Interim A&M president Loftin to become president

Well, I'm a few days behind posting this breaking news (though I knew it was coming, thanks to the Eagle's tweet): A&M's Board of Regents named R. Bowen Loftin as the sole finalist for president of A&M. As you might know, FJSA met with his predecessor, Elsa Murano, about the future of journalism at A&M; I'm sure the group will seek to do the same with Dr. Loftin. He's a an A&M grad in physics with a doctorate in same from Rice; 35 years in academia including U of H and Old Dominion, and most recently the CEO of TAMU-Galveston.

A roundup of headlines:

• A&M's likely new leader Loftin plans to use Ike lessons Houston Chronicle
• Students React to Loftin Being Named Sole Finalist KBTX
• Loftin sole finalist to be A&M president Dallas Morning News
• Loftin has earned his promotion Daily News - Galveston County
• A&M regents name finalist for president Austin American-Statesman
• Loftin settles in as sole finalist Bryan-College Station Eagle

Cute note in Eagle story: Receiving a congratulatory phone call from the governor, Loftin jokingly refers to him as "Fish Perry."

Why am I so dang slow with the news? Well, I'll tell you. My big galoot of a husband was driving home from work Dec. 29 when another car hydroplaned and smacked into his Protege nearly head-on. After a week in the hospital and a couple weeks in physical rehab, he is back home with me now, and I could not be more thankful. My intense anxiety has expressed itself in some strange ways, including this little thank-you I made for physical therapists everywhere:

It's a feeble enough sentiment for the work these men and women do. I'm told it's harder to get into PT school than into med school, and surely the pay is lower. Yet these fine folks work wonders with people who are pretty much guaranteed to be at their crabbiest, at their most frightened or frustrated and weakest points. They're part medical practitioner, part engineer and part coach. After my surgery 13 months ago, Kristi K. in St. Louis taught me how to walk again. My husband's crew here in Austin has been just awesome. This goes for the occupational therapists as well.

So it's been a little busier time around here, medically speaking, than we had anticipated. That is definitely one of the reasons why I am unfortunately holding up the boat on Roland Martin's contribution to FJSA -- Roland's more than ready to roll, Dale Rice has some great ideas for how to put the money to use and I'm the connection in the middle, but I have been out of touch too much, one way and another. However, I want to assure y'all it's still very important to me and I'm eager to get it done quickly and correctly. So look for more news from me soon on that. Aggie word!

Retirement party Jan. 13 for Mayes '69

Thank you to Diane Bowen for this item! Note: Mayes is also a former Battalion editor.

Former journalism professor Dave Mayes is retiring from Texas A&M AgriLife Communications. A reception honoring him will be held at 5–6:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 13, 2010, at the Community Center, TAMU Student Apartment Complex, 202 Charles Haltom Ave., College Station, Texas

Cards and letters to be included in a memory book may be sent to Judy Winn, TAMU 2112, College Station, Texas 77843-2112 or j-winn2@tamu.edu, 979.845.2808.

Contributions toward a gift may also be sent to Lonnette Ray, TAMU 2112, College Station, TX 77843-2112, 979.862.1460. Please make checks payable to Texas AgriLife Extension.

B-CS Eagle seeks full-time copy editor

Talented copy editor needed

Primary responsibilities include headline writing, copy editing, layout and design on deadline. Must have an eye for detail and a passion for grammar, usage and style. Familiarity with newspaper design preferred, as is knowledge of AP style.

Must have solid grasp of a design program (ex. QuarkXPress, InDesign), be proficient on Macintosh platform. Should have some experience working with photo editing and graphics software (PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator) and have a working knowledge of Web publishing.

Must be willing to be part of a collaborative team, take the initiative but also follow directions and must be willing to work nights and weekends.

The Bryan-College Station Eagle is a small newspaper that thinks like a major metro, which is where many of our staffers go from here. Our award-winning reporters and sports writers cover an eight-county area. Our community is home to two colleges, including Texas A&M. The area offers an active nightlife and arts scene, great schools and all that Texas A&M University and Blinn College have to offer.

We highly value our community and our employees, who are compensated with a good benefits package (health insurance/401K) and competitive pay. Send cover letter, clips and resume to Kelly Brown, managing editor, 1729 Briarcrest Drive, Bryan, 77802 or e- mail her at kelly.brown@theeagle.com. No phone calls please.

Reporter gets local angle on faraway story, fast

Wherever you are in the country, sometimes national news will happen that affects your readers. The best journalists quickly find what's relevant for their particular audience and present it usefully. In this case, I was so impressed by a story turned around quickly by the Austin American-Statesman's Helen Anders that I asked her to write me a little bit on how she put the story together.

It's perhaps a fairly ordinary type of story -- as I said, it's standard practice to find the local angle on a story, or to produce helpful "If you go" information -- but to me, it's the expertise and authority Anders musters that make this piece noteworthy.

The news event here is the UT Longhorns earning a spot in college football's national title game. Anders covers travel. Are the two connected? Oh, yes. Lots of our readers in Austin have suddenly decided they really, really want to be in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 7.

Earlier this week, Anders put in a few hours' worth of work and produced a story so packed with insider-ish detail that I actually went over to her desk and asked if she'd ever lived in Pasadena. Nope; she's just a good reporter. Here's how she describes it:

I knew a little about Pasadena to start with -- a couple of restaurants and museums I'd been to. Then I e-mailed a woman who had posted a comment on an earlier blog about Pasadena who obviously was a local. Got her recommendations. Then I chatted with a woman at the Convention and Visitors Bureau and got her recommendations, which I couldn't attribute because a CVB always gets in trouble if it recommends particular establishments. Still, these people know what's good.

Then I called a local museum and chatted with the PR guy about where he eats. Then to get more information on the Rose Bowl area specifically and getting to the game, I googled "Rose Bowl transportation" and got that really helpful link and info that I posted on parking and such. Kayak.com and the CVB Web site gave me leads for checking flights and hotels (which I will update again momentarily, by the way).
Even if I'd never been to Pasadena, I could've gotten a good feel for the place from my desk.

The key here is to make sure all your info is current. For example, if you read about a shuttle bus on a Web site, make sure that shuttle hasn't been canceled by budget cuts. (Some publications are still writing about our Dillo, alas.) That's a matter of checking Nexis or, if you don't have Nexis, going to the official Web site of whatever entity runs the shuttle bus.

How long did all this take me? A few hours.

Oh, and she filed early enough that we got it on the Web before all the plane seats were sold out -- then revised and updated it twice before it ever saw print.
Thank you again, Helen, for writing this up!

Hot gifts for the Aggie Journalist on your list!

Cyber Monday is crashing the servers, and we're here to cash in. Even more goofy products have been added to our Aggie Journalists store! Ooo, a T-shirt and a mousepad:

While these products are mostly offered for your entertainment, I hasten to assure you that 1) They are real; 2) You can buy them; and 3) All profits -- $2 per shirt -- go to journalism scholarships at A&M. Bumpersticker anyone?
But, also, one of the main problems facing our journalism program is that most people -- from our industry colleagues to Texas high school seniors -- think A&M doesn't teach journalism any more. So buy a shirt and spread the word! (And if you've got an idea for more shirts, even better. Send 'em in!)

Not related to A&M journalism (but still benefiting A&M journalism scholarships) are these new designs, fresh from the front lines. Explanations, in order:


"Work harder...": This is how a straight-shooting news editor once summed up a department heads' meeting for his staff. "Ladies' Pages": Formerly just an outdated term, now derogatory, for the features section - but we're takin' it back! In form-fitting cotton! With pink curlicues! "MSM: That's right baby, I'm part of the problem": Battered and bruised, but still here, we're the mainstream (or lamestream) media. Bad punctuation and all!

Wright '92 on Chicago biz 'Top 40 under 40' list

1992 A&M journalism grad Sherman Wright's marketing company, Commonground, landed him and his partner in a Chicago business magazine's list of young, influential businessfolk. Click here to see him interviewed (in a very slick and visually appealing interface, by the way) on Chicagobusiness.com.

More, from an interview by Shamontiel Vaughn:

Chicago marketing company Commonground was honored this year as two of the four African-Americans in Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine’s annual Top 40 under 40 list for 2009. Both Sherman Wright and Ahmad Islam have an impressive background in marketing, especially from a multicultural standpoint.
...
Shamontiel: Your company Commonground emphasizes multiculturalism. Why is diversity in marketing and advertising so important to you? How do you get your clients to want diversity?

Sherman Wright: I think the biggest challenge is getting [marketing agencies] to break tradition. Most of your organizations are not as nimble, and they’ve been doing things a certain way. A lot of times, as far as those individuals at the top don’t necessarily have visibility about what’s going on in the marketplace because they’re so tied up into the business from a functional standpoint. As business people if you can show them a model that works and benefits them, I think they’re more open than they’ve been in the past, especially with the challenges you’re seeing in these times.

A&M journalism hosts Texas Monthly 'Bonfire' author

Look for more panels and events like this as Dale Rice works to raise the profile of Journalism Studies on the A&M campus. Rice writes:

Journalism Studies hosted Texas Monthly writer Pamela Colloff on campus this week.
Here is what we did on Tuesday:

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Lunch with the newly formed A&M student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

12:45-1:45 p.m. — Meeting with JOUR 303, the advanced media writing class, to discuss their stories on the Bonfire Memorial.

2:15-3:15 p.m. — The story behind the story: A Q&A with Texas Monthly writer Pamela Colloff, author of this month’s cover story on Bonfire.

3:45-4:45 p.m. — The Bonfire Memorial’s place on campus: A panel discussion on the Memorial and what it has come to represent on campus.
Participants:

• Pamela Colloff, writer, Texas Monthly
• Dr. Sylvia Grider, Professor Emerita, Department of Anthropology; collected and cataloged more than 3,000 mementos left at the site after the tragedy
• George Rogers, Professor, Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, School of Architecture; co-chair of the Memorial selection committee
• Ryan Dudley, Class of 2010, chair of MSC Hospitality, the service organization that conducts tours of the Bonfire Memorial
• Dr. Jennifer Jones Barbour, assistant professor, Department of Communication; panel moderator who conducts research on memorials

Texas A&M chapter of SPJ revived

Last heard from over a decade ago, the Texas A&M chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists lives again. The group's adviser-to-be and head of Journalism Studies, Dale Rice, says:

The new SPJ chapter will elect officers and adopt by-laws on Dec. 2.
The core group of students has already held three organizational meetings.
After last night's meeting, they established a Facebook page. Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=183472526081

Aggie journalists record, reflect on Bonfire anniversary

The 20-page special edition of The Battalion marking the 10th anniversary of the deadly Bonfire collapse came out yesterday (its cover is the image at left). KBTX interviewed Batt staffers, including Amanda Casanova '10 and Matthew Woolbright '12, about their work preparing the issue; you can watch that video here.

Manager of Student Publications Bob Wegener said, "I'm really proud of The Batt staff's work. People have been calling/e-mailing this morning to request extra copies."

You can read the full special edition online here.

Today, Batt staffer Doug Klembara '11 posted some marvelous images and a moving description of the 2:42 a.m. vigil on his blog. He gave me permission to reproduce the image below, of Aggies around the granite slab that marks where Centerpole stood. More of his photos are on his blog and his Flickr photostream.

At the Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner '91 illustrated both the print and online coverage with his wonderful photographs. A gallery can be viewed here.

The San Antonio Express-News' Roy Bragg '80 wrote a great story about the Bonfire ceremony that both his paper and the Houston Chronicle used. Wegener said he will be using Bragg's story as a teaching tool in his work with A&M students.

Too many Aggies to count work at both the Bryan-College Station Eagle and at KBTX, which have both outdone themselves with anniversary coverage. This page lists all the Eagle's stories, and this page all the KBTX coverage.

FJSA members Nicholas Roznovsky '01 and Denise Mattox '03 did some civilian journalism. Click here for Roznovsky's excellent photos from the vigil and here for Mattox's touching remembrance of the events of that week in 1999.

My thoughts and love are with the families, the friends and relatives of the 12, with all those who worked our guts out on Bonfire through the years, with the lifelong friends I made on Bonfire and with all of the Aggie family. And now here's that Klembara photo I promised above:

Eagle posts video, remembrance page for Bonfire

The Bryan-College Station Eagle has extra coverage leading up to the 10th anniversary of the deadly Bonfire collapse. Online, the paper has a page up where readers can post their own Bonfire memories, and has posted part of a video that Timm Doolen '91 did for FJSA in 2000, titled "Explaining from the Inside – Bonfire."

Aggieland wins 2009 Pacemaker Award

Thanks to Bob and Kelly for the news!

The Texas A&M yearbook, the Aggieland, hauled in college media's top award, one of seven yearbooks to win this year's Pacemaker competition. (They've also got a cool Web site, if you haven't checked it out yet: aggieland.tamu.edu.) The Battalion won a Pacemaker last year in the newspaper category.

“The Pacemaker is college journalism’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize and the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a college yearbook,” said Robert Wegener, general manager of Student Media.

The press release also highlights Associated Collegiate Press honors won by Batt staffers Stephen Fogg and Chris Griffin:

Fogg, a senior marketing major from The Woodlands, won honorable mention in the “picture story” category for photo excellence. Fogg accompanied a 2009 student body presidential candidate during campaigning in the spring. He then put together a story using his photographs and captions.
...
Griffin, a graduate student in visualization science from New Braunfels, received $100 in third place in the cartooning awards.

UTEP alum Sam Donaldson helps launch new J-degree

UTEP has blended two degrees, electronic media and print media, into one multimedia journalism program, and Sam Donaldson was there Monday to help publicize the new program. From the El Paso Times story:

"You can't do it the old ways. You can't go and take video and television or print, and then say I'm educated in the business that I'd like to pursue," Donaldson said. "You have to have the whole range."
The 75-year-old newsman, once ABC's White House correspondent, spoke before a crowd of more than 100 people at the University of Texas at El Paso.
...
Until this fall, UTEP offered degrees in electronic media, for those interested in TV and radio, and print media, for those looking to work for newspapers and magazines.
But UTEP has merged the two degrees and is launching the new bachelor of arts in multimedia journalism through the Department of Communication. Professors said the university is a pioneer in offering a program of this kind.
"We have been able to move really quickly in this direction, when a lot of other institutions with traditional media programs, it's been a little harder for them to change," said Zita Arocha, a journalism professor.

Hey, do we know anybody else who's lacking an entrenched journalism program? OK, more from the article:

Arocha said she hoped to have a multimedia training academy to teach professors at UTEP how to implement different platforms in journalism. Frank Pérez, chair of the communication department, said they expect to hire one professor who can teach communication theory and journalism.
Some of the classes that the degree plan includes are multimedia storytelling, audio and video news production, ethics, investigative journalism and a news magazine class in which students produce stories for a Web site called Borderzine.com.

A&M students at college media conference in Austin

The 88th Annual ACP/CMA National College Media Convention begins today in Austin, and runs through Sunday. Batt and Aggieland staff members are among the more than 2,000 college journalists and advisers who will be attending.

Topics include digital photography, coaching writers, the business and advertising side, using free conent management systems to publish online, covering college sports, designing for mobile media, real-world multimedia reporting, getting sources to talk to you, media law, and a LOT more. Good stuff.

Track it online: The Associated College Press has a blog on the conference, and search Twitter for the hashtag #ncmc09 to follow tweets from the conference.

Batt editor, Casanova '10, gets $3,000 scholarship

The Batt's editor, Amanda Casanova '10, left, was honored Saturday with one of 15 Headliners Foundation scholarships at a luncheon in Austin where Dan Rather spoke.

Casanova (see Battalion profile and previous post on her summer internship in Abilene) is a senior English major/journalism minor at Texas A&M. The press release sent out about the Headliners honor says she began her newspaper career in the seventh grade:

"She did a newspaper for our street; it was called the Ginnway Gazette," said Teresa Casanova, Casanova's mom. "It was just a one-pager and she would feature one of the kids in (the) neighborhood, or if a family was going out of town and she would write about it."

The release notes that Casanova interned the summer before last at her hometown paper, the Lufkin Daily News. The Headliners Foundation has provided more than $1 million to college students and recognizes journalists' achievements in Texas with the Headliners Awards.



Many thanks to Cheri for the news and photos!!

Aiiieee! It's just about internship deadline time

Lots of summer internship applications are due about now (for example, the Statesman's need to be postmarked Nov. 6 or earlier). Competition is likely to be tough, and I believe A&M requirements for journalism minors' internships have tightened up, so here's some info that could help. (Please do tell me if any links are out of date!)

Visit our internships/jobs page over at aggiejournalists.com for links including:

• Year-round guide to landing an internship
• Joe Grimm answers "How do I get a copy-editing internship?" and scores of other internship questions, including what to say in an essay, the interview, big or small paper, etc.
• Internship links for Texas newspapers - a few big ones to start off with: Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express-News (click here, search for Texas, click on SA Express-News), Austin American-Statesman
• Internship links for Texas TV stations

And join our LinkedIn group, where you can connect with hundreds of Aggie journalism grads and professionals. It never hurts to have an ally at the place where you're applying. Click to join and shoot me an e-mail if you don't get approved pretty quickly ( aggiejournalists@gmail.com ).