Meet Ian Fleming's promoter, then BTHObu!

FJSA Fall Reception
12:30 pm, Oct. 15, 2011
The Grove (map below)

Join us two hours before kickoff of the Baylor game as we get an update on the A&M journalism program and induct the newest member of our Hall of Honor: Charles Neighbors '54!

FJSA's fall reception will be at The Battalion this year, which is temporarily (due to MSC construction) housed at the Grove, next to Cain Hall where we’ve had the reception the last few years.

About Charles:

An editor and writer, Charles Neighbors '54, has had a lengthy career in publishing since earning degrees in journalism and English. He worked for McGraw-Hill business magazines, as a U.S. Air Force public information officer and at New American Library where he promoted authors such as Ian Fleming, John Dos Passos, William Gaddis, Mickey Spillane and Erskine Caldwell. He’s been director of a PR firm, an independent literary agent in New York and in San Antonio and he continues to edit manuscripts and books.

The Batt's temporary digs are a portable building (very nice inside!) at the Grove, that little band-shell at the southwest corner of Simpson Drill Field. If you walk from the MSC to Albritton bell tower, you'll pass it on your left. (Assuming you can walk anywhere from the MSC, which is probably all cordoned off.)

This Baylor game should be a highly charged atmosphere, given the Bears' SEC realignment intrigues; it's also the day to "Wear White, Wave Maroon" in support of Aggie Wildfire Relief; buy a maroon 12th Man towel for $3 with the option to donate more, then wear a white T-shirt to the game. Proceeds go to help victims of the Central Texas fires AND to the area's firefighters. Learn more, or purchase/donate, at AggieWildfireRelief.com.

Update on Texas A&M's Journalism Studies program

Dale Rice, head of Journalism Studies at Texas A&M, is doing some great work to raise the profile of the program on campus and off. For the FJSA reception Oct. 30, he gave us this great summary/update.

(My favorite fact here is that next year's course catalog will have 16 journalism courses, up from eight a year ago. But there is lots of good news contained below. Enjoy!)

The 2010-2011 academic year is off to a great start for Journalism Studies. Here are
some examples of our progress:

• We’re continuing to raise the profile of Journalism Studies within the College of Liberal Arts and the university at large. We co-hosted, with American Studies, Pulitzer Prize winner Sonia Nazario in September. Her book, “Enrique’s Journey,” was selected by the college as this year’s Common Ground read for all incoming freshmen. Besides exposing a wide audience to an award-winning journalist, Sonia’s visit allowed time for her to spend several hours with journalism students, both in and out of classroom settings.
• Our newly reformed student chapter of SPJ has been officially recognized by both the national organization and the university. SPJ members are working hard to recruit new folks and build the organization. For example, they are meeting next week to build sandwich boards to place on campus, one of the perks that come with being an official student organization.
• We’re working to broaden the Journalism Studies program. We currently have six new course listings winding their way up the approval chain. They include five cross-listed courses (one of which is the blogging course I created with that purpose in mind) and a new course in political reporting. With two courses added to the books this year, we will have 16 journalism courses in the catalog next year, compared with eight a year ago.
• I am working now with Charlie Madigan, a former journalist at the Chicago Tribune and now professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago to jointly teach a course in political reporting via videoconference, with half the students in the class from Roosevelt and half from A&M. It was the suggestion of Charles Middleton, president of Roosevelt, who I met when he was here as the keynote speaker for a conference on campus. We will launch the course in the 2012 election cycle, which should offer lots of great reporting opportunities for the students.
• We are exploring with the university and Rick Dunham, the Washington Bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers, the possibility of placing a journalism student in Washington each semester as part of the Public Policy Internship Program. Working with Dunham, the students would report and write stories dealing with public policy issues for the Hearst wire.

Finally, on a personal note, I’m really excited to see interest growing in journalism on campus. I’m teaching a one-hour freshmen seminar on food writing, part of the university’s effort to provide a small-class setting for first-year students who are mostly in very large classes. On Wednesday, after class, two of the students stayed behind to discuss the program and said they were going to apply now. That’s what makes this job fulfilling: to see freshmen joining Journalism Studies because they’re interested in a career in the profession. In just a few years’ time, you are going to look at those students who came into the program early and made use of our expanded offerings to obtain a first-rate journalism education and you are going to be very proud of them. FJSA’s support of the program has been a critical factor in our rebuilding effort, and we can’t thank you enough for that.

J-Studies head Dale Rice part of Southern Food Poll

He can't live without barbecue: Texas A&M's director of Journalism Studies (and the Austin American-Statesman's former dining critic) Dale Rice is part of the Southern Food Poll in Oxford American magazine. Click here to read Rice's contribution. Here's a taste:

From which Southern restaurant would you order your last meal and why?
Royers Round Top Cafe in Round Top, Texas. My last meal would have to be on a Sunday, when Royer's serves a limited amount of the best buttermilk-and-garlic coated fried chicken to be found anywhere, accompanied by home-style bowls of mashed potato casserole and creamed corn, and topped off with a piece of Bud Royer's pie.

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!

Dale Rice named new head of A&M journalism

Journalism veteran Dale Rice is the new director of Journalism Studies at Texas A&M University, liberal arts Associate Dean Pamela Matthews confirmed today.

Rice will start Sept. 1, Matthews said, noting that an official announcement will come soon.

In the next couple of days, we'll have a full interview with Rice up on this blog. For now, here's a bit of background:

Rice, currently a lecturer with Journalism Studies, began teaching at A&M in Fall 2008. In an interview with FJSA at that time, he talked about the need to produce journalists who can work across all media platforms and about emphasizing basic reporting skills in his classes.

"... We need journalists who can report rapidly, write quickly, think on their feet and never abandon principles such as fairness and accuracy in the process. That, to me, is why sound journalism education is as important today as it has ever been," Rice said.

Rice also leads the College of Liberal Arts' Student Reporter Project; here's an earlier post from this blog about that program.

FJSA in talks with A&M on using Roland Martin gift

Just wanted to give y'all a quick update: FJSA officers are in the early stages of planning with A&M journalism folks how best to use the $10,000 surprise donation given by Roland Martin '91 last fall.

What's next: A slate of ideas that will address a variety of needs and also help fulfill Martin's desire to have A&M graduates producing journalism fluently in new media and other platforms.

More coming as it develops!

Rice gets $3,000 to add video, audio to JOUR 303

Texas A&M journalism lecturer Dale Rice is one of six recipients of the 2009 College of Liberal Arts Summer Technology Institute grants, which provide $3,000 to add technology to a course.

"I'm using the proceeds to buy the equipment (video cameras and digital voice recorders) and software to add video and audio components to JOUR 303, Media Writing II," Rice e-mailed.

The institute provides technical support as the equipment is put into use. Faculty members' applications for the grants are evaluated competitively based on their innovation and impact on students.

Rice said his students will learn to produce videos and audio podcasts to go along with the print
versions of their stories. "I plan to have the students publish an online magazine at the end of the semester with the best story of each student in 303, along with the accompanying videos and podcasts," he said.

Rice also hopes to introduce videos and podcasts into the Student Reporter Project, which he coordinates. Watch later this week for an update on that program.

"We're starting with six video cameras, four digital voice recorders and editing software for two Apple computers that will be placed in the computer lab where the class is held in Reed McDonald," Rice said.

"Fourteen students have signed up for 303 in the fall (compared with nine this spring) and there will be nine reporters in the SRP for the fall, so I think the demand will be pretty high. We'll probably handle that by allowing the students to check out a camera or recorder for one 24-hour period each week, so they will have to stagger use of the equipment. And we'll have to set up a schedule for editing time on the Apple computers.

"If it is successful, I am going to seek additional sources of funding to buy more equipment for the journalism and SRP students and to expand the video and audio components to the blogging class that I teach."

Dr. Sumpter steps down as A&M journalism head

Dr. Randall Sumpter has resigned as the head of Texas A&M's Journalism Studies Program, said Associate Dean Pamela Matthews. Sumpter decided to work on his scholarship, said Matthews, who oversees Undergraduate and Interdisciplinary Programs in the College of Liberal Arts.

Sumpter has overseen the journalism minor program at A&M since its inception and has drawn notable journalists to instruct A&M students in the Journalists-in-Residence program. Journalists taking part in the program have come from every major newspaper in Texas as well as the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and other outlets; many of them have been Aggies returning to their alma mater to teach and lead student projects for a week.

Watch for more updates on the Journalism Studies Program's future leadership, as well as updates coming very soon on the Student Reporter Program and a $3,000 grant that will directly benefit the students in JOUR 303, Media Writing II.

April 20-24: Journalist-in-Residence ruffles Aggie feathers

Washington Post columnist John Kelly served as one of the Spring 2009 Journalists-in-Residence at A&M, teaching JOUR 490 for a week and getting one of his students' columns into the Post.

He also blogged about his experiences during the week at A&M, including a description of Muster that roiled up some of the ongoing emotions about A&M traditions: People often don't get it, and even those who do don't always admire it. The discussion is preserved in the columns and comments from that week in Kelly's Aggie Files.

Smith '09 column in today's Washington Post

Thank you, Scot, for sending this! And congratulations to Krista. We're proud.

Scot Walker '90 of Texas Aggie magazine writes:

Krista Smith ’09 is an A&M comm student and a student writer and reporter here at Texas Aggie magazine. She has a column in today’s Washington Post: (link)

Smith writes about her hometown of Orange and its struggles with hurricanes Katrina and Ike. The article appeared in the column of John Kelly - one of the Spring 2009 Journalists in Residence at A&M - and is introduced thusly:

Vicissitudes of Life in Small Texas Town Are More Than Just Good Column Fodder

By John Kelly

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I spent last week at Texas A&M University, mentoring 22 journalism students in the basics of my job. Their assignment: to write a column. As an incentive, I told them I'd publish my favorite in The Post.

Many of their columns exhibited similar preoccupations: relationships, technology, anxiety over their futures (most don't have jobs yet). One column stood out. Krista Smith is a 22-year-old graduating senior from a southeast Texas town that, as you'll see, has had its share of woe.

Speaking of woe: A lot of us worry about the future of journalism. Students such as Krista make me worry a little bit less.

Fall lineup: Journalism courses at A&M

Here's the slate of classes being offered this fall (note that the political blogging course is a COMM course, so not listed here). Info and number of seats filled are taken from the online schedule.

JOUR 102 - American Mass Media (instructor Ed Walraven, 80 seats filled)
JOUR 200 - Mass Media Information (instructor Ed Walraven, 24 seats filled)
JOUR 203 - Media Writing I (instructor Ana Martinez, 11 seats; instructor Dale Rice, 12 seats)
JOUR 301 - Mass Comm Law and Society (instructor Joshua Heuman, 11 seats)
JOUR 303 - Media Writing II (instructor Ed Walraven, 16 seats)

Classes start at A&M, more news a-comin'

The fall semester has begun and new journalism instructor Dale Rice just taught his first classes today. Whoop! We'll be linking here a little later in the semester to his students' blogs in the Political Blogging class -- they will be publishing to the entire world, so feel free to comment.

Our 2008 Hall of Honor inductee is CNN analyst Roland Martin '91! Many of you have been e-mailed about this already; there is much more info up at www.aggiejournalists.com/pressroom and I'll do a longer post here soon. He'll be joining us at the Fall Receptiion on Oct. 11, so get them K-State game tickets now.

Coming up in the next few days, I'll post the new Aggieland editors and an update on longtime, much-loved A&M journalism prof and former department head Bob Rogers.

Good luck and good writing/editing to all our journalism and ag journalism instructors, professors and most especially students! And please keep sending all your news items. They are much appreciated.

Eagle: Murano reviewing journalism at A&M

The Eagle has a great report on the state of journalism right now at A&M. More on this TK; it provides an important update on both the program and its possible future. Here's the top (it's a pretty lengthy article!)

By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer

Texas A&M University President Elsa Murano said she is reviewing the current journalism program to determine what -- if any -- changes need to be made in order to better serve budding Aggie journalists.

University officials acknowledged that it could be some time before a formal review is complete and it remained unknown if any changes would be made.

Jeffrey Vitter, the incoming provost and executive vice president for academics who starts this month, will be tasked with studying the issue as he spends the next year developing a campus academic master plan, A&M officials said.

"This is a very important issue to Texas A&M and for Dr. Murano, as well," A&M spokesman Jason Cook said Friday, stressing that the president has made no promises about the future of the program.

"She is committed to beginning a dialog about the program: past, present and future."

More A&M journalism scholarship winners

Two more scholarship awards to announce:

$1250 to JoLeah Stiles '08 from the Scholarship for Internships (also known as the Edge Scholarship Fund)
$1250 to Nicole Alvarado '09 from the Bill Robinson Scholarship Fund


Congratulations to both!

From the Batt: Carlin leaves legacy at A&M

Kenny Ryan has a good story in today's Batt about the journalism scholarship George Carlin created at Texas A&M. He talks to Bob Rogers, who was department head at the time:

Creating a scholarship is a far cry from the establishment-challenging Carlin seen on stage. Carlin established the scholarship without fanfare and away from attention.
"He didn't tell us he was doing it," Rogers said. "It was a real tribute on his part to somebody who had been helpful to him when he was young and unknown, and he didn't want to make a big deal about it, no publicity.
"It just appeared one day, he had come in and done his thing and gone before we even knew anything was happening."

(Katherine Coburn '09 won it this year.)

Q&A with A&M's new journalism lecturer

Click on over here to read our Q&A with journalism veteran Dale Rice, who'll begin teaching classes this fall at A&M.

He has some great plans for his first two classes -- students tackling all the types of stories a GA reporter would find familiar, and others establishing political blogs during what should be, oh I don't know, a fairly interesting fall election season. He also talks about the importance of journalism education in the changing industry.

Dale (who's currently the American-Statesman's dining critic) is even kind enough to dish some tips on good eats in the Bryan/College Station area.

A&M's 2008-09 journalism scholarship winners

Here are the winners who have already been selected for Texas A&M's 2008-09 scholarships for students enrolled in the journalism minor. Congratulations!

Amanda Casanova '10, $500, Audrey Cardenas scholarship
Katherine Coburn '09, $1,000, Monroe/Carlin scholarship
Angela DeLeon '09, $2,000, Audrey Cardenas scholarship
Melissa Elam '09, $500, Audrey Cardenas scholarship
Kimberly Huebner '09, $1,250, Bob Rogers scholarship
Christina Jacobson '09, $1,250, Edge scholarship
Brigette Landes-Vann '08, $1,250, Edge scholarship
Lindsay Lewis '09, $1,250, Edge scholarship
Lauren Lucas '09, $1,000, Sue and Willard Clark scholarship
Scott McLaughlin '09, $500, Kyle D. Tilton scholarship
Kacie McMahon '10, $1,000, Kyle D. Tilton scholarship

Deadline for next year will likely be in April again -- mark your calendars!

A&M hires veteran journalist Rice to teach

Texas A&M has hired veteran reporter and editor Dale Rice, currently the Austin American-Statesman's restaurant critic, as a lecturer who will begin teaching classes in Fall 2008.

Dale's distinguished 35-year career in journalism includes stints as education writer and city hall reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and education writer, capital bureau reporter and capital bureau chief for the Dallas Times Herald. He has been at the Statesman for almost 19 years, and has served as business editor, deputy features editor and, for the past 15 years (8 years full-time), restaurant critic. His opinions are widely respected by chefs across the region, and he has helped countless readers through his columns and blogs.

He says:
"I'm going to be a full-time lecturer teaching journalism-related courses and mentoring students. This fall, I will be teaching Journalism 203, the media writing course (basic reporting and writing skills), and Communication 289, a course in political blogging. In addition, I will be mentoring participants in the Student Reporter Project, a new program in the College of Liberal Arts.
"My first day of class will be Aug. 26, and, as you might guess, I'm incredibly excited about joining A&M. "

Myself, I'm very excited about this on A&M's behalf! I've worked with Dale many times and I have great respect for him on all levels. He's a principled, thoughtful, accurate journalist with a warm personal style and powerful descriptive ability in his writing. You can check out some of his stuff in his online archive and his blog.

Watch this space for more upcoming on this, as well as an update on A&M's other hire in the works, the joint Journalism Studies-Women's Studies position.

Specifically, I'm looking forward to giving some more detail on Dale's plans for his classes and students. Sneak peek: Those JOUR 203 students will be writing a story a week and filing it on deadline, and the students in his new Political Blogging class will each be creating their own blogs.

A&M journalism scholarships deadline looming

Just a heads-up: I'm pretty sure these A&M journalism scholarships' application deadline will be in April again this year. There are seven scholarships, all open to journalism minors, ranging in size from up to $650 to up to $2,300.

Watch the J-Studies home page for updates.

(Note: The Skip Leabo scholarship will, in the future, be open to students at the Batt, not just j-minors, but it's still in the fund-raising stage.)

And, on an unrelated note, BTHOBYU!

COMM/JOUR academic advisor post open

Here's part of the posting for the academic advisor job at A&M that includes COMM duties along with working with the journalism minors, coordinating logistics for the Journalists-in-Residence and maintaining the JOUR program Web site. Full details available with the posting on tamujobs.tamu.edu.

Academic Advisor I
N.O.V. Number	080733
Job Type	Full-Time
Department	Communication
Major/Essential Duties of Job	Academic duties for Communication: Meets with incoming students during student orientation conferences. Works with other campus offices. Uses SIMS for student registration, degree audit, course pre-requisites. Process course substitutions and Q-drops. Maintains files and completes related paperwork. Receives drop-ins and phone calls from prospective, new, current and former students and their families. Advises on progress toward degree, course choices, minor choices, career/graduate study goals, career preparation, opportunities, and resources available. Coordinates activities with Coordinator of Undergraduate Advising (CUA). ACADEMIC ADVISING DUTIES: Provides students with information concerning financial aid, student services, degree plans, internships, and academic schedules related to journalism minor. Reviews degree plans with students and processes add/drops. Responds to inquiries from students and parents both by phone and through written correspondence. Meets with incoming students during student orientation conferences. Works with other campus offices. Uses SIMS for student registration, degree audit, course pre-requisites, etc. Performs related duties. Solves complicated scheduling problems, monitors textbook orders, creates and maintains files for administration of the journalism minor. Arranges travel and lodging for Journalist in Residence Program. Other duties as assigned.
Occasional Duties	Designs, produces, and distributes informational and/or promotional literature; updates and maintains a journalism website.
Required Education and Experience	Bachelor's degree. Knowledge of higher education. Mastery of MS Word, Excel, and Access. Web applications. Flexibility. Requires ability to multi-task and work cooperatively with others.