New Course Announcement: The Journalist as Citizen

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thumbnailCAF6OQLUOffered by the distinguished journalist Jane Eisner, Wesleyan’s first Koeppel Fellow in Journalism 

Class Meets Thursdays 7:00-9:50 in PAC 421

Students may register online, the course is open to students from all four class years.

 

Course Description:

In this weekly writing seminar, we will explore how journalists exercisetheir roles as citizens, and, in turn, how journalism affects the functioningof our democracy. Using historic and contemporary examples, we willexamine how, at its best, the media exposes inequity, investigates wrongdoing, gives voice to ordinary people, and encourages  active citizenship.

 Instructor Bio:

Jane Eisner, a pioneer in journalism, became editor of the Forward in June 2008, becoming the first woman to hold the position at the influential Jewish national weekly newspaper. Eisner held numerous executive editorial and news positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer for 25 years, including stints as editorial page editor, syndicated columnist, City Hall bureau chief and foreign correspondent. In 2006, she joined the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where she served as vice president for national programs and initiatives, with responsibility for all adult programming, the Liberty Medal, and the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution. Since 2002, Eisner has been a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Robert A. Fox Leadership Program, as well as an adjunct professor in the school’s political science department. In 2006, she was one of three women chosen to be the first fellows of the new Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center at Bryn Mawr College, where she led conferences and workshops and was the college’s 2007 commencement speaker. In 2009, Eisner was selected to be one of 20 fellows in the Punch Sulzberger Executive News Media Leadership Program at the Columbia School of Journalism. Her book, “Taking Back the Vote: Getting American Youth Involved in our Democracy,” was published by Beacon Press in 2004. In addition to her Inquirer column “American Rhythms,” which was syndicated to 100 newspapers, Eisner has contributed articles to a number of Jewish publications, including The Reconstructionist, Ma’ayan and the Forward. She has also written for the Washington Post, Newsday, Brookings Review and Columbia Journalism Review, and served as a regular panelist on the WPVI television talk show “Inside Story.”

An active member of her local community, Eisner is a board member of the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a past president of the Pennsylvania Women’s Forum, a former trustee and secretary of The Philadelphia Award, and a mentor with Philadelphia Futures. Nationally, she is a member of the Columbia School of Journalism Alumni Board, the National Conference on Citizenship’s advisory committee, and the Encore Leadership Network. Eisner received a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Journalism and graduated from Wesleyan University cum laude in 1977, where she was the first female editor of the college newspaper and was a member of the board of trustees. She recently was the first woman to win Wesleyan’s McConaughy Award for contributions to journalism and public life.

Dr. Martin Luther King Celebration

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In Celebration of the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Living the Dream: Youth Activism and a New Vision for Urban Public Educationirizarry

Keynote address by:

Dr. Jason G. Irizarry
Tuesday, January 26th
4:30 p.m., Memorial Chapel

Dr. Jason G. Irizarry is an Assistant Professor of Multicultural Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the Neag School of Education and Faculty Associate in the Institute for Puerto Rican and Latino Studies at the University of Connecticut.  Prior to his arrival at UConn, he was the Director of Project SPIRIT (Springfield Partnership to Improve the Recruitment of Inspiring Minority Teachers), a college-community collaboration aimed at increasing the number of teachers of color in urban schools.  He received his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in multicultural education, culturally responsive curriculum development, action research, and urban education.

A former middle school teacher in New York City, his research focuses on urban teacher recruitment, preparation, and retention with an emphasis on increasing the number of teachers of color, culturally responsive pedagogy, and youth participatory action research. A central focus of his work involves promoting the academic achievement of Latino and African American youth in urban schools by addressing issues associated with teacher education.  Manuscripts documenting the findings of his research have been published or accepted for publication in a variety of journals in the field including Education and Urban Society, Multicultural Perspectives, Race, Ethnicity and Education, Teaching and Teacher Education, and the Centro Journal of Puerto Rican Studies and others appearing as chapters in various books including the Handbook of Latinos and Education: Research, Theory & Practice (Murillo, 2010) and Culture, Curriculum, and Identity in Education: Progressive Perspectives on Research, Theory, and Practice. (Milner, 2009).

Class
Dr. Irizarry will conduct a seminar for students on his work.
10:30am, Open to the first 20 respondents
To register, email stuact@wesleyan.edu

Luncheon
Join us for a discussion with Dr. Irizarry over lunch (reservation required)
Noon, Open to the first 30 respondents (staff, faculty or students).
To RSVP, email stuact@wesleyan.edu

Reminder: Usdan Photo Contest II: International Photo Contest

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thumbnailCA3X3JOKWant your photography to be the next to hang in the Usdan Center? In partnership with the Office of International Studies, the Usdan Art Committee is sponsoring a second photo contest for study abroaders, international students, and others who have spent substantive time abroad. As with the international photo contest of the past, photos will be displayed in Zelnick Pavilion around the middle of the spring semester. Entries will be judged by a distinguished panel of Wesleyan experts in art, communication, and international affairs. The top ten photos will also be enlarged to 24″ x 36″ (or largest size allowed by the resolution of the original) and hung in Usdan common areas after Spring Break. At the end of the show, winners will receive their enlarged print as a prize.
 Guidelines:

  • Eligibility: Open to all students of Wesleyan University; all entries must be original work.
  • Submit up to ten photographs to tshiner@wesleyan.edu by February 1, 2010 or by dropping them off on CD-Rom at 124 Usdan.
  • Include your name, class year, a title and a description of the photo(s) of no more than 100 words. The description should include information on where and when the photo  was taken, as well as the significance of the subject matter in local  context and in the context of your experience studying abroad. By submitting photos, you are agreeing to permit them to be shown in Usdan, Zelnick, and/or Fisk Hall, as well as on the OIS web site.
  • Photographs will be selected to display in Zelnick Pavilion by mid-February. Of those selected, a panel of judges will choose ten winners to be enlarged and displayed in the Usdan Center.
  • Copyright: Wesleyan University reserves the right to publish winning images in Usdan University Center/Office of International Studies printed materials or websites. Photo credit will be provided, of course (that doesn¹t mean academic  redit for a photography class ­ just your name somewhere in the vicinity of the photograph).
  • Entrants must not infringe on the rights of any other photographer or person or submit images that involve the willful harassment of individuals, wildlife or damage to the environment by the photographer.

Free Destinta Movie for 2013’ers

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Free Destinta Movie for First Year Students

Wednesday, January 20 — 11:00 a.m. first to final showing at 10:35 p.m.thumbnailCALMOXKG

Show your 2013 Wes I.D. at the Destinta ticket counter. If students choose to see Avatar in 3D, there will be a charge of $3.00 to obtain the special glasses needed.

As a special welcome back program, Student Services and the University Center Activities Board (UCAB) have arranged for first year students to see one free movie on 1/20.  Students need to show their 2013 I.D. to gain free admission to the movie of their choice.  Students can use this privilege at any one show time on 1/20.

All Student ORL Staff will also be allowed free admission to one movie on 1/20.  Staff members need to show their I.D. so they can be checked off a list that will be provided for Destinta Theater.

ENJOY THE SHOW!!!

Welcome Back!

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thumbnailCAJ148KXWELCOME BACK! 

I hope that you are rested and eager to get the spring semester underway.  If you didn’t get a chance yet, check out my e-mail (Note from Dean Brown) sent to the class on January 14.

Stop by the office sometime soon to say hi!  Best, Dean Brown

Drop-in Hours go into effect when classes begin:

Mon.—2-3 p.m., Tues.—3-4 p.m., Wed.—5-7 p.m., Thurs.—11 a.m.-noon, Fri.—2-4 p.m.

Second Pre-Reg Deadline for Advanced Creative Writing Workshops

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Good news! If you missed the pre-registration deadline for the advanced creative writing workshops (ENGL 326, 337, thumbnailCA3L0B63and 342), please note that there is now a second deadline: January 18, 2010, the Monday before the semester begins.

To apply for these courses, please submit 5 pages of your writing (in prose or poetry, depending on the course to which you are applying) along with a cover page that includes the following information: 1) your name, email address, year in school, major (if any), some of your favorite writers and any other influences, and 2) a short biographical paragraph describing your history and/or interest in writing.

Please submit these materials electronically in a single attachment to the professor who is teaching the course (see below) by 10 a.m. on Monday, January 18, 2010. Please use either Microsoft Word or rich-text-format for your attachment.

You may take one of these workshops along with either Hilton Als’s “James Baldwin in Black and White” or Paul La Farge’s “Space and Place in Fiction”; however, you may not take two courses designated as “advanced workshops” (ENG 326, 337, or 342) concurrently. If you are applying to more than one of these courses, please include the ranking of your request on your submission.

This information will also be available on the WesMaps pages for these courses.

Wes Energy Conservation Showdown Prize

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Want to make Wes greener?  Want some extra cash? Want to help solve the University’s budget crisis? Want to have your voice heard by the administration?

Then submit to the Wesleyan Energy Conservation Showdown––the ECS-Prize. If you’ve ever had an idea to make lightbulbWesleyan more sustainable, but didn’t know how to be heard by the Administration or Physical Plant, this is your chance to affect real environmental change––and get paid to do it.

Prizes are $600 for the winning group entry, and $200 for two more runners-up groups. These entries, and any other “honorable mentions” will be collected into a document and sent directly to President Roth’s desk.

We are asking for submissions of at least 3 pages on how to conserve resources and money at Wesleyan. Students are encouraged to work in teams of 2 to 3 members to divide work, but you can work individually or in larger groups if you want.

Entries will be judged on how much natural resources the idea saves, and how much money the University will save because of that conservation. “Resources” can be utilities such as heat, water, and electricity but can include other things as well––for example, if the University is spending money on an environmentally harmful product, and students can find a cheaper, environmentally-friendly alternative, then that idea would be considered successful.

The rules are online at the WSA’s website: wsa.wesleyan.edu/committees/finance-and-facilities-committee/ecs-prize. All questions can be directed to bfirke@wesleyan.edu, or wesecsprize@gmail.com. Information about Wesleyan’s utilities will be posted soon, so any research will be a little easier.

The deadline is March 1, 2010.

Reflections

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With the end of exams at the close of the day tomorrow, you will have one semester of college under your proverbial belt.  I hope that it was a good one for you—that you were intellectually stimulated, co-curricularly engaged and personally thumbnailCA3NHQXVchallenged in a positive way.  I also hope that the trials and tribulations of a “first” semester were balanced out by your accomplishments and joy of discovery.  And I hope that all of it made you think more critically, question more wisely, and evaluate more compassionately. 

I hope too that you will take some time over January to reflect on your semester—what you learned, where you were successful, what you could do better.  Decide to try one new activity that will get you involved in campus life in a different way. (There are so many opportunities to do so!)  Your contributions, both inside and outside the classroom, help to make Wesleyan a better place.