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| In Brief Apprenticeship program takes shape The opportunities for SJMC students to gain valuable, hands-on experience have increased with the launch of the school's new apprenticeship program. When the fall semester starts, five magazine students and three news/Internet students will work as paid employees for 15-20 hours a week for two semesters at either Meredith Corporation or The Des Moines Register. In addition to gaining real-world experience, the students will attend a weekly classroom session and earn two hours of credit. The Meredith apprenticeship program was made possible by a generous gift from the company and is coordinated by visiting assistant professor of journalism Angela Renkoski, herself a former Meredith editor. Former Register reporter, copy editor and assistant city editor Jill Van Wyke, JO'85, now the SJMC intern coordinator and instructor of journalism, oversees the Register apprenticeship program. The program expands on traditional internships by adding a classroom component in which coordinators assist in training the students and help them deal with challenges that come with the process, giving students a chance to apply what they learn in the classroom immediately. With the apprenticeship program, The Register and Meredith will gain more continuity than a semester-long internship can provide, as well as a faculty member to act as a liaison. Students get more in-depth feedback and earn academic credit while working a part-time job that contributes to their career development. " It benefits the whole school," says Renkoski," because in your junior year you're eligible to go work at one of the top five publishing companies in the country - right here in Des Moines." Meredith impact continues after E.T. Meredith's passing In February, the SJMC mourned the passing of E.T. "Ted" Meredith III. Meredith was the grandson of Meredith Corporation founder E.T. Meredith and was one of three generations of Meredith family members to serve on the University's Board of Trustees.The Meredith family and Meredith Corporation have had a profound impact on the SJMC for decades. Most recently, the E.T. Meredith Family Foundation endowed $500,000 to the school's magazine center, which has been newly christened the E.T. Meredith Center for Magazine Studies. This brought the foundation's total endowment to the center to $1 million. Meredith Corporation also recently pledged to donate $100,000 a year to the SJMC over the next five years, in part to establish an apprenticeship program. At a Journalism Day luncheon in April, honoring the enormous impact of both the Meredith family and Meredith Corporation on the school, the SJMC presented the family with a plaque bearing a special message and the SJMC students' signatures. The plaque read in part: "We benefit every day from the generosity of Ted Meredith and the Meredith family. Some of this support is obvious - excellent computer labs, scholarships, magazine publishing opportunities, faculty development, internships at Meredith Corporation and the expanding resources of the E.T. Meredith Center for Magazine Studies. " Less obvious, but more important, are the personal, ethical and moral standards that are Ted's legacy. His commitment to quality journalism and his support of employees were a model of journalistic and personal integrity. We will carry the benefits of Ted's wisdom and leadership into the future." Pulitzer Prize-winning alumnus speaks at Drake Tom Hallman, JO'77, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, visited campus in April while appearing in Des Moines as the first speaker in the Public Library of Des Moines' AViD: Authors Visiting in Des Moines program. Hallman spoke to a joint journalism class taught by Kathleen Richardson and Bob Woodward. Hallman won his Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles in The Oregonian on a Portland-area resident and his lifelong struggle to deal with a vascular anomaly, a large growth that covers the left side of his face and neck. The series generated more than 10,000 letters from readers. Hallman was a Pulitzer Prize finalist twice before and has received nearly every major writing award for journalism. Des Moines Register columnist Rekha Basu wrote about Hallman's appearance on campus, reporting that the self-described "average guy" told students how he received an "F" on one assignment, got fired from a copy editing job in New York and quit another journalism job three days into it before drifting into bartending.But, as Basu wrote, "The average guy is a king of his craft. " And that was the subtext to his talk to students, as it is to his book. ... Forget about what you don't have. Take what you do and carve a niche out of it." SJMC celebrates Journalism Day The School of Journalism and Mass Communication celebrated Journalism Day on April 2, culminating in a banquet honoring alumni and current students alike. The banquet featured keynote speaker Michael Gartner, former president of NBC News, chairperson of the Vision Iowa grant program, principal owner of the Iowa Cubs and lifelong journalist. During his speech, "Baseball, Brokaw and the Business of the Media," Gartner shared his wisdom in the form of 10 tips for young journalists, which included advising them to take risks, be both passionate and compassionate, and never take freedom for granted. The evening also included the presentation of student awards (see page 9), and the recognition of Peter H. Lewis, JO'82, and J. Peter Pohl, JO'79, recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Achievement award. Once a writer for The Des Moines Register, Lewis is considered one of the country's pioneer computer journalists. He recently was named a senior editor for Fortuneand developed that magazine's new "Personal Technology" section. Before going to work for Fortune, he wrote for The New York Times for 14 years, focusing on consumer technology and the Internet. A copywriter by training, Pohl is a former creative director who currently works as a freelance writer with several ad agencies in Chicago. Throughout his career, Pohl has developed commercials, print ads and collateral pieces for a number of high-profile clients, including Caterpillar, Jeep, Hormel, Kinko's, Subway, Hush Puppies, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Midas, Mrs. Dash and Gatorade. A commercial he created for Jeep titled "Snow Covered" won the prestigious Grand Prix Award at the 1994 Cannes International Advertising Festival. Drake students research haunted houses near and far Though it may have seemed as if they were goofing off, 27 Drake journalism students were actually earning credit in Lee Jolliffe's Public Relations Research class by prowling through haunted houses across the Midwest last fall and interviewing customers as they exited. The students were scaring up the research for their client - Full Moon Productions Inc., which owns and operates The Beast and The Edge of Hell haunted houses in Kansas City, MO. Jolliffe said Full Moon Productions became the class client through her contacts with Amber Arnett-Bequeaith, a former Des Moines resident who is finishing her master's degree at Drake while serving as vice president of Full Moon Productions, her family's business. To help familiarize her students with the client's operations, Jolliffe organized an optional field trip during which 17 students toured both The Beast and The Edge of Hell. The students conducted their research at haunted houses in Des Moines, Ames, the Quad Cities, Omaha and Milwaukee. "We did intercept interviews to try to find out what's the most fun scary thing for various age groups," Jolliffe said. "We also assessed what other haunted houses are offering. We looked at the number of animatronics - computerized scares, the number of actors and how the actors interact with the audience. We also asked people how far they've driven to get there and whether they'd come back again." Edwards gives commencement address at Iowa Wesleyan On Saturday, May 17, SJMC Dean Charles C. Edwards Jr., became the third member of his family to give the commencement address at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He also became the second member of his family to receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Iowa Wesleyan. Edwards said he is proud to be carrying on a family tradition that began in 1854 when his great-great grandfather, William Fletcher Cowles, gave the first-ever commencement address at Iowa Wesleyan. Edwards noted that his great uncle, Gardner "Mike" Cowles Jr., delivered the commencement address to Iowa Wesleyan graduates in 1946 and again in 1955. Cowles also received an honorary degree from the college. Earlier in the year, the Des Moines Business Record featured Edwards and his accomplishments in his first year as dean, including working with the staff to strengthen the curriculum, and develop the school's apprenticeship program. "The energy here is boundless," Edwards told the Business Record. "My goal is to make Drake the No. 1 journalism school in the Midwest." |
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| Drake
Historical Moment In 1932, the Drake Department of Journalism embarked on an extensive research project to assess the "reading interest of the newspaper and magazine public," according to the 1932 edition of The Quax. Perhaps that outreach effort was the impetus for this journalism booth at the 1931 Iowa State Fair, where the public could watch journalism students editing the next day's edition of the Times-Delphic. |
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