They are Barb Bondy, Art; Brigitta Brunner, Communication and Journalism; Jeff Jakeman, History; Jim Johnston, Psychology; and Carole Zugazaga, Sociology. The program is designed to support superior faculty in the college, and, through the quality of the recipients' work, to strengthen student and faculty engagement in the local community as well as nationally and internationally. Each chosen faculty member will hold the title of CLA Engaged Scholar for a three-year appointment and will receive an annual supplement of $5,000. A committee selected the five recipients based on exemplary professional citizenship and participation in promoting the college's commitment to civic engagement.

Jennifer Wood Adams, assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism, and graduate research assistant Melissa Voynich will receive in August the Top Three Faculty Paper Award in the newspaper division at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication national convention in Chicago. The award will recognize their article, "The Use of Design Technology in the Classroom: A Switch from QuarkXPress to InDesign?," that was published this month in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator. Voynich is a communication graduate student who will graduate in August.

The workshop co-directors are Professor Nan Fairley and Dr. Jennifer Wood Adams.

The workshop newspaper reflects the diversity of activities and opinions that made the June 2008 Summer Journalism Workshop a valuable learning experience for the participants.

"I'm sure the lessons this special group of students take home will have a positive impact at their respective high schools," said Fairley, who founded the workshop in 2003. "The students got a real crash course in journalism basics."

The high school students were treated like professional journalists. Not only did they participate in a wide-range of journalism seminars, they had to write stories about their experiences for the workshop newspaper - on a tight deadline.

They wrote stories about environmental issues, community journalism, The Auburn Plainsman newspaper, photojournalism and multicultural issues.

The students participated in a mock news conference with the AU sports information staff and defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks. They did their research on Marks the day before the news conference and were ready to ask him their questions.

Their final assignment was to write a column about what topics they would like to see covered in their hometown newspaper, tackle an issue that is impacting high school students or offer their reflections on their journalism workshop experiences.

During the concluding awards ceremony on Friday, June 13, six of the top participants in the workshop received $1,000 scholarship offers funded by the Mobile Press- Register. "It was amazing to see the participants' confidence as journalists grow as the week progressed," Adams said. "Many of them left with a deeper understanding of the craft and an interest in pursuing journalism or communication at the collegiate level. That's what this workshop is all about."

For more information on future workshops, contact Fairley at the AU Department of Communication and Journalism, 217 Tichenor Hall, Auburn University, AL 36849, (334) 844-4593 or e-mail at: fairlln@auburn.edu.
Application forms for the 2009 workshop and additional information will be posted on the Department's Web site at: http://media.cla.auburn.edu/ cmjn/.

Journalism Professor Ed Williams has marked his 25th year on the Auburn faculty by endowing a scholarship for students in the program.

Williams continues to teach in the Department of Communication and Journalism after stepping down as faculty adviser to the Auburn Plainsman student newspaper after 23 years in that role.

"My students tell me that I've impacted their lives, but I wanted to leave another kind of legacy, something that will be here long after I am gone," said Williams. "I felt that funding an endowed scholarship is something that will be a part of Auburn forever and something that demonstrates the commitment that I've had to my students and to the Auburn Plainsman for the past 25 years."

The endowment will provide scholarships for students who have demonstrated a commitment to journalism through working at The Plainsman.

Williams joined the AU faculty in 1983 after several years of writing for newspapers in Alabama, including the Montgomery Advertiser, the South Alabamian, the Brewton Standard and the Andalusia Star-News.

During Williams' 23 years as adviser the Plainsman was awarded 13 of its 23 Pacemaker Awards, the highest honor awarded in college journalism. Only one other collegiate newspaper, the Daily Texan at the University of Texas, has received more Pacemakers than The Plainsman.

"I've had the perfect job," said WIlliams. "But I felt it was time for new leadership aas the adviser, and I want to concentrate on classroom teaching and advising students in our internship program. It's been a fun ride -- I wouldn't take anything for my association with student journalists at The Plainsman."

Besides teaching, Williams will contiue to serve as journalism internship director.

The workshop is free to participants, who are selected through a competitive application process and must currently be high school juniors. During their weeklong visit to Auburn, students will have opportunities to work closely with communication professionals and professors, take field trips and interact with staff members from the university's campus newspaper and radio station. Room and board in a campus residence hall with college-age chaperones will be provided at no charge. Assistant Professor Jennifer Adams and Associate Professor Nan Fairley will serve as co-directors of the sixth annual workshop. Applications will be accepted through April 30, and student selections will be announced by May 15. For more information and application forms, contact Fairley at 844-4593 or fairlln@auburn.edu or go to http://media.cla.auburn.edu/cmjn.

Even other civil rights-era journalists listen when long-time journalist Clarke Stallworth talks about what happened in both Alabama streets and newspapers when Martin Luther King Jr., George Wallace and a court case called Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas changed the world.

So it’s more than fitting that Stallworth, this year’s speaker for the Neil O. and Henrietta Davis Lecture Series, will talk to journalists, journalism students and the public on Thursday, March 27 at 5 p.m. in the Dixon Auditorium at the Auburn University Hotel and Conference Center.

"The journalists who covered the civil rights movement are a treasure of important historical information,” said John Carvalho, director of the Auburn University journalism program. “Mr. Stallworth and his colleagues were in the middle of a situation that had all the markings of a great story: conflict, impact, constant change. Their professional response to the situation is a model for young journalists."

Stallworth’s 42-year newspaper career began at the Birmingham Post-Herald in 1948; his early years included an incident in which a Ku Klux Klan member threw a hammer at his head at a KKK rally he was covering. He was on the spot to report, and won numerous awards for covering, the Phenix City, Ala., clean-up and murder trials and the administrations of Governors James “Big Jim” Folsom, John Patterson and George C. Wallace won numerous awards. He was city editor at the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer from 1965 to 1966, but returned to the Birmingham News as city editor during the years when the city was known as “Bombingham.” Even as editor, he continued to report, covering events in Paris, Prague and Cuba; for years he wrote a column called A Day in the Life of Alabama. His book by that same name was published in 1994, and he has published two more.

Stallworth has also conducted more than a hundred workshops for journalists all over the country and in Canada, including 33 workshops for the American Press Institute. He has also taught journalism at Samford University, the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Stallworth is not only a legendary journalist – celebrated Montgomery Advertiser reporter Alvin Benn calls him “a hero” -- but he’s also a nationally known writing and reporting coach who’s conducted hundreds of workshops in newsrooms across the country and Canada. Journalism Professor and Plainsman advisor Ed Williams recalls meeting a reporter in an Ohio newsroom who had taped to her computer a quote from Stallworth. She said he changed her life, Williams said. “I wonder how many other reporters throughout the country have that same quote from Clarke Stallworth, ‘What does this story mean to the reader?’ taped to their computers?” said Williams.

Stallworth is married to the novelist Anne Nall Stallworth. They have two children and three grandchildren.

The Davis Lecture Series was established in 1996 to honor the late Neil O. and Henrietta Davis and encourage excellence in journalism. The Davises founded, reported for and edited the respected Lee County Bulletin for more than 40 years. Both were Auburn graduates; among his many honors and press awards, Mr. Davis was a Nieman Fellow whose editorials were reprinted in such publications as The New York Times. The Davises’ purchase of The Tuskegee News to provide coverage of the black community in Macon County and their responsible reporting on numerous events such as the desegregation of Auburn University and Auburn’s public schools are widely considered critical acts of leadership during troubled times. Both have been inducted into the Alabama Press Association’s Hall of Honor.

AUBURN – Auburn University recently received a $100,000 endowed gift from the James M. Cox Foundation in honor of Cynthia Tucker. A 1976 graduate of AU, Tucker was recognized with a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2007 for “her courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the community.” She is currently the editorial page editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The endowment will provide scholarships for students in the journalism program in AU’s College of Liberal Arts. Known as the Cynthia Tucker ’76 Endowed Scholarship for Journalism Excellence, the gift strives to increase the level of diversity in the journalism program.

“It is such an honor to receive this endowment from the Cox Foundation,” said Anna Gramberg, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “So many of our journalism students admire Cynthia Tucker, and giving them the opportunity to emulate Cynthia’s prestigious career is the best gift I can think of.”

Tucker joined Cox Enterprises more than 30 years ago and the endowment recognizes her contributions not only to the company, but to the entire field of journalism. “At Cox, we value talent, diversity and acting as a good corporate citizen,” said Leigh Ann Launius, director of foundations and operations at Cox Enterprises. “Creating this scholarship in Cynthia’s name is the perfect way to pay tribute to all three values.”

Cynthia Tucker was born in 1955 in Monroeville, Ala. At Auburn, she earned a dual degree in journalism and English, while writing for the student newspaper, The Plainsman.

Tucker was selected as Nieman Fellow by Harvard University in 1988. In 1993, the National Women’s Political Caucus awarded Tucker the Exceptional Merit Award. In 2005, Tucker received the Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award, as well as an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colby College. She was a finalist in 2004 and 2005 for a Pulitzer Prize.

“I’m deeply honored by the generosity of the Cox Foundation, and I’m looking forward to getting to know the bright and committed young journalism students who are scholarship recipients,” said Tucker.

The gift counts as part of the “It Begins at Auburn” Campaign which encompasses all colleges and schools, as well as the AU libraries and museums, athletics and Auburn University Montgomery. Endowments for student scholarships, faculty, programs and unrestricted dollars make up 58 percent of the campaign’s goal. In addition to endowments, the campaign will focus on facilities and equipment, campus beautification, research and current operations.

Media Forum Open to Students

October 12, 2007

There will be a Media InForum for students interested in learning about script-writing, advertising, publishing, getting an agent, and creating and pitching a television reality show on Friday, Oct. 12, 2007, in the auditorium at the Jule Collins Smith Museum.

Six speakers will give presentations throughout the day beginning at 9 a.m. and each presentation is 35 minutes and will end with a 15 minute question and answer session.

The times and speakers for the Media InForum on Friday, Oct. 12, are:

Title: “A Career on Camera”
Time: 9 - 9:50 a.m.
About the Presenter: Marc Summers is a producer and host of the behind-the-scenes details on classic American food show “Unwrapped” on the Food Network. And for over 10 years Summers hosted the popular Nickelodeon kids game show “Double Dare.” He will give a talk at 9 a.m. about hosting TV shows and how to create and pitch a reality show.

Title: “Writing for the Hollywood Dollar”
Time: 10 - 10:50 a.m.
About the Presenter: Tony Blake is a Primetime writer and executive producer for shows such as “Charmed,” “Lois & Clark,” and “She Spies.” Blake has just published a book on to break into the business of writing for Hollywood. He will talk at 10 a.m. about how to write and sell a script.

Title: “Artist’s Representation”
Time: 11 - 11:50 a.m.
About the Presenter: Kathy Armistead is a music agent who puts together sponsorship deals for country music artist tours and is currently working with the band Rascal Flats. At 11 a.m., Armistead will talk about what agents do, and how to get an agent.

Title: “Print Journalism Today”
Time: 1:10 - 2 p.m.
About the Presenter: Kay Fuston is Editor and Vice President of Coastal Living Magazine based in Birmingham. She is an Auburn Alumna and will explain the difference between editorial and publishing sides of print, and how to break into publishing.

Title: “Advertising in Our Society”
Time: 2 - 2:50 p.m.
About the Presenter: Matt Crisci - A former managing partner of the advertising company Lintas: New York, and a former executive with the Interpublic Group (IPG), an advertising holding company, Crisci will talk to students about how advertising pays for everything and the changing role of advertising in the digital age.

Title: “Media InForurm Summary & Panel Discussion”
Time: 3 - 3:50 p.m.
About the Presenter: The media forum is being hosted by Auburn Alum Michael Young,’74, of Michael Young Media (MYM). Young is a leading multi-platform creator and producer of television, internet, corporate video and live events. MYM produces stand-alone television specials, national conventions, and Web site content.

The goals of the Media InForum, Young says, is to provide current students with advice and contacts within the communications industry - print, television, radio, film, theatre, advertising, etc., and to offer an opportunity where media professionals interact with students to provide inspiration, define possibilities, and advance networking opportunities.

“We are incredibly lucky to have outstanding alumni like Michael Young to give back to our students,” said Anna Gramberg, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This is a great opportunity for students to learn first-hand what it takes to succeed in the communication world.”

Please note: Parking is free at the museum, and there is a Tiger Transit stop at the museum.
For more information about the forum, please visit the Website: www.aumediainforum.com