by Lekan Oguntoyinbo , July 29, 2010
At the University of Mississippi, a team of student journalists recently concluded a series of in-depth stories on life in the Mississippi Delta. The package of stories has been given to the Mississippi Press Association, which will distribute them to newspapers throughout the state for publication at no cost. In the fall, the students will release an hourlong documentary about the Mississippi Delta that will be broadcast on public television.
Faculty at the University of Colorado’s journalism school are working with their colleagues in the business school to develop a joint certificate in media entrepreneurship. Michigan State University offers journalism degrees that specialize in certain subjects, including environmental studies.
Rosalynne Whitaker-Heck, dean of the Scripps-Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University, recently put her faculty through several days of extensive multimedia training, a strategy she calls “retooling her faculty.” On one occasion she brought in a faculty member from the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., to train faculty and students in telling stories across multiple platforms. On another occasion, experts from the E.W. Scripps Network conducted faculty training sessions via Skype on subjects ranging from social media tools and ethics in the age of the Internet.
