Tag Archives: SJMC

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC journalism students cover DM school board election

Students in SJMC professor Jill Van Wyke’s junior-level public affairs reporting class started the academic year off at a sprint with comprehensive coverage of the Des Moines school board election. The students’ stories, posted on the SJMC’s Drake Digital News website, included candidate profiles, coverage of a community forum, district demographics, and past voter turnout. The class also plans to live-blog the election results tonight.

— Kathleen Richardson, School of Journalism & Mass Communication

 

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC news: Week of April 4

Lee Jolliffe authors chapters on free speech
SJMC’s Lee Jolliffe authored one chapter and is first author on another, in the newly issued book An Indispensable Liberty: The Fight for Free Speech in Nineteenth-Century America, edited by Mary M. Cronin, of New Mexico State University.

In the lead chapter of the book, “A Press Ablaze: Violent Suppression of Abolitionist Speech, Press, Petition, and Assembly,” Lee details the wide range of violence used against abolitionist speakers, publishers, preachers, and audiences. Using newly indexed 19th-century newspapers, she has discovered that far more violence was aimed at anti-slavery advocates than previous histories have led us to believe. A number of abolitionist speakers and preachers were murdered in the South, for instance.

In a co-authored chapter on the suffrage movement, “Incremental but Insufficient: Gains Offset by Suppression for Women’s Rights Speakers,” the authors found that jeering and harassment were the primary tools of anti-woman suffrage mobs, but sadly, previously unknown violence was again discovered. Lee’s colleagues in writing this chapter are Sandra Davidson, University of Missouri, and Paulette Kilmer, University of Toledo.

The book is available from Amazon or from www.siupress.com.


SJMC senior chosen to anchor coverage of national broadcasters convention
Broadcast news senior Brenna Paukert has been selected as an anchor for the production team providing live broadcast coverage of the 2016 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show’s StudioXperience in Las Vegas on April 16–22. The NAB Show is the largest gathering of media and entertainment professionals in the world, drawing more than 100,000 attendees.


Learn to shoot better smartphone video
Professor Chris Snider will teach a smartphone video workshop on April 13 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in Meredith Hall, Room 124B. Come learn the basics of shooting great video and test out some accessories to make your smartphone a more powerful video tool. See all the details here.


SJMC hosts high school journalism conference
The SJMC will host a high school journalism conference on campus April 6 that is expected to draw as many as 100 students and their advisers. The daylong conference, which will focus on leadership and innovation, is co-sponsored by the Iowa Newspaper Foundation, Simpson College, and Iowa State University.


Road trip!
SJMC magazine students and faculty will take their annual tour of New York City magazines and meet with industry professionals and Drake alumni on April 6-10. And SJMC students and faculty will take a bus trip to Minneapolis April 3–4 to visit alumni and professionals at Twin Cities-area businesses and agencies.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

Featured Events Archive

“Behind the Numbers: Polling in Campaign 2016”

Public opinion pollster J. Ann Selzer will discuss the roller coaster U.S. presidential campaign at Drake on April 5. “Behind the Numbers: Polling in Campaign 2016” will begin at 7 p.m. in the Cowles Library Reading Room.

The conversation, which is free and open to the public, will include time for audience questions.

Selzer, president of the public opinion research firm Selzer & Company that runs The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll, will discuss the current chaotic political climate and what the polls have taught us this presidential campaign season. The conversation will be facilitated by Professor Jennifer Glover Konfrst, who leads Drake’s new strategic political communication program.

Selzer’s appearance is sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Drake’s new multidisciplinary data analytics program.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

News & Achievements Archive

Bulldogs of DU: Kelly Bruhn

What do you do?
I’m the associate dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and associate professor of public relations, so I teach undergraduate courses and in the Master of Communication Leadership program. As associate dean, I handle recruitment and student success.

You have three children under the age of four, a demanding job, and other commitments; do you think women can have it all?
Someone told me a long time ago that you can have it all, you just can’t have it all at the same time. Sometimes the job takes over a little bit, like orientation or finals week, but then there are times when I need to focus at home. I’m lucky that I have leaders at Drake who support that life balance and a husband who supports me, as well.

What’s a story you share with prospective students and their families?
In PR writing, I have students write a few pieces for their dream employer—if they could pick any place, no holds barred, where would it be? They craft some communication samples for the employer and put together a packet. I write a cover letter and send the packet to the head of communication for that company, and on several occasions we have those communication folks reach back. This exercise has turned into opportunities with organizations like the Los Angeles Angels and National Geographic. It’s a great example to show how class work can lead them to their dream and that anything is possible.

What do you hope students remember about you after they’ve graduated?
I hope they remember that I cared. My door is always open. I always have chocolate and Kleenex. I think that academics certainly matter and every assignment is very intentional, but at the end of the day I hope they remember me for listening, caring, and helping them to achieve their dreams.

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC to host summer camp for high school students

The award-winning Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication is partnering with St. Louis-based Media Now to host its first summer camp for high school students. The four-day “boot camp,” which will be held July 6-9 on Drake’s campus, will introduce students to the professional digital media and communications skills they need to be successful not only in high school but beyond. Workshop topics include editorial leadership, design, narrative storytelling, web and social media, and photo/multimedia. Teachers include high school and college instructors and media professionals from around the country.

The camp is available both as a sleep-over camp and as a day camp. Scholarships are available for students in need of financial assistance. Advisers get a discounted registration fee if five students from their school sign up.

For details on curriculum and fees, and to register, visit https://medianowdrake.com/.  Early bird registration deadline is April 1. Regular registration runs through June 1, with a late fee after that.

—Submitted by Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC news: Week of Feb. 22

Urban Plains—the 2015 senior capstone website for the SJMC magazine media, news and digital media production students—won the student interactive multimedia “Best of Festival” award at this year’s Broadcast Education Association contest.

The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student work. There were 1,500 entries from more than 175 institutions. The awards will be presented at the BEA convention in Las Vegas in April.

Urban Plains was previously named best online magazine by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication; best online edition at the Iowa College Media Association contest; first place for multimedia story in the Associated Collegiate Press Awards; and has received multiple awards for individual writing, design, photography, and video in those contests and in
the Telly Awards.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, SJMC

News & Achievements Archive

SJMC students win college media awards

School of Journalism and Mass Communication students won 25 awards Feb. 4 from the Iowa College Media Association. Highlights included first and second place in online edition for Urban Plains and Drake Magazine, respectively; a sweep in interactive design; a first place in investigative reporting; and awards representing photography, writing, design, social, and multimedia. The awards represented material published in The Times-Delphic; the senior capstone website Urban Plains, and Drake Magazine. Details are on the SJMC website.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Featured Events Archive

Filmmaker to present his work at Drake, Feb. 15 and 16

The E.T. Meredith Center for Magazine Studies is hosting a visiting professional, documentary filmmaker Carlos Ibarra, on Monday, Feb. 15 and Tuesday, Feb. 16. Ibarra will showcase several videos from his documentary series “Run Carlos Run” on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. in Cowles Reading Room. The event is free and open to the public. “Run Carlos Run” follows Ibarra as he embarks on a cross-country run from Brooklyn to California, and the stories of the people he meets along the way, seeking to understand the modern American Dream.

 —Submitted by Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication

News & Achievements Archive

NPR to broadcast live from Smokey Row

NPR host David Greene will broadcast Morning Edition live from Smokey Row Coffee in Des Moines on Monday, Feb. 1, and Tuesday, Feb. 2, from 4 to 9 a.m. Drake faculty, staff and students are invited to come for a behind-the-scenes look at radio journalism and to meet David at anytime either day. (Although they are especially eager for people to be there at 4 a.m.) Plus, you’ll have the chance to participate in live discussion about the Iowa caucuses with such people as political commentator David Yepsen, pollster Ann Selzer, and maybe a presidential candidate or two.

—Kathleen Richardson, Dean, School of Journalism and Mass Communication