Campus Update
Trinity Adds Journalism Concentration; Professor Awarded Fellowship
Trinity College's communication program has recently added a journalism concentration to the communication major. The new concentration, introduced in fall 2003, offers students an opportunity to learn and practice the skills necessary to prepare for internships and careers in the field of journalism. Students who choose the journalism concentration will be prepared to work for newspapers and magazines (both print and electronic versions), public relations firms and book publishing companies.
The addition of the journalism concentration, along with at master of arts in communication established in 2001, reflects the growing student interest in the field.
Students enrolled in the journalism concentration must successfully complete courses in journalism, advanced writing and reporting, the role of media in society and mass media law classes. In addition, because the field of journalism is today more an electronic-based rather than a print-based medium, students in the journalism concentration must also complete course work in web page design and electronic imaging.
"The move is not to major in journalism but to get a communication degree," explained Assistant Professor of Communication Raul Tovares of the new concentration. "That way you're more versatile in the job market."
Tovares, who teaches introduction and advanced journalism classes, as well as mass communication and graduate courses, will be experiencing journalism first-hand this summer. Recently, he was awarded an American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) fellowship, and will be reporting for six weeks at The Herald in Monterey, Calif. The fellowship, which includes transportation and a stipend, allows 20 professors to work in newsrooms across the country.
Tovares said he is looking forward to his reporting assignment. "It is an opportunity to get some real experience that I can bring back to the classroom," he explained. "It adds credibility when you have first-hand experience."
Tovares said he also hopes to use the experience for networking to help connect students with future California-based opportunities.
In addition to the six-week newspaper residency, the fellowship also includes a one-week American Press Institute seminar prior to the placement, and ends with a week-long debriefing in Toronto.
World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn Presents Snowdon Lecture at Trinity
James D. Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, presented the Third Annual Richard W. Snowdon Lecture at Trinity College on March 30. The program, sponsored by the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington, included the IFC's 25th Anniversary Recommitment Ceremony. Notre Dame Chapel was filled to capacity for the speech.
Mr.Wolfensohn's lecture, "Millennium Challenges for Faith and Development: New Partnerships to Reduce Poverty and Strengthen Conservation," explored the role of faiths in combating some of the world's greatest problems. According to Mr. Wolfensohn, "Religious organizations represent the most elaborate and effective distribution system, reaching into most poor communities around the world. Poor people are part of congregations, and faith leaders interact with them on a daily basis. They bring a wealth of understanding and insight into development debates."
Trinity Professor Offers Expert Opinion on Haiti to Senate, Numerous Media Outlets
As major developments unfold in Haiti daily - the President resigns, the U.S. sends troops in, the violence continues - Dr. Robert Maguire has provided his expertise on the political, historical, economic and cultural forces that have created this situation.
Dr. Maguire, director of the Haiti Program at Trinity College, has been interviewed by The New York Times, NPR and USA Today. He also provided Senate testimony to the Foreign Relations Committee.
Dr. Maguire has been involved with Haiti since the mid 1970s through affiliations with the Inter-American Foundation, U.S. Department of State, and Johns Hopkins, Brown and Georgetown Universities. He has been published extensively on issues of economic and grassroots development, governance and politics, the Haitian peasantry, public security, international assistance, and state/civil society relations.
Dr. Maguire was most recently in Haiti in December 2003, where he had the opportunity for a one-hour meeting with then President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Trinity Financial Aid Officer Testifies at Congressional Hearing on Tuition Assistance
Trinity College Financial Aid Officer Brian Ford testified in March at a Congressional Hearing regarding the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program.
Ford, a native of D.C., is a former recipient of the D.C. Tuition Assistance Program and experienced firsthand the struggle of growing up in near poverty in southeast D.C.
A graduate of the University of Delaware, Ford was awarded a D.C. Tuition grant his junior year of college and emphasized the importance of awarding this assistance to needy students.
Dr. Sue Blanshan Named Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dr. Sue Blanshan, a sociologist who earned her B.A. degree at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and her master's and Ph.D. at Ohio State, has been named as Trinity's next vice president for academic affairs.
Dr. Blanshan has significant experience in higher education. She has both teaching and administrative experience at Ohio State, including directing the Women's Services Office, developing the Office of Human Relations, and subsequently becoming a senior policy analyst in the President's Office at Ohio State.
Dr. Blanshan was also Dean of the Hartford College for Women, the women's college of the University of Hartford. While leading Hartford, Dr. Blanshan established the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, expanded the college's math and science programs, led curricular reform across programs, instituted a comprehensive planning process, and established a "students come first" policy that ensured the priority of student needs in services and budgeting.
Dr. Blanshan later moved to Alabama where she became director of graduate and undergraduate programs in the Business and Management division of Birmingham-Southern College. From that position, she moved out of academe and into the nonprofit sector, becoming executive director of AIDS Alabama, where she continued to develop her skills in management and fund raising while also developing expertise in AIDS policy and research.
"Dr. Blanshan will bring tremendous energy, professionalism and high intellectual standards to Trinity, along with a deep respect for our mission and a keen sense of our strategic needs," said President Patricia McGuire.
Dr. Blanshan will begin at Trinity on June 7.
Four Trinity Students Selected for Sr. Seton Cunneen '65 Summer Service Fellowships
Four Trinity students will spend their summer engaged in community service as they participate in the Sr. Seton Cunneen Summer Service Fellowship program. Eileen Denny '07, Leticia Rochelle Maya-Callen '07, Khrysle Roberts '07 and Sanada Spellman '06 will provide service to the following non-profit agencies in Washington, D.C.: the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Spanish Catholic Center, N Street Village and Paul Public Charter School.
Eileen Denny '07 is an international affairs major with a keen interest in religious studies and history. While visiting Washington as a high school student, she realized that she wanted to attend college in Washington to pursue studies in foreign policy. Through her work with the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Denny hopes to concentrate on global policy and politics, because as she aptly writes, "I am first and foremost a citizen of the world."
Leticia Rochelle Maya-Callen '07 has a strong interest in immigration issues and hopes that her work with the Spanish Catholic Center will combine direct relational service with advocacy. Through working directly with immigrant populations, Maya-Callen will develop a greater understanding of their challenges and needs, increasing her ability to bring change and growth in these communities through legal and journalistic avenues.
N Street Village is an agency that provides social service to the homeless, mentally ill or substance abuse recovering adults. Khrysle Roberts '07 is interested in challenging herself to grow spiritually, socially and academically as she develops relationships with the residents of N Street Village. She will work with the residents to learn the causes of their problems and conditions, and to motivate them toward positive solutions and greater self-esteem. She anticipates greater leadership and organizational skills as she takes responsibility for volunteer placement and overall management.
Sanada Spellman '06 is Trinity's first graduate student to become a Cunneen Service Fellow. As a candidate for a master's degree in counseling with a concentration in student development in higher education, Spellman will work with DC GEAR-UP, a program that reaches out to students from high poverty communities, involving them in direct services that will increase their academic success, through information about scholarships, mentoring, career exploration and the college application process. Spellman will be working with students at Paul Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.
The Sr. Seton Cunneen Summer Service Fellowship was established in 1996 to honor Sr. Seton Cunneen, SND, '65 former director of campus ministry, and to support Trinity students who desire to work in community service. While early awardees of the program served communities outside the Washington metropolitan area, the program has been modified to include opportunities to meet the critical needs of the Washington community.
The Sr. Seton Cunneen Summer Service Fellowship program has been revitalized under the direction of Trinity's new campus minister, Barbara Humphrey McCrabb, who joined Trinity this year from Georgetown University's Campus Ministry Team. As McCrabb explained, "(Sr. Seton's) passion for justice and her commitment to service lives on in these women... A key element of this program is a hallmark of the Sisters of Notre Dame, namely, the transformative nature of education. This fellowship provides an opportunity for students to work, to serve the community, and to gain insights to real social issues which will further their academic and personal development."
The Cunneen Fellows will make presentations on their experiences as part of a symposium on women's education and the charism of the Sisters of Notre Dame at Trinity College the weekend of September 10 - 12, 2004.
