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Local author and investigative journalist Chuck Laszewski will discuss his new book Rock ‘n Roll Radical at the University of Minnesota Bookstore on February 22 at 2 p.m. Laszewski will sign copies of his book following the discussion. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, or to order a signed copy visit www.bookstore.umn.edu/genref/authors.html.
On February 27, 2006, the Humphrey Institute's Center for the Study of Politics and Governance presents “The Crisis of Polling: The Accuracy, Reporting, and Campaign Uses of Public Opinion Surveys.” The conference is co-sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Public Opinion Quarterly, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, and the University of Minnesota's Department of Political Science. The conference fee is $25; the conference is free of charge for students. For more information or to register visit the conference website.
On Tuesday, February 28, 2006, Columbia University sociologist, journalist, and public intellectual Todd Gitlin will lecture on “The Necessity of Public Intellectuals” at 6 pm in the Coffman Memorial Union Theater. Gitlin’s talk is sponsored by General College, the School of Journalism & Mass Communication, and the Department of Communication Studies. For more information contact Laura Weber in General College at 612-625-6566.
The Institute for New Media Studies’ next “Emerging Digerati” lecture will be held on
Monday, March 6, 2006, at 6:00 pm at the Weisman Art Museum. Emerging Digerati lectures feature U of M students’ work using digital tools and techniques. Lectures are free of charge and open to the public, and fefreshments are provided. For more information cotnact inms@umn.edu or 612-625-0576.
The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law and the Minnesota Journalism Center, along with the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, will present a forum on “Truth Telling in Campaign Ads” on Tuesday March 7, 2006, 5:00-6:30 p.m., in the Cowles Auditorium at the Hubert H. Humphrey Center. The forum’s featured speaker will be Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, author, and CBS commentator. The event is free but advance registration is appreciated. To register, send an e-mail to cspg@hhh.umn.edu with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address, or contact Jennifer Thompson at 612-625-5340.
The 29th Annual Frank Premack Memorial Lecture will be held on Monday, April 17, 7:30 p.m., in the Coffman Memorial Union Theater. The featured speaker this year is National Public Radio’s Michele Norris, an award-winning journalist and the nationally renowned host of All Things Considered, public radio’s longest-running national program. Norris’s lecture is free and open to the public. Visit www.mjc.umn.edu for more information or call 612-626-1723.
The University of Minnesota Alumni Association’s Annual Celebration on Tuesday, May 23 will feature Sandra Day O’Connor, recently retired Justice of the United States Supreme Court. The evening will feature a social hour and dinner beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Northrup Mall and Justice O’Connor’s lecture at 8 p.m. in Northrup Auditorium. Tables of 10 start at $550, but reservations made before April 23 will receive a $50 early bird discount on the purchase of each table. Individual tickets start at $55 per person for the dinner and program, and $30 for the program only. Student tickets are available for $15. Complete ticket pricing and event information is available at www.alumni.umn.edu/oconnor. To reserve tables of 10 or more, call 612-625-8878; to reserve individual tickets, call 612-624-2345; to order online, visit www.northrop.umn.edu. To become a UMAA member, visit www.alumni.umn.edu.
New benefit for UMAA members: U of M Alumni Association members now have free online access to thousands of popular magazines, business and academic journals, and trade publications, thanks to a new partnership with the University Libraries. UMAA members who have Internet access can log on to two databases – Academic Search Premier and Business Source Premier – that provide online entry to thousands of general interest, business, lifestyle, special interest, academic, and scientific publications. For more information visit http://www.alumni.umn.edu/U_of_M_Libraries1.
Adjunct instructor Debra Kelley and her identity design firm Hall Kelley were featured in Stillwater Living magazine in “City By Design,” an article about creative agencies in the St. Croix Valley.
Assistant professor Gary Schwitzer was interviewed on KSTP Radio on February 2, 2006 regarding prescription drug advertising and U.S. Food and Drug Administration policy.
On Feburary 3, Professor Jane Kirtley was interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” regarding the controversy surrounding Governor Tim Pawlenty’s radio show. She was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on February 9 in a story entitled “Blog Buzz on High-Tech Start-Ups Causes Some Static.” She also commented in a February 17 Star Tribune article on the alterations made to some legislators’ biographies on Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Also on February 17, Kirtley was quoted in a Star Tribune article on KSTP-TV’s refusal to air a controversial ad defending U.S. policy in Iraq.
Professor Kathleen Hansen and INMS director Nora Paul were guests on the February 7 airing of “Midmorning” with Kerri Miller on Minnesota Public Radio. Hansen and Paul discussed their research project involving the modification of the adventure game “Neverwinter Nights” for use in Hansen’s Jour 3004 class. An article on the “Neverwinter Nights” project that appeared in the Winter 2005/06 issue of the Murphy Reporter, the SJMC’s alumni magazine, was also featured on the U of M’s system-wide homepage in early February.
Associate professor Marco Yzer was a guest on adjunct instructor John Rash’s WCCO radio talk show on February 11. The topic was the controversy surrounding the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammed. Professor Jane Kirtley also weighed in on the cartoon controversy: she was quoted in the February 7 Star Tribune in a story about the cartoons, and was a guest on Minnesota Public Radio’s “Midday” with Gary Eichten on the same discussing the issue.
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SJMC student Patrick Foulks is one of 11 students from the upper Midwest to be accepted to participate in the Canada Study Tour. The tour is a program for journalism students sponsored by the Canadian government.
The SJMC’s student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has been awarded a $400 grant from SPJ’s national headquarters to host an event in March entitled “Red
Lake Revisited: Covering a tragedy and a community a year later.”
SJMC professor emeritus Irving Fang is the author of a 11-book series entitled The Story of Communication. Each title covers a component of communication, including Writing, Printing, Recording, Mail, Photography, Movies, Radio, Television, Computers, Telephone, and Internet. All are intended for middle and high school age readers. The series is published by a small firm founded by Fang, his daughter, and his son-in-law. Professor Fang has also just published a journal article entitled “The Role of Communication in the Clash of Cultures,” which may be of some interest in the light of the demonstrations over the Danish cartoons. Fang hopes to update the article as a chapter in a college-level text he is writing on societal effects across the history of communication.
A number of SJMC graduate students presented at the “Best of the Midwest” college newspaper convention in Minneapolis on February 17-19. Ph.D. student Kate Roberts Edenborg presented a session entitled “Getting the Job (Done Right): Beyond internships, clips and resumes” and covered differenta approaches to applying for jobs in journalism. Maureen Schriner's session, “Vital Beat: Health News on the College Campus” was based on her experience in health care reporting and communications. David Husom conducted two sessions at the convention: “Web Navigation, Design and Content: A Search for Unity” and a session critiquing newspaper web sites. Visiting professor Thom Swiss also presented at the “Best of the Midwest” convention.
INMS director Nora Paul was on a panel about games and education for the Minnesota chapter of the International Game Developers Association on Feb. 8. A podcast of the discussion which included local game developers and a game design and programming teacher from Brown College can be heard at the IGDA TWIN CITIES homepage: http://igda.org/wiki/index.php/IGDA_Twin_Cities. Paul also gave a talk at the U of M’s College of Continuing Education on the INMS’s current projects.
Visiting professor Thom Swiss gave a number of invited lectures at the National Institute Of Education, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, including "Writing, New Media, and Postmodern Culture” on January 13th. An invited article by Swiss is featured in the February issue of Speakeasy, a national magazine published by the Loft Literary Center. The article, entitled “Writing in New Media,” was co-authored by U of M professor of English Maria Damon.
Visiting professor Thom Swiss taught a workshop for the arts writers for The Minnesota Daily at their training day on January 27th.
Sgt. Nate Gove of the Golden Valley Police Department talked to Chris Ison's Public Affairs Reporting class about police/media relations.
Assistant professor Gary Schwitzer had the following guests in his Journalism 8192 health journalism seminar: Professors Susan Foote and Robert Kane, U of M School of Public Health; Sean Kenney of the Labor Management Health Care Coalition; Mary Jo Kreitzer, RN, PhD, U of M Center for Spirituality & Healing, Professor Carl Elliott, U of M Professor of Bioethics; and Canadian drug policy researcher Alan Cassels, author of the book Selling Sickness.
Professor Jane Kirtley was part of a panel that took place in Spokane, WA on February 8 to discuss the Spokane Spokesman-Review’s controversial coverage of Mayor Jim West. Nearly 250 people attended the panel discussion, which was filmed by Spokane's local-access channel, Whitworth College, and a crew from “Frontline” doing a documentary for fall broadcast. Kirtley was also the moderator of a panel entitled “Protecting Sources by Going to Jail: Is There a Better Way?” at the New England Press Association's 2006 Convention in Boston, MA on February 10.
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February 2006