya Banerjee with Reuters in Manila; and Ethan Jameson with Associated Press in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Katie Howell, who graduated in June, won a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund copy editing internship and worked at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald.
Mass communications interns included: Leigh Anna Thomure with Edelman in McLean, Va.; Phil Walotsy with Fleishman Hillard in New York City; and Margaret Speasmaker with Turner South in Atlanta.

Internships are required for print, broadcast and business-journalism majors. They are optional for mass communications majors. Students must work at least 300 hours to receive three credits and keep a daily journal during the summer. In the fall, they submit the journal and a portfolio of their work; write a 10-page paper about their experience; and make an oral presentation to fellow students and faculty.

Student wins Pulliam Fellowship

Tran Kim, a junior print journalism major from Richmond, has won a Pulliam Fellowship to support a summer internship with The Indianapolis Star. Kim was one of 20 students chosen nationwide for the highly competitive internships.

Kim, a Vietnamese refugee, is interested in international journalism.

Richardson publishes article

“The People’s Right to Know: A Dangerous Notion,” by Professor Brian Richardson, has been published by the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. It appears in the latest issue, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2004).  The journal is read by media ethics scholars throughout the world. 

Department course approved for new foundations curriculum

Media Ownership and Control, a course taught by Knight Professor Edward Wasserman, has been accepted as part of  the university's Foundation and Distribution curriculum.

The undergraduate faculty approved the course by a voice vote Feb. 5. Except for a co-listed  State and Local Government class in the Politics Department, it is the first course in Journalism and Mass Communications the university has ever approved for its foundations curriculum.

 The university adopted the Foundation and Distribution  curriculum plan early in 2006. It succeeds the General Education curriculum. All Washington and Lee students are required to take approved courses in several areas to ensure they have a broad liberal arts education. They finish most of those requirements before beginning work in their  major. 

Second '04 alum named

Cox Rookie of the Year

Jake Trotter '04 has been named Cox Newspapers' 2005 Rookie of the Year.

Trotter is sports editor of  the Middletown (Ohio) Journal. Mehul Srivastava '04 was named Cox's 2004 Rookie of the Year for his work at the Dayton Daily News.

According to Trotter's award citation, he was recognized for a "wide range of leadership and creativity that has included improving copy desk and story production, launching new sports features and producing a five-part series on the 50th anniversary of the Middletown High School basketball team’s 76-game winning streak."

John X. Miller wraps up  visiting professorship

John X. Miller, public editor of the Detroit Free Press and a Washington and Lee alumnus, was on  campus Winter Term as the department's second Donald W. Reynolds Distinguished Visiting Professor.

Miller delivered a public address, "To Err is Human, To Correct, Divine," on March 15 to students and members of the university and local communities.

To read this speech click here.

To watch his speech click here.

Miller graduated from W&L in 1977 and subsequently attended law school here.

Miller's professorship was made possible by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named.

Helen Thomas,

Allan Sloan visit J-school

Helen Thomas, who has covered every president since John F. Kennedy as a White House correspondent, filled Lee Chapel Nov. 4 as keynote speaker for the Journalism Department's 40th Institute on Ethics in Journalism.

Thomas, who worked for United Press International for five decades and continues to write columns from Washington, received a standing ovation from students, faculty and community residents.  

Two days later, Allan Sloan, Newsweek's Wall Street editor, visited the department. Sloan met classes and delivered a public lecture on the state of the economy.

His visit was made possible by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which endows the department's business journalism program. 

Smith receives SPJ award
Hampden H. Smith, department head since 1989, was selected by the Richmond Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists to receive its George Mason for outstanding contributions to Virginia journalism.  Read his full remarks here.

Richardson, Abah
present research
Dr. Brian Richardson and Prof. Adedayo Abah presented papers in November at a conference in Britain held by the two largest academic bodies in communications. Abah's paper is on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Richardson's, co-authored with Dr. Louis Hodges, is titled "A Provincial Press in a Global Setting."

Hodges is inducted
into Va. Hall of Fame
Knight Professor Emeritus Louis W. Hodges is among the most recent inductees in the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. Also honored at the April Richmond banquet were W&L grads Lloyd Dobyns and Jim Wamsley.

Smith to give paper in Italy
Prof. Hampden Smith is to present a paper on media convergence at an international conference on New Directions in the Humanities in Prato, Italy, in July.

J-alums' work earns awards

Three journalism alumni were honored recently for their work. Washington Post Staff Writer Mike Allen (’86) won the White House Correspondents’ Association’s 2004 Merriman Smith Memorial Award for outstanding presidential coverage on  deadline. Allen won for his reporting of President Bush’s secret trip to Baghdad.

Michael Hudson (’85) shared a George Polk Award for his reporting in

Southern Exposure Magazine's "Banking on Misery" series. The series documented

how some Wall Street lenders target low-income and minority

consumers for predatory loans (click here to see story). The series also won a Laurel from the Columbia Journalism Review. 

In an Emmy Award won by ESPN’s SportsCenter, Henry Gola (’01) was recognized as a producer.

Wasserman
succeeds Hodges as Knight Chair
Edward Wasserman, a veteran reporter, editor and media CEO, is the new holder of the Knight Chair in Journalism. Dr. Wasserman succeeds Dr. Louis W. Hodges, the Knight professor since the chair was established in 1996 with a $1.5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. details

Richardson promoted
Dr. Brian Richardson has been named a full professor. He also is to become department head when he returns from his leave in the fall 2003 term.

Newspaper vet named to faculty
Doug Cumming, a veteran newspaper journalist and former Nieman Fellow,  joined the department in the fall. He is the numerical replacement for Prof. Hampden Smith, who began phased retirement in the current academic year. details

Second Reynolds grant means continued internship funding

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has renewed a three-year grant (see story below) to the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications to continue to offer fully paid student internships at leading news organizations and to bring distinguished business journalists to campus.

The award of $450,000, like the previous one, complements the work of Pamela K. Luecke, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning former newspaper editor who holds the Donald W. Reynolds Professorship in Business Journalism at the university.

The new grant will allow the department to fund up to 10 internships for students each summer and attract accomplished business journalists and high-level news executives to its campus for visits of up to a term.

This Spring Term’s Reynolds Distinguished Visiting Professor will be Richard D. Simmons, retired CEO of The Washington Post Co. and the International Herald Tribune. Simmons will teach a media management course. Simmons’ professorship is the third funded by the initial three-year grant.

 The new grant also will make it possible for students to go on field trips, attend business-journalism conferences, and take advantage of other opportunities to link to the profession.

“Thanks to the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation’s generous funding, Washington and Lee is becoming known as both a source of talented, well-prepared young journalists and a place where seasoned practitioners find an eager and appreciative audience among both students and faculty,” said Luecke. She noted that companies offering permanent jobs to business-journalism students include Dow Jones and Bloomberg.

The interdisciplinary business-journalism program draws upon other departments, including the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics and the W&L School of Law.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

Donald W. Reynolds Foundation Grant Expands Business Journalism
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, based in Las Vegas, Nev., has awarded a three-year, $453,000 grant to Washington and Lee University for student internships at leading news organizations and to bring distinguished business journalists to the historic campus.
The award complements the Donald W. Reynolds Program in Business Journalism at W&L and the work of Prof. Pamela K. Luecke, a Pulitzer-Prize winning former newspaper editor who holds the University's Donald W. Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism.
The grant will fund 10 internships for students each summer and attract accomplished business journalists and news executives to W&L's campus for visits of up to a semester. The grant also will make it possible for W&L students to go on field trips, attend business journalism conferences and take advantage of other opportunities linking journalism education to the news profession.
"This grant will demonstrate to our students that business journalism is an exciting, growing field and add momentum to our young program," said Luecke. "As we strengthen our connection to the news business and to first-rate professionals, we want Washington and Lee University to become widely known as a place to turn to for the best business journalists of the future."
Added Brian Richardson, a journalism professor and head of W&L's Department of Journalism and Mass Communications: "Washington and Lees unique combination of professional programs and its strong liberal arts tradition give us the potential to be the leader in business journalism education. The continuing generosity of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation means we are realizing that potential."
The interdisciplinary Reynolds business journalism program draws upon other departments in the University as well as in the Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics and W&L's School of Law.

Rowe Lecture focuses
on press and security

Mary-Rose Papandrea, Professor at the Boston College School of Law, delivered the first Charles S. Rowe First Amendment Lecture Sept. 29.

Papandrea's address, The Press and National Security in Wartime, was co-sponsored by the Journalism Department and Brian Murchison, Charles S. Rowe Professor of First Amendment Law at Washington and Lee's School of Law. Rodney Smolla, dean of the University of Richmond's law school, responded to Papandrea's address.

The program attracted an audience of faculty and students from the law school and Reid Hall. The Rowe Chair in First Amendment Law is named for its benefactor, Charles S. Rowe '45, retired Editor/Publisher of the Free Lance -Star in Fredericksburg. Rowe and his wife, Lee, attended the lecture.

Artwick’s textbook set for July publication

Professor Claudette Artwick's new textbook, Reporting and Producing for Digital Media, will be released in late July 2004. As the newest addition to Blackwell Publishing's Media and Technology series, the book integrates sound journalistic perspective with the skills needed to research, report, write, and present news in a world of digital and converging media. For more information on Prof. Artwick’s book, click here

Ryan at W.Va. station
Jon Ryan, '90, is the new executive producer for WSAZ in Huntington/Charleston, W.Va. The station goes live from newsrooms in both cities for its evening newscasts. His wife is Amy Hatcher Ryan, 91.

Media General CEO
discusses industry
J. Stewart Bryan III, chairman and chief executive officer of Media General, says combined newspaper-television ownership improves a market's news coverage. details

J-grad wins
Watson grant
Agnes Flak has been awarded a prestigious Watson fellowship for study of the plight of displaced persons in seven countries. (details)

N.Y. Newswomen name Hovey
top wire reporter
The Newswomen's Club of New York named Hollister H. Hovey, '00, best new wire reporter in its 2003 Front Page Awards. Hovey covers the pharmaceutical and biotechnology beats for Dow Jones Newswires.
     The Wall Street Journal  has published many of her stories. She beat out reporters from the A.P., Reuters and Bloomberg for the award.

Smith gets 3d Fulbright,
to spend a term in Albania
Prof. Hampden Smith is to begin his phased retirement in 2004 teaching at the University of Tirana in Albania. His previous Fulbright lectureships were at Russia's Moscow State University in 1992 and at the American University in Bulgaria in 1996-7.