I had wrong room number for Fall Reception

Make that B111! Still Cain Hall, still Saturday Sept. 5 at 4 p.m., still inducting arts critic Welton Jones, still playing New Mexico in football that evening.

Today's mass e-mail has it correct. Will go back and correct previous posts here on the blog; already fixed our Facebook event and group page (though I did NOT go back and re-spam all 291 Facebook members).

Here is the straight dope from Mr. Wegener:

Hi Sue,

Noticed that the room number is incorrect in the message you sent today. –Bob

Where: B111 of Cain Hall (across street from MSC Hotel, near The Zone – north end of Kyle Field)

NOTE: B111 is in the center, single-story portion of Cain Hall. Enter Cain on the side across the street from the MSC Hotel and Board of Regents' Annex. (The A and C wings of Cain are 3-story buildings.)

Associate dean Matthews to address FJSA

Great news: A&M associate liberal arts dean Pamela Matthews will be speaking to us again this year at the Fall Reception, 4 p.m. Sept. 5 in Cain Hall, room B111. She's been of great help to this blog in getting journalism news out to you folks, and last year she gave us an excellent and newsy update on the state of journalism education at A&M.

It's been a busy year in journalism at A&M, and this is a pivotal time. We've gained a new head of our journalism program; the university leadership is in flux and so, of course, is journalism as an industry and an educational field. Come and make it known that you care; meet our officers; do some networking.

We'll also elect new officers and induct arts critic Welton Jones II '58 into our Hall of Honor. Cain Hall is right by Kyle Field (here's a map), so you'll be well-placed for the 6 p.m. game against New Mexico. Park on Northgate, grab a bite amid the astonishing array of restaurants that has sprouted there, and stroll in leisurely style.

WTAW Sherman show 7 tonight; Eagle on Twitter

The Bryan-College Station Eagle and WTAW 1620 AM talk radio are sponsoring this year's FJSA Fall Reception, 4 p.m. Sept. 5 at Cain Hall on the A&M campus. To express our gratitude, I'd like to take a minute to talk about these sponsors.

Via theeagle.com, you can keep up with great A&M news reporting. The Eagle broke the news about President Murano's performance evaluation and provided the most in-depth reporting up to and after her resignation. They are consistently the best place to turn for breaking A&M news. This year, I followed them online during a hoax gun scare that briefly shut down campus and during the chemical plant fire that evacuated the city of Bryan. They were the most detailed news source on both subjects and updated their website fast as the story changed. Also, you can now follow them on Twitter at twitter.com/theeagle. (Though, hey, theeagle -- you need to follow your followers back! They could be sending you news tips!) Today, you can check in as students move into dorms to start the fall semester.

In the same vein, even outside the Brazos Valley, you can listen to news and Aggie Sports on WTAW online; find links at wtaw.com. Tonight, the weekly Mike Sherman show returns -- A&M's football coach gets together with radio announcer Dave South each week to talk at Wings N More; you can even e-mail your questions beforehand. Tune in tonight at 7 p.m.

Both of these loyal sponsors have been helping the Fall Reception take place for years, and the reception is the engine that keeps FJSA running. New members come to see what we're about. Great journalists are honored publicly. Connections are made that help both current and former students. Publicity from the meeting helps spread the word about A&M journalism. And we connect with faculty and staff, showing by our presence and our voice that we continue to care about and support journalism education at A&M.

It isn't free -- everything from the podium and programs to the larger expenses comes from somewhere -- and that is where WTAW and the Eagle come in and make it possible. Thank you.

Arts critic Welton Jones II '58 to join FJSA Hall of Honor

FJSA will induct influential San Diego arts critic Welton Jones II '58 to its Hall of Honor on Saturday, Sept. 5 at the FJSA Fall Reception. The reception will begin at 4 p.m. in room C-1111 of Cain Hall on the Texas A&M campus (follow signs to the room, which is in the center of the building).

Please join us at the reception to honor Jones and to get caught up on journalism at A&M. The first A&M home game is that day (vs. New Mexico, kickoff at 6 p.m.), so come to campus early and hang out with us. We suggest parking on Northgate.

Here's a great article celebrating his 50th year as an arts critic (2007), written by sandiego.com's editor. The article also contains a clipping of his first arts review in the Battalion.

Congratulations, Mr. Jones!

Hotel room available for Friday before reception

If anybody's planning to come in Friday night for the FJSA Fall Reception, which will be at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, FJSA has a room available at the new Best Western on Highway 6 in Bryan for $139 +tax. (Another FJSA'er booked it for Saturday night, but had to book for two nights, in line with most College Station-area hotels' policy on football weekends.)

Anyway, get ahold of me if you are interested in the room. If you are planning to come in for Yell Practice, say, or if you're part of the Class of '94 (whoop!) reunion that weekend and want to get started early, this'd work. I always find that "the newer the hotel, the less moldy the smell" in the ever-damp Brazos Valley. Shocking that the CVB hasn't adopted that line in their promotions.

Kickoff in the Ags' season opener, against New Mexico, is at 6 p.m. that Saturday.