As participants, students attended 10 weekly sessions discovering their own strengths, exploring leadership communication styles, and interviewing top campus and community leaders.

Completing the inaugural academy were Eunjin Kim, Geonmi Kang, Sam Conklin, Josh Kratz, Jinhee Kim, Nicole Gervase, and Isidora Perovic.

As a recognized speaker cosponsored by the Journalism Department, Lauber provides leadership training to organizations in Western Pennsylvania and volunteered to run this first leadership academy during Spring 2013. The students were from several departments on campus, and they celebrated completion of the course with a pizza party in the Journalism Department on April 30, 2013.

From left: Eunjin Kim, Geonmi Kang, Sam Conklin, Erick Lauber, Josh Kratz, Jinhee Kim, Nicole Gervase, Isidora Perovic

Students Natalie Hotaling, Eden Kahle, and Elyse Shirley each received $1,027 from the Virginia Ann Deem Memorial Scholarship. The awards will be made available immediately.

Deem scholarships usually are awarded each Spring by Journalism faculty to support students in financial need with their expenses for the coming academic year. The three latest Deem awards are designated for the current academic year. The awards were drawn from additional funds made available by the scholarship’s administrators.

The Journalism Department annually awards more than $10,000 in scholarships drawn from six gifts from alumni and others with interests in the program and the discipline.

For more information, contact the Journalism Department at 724-357-4411.

Second-place winners of the 2013 collegiate Keystone Press Award for Public Service/Enterprise reporting are juniors Aleda Johnson, Abbey Zelko, and Charlene Adams. They investigated a controversial debate over municipal regulation of transient vendors in Indiana borough. Their multimedia reporting examined business-community complaints that sidewalk vendors were harming the restaurant industry in the town. The story cast doubt on the claims.

The story appeared December 21 in the online newspaper the HawkEye as part of the Civic Project, a nine-year-old, community-focused, watchdog-journalism initiative rooted in News Reporting classes taught by IUP journalism professor David Loomis, Ph.D.

Editor Loomis praised the students’ reporting.

“They helped make sense of this perennial transient-vendor conflict,” Loomis said. “Much of the daily news coverage was he-said, she-said. The students researched tax-revenue data, among other things, to add context and meaning for citizens. The multimedia presentation added value, too.”

Loomis described the Keystone award as the Pennsylvania collegiate equivalent of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

“It’s a big deal for the winners’ academic careers, their professional prospects, the HawkEye, and for the Journalism Department,” Loomis said.

Loomis noted that this year’s competition included some of the state's biggest universities and most respected journalism programs, including Temple University, which took first place in the category. The IUP students’ award continues an unbroken stream of such awards for the HawkEye. Four times student investigative stories have been submitted to the Keystone Award competition; four times they have won first or second place.

Winners will be honored at an April 10 PNA luncheon in Hershey.

Team members brought back some new and exciting best practices that they plan to introduce campuswide at upcoming RP events. Many thanks to the Provost’s Office for funding the team’s participation in this experience. They plan to continue the discussion about incorporating more high impact practices at IUP. Anyone who would like to be part of this work group is welcome to contact Mary Anne Hannibal (hannibal@iup.edu).

The IUP team included: Mark Palumbo of Psychology, Katie Farnsworth of Geoscience, Bob Hinrichsen of Biology, Stephanie Taylor-Davis of Food and Nutrition, Michele Papakie of Journalism, Jack Makara of Housing, Residential Living, and Dining, and Mary Anne Hannibal of Professional Studies in Education, who is also the director for the Center for Teaching Excellence.

Pictured: Mark Palumbo, Katie Farnsworth, Robert Hinrichsen, Stephanie Taylor-Davis, Michele Papakie, Jack Makara, and Mary Anne Hannibal

The first installment in this serial reports on the progress of Chemistry professor Mike Briggs as he walks the Appalachian Trail. Briggs, 66, a wounded Vietnam War platoon commander and former tire-plant manager in Morocco, retired from IUP in 2012. On January 6, he set out from Flagg Mountain, Ala., to reach the trail’s end 2,185 miles north in Baxter State Park, Maine, by Oct. 10—a rate of 15 miles a day, by his reckoning.

For more information about “Mike’s Hike” and the HawkEye, contact editor David Loomis, Ph.D., in the Journalism Department, or e-mail him at doloomis@iup.edu.

Caffe Amadeus will host Candle Night on Friday, October 5, 2012, from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m. to raise money for the Momma Mary Foundation for ALS.

The Momma Mary Foundation has been formed in honor of Buddy Valastro, the star of the reality show Cake Boss, whose mother has ALS. Caffee Amadeus has a close friendship with the Valastros.

Students in Papakie’s class have written news releases and feature stories about the event that have been published locally, helping to support it while gaining interviewing, reporting and writing experience.

Candle Night will ioffer refreshments and entertainment including the Indie Strings and Origami John. Other acts will perform throughout the evening, and there will be face painting and activities for children.

The event is open to the public; a suggested donation is $5. Persons can also donate a "dollar for a doily” that will be displayed in the cafe window.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS (commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), is a neurological disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

The field training will take place October 5–7, 2012.

Read the entire article in the Indiana Gazette.

The wide-ranging September 14, 2012, interview, led by journalism student Sean Yoder, addressed an array of issues, from energy-industry drilling in the Marcellus shale to students carrying guns on campus. To read a summary of and hear the full interview with President Driscoll, visit the HawkEye.

For more information, contact editor David Loomis in the Journalism Department.

Area middle school and high school students and their teachers participated in sessions taught by Journalism Department faculty and Gazette staff. The theme of this year's workshop was the changing nature of media in the digital age.

Read the September 22, 2012, article in the Indiana Gazette.

Her topic was “The Rapid Rate of Change in Journalism (Future Shock to the 100th Power),” tracing the major changes in the profession from both the content and delivery perspectives. With the advent of smartphones, tablet computers, and citizen journalism, Heilman concluded that this is an exciting time to be entering the field of journalism, as today’s journalism students will shape the industry’s digital future.

Department of Journalism

• NCAA Investigates IUP Athletics
• Atwater's Anti-alcohol Effort: Below Expectations 
• Parking at IUP: a Perennial Complaint
• IUP SGA Underrepresents Minorities 
• IUP SGA Website: Anyone There? 
• Pa. Texting-while-driving Law: Local Debate, No Busts
• IUP Deaf Ed Program Doesn't Go Quietly 
• Moms Double-major in Care for Kids -- Their Own
• IUP's 'I Usually Party' Rep: Hurtful or helpful?

These are the latest in an award-winning series of investigative stories that extends back to Spring 2004. The stories are reported by students in News Reporting classes taught by IUP Journalism assistant professor David Loomis.

In their print-media form, Civic Project stories by Loomis’s students have won top honors in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Keystone Awards for collegiate journalists. In broadcast media, Loomis’s students have won top honors from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.

The HawkEye is a project of students in the Department of Journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. These undergraduate Journalism majors report and write investigative stories focused on their campus, their community, and their county.

The Civic Project Series provides community-based, locally focused, student-reported, watchdog journalism based on principles of civic engagement, civic journalism, and social responsibility of the press. The Civic Project Series has received funding from the IUP Center for Civic Engagement and Student Leadership.

Visit the HawkEye regularly for new stories and updates on old ones.

Comments, letters, and feedback are welcome. To contribute content for the HawkEye, contact David Loomis at doloomis@iup.edu.

Snyder, a Journalism alumna, is an education reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the recipient of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize.

Read the entire article in the Indiana Gazette.

The newspaper series, which ran last spring and documented the breadth of violence in the Philadelphia public schools, was cited by the Pulitzer committee for “powerful print narratives and videos to illuminate crimes committed by children against children and to stir reforms to improve safety for teachers and students.”

Monica Rizzo, a 1987 IUP Journalism Department graduate, will tell you what it’s been like for her when she tells her life’s story beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 25, 2012, in Beard Auditorium in Stouffer Hall.

Rizzo, a senior writer for People magazine working out of Los Angeles, will offer interesting facts about the magazine industry, about People magazine, about working in “La La Land,” and maybe even some juicy tidbits from behind-the-scenes Hollywood and about “the beautiful people.” Plus, she’ll provide answers to your questions and offer some opinions, too, no doubt.

Please take advantage of this interesting opportunity to hear and learn from a true professional magazine writer—IUP journalism grad Monica Rizzo.

Rizzo is also teaching JRNL 481 Personality Profile Writing this semester. Her course and presentation are supported by the dean, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Elizabeth Ray Sweeney Trust.

Contact Randy Jesick at randyj@iup.edu for additional information.

The Inquirer won the award for its series “Assault on Learning,” about violence in Philadelphia schools. (See thePhiladelphia Inquirerfor the full story.) Snyder is the Inquirer's higher education reporter.

"She was in my copy editing class. She took my sports journalism class. I almost came to tears when I heard," Randy Jesick, chair of the Journalism Department, said. He noted that Snyder will be the keynote speaker at the department's commencement ceremony on May 12.

Pat Heilman was Snyder's News Reporting professor in 1984 and recalls Snyder's reporting: "Susan was a thorough reporter and researcher even then. Her three-part series on what ever happened to civil defense, which she produced for that class, was later printed in the Indiana Gazette."

Heilman said she predicted a year ago the investigative series would win the Pulitzer.

"I forwarded that e-mail to Susan last night, along with my congratulations," Heilman said. "The 2011 e-mail read: 'I smell Pulitzer.'"

In the course of her research on contemporary Pennsylvania women journalists, Heilman interviewed Snyder and incorporated the interview and samples of her work into her Women in the Press course materials.

An Allentown, Pa., native, Snyder began her journalism career as a general assignment reporter at the Freeman’s Journal in Cooperstown, N.Y., and then at the Standard-Speaker in Hazleton, Pa. In 1987, she became the education reporter at the Times Leader in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and moved on to a similar position at the Morning Call in Allentown in 1989. She began working at the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998.

Snyder holds numerous journalism awards, including the 2007 National Headline Award (first place for Education Writing) for her series, “Writing for Their Lives.” In 2007, she also won the Education Writers Association first place award for breaking or hard news for the story “Amish Schoolhouse Shootings.” Also in 2007, she won the Citation for Excellence in the “Let’s Do It Better Competition” from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism for the “Writing for Their Lives” series. And, again in 2007, she won first place in the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors Feature Writing category for her “Writing for Their Lives” series. In 2006, she won a second place Keystone award for the feature story “Guardian Angel.”

Snyder's team was also recognized for the “Assault on Learning” series when it received the Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism last month.

This is the Inquirer's 19th Pulitzer Prize.

Journalism and English major Kelsey Gross was one of three seniors to win the IUP Women’s Leadership Award.

Nominated by Michele Papakie, Kelsey has worked to raise awareness around issues facing women in the U.S. and abroad. As co-president of the IUP Women’s Studies Club, she has helped to educate the IUP community about women’s issues and has worked to raise money to benefit women locally, nationally, and internationally. Citing MSNBC host Rachel Maddow as her role model, Kelsey hopes to incorporate advocacy into a career in nonprofit public relations when she graduates in May 2012. Kelsey also won IUP’s Chacivity Award earlier this semester.

Michele Papakie (left) and Kelsey Gross (right)

Boston, a senior policy analyst for Americans United for Separation of Church and State in Washington, D.C., and Andren, a reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, will talk about their post-IUP careers, how they got their jobs in news and in communications, and other career-enhancing and networking info useful for prospective job-seekers.

The event is scheduled to begin in the HUB Monongahela Room at 5:00 p.m., and is scheduled to adjourn by 6:30 p.m.

A sign-in sheet will be at the podium. Students who sign in, attend the full event, and engage in the discussion can receive as much as a half-letter-grade of extra credit for the JRNL 328 class.

Contact David Loomis at doloomis@iup.edu for additional information.

The Inquirer's Assault on Learning, a multimedia investigation of violence and unsafe learning conditions within Philadelphia public schools, has earned the reporting team the inaugural Weiss Award for Investigative Journalism.

The seven-part series—and a series of follow-ups—spurred an overhaul of incident reporting in the Philadelphia School District and prompted the hiring of a state-funded safe-schools advocate.

The reporters—John Sullivan, Susan Snyder, Kristen A. Graham, Dylan Purcell, and Jeff Gammage—will share a $10,000 prize.

The prize is funded by venture capitalist Larry Weiss and his wife, Harriet. Larry Weiss is president of Hippographics Inc., which invests primarily in graphic arts companies.

“We are fortunate to have many excellent investigative journalists working in our communities. The work they do is essential,” Weiss said in a statement. “The purpose of the Weiss Award is to encourage more of this kind of work.”

Pat Heilman was Snyder’s news reporting instructor at IUP. Snyder will be the Journalism Department’s commencement speaker this May.

• Gerald E. Smith, a founder of the Indiana County environmental group Coalition for a Healthy County, opines about his attendance at a March 14 state Department of Environmental Protection hearing on the Homer City coal-fired power plant and state Senator Don White’s “inflammatory rhetoric” on the issue.
• The HawkEar on March 1 aired a program previewing the 35th Annual Appalachian Studies Conference scheduled for Indiana University of Pennsylvania on March 23–25.

The HawkEye is an online newspaper published by the Journalism Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The HawkEar is an affiliated radio program that airs every other Thursday on WIUP-FM (90.1). The show is sponsored by the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Comments, letters, and feedback welcome. To contribute content for the HawkEye, contact IUP journalism professor David Loomis, Ph.D., at doloomis@iup.edu.

• The director of the IUP Center for Health and Well-Being told the Student Government Association on Thursday that the health-care fee paid by IUP undergraduates may rise in Fall 2012.
• The HawkEar, a companion broadcast news program on WIUP-FM, reported on two recent shows that local reaction to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget cuts to higher education ranges from cautious to critical.
• The HawkEar’s inaugural Feb. 2 show reported local reaction to the recent announcement that Michael Driscoll had been hired as IUP's eighth president since 2003. The podcast of the program includes a review of recent Indiana Area School District board action, including swearing in of new members, grappling with a new budget crunch, and losing to retirement a veteran superintendent.

Contact David Loomis for additional information.

The radio show is produced by IUP Journalism Department students who are members of the campus chapter of the national Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The broadcasts will be archived on the HawkEye online newspaper website, published by the Journalism Department.

The HawkEar is successor to the award-winning Global Alert, one in a series of local news radio shows sponsored by SPJ since 2006.

On Thursday, from 4:00–5:00 p.m., The HawkEar inaugurates its new season on WIUP-FM (90.1) with these stories:

• A preview of the presidency of Michael A. Driscoll, soon to be sworn in as IUP’s eighth top executive since 2003. Directors of the State System of Higher Education named Driscoll to the position on January 19. Reporter Jake Williams gathers campus reaction.
• The Indiana Area School District has new members and a new budget crunch. Reporter and producer Sean Yoder reports on recent borough school board actions and previews upcoming debates.
• Sports: Reporter Chris Galiszewski covers IUP hoops, reviewing Gannon (away) and previewing Clarion (home). Reporter Adam Harring covers pro sports from Pittsburgh to Philly.

The next edition of The HawkEar will air February 16.

For more information, contact faculty adviser David O. Loomis, Ph.D., in the IUP Journalism Department: e-mail doloomis@iup.edu.

The protest showed support for a student who said a professor in a September 26 class had criticized her professed homosexuality. Photographer Heather Tabacchi, a Communications Media major, captured the event. IUP administrators have said the classroom incident is under investigation.

For more information, please contact the HawkEye’s editor, IUP Journalism Department professor David Loomis, at doloomis@iup.edu.

There were thirty photos on display in the Crimson Event Center. As part of International Education Week, students, faculty, staff, and Indiana County community members were encouraged to vote on the international photos.

Bonfiglio received first place for two photos taken while traveling with Semester at Sea to Spain and Italy.

The selected photos will be on display in the Commonplace Coffeehouse through February 2012.

Read the entire article by Teri Enciso in the Indiana Gazette.

• Plagiarism at IUP: Under-Detected, Under-Reported
• IUP Commuters Go Green
• Jimmy Stewart Museum Fights Fading Memories
• Sex Lives of IUP Students: Social Media Feed “Hook-Up Culture”
• IUP Students, Teachers, Administrators Oppose Corbett's Budget Cuts

These are the latest in a series of award-winning investigative stories that extends back to Spring 2004. The stories are reported by students in News Reporting classes taught by IUP Journalism assistant professor David Loomis.

In their print-media form, Civic Project stories by Loomis’s students have won top honors in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Keystone Awards for collegiate journalists. In broadcast media, Loomis’s students have won top honors from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.

The HawkEye is a project of students in the Journalism Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. These undergraduate Journalism majors report and write investigative stories focused on their campus, their community, and their county.

The Civic Project provides community-based, locally focused, student-reported, watchdog journalism based on principles of civic engagement, civic journalism, and social responsibility of the press. The Civic Project has received funding from the IUP Center for Civic Engagement and Student Leadership.

Visit the HawkEye regularly for new stories and updates on old ones.

Comments, letters, and feedback welcome. To contribute content for the HawkEye, contact Loomis at doloomis@iup.edu.

That was one of the first things Michele Papakie, a professor in the Journalism Department at IUP, asked of the writers attending Friday’s annual high school student reporters’ luncheon hosted by the Indiana Gazette.

Dressed in a black Adidas track suit, she challenged the writers to guess the three jobs she holds. Upfront the writers knew she was a professor and guessed she was a mother (making it, actually, four jobs), but they then took turns guessing about the other two.

Read the Gazette’s entire article, “IUP Journalism Professor Warns Students of Bias,” by Rebecca Singer.

Farabaugh’s presentation explored the story of Carl McIntire, a Philadelphia-area radio commentator, and his station, WXUR, and their role in the demise of the Fairness Doctrine.

WXUR is the only radio or television station in American history to be denied license renewal by the Federal Communications Commission as a direct result of violation of the FCC’s former fairness rules.

Farabaugh’s book was published by VDM Verlag in 2010.

On March 23, 2011, the Journalism Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania hosted another in a series of journalism symposiums devoted to current issues and problems facing news media. This year’s issue: social media and news media—how they connect and spark a new kind of news and a new kind of audience.

Distinguished panelists for this symposium included

• Steve Buttry, director of community engagement for TBD.com, an online newspaper launched in August in Washington, D.C. Buttry was named Editor of the Year in February 2010 by Editor & Publisher magazine
• Cindi Lash (IUP JRNL ’80), Western Pennsylvania regional editor for Patch.com; former editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Eric Ebeling, executive editor, the Indiana Gazette
• David Loomis, Ph.D., IUP Journalism professor and editor of the online newspaper the HawkEye, moderated.

The event, in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building on the IUP campus, was funded by the Elizabeth Ray Sweeney Fund and sponsored by the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

It was previewed in the Gazette and covered by the campus newspaper, the Penn.

Featured guests:

• David C. Bivens, president of the IUP Student Government Association and member of the IUP Student Cooperative Association board. Bivens has been at the forefront of recent controversies surrounding the troubled newspaper.
• Patricia Heilman, Ph.D., a senior member of the IUP Journalism faculty, will recount recent history of the eight-decade-old campus publication.
• Additional reporting will focus on Aramark, the IUP food service contractor, and its policies affecting students with food allergies.

Global Alert encourages listeners to submit questions to featured guests. Call the WIUP-FM listener line at 724-357-7971 between 10:45 a.m. and noon on Sunday. Or submit questions in advance to Dr. David Loomis, the Global Alert faculty adviser, at doloomis@iup.edu.

The African Male Museum Series: A Photographic Exploration of the Spirit of African-American Men, by Carlton Wilkinson, is scheduled for Wednesday, March 30, at 7:00 p.m. in the McVitty Auditorium in Sprowls Hall.

In this presentation, photographer Carlton Wilkinson will describe and show works from a series of photographs he created over a span of three decades.

The lecture is cosponsored by the Pan-African Studies Program, the Department of Journalism’s Elizabeth Ray Sweeney fund, the Department of Communications Media, and the College of Fine Arts.

The event is free and open to the public. Attendance vouchers will be provided. 

Additional information about Carlton Wilkinson.

Please direct any questions about the event to Dr. Marveta Ryan-Sams at mmryan@iup.edu.

Michele Papakie, a Journalism Department associate professor and lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, shares her experiences while serving as Equal Opportunity/Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program manager for Regional Command East at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan.

Read Papakie’s article, “Counting Vitamins, Counting Sundays,” in the Spring 2011 edition of IUP Magazine.

The latest stories cover actions taken by IUP Student Government Association (SGA) and IUP Student Cooperative Association:

• The IUP Student Government Association voted to extend by half a year the terms of its two top elected leaders—in apparent violation of the council’s own bylaws. Read “Student Government Leaders Extend Terms.”
• The IUP Student Cooperative Association voted to deny funding for the campus newspaper, the Penn. And the panel voted to require the newspaper to undergo a “structural review” of its business practices. Read “Student Co-op Board Denies Budget for the Penn.”

And panelists will do what they say by responding to audience questions and comments.

Social media such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter have swept across American culture, revived a tech-investment boom, and led news media to rethink the way they have done journalism for the past 150 years. We, the audience, once passive recipients, have now become important participants in the way that news is reported and delivered.

This timely event is scheduled for Wednesday, March 23, 2011, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. in the Ohio Room of the Hadley Union Building on the IUP campus. Ample parking is adjacent to the building. The event is free and open to the public.

Panelists for this symposium are as follows:

• Rem Rieder, editor and senior vice president, the American Journalism Review, a national professional journal published at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland
• Steve Buttry, director of community engagement for TBD.com, an online newspaper launched in August in Washington, D.C. Buttry was named Editor of the Year in February 2010 by Editor and Publisher magazine.
• Cindi Lash, a 1980 IUP Journalism graduate and Western Pennsylvania regional editor for Patch.com. Lash is a former editor for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
• Eric Ebeling, executive editor, the Indiana Gazette 
• IUP Journalism Department professor Dr. David Loomis, moderator

The event is sponsored by the IUP Journalism Department and by the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. It is funded by the Elizabeth Ray Sweeney Fund, a trust established in 1985 by the late treasurer of the Indiana Gazette to enrich the education of IUP Journalism students.

For additional information, contact Dr. David Loomis at 724-357-4411.

Cindi Lash ’80, a graduate of IUP’s Journalism Department, returned to the university February 23, 2011, to talk to current Journalism students about her role with Patch.com.

Lash’s visit was sponsored by the university’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

A former editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Lash currently serves as editor of Patch’s Western Pennsylvania region. Owned by AOL, Patch.com is a community-specific news and information project dedicated to providing comprehensive local coverage for towns and communities across the United States.

Founded in March 2010, Patch concentrates its news coverage on communities that are currently underserved by traditional journalism outlets. Most of the communities Patch serves are outside urban areas, with populations between 15,000 and 100,000.

“We are an online version of your old community newspaper,” said Lash. “Increasingly, journalists aren’t out in the suburbs. We are trying to fill in the patches around cities.”

The winners of the 2011 college Keystone Press Award for Public Service/Enterprise—seniors Megan Guza, of Bentleyville, and Andrew Wojcik, of Altoona—wrote a story about former IUP President Tony Atwater’s personal spending at taxpayer expense. Their reporting was based on a Pennsylvania Right to Know Law request that prompted the university to release 2,686 pages of documents chronicling Atwater’s spending over five years.

The story appeared April 23, 2010, in the online newspaper The HawkEye as part of the Civic Project, a community-focused, watchdog-journalism initiative rooted in News Reporting classes taught by IUP Journalism professor David Loomis, Ph.D.

On June 9, 2010, Atwater announced that he would leave his position by the end of the month. The HawkEye story generated considerable reader comment and media interest. For example, KDKA-AM, the CBS radio network affiliate in Pittsburgh, devoted its June 17 morning talk show to the story and credited Guza’s and Wojcik’s reporting.

Their editor, professor Loomis, praised the reporters’ work.

“To report the story, Megan and Andrew had to plow through thousands of pages of expense reports,” Loomis said on February 28. “To write the story, they had to make sense of all the numbers and make it understandable to readers. The readers appreciated it, and the Keystone judges did, too, apparently.”

The PNA, a trade organization serving the state’s newspaper industry, will award its annual Keystone prizes at a luncheon in Hershey on March 16.

For more information, contact Dr. Loomis at doloomis@iup.edu or phone (724) 357-4411.

Brown also minored in Theater while working on her bachelor's degree and "after Brown graduated from IUP in 1982, she attended the University of California Irvine, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree and learned phonetics, the study of dialects, as well as the physiology of speech and vocal anatomy, which are extremely important in her career as a dialect coach."

Read the entire article, “IUP Grad a Dialect Coach on Oscar-Nominated Films,” by Jan Shellenbarger, in the Sunday, February 27, 2011, edition. Shellenbarger is a ’95 graduate of the Journalism Department.

In the article, Papakie, a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, and her father, Ray Dougherty, who served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, compared differences in communicating with their loved ones while serving in foreign countries.

Read the entire article, “Reaching Loved Ones in Military Easier Today,” by Patrick O’Shea, which appeared in the February 24, 2011, edition.

Papakie’s class will be promoting library services to IUP students throughout the semester.

See the February 8, 2011, edition of the Indiana Gazette for the full story.

• Marcellus Shale fuels state, local politics
• When drug abuse is a prescription
• A bellwether of global climate change buzzes Indiana, Pa.
• IUP scientist: Global warming is real...and Pennsylvania should prepare
• Pets bear brunt of IUP student abandonment
• Surviving on food stamps at IUP
• Rising enrollments raise student questions
• Atwater personal spending dropped during final year as IUP president

These are among the latest in a series of award-winning investigative stories that extends back to Spring 2004. The stories are reported by students in News Reporting classes taught by IUP Journalism assistant professor David Loomis.

In their print-media form, Civic Project stories by Loomis’s students have won top honors in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Keystone Awards for collegiate journalists. In broadcast media, Loomis’ students have won top honors from the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.

The HawkEye is a project of students in the Journalism Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. These undergraduate Journalism majors report and write investigative stories focused on their campus, their community, and their county.

The Civic Project provides community-based, locally focused, student-reported, watchdog journalism based on principles of civic engagement, civic journalism, and social responsibility of the press. The Civic Project has received funding from the IUP Center for Civic Engagement and Student Leadership.

Now in his fifteenth season, McMillan knows the ups and downs of being the voice of a professional sports team. Acting as team spokesman and head of media relations, media strategy, and website content, McMillan uses his experience in Pittsburgh media and education from Point Park University to promote the three-time Stanley Cup champions.

During his visit to IUP, McMillan will discuss such issues as team branding, the 2011 Winter Classic, and the move to the Consol Energy Center. Following his presentation, McMillan will be taking questions from the audience.

This event is open to the public and is scheduled for Monday, January 31, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., in Stouffer Auditorium.

For more information, contact PRSSA President Jessica Brown at iupprssa@gmail.com.

Farabaugh’s editorial, titled “Misinformation Detrimental to Marketplace of Ideas,” was published in the January 2, 2011, edition of the newspaper. Farabaugh is an occassional guest columnist for the Tribune-Democrat.

A radio historian, Farabaugh recently published a book titled Carl McIntire’s Crusade Against the Fairness Doctrine. The book explores the career of McIntire, a longtime radio commentator, and his clashes with the Federal Communications Commission over its former fairness rules for broadcasters.

The first of the Fall 2010 investigative stories written by students in the Journalism Department’s News Reporting class reports on former President Tony Atwater’s personal spending during his final year at IUP.

The story by Jessica A. Moretti, a senior journalism major from Hermitage, Pa., is based on documents released in response to a Pennsylvania Right to Know Law request for the former president’s personal-expense reports submitted for reimbursement during the period July 1, 2009, to July 2010, when the embattled administrator departed Indiana.

The findings of Moretti’s investigation include:

• Atwater’s reimbursable personal expenses declined 15 percent during the period (as his job compensation rose 121 percent).
• The private nonprofit Foundation for IUP subsidized some of Atwater’s travel expenses, including a $647-a-night stay at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City in December 2009.

Moretti’s story updated an earlier Civic Project investigation that found Atwater’s personal spending exceeded $1.6 million during his first five years in Sutton Hall.

The award-winning Civic Project series of watchdog-journalism investigations is a product of the News Reporting classes taught by David Loomis, Ph.D. The project is supported by a grant from the IUP Center for Civic Engagement and Student Leadership.

Watch for additional Civic Project stories to be published in The HawkEye soon.

Her message: Jobs are out there for skilled journalists who seek work in digital media.

She should know.

Lash was working for a daily newspaper as soon as she got her degree from IUP, and she continued to work for dailies for nearly all of the three decades since her graduation. Since January 1, 2009, for example, she has been the Sunday editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

But, this fall, she turned to a path increasingly pursued by experienced print journalists who are jumping to online digital media. In October, Lash hired on with Patch.com, a national network of hyperlocal news websites. Her new job: Patch’s western Pennsylvania regional editor. Her first task: hiring dozens of new reporters to cover the communities surrounding the Pittsburgh metro region.

Cindi Lash

Johnston discussed her responsibilities at the publication, and talked about how Pittsburgh Magazine is taking advantage of social networking opportunities to enhance its brand. The publisher and vice president of Pittsburgh Magazine, Betsy Benson, is also an IUP journalism alumna.

Prior to assuming the role of web editor at Pittsburgh Magazine, Johnston interned with the publication. She has also interned with the Bayer Corporation (working in that company’s strategic and corporate communications department), Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Society of Professional Journalists Working Press, Indiana Regional Medical Center, and the Indiana Gazette .

Johnston is enrolled in the Master of Science in Media Arts and Technology program at Duquesne University.

A 2005 graduate of Indiana Area High School, Johnston is a native of Indiana, Pa.

Guests included:

• State Rep. Dave Reed, R-Indiana County, and
• IUP Anthropology professor Amanda Poole, Ph.D., a symposium organizer.

Recorded interviews with members of the Indiana County League of Women Voters’ Marcellus Shale Committee also were aired.

The October 24 Global Alert show is the second on the subject of Marcellus Shale drilling for natural gas in western Pennsylvania. The first program aired November 15, 2009.

You can listen to the full podcast at The HawkEye.

IUP Journalism Department

The 10/10/10 Global Alert show focused on two environmental projects at IUP:

• A plan to install by next year a green roof atop Weyandt Hall, the sciences building at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and
• A question about IUP’s recycling program: Are the university’s plastic and metal beverage containers being dumped in the county landfill?

Global Alert producers interviewed two campus experts on the green-roof project: IUP biology professor Timothy Nuttle and biology student George Tickerhoof.

Global Alert producers also interviewed Journalism student Elizabeth Proffitt, who is working on an investigative story for The HawkEye. The story is looking at a discrepancy between what Indiana County officials document and what IUP officials say about campus recyclables. Are they being dumped in the landfill?

The show concluded with a 10/10/10 commentary by Global Alert producer Jessica Potter.

IUP Journalism Department

Following technical difficulties that delayed election results, campus officials announced on April 22 that Political Science major David Bivens and Safety Sciences major Andrew Longacre were elected SGA president and vice president, respectively, with 294 votes—about 2 percent of an electorate of roughly 15,000 IUP students.

The appearance of Bivens and Longacre on the award-winning Global Alert show will offer members of the campus community an opportunity to ask questions of the new SGA officers live. The call-in phone line at WIUP-FM studio is 724-357-7971. E-mailed questions also are invited. The e-mail address is doloomis@iup.edu.

The radio show airs from 11:00 a.m. to noon. An audio recording of the program will be posted the following week on The HawkEye online newspaper website.

For more information, please contact Global Alert faculty adviser and IUP journalism professor David Loomis at 724-357-4411 or at doloomis@iup.edu.

IUP Journalism Department

An audio recording of an interview with David Werner, IUP interim president, is available on the website of The HawkEye, an online newspaper published by the Journalism Department.

The half-hour interview was conducted on September 12, 2010, on the Global Alert news program on WIUP-FM.

Dr. Werner answered questions from program producers and students on subjects ranging from the university's budget to controversies surrounding his predecessor, academic program cuts, and physical changes around campus.

The award-winning Global Alert program airs every other Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to noon on 90.1 FM.

For more information, please contact Global Alert faculty advisor and IUP Journalism professor David Loomis at 724-357-4411, or at doloomis@iup.edu.

David Werner, interim IUP president, will be interviewed live on WIUP-FM during the Global Alert news program on Sunday morning, September 12, 2010. Questions from listeners will be invited.

Since he started his new job on August 1, Dr. Werner has been a very public president. He has granted interviews with local news media, spoken to various university constituent groups, and appeared on a local commercial radio program.

His appearance on the award-winning Global Alert show will offer members of the campus community a live opportunity to ask questions of the new president.

The call-in phone line at the WIUP-FM studio is 724-357-7971. E-mailed questions also are invited. The e-mail address is doloomis@iup.edu.

The show airs from 11:00 a.m. to noon. An audio recording of the program will be posted the following week on The HawkEye’s online newspaper website.

For more information, please contact Global Alert faculty adviser and IUP journalism professor David Loomis at 724-357-4411 or at doloomis@iup.edu.

IUP Department of Journalism

In addition, Heilman will interview contemporary Pennsylvania women journalists to ascertain women's progress in the field of journalism.

The graduation ceremony for the Department of Journalism featured guest speaker Michele Papakie ’93, a Journalism professor and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

Currently serving in a six-month deployment in Afghanistan, Papakie’s speech was viewed over the Internet by thirty graduating students at the May 9, 2010, ceremony. The full video of Papakie’s graduation speech is available on YouTube.

Originally from the Pittsburgh suburb of Allison Park, Michele Papakie came to IUP in 1986 as a graduate of South Fayette High School. She graduated in 1993 and subsequently worked as a reporter for Gateway Publications in the Pittsburgh area; as a liaison for a strategic planning company; as public relations coordinator for the Chartiers Valley School District; as public information officer for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police; as an adjunct instructor at Robert Morris University; and as director of public affairs for California University of Pennsylvania.

Papakie holds a master’s degree in regional planning and a doctorate in communication and information systems.

Starting from her freshman year at IUP, Papakie has served with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard 171st Air Refueling Wing, and has risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force.

The award, part of the trade group’s 2010 Excellence in Broadcasting Competition, was presented during a luncheon at the Hotel Hershey in Hershey, Pa. on May 3.

Award winners included Global Alert producers:

• Katherine E. Caldwell, a senior Natural Science and Pre-Physical Therapy major from Matamoras, Pa.
• Garritt K. Fleming, a junior Psychology major from Easton, Pa.
• Michael J. Wilson, a junior Journalism major from Summerhill, Pa.

Producer Jessica E. Potter, a sophomore Elementary Education major from Mays Landing, N.J., was unable to attend.

The show’s faculty advisor is Journalism department professor David O. Loomis, Ph.D.

The radio program’s producers say their show “thinks global and acts local” and attribute their award to their 2009 reporting on such local issues as logging in White’s Woods in White Township, campaigning for township supervisor elections, drilling for natural gas in Indiana County, U.S. policy-making in Afghanistan featuring an IUP political-science expert, and other issues.

Fleming, a Global Alert producer since Fall 2008, said the group’s work paid off with the award.

“We’ve worked hard these past two semesters on the show, so it’s nice to receive some recognition for what we’ve been doing,” Fleming said. “It also helps build a good reputation for the radio station and the university.”

For information, contact the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters at (717) 482-4820. Professor Loomis can be reached at (724) 357-4411.

A student-produced show sponsored by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in the Journalism Department, Global Alert won the PAB’s Outstanding Radio Public Affairs Program award in its 2010 Excellence in Broadcasting Competition. The Hummelstown-based association announced the award in a March 24 release.

The radio program’s producers, who say their show “thinks global and acts local,” won for their 2009 reporting on such local issues as logging in White’s Woods in White Township, campaigning for township supervisor elections, drilling for natural gas in Indiana County; U.S. policy-making in Afghanistan featuring an IUP political-science expert, and others.

The show’s producers are:

• Michael J. Wilson, a junior Journalism major from Summerhill, Pa.
• Jessica E. Potter, a sophomore Elementary Education major from Mays Landing, N.J.
• Katherine E. Caldwell, a senior Natural Science and Pre-Physical Therapy major from Matamoras, Pa.
• Garritt K. Fleming, a junior Psychology major from Easton, Pa.

The show’s faculty adviser is Journalism professor David O. Loomis, Ph.D.

Fleming, a Global Alert producer since Fall 2008, said the group’s work paid off with the award.

“We’ve worked hard these past two semesters on the show, so it’s nice to receive some recognition for what we’ve been doing,” Fleming said on Tuesday. “It also helps build a good reputation for the radio station and the university.”

The award-winning students will be honored at a May 3 luncheon in Hershey during the broadcast association’s annual convention.

For information, contact the PAB at (717) 482-4820. Dr. Loomis can be reached at (724) 357-4411.

Congratulations to Jessica Brown, a senior Journalism Department major of Vintondale, who will be inducted into the Mortar Board honor organization March 21, 2010.

Mortar Board is the premiere national honor society recognizing college seniors for superior achievement in scholarship, leadership and service.

For more information about the organization, please visit Mortar Board.

His thesis, titled “Carl McIntire and His Crusade against the Fairness Doctrine,” looks at the role of McIntire, a fundamentalist radio broadcaster, and his station, WXUR, in the demise of the Federal Communications Commission’s fairness rules. The FCC repealed the Fairness Doctrine in 1987.

Farabaugh will graduate from Penn State University in May with a Ph.D. in communications, with a concentration in political and cultural communication studies.

Two IUP Journalism alumni who graduated amid one of the worst recessions of the latter twentieth century told majors attending a January 27, 2010, career-planning workshop that skills acquired in class today will be their best job insurance in the current economic downturn.

Dianne Frye DeLisa (IUP Journalism/Communications Media, 1987), of Johnstown, a former TV news producer and now a technical writer and communications specialist at a Johnstown nonprofit consulting firm, told two dozen students at the Society of Professional Journalists’ second J-Jobs Boot Camp that life skills like personal attitude also can spell job security. She advised students to like what they do and where they do it—“or at least act like you do.”

Furthermore, she advised, “Be likeable” and “indispensable” at work. Those bywords helped her hold onto full-time jobs and support her husband and two children through good economic times and bad, DeLisa said. Louis Estrada (IUP Journalism, 1988) agreed.

“Have the right attitude,” Estrada reiterated. “But be yourself.”

Estrada, of Falls Church, Va., was a reporter for the Washington Post for ten years until 2006, when he left the full-time job to become primary caregiver to his infant son. He continues to contribute articles, mainly advance obituaries, to the Post.

He offered good and bad news for prospective media employees today.

“Things are bad out there,” he said. “But the good news is that turmoil means opportunity.”

Turmoil in news industries is opening freelance-writing and entrepreneurial-partnering opportunities, Estrada observed. He added that job applicants need a “hook” to stand out from the competition. His hook, he said, was his fluency in Spanish and an interest in Latin America. That helped secure an internship following graduation from IUP. The internship led to his job at the Post.

A question-and-answer period followed. Students asked about the speakers’ proudest moments of their careers, their biggest embarrassments, and their employers’ attitudes about undergraduate degrees awarded by non-Division I universities.

DeLisa and Estrada were asked whether the recession that began with a stock market plunge in October 1987 affected their job prospects when they graduated soon after. Both said no. Companies tend to lay off older, higher-paid workers in recessions, which makes room for younger workers at lower salaries, Estrada said.

Both speakers offered contact information to students with follow-up questions:

• Dianne DeLisa, a communications specialist and technical writer at Concurrent Technologies Corp. in Johnstown: delisad@ctc.com
• Louie Estrada, a stringer for the Washington Post: lestrada99@aol.com

Photos by Patrick Farabaugh

A Karns City High School journalism teacher and eleven of her students participated in a JRNL 220 Writing for Print Media class in the IUP Journalism Department on February 18, 2010.

Ms. Connie Fleeger brought her students to Dr. Michele Papakie's 9:30 a.m. class in Davis Hall, where the high school and college students worked together to learn more about leads, nut grafs, and developing news stories.

When the class ended at 10:45 a.m., the group went to the Indiana Gazette to see the presses run and participate in a tour given by News Editor Jason Levan. Next stop was lunch and a tour of IUP’s student newspaper, The Penn, at the student union.

• Louis Estrada (IUP JRNL 1988) was a reporter for The Washington Post for ten years until 2006, when he left to become the primary caregiver to his infant son. He continues to contribute articles, mainly advance obituaries, to the Post.
• Dianne DeLisa (IUP JRNL/Comm Media, 1987) was a news producer/director at WJAC-TV in Johnstown for seven-and-a-half years, a marketing communications coordinator at Conemaugh Health System for twelve-and-a-half years, and has been a communications specialist/technical writer at Concurrent Technologies Corporation in Johnstown for two-and-a-half years and counting.

This free event is the second in a series of Society of Professional Journalists-sponsored J-Jobs Boot Camps. The events are designed to assist Journalism majors with career planning and to provide networking opportunities.

The January 27 event is scheduled for Davis Hall, Room 418, from 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. Snacks and beverages will be served prior to the presentation. A question-and-answer period will follow presenters’ remarks.

Questions? Contact professor David Loomis, 724-357-4411 or doloomis@iup.edu. Or contact a 2009-2010 SPJ officer:

• President Mike Wilson, M.J.Wilson3@iup.edu
• Vice President Melissa A. Thompson, M.A.Thompson4@iup.edu
• Secretary Ticairra N. Bazemore, T.N.Bazemore@iup.edu
• Treasurer Natalie Mae Schaefer, N.M.Schaefer@iup.edu

The women had been coworkers in its marketing department, and before losing their jobs, they’d been thinking about starting a side project. Rosenberger said budget reductions were taking the fun out of their work, so they were looking for something extra to keep themselves going.

So they adopted Big Girl Marketing as their name. The company offers a variety of services, including advertising and promotions, market research, branding, company name and logo selection, public relations, and event planning.

Read the entire article by Sam Kusic at the Indiana Gazette.

“Public relations is simply communicating among many different publics to discover mutually beneficial relationships,” said Dr. Michele Papakie, the IUP Journalism professor who teaches the class. Her students, she said, will work as advocates of the borough to ensure it has a strong public image.

Throughout January, workshops and focus groups will be asked to review the borough’s public image. Borough leaders are also asking Indiana residents to complete an eighteen-question survey posted on the Indiana borough’s website.

Read the entire article by Randy Wells in the Indiana Gazette.

Johnston, a former editor of The High Arrow, is a currently enrolled in a graduate program at Duquesne University studying layout and design.

Read the entire Indiana Gazette article.

Monica Rizzo, a 1987 graduate of IUP’s Journalism Department, shared her experiences about her career in entertainment and journalism at a presentation to students, staff and faculty on October 21, 2009. Rizzo also spoke to several IUP journalism classes during her visit.

“I am teaching Entertainment PR this year, and I am just thrilled to have an alumna who has made it so far in the industry come to IUP to inspire us,” Dr. Michele Papakie, IUP Journalism professor, said.

Rizzo, a People Magazine writer, has covered stories for the Disney Channel and television shows such as Ally McBeal, American Idol, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Dancing With the Stars, Lost, Sex and the City, Spin City, and The Practice.

The presentation and visit was sponsored by IUP’s chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America and the IUP Journalism Department’s Sweeney Trust.

The Sweeney Trust was established in 1985 in honor of Elizabeth Ray Sweeney, who was at one time the treasurer of the Indiana Printing and Publishing Co., publisher of the Indiana Gazette.

The trust was established for the IUP Journalism Department to fund symposiums, lectures, and workshops with distinguished journalists from the IUP community. Past Sweeney Trust presenters have included William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well,’ and reporter Jimmy Breslin. They have focused on topics that includ managing crisis communications and women in the media.

Journalism faculty members and the Indiana Gazette staff led a panel discussion on the changing environment of the media and presented individual sessions on topics such as photojournalism, layout and design, social media, on-line journalism, editing, evolution of Web design, and citizen journalism.

The Fun 5K Run/Walk will be held on Sunday, November 1, 2009, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Memorial Field House track to benefit the Kristen A. Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund. The entry fee is $10. To register, you may either sign up on Facebook’s “Kristen Anne Stormer’s Fun 5K Run/Walk” website or send your entry fee to the Journalism Department, 434 Davis Hall, Indiana, PA 15705. Checks should be made out to Kristen Anne Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund #5297.

If you cannot attend the Fun 5K Run/Walk but would still like to make a donation or pledge, you may visit the Support IUP webpage. Whether you click on “give now” or “make a pledge,” when you come to the “designation options” portion of the form, please specify that you would like your donation to be made to the Kristen Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund. Also, if you are solicited by phone to make a donation to IUP’s Annual Fund, you may also designate your donation to Kristen’s fund then.

Faculty, staff and students of the Journalism Department will never forget Kristen’s contagious smile and zest for life. To memorialize her and to pay tribute to her hard work in the department, fellow student and good friend Ashley DiMaio took the initiative to set up this scholarship to honor Kristen.

After graduating cum laude, Kristen, ’09, of Hollidaysburg, moved to Ocean City and was working as a beach photographer for Scopes Photography. She was an excited, happy, beautiful, promising alumna who was so enthusiastic about starting her career.

But on June 23 in Ocean City, Md., Kristen’s life was cut tragically short, when she was hit by a delivery truck and killed while crossing the Coastal Highway at 33rd Street on her bicycle. Kristen’s obituary, published 6-25-09, can be viewed on the Altoona Mirror website.

Thank you, in advance, for your generous gifts.

This 1976 movie is the story about reporters Bob Woodward (played by Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) uncovering the details of the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. It won four Oscars, plus another ten wins and twenty nominations.

The movie’s tagline: “At times it looked like it might cost them their jobs, their reputations, and maybe even their lives.”

Stay after the movie to participate in a facilitated discussion about journalism with IUP faculty members from the Journalism Department. This event is sponsored by the IUP chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative reporter Bob Woodward will speak on November 4, 2009, in Fisher Auditorium at the IUP Performing Arts Center as part of the First Commonwealth Endowed Lecture series.

Monica, who is from Pitcairn and Gateway High School, now is a senior writer for People magazine in Los Angeles, whose main beat—television—has included those shows and others, such as Spin City, Ally McBeal, The Practice, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She also covers the Disney Channel.

She will share stories of her adventures in the TV/entertainment/magazine-journalism world of Hollywood with IUP Journalism majors at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, in Beard Auditorium in Stouffer Hall. All IUP students, faculty, and staff are invited.

Earlier that day and during the next day, too, Monica will make presentations to five sections of Journalism classes: Feature Writing, Magazine Principles (two sections), and Entertainment Public Relations (two sections).

Her experience in journalism includes stints with the Indiana Gazette, Sports Illustrated, and Us Weekly. She has written ten teen-entertainment books and is working on her first mass-market hard-cover biography with Cheryl Burke from Dancing With the Stars.

She lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks with her husband and seven-year-old son.

Farabaugh’s research focuses on political communications within the U.S. radio and television industries. He explores these areas through the use of historical and ethnographic research methods. His dissertation project explores the story of Carl McIntire, a radio commentator, and WXUR, a former radio station outside Philadelphia, and their role in the demise of the Fairness Doctrine. WXUR is the only radio or television station in American history to be denied license renewal by the Federal Communications Commission as a direct result of Fairness Doctrine violations.

In his third year as an instructor in the department, Farabaugh also works as a freelance writer and radio broadcaster. His most recent freelance writing, a feature story for the September 2009 issue of Johnstown (Pa.) Magazine, detailed the history and tradition of potato farming in Pennsylvania’s Cambria County. He provides play-by-play on high school football broadcasts for WWGE-AM 1400 in Ebensburg and WKGE-AM 850 in Johnstown.

The Global Alert show on October 11 will feature two advocates for and against the tree-cutting plan—local forester David Babyak and Friends of White's Woods President Michael Kesner, respectively.

Listener phone calls and questions are invited. Call 724-357-7971 at 11:00 a.m. on October 11 and suggest your question.

Spend Homecoming Sunday listening to and participating in Global Alert. Join the discussion about the future of White’s Woods. Think global, act local.

Global Alert is sponsored by the IUP chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Questions? Contact faculty adviser David Loomis, Journalism Department, at doloomis@iup.edu.

The Fun 5K Run/Walk will be held on Sunday, November 1, 2009, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Memorial Field House track to benefit the Kristen A. Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund. The entry fee is $10. To register, you may either sign up on Facebook’s “Kristen Anne Stormer’s Fun 5K Run/Walk” website or send your entry fee to the Journalism Department, 434 Davis Hall, Indiana, PA 15705. Checks should be made out to Kristen Anne Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund #5297.

If you cannot attend the Fun 5K Run/Walk but would still like to make a donation or pledge, you may visit the Support IUP webpage. Whether you click on “give now” or “make a pledge,” when you come to the “designation options” portion of the form, please specify that you would like your donation to be made to the Kristen Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund. Also, if you are solicited by phone to make a donation to IUP’s Annual Fund, you may also designate your donation to Kristen’s fund then.

Faculty, staff and students of the Journalism Department will never forget Kristen’s contagious smile and zest for life. To memorialize her and to pay tribute to her hard work in the department, fellow student and good friend Ashley DiMaio took the initiative to set up this scholarship to honor Kristen.

After graduating cum laude, Kristen, ’09, of Hollidaysburg, moved to Ocean City and was working as a beach photographer for Scopes Photography. She was an excited, happy, beautiful, promising alumna who was so enthusiastic about starting her career.

But on June 23 in Ocean City, Md., Kristen’s life was cut tragically short, when she was hit by a delivery truck and killed while crossing the Coastal Highway at 33rd Street on her bicycle. Kristen’s obituary, published 6-25-09, can be viewed on the Altoona Mirror website.

Thank you, in advance, for your generous gifts.

The fun begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Ohio Room, HUB. We'll network, then watch 90210 at 8 p.m. and Melrose Place at 9 p.m.

For more information read the Tuesday, October 6 article in The Penn.

Department of Journalism

Monica, who is from Pitcairn and Gateway High School, now is a senior writer for People magazine in Los Angeles, whose main beat—television—has included those shows and others, such as Spin City, Ally McBeal, The Practice, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. She also covers the Disney Channel.

She will share stories of her adventures in the TV/entertainment/magazine-journalism world of Hollywood with IUP Journalism majors at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, in Beard Auditorium in Stouffer Hall. All IUP students, faculty, and staff are invited.

Earlier that day and during the next day, too, Monica will make presentations to five sections of Journalism classes: Feature Writing, Magazine Principles (two sections), and Entertainment Public Relations (two sections).

Her experience in journalism includes stints with the Indiana Gazette, Sports Illustrated, and Us Weekly. She has written ten teen-entertainment books and is working on her first mass-market hard-cover biography with Cheryl Burke from Dancing With the Stars.

She lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks with her husband and seven-year-old son.

In his twenty-five-minute presentation, Jesick gave the history of IUP’s Basic Journalism Skills course; told why the emphasis on the basics still remains strong in all department classes; explained the value of those skills in 2009; and updated his audience on the integration of media convergence into existing courses by all IUP Journalism instructors. IUP Journalism alumni and current faculty members contributed facts and opinions to his remarks.

Jesick shared the ninety-minute panel discussion with professors from Temple University and Samford University, including the panel’s moderator, Dr. Bernie Ankney ’87, now the chairman of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at Samford.

Among those who attended this session was Dr. Vincent Benigni, the director of graduate studies in the Department of Communication at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Benigni graduated from IUP Journalism in 1983.

The IUP Journalism Department’s Society of Professional Journalists Secretary Ticairra N. Bazemore poses at the front door of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association (PNA) office in Harrisburg.

Bazemore, a sophomore Journalism major from Philadelphia, attended the third annual conference of PNA’s Student Editors Interest Group on September 17, 2009.

This 1976 movie is the story about reporters Bob Woodward (played by Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (played by Dustin Hoffman) uncovering the details of the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. It won four Oscars, plus another ten wins and twenty nominations.

The movie’s tagline: “At times it looked like it might cost them their jobs, their reputations, and maybe even their lives.”

Stay after the movie to participate in a facilitated discussion about journalism with IUP faculty members from the Journalism Department. This event is sponsored by the IUP chapters of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative reporter Bob Woodward will speak on November 4, 2009, in Fisher Auditorium at the IUP Performing Arts Center as part of the First Commonwealth Endowed Lecture series.

The article by Ron Paglia, “Wealth of Life Experiences Shape IUP Journalism Chair,” can be read on the Tribune-Review website.

Visual journalism reflects the department’s pedagogical direction in integrating words, pictures, images, sounds, and web-based publishing to create new and contemporary forms of information sharing. It is a significant departure from the old print journalism.

To meet the resource needs for visual journalism, the latest design software, Adobe InDesign CS4, will complement the existing PhotoShopCS4.

Newly-purchased equipment includes Dell mini-tower PCs and the Konica-Minolta Bizhub 353 printer with copier capability.

The department has also purchased a server that will store visual journalism projects, especially images.

Another innovation in the lab is the touch-screen smart board that will allow the instructor to manipulate images and texts, as well as write notes on the screen—completely eliminating the old-fashioned chalk.

The visual journalism project spills into the department’s hallway, where a 52-inch Sharp TV screen with digital signage has been installed. This enables students who normally mill around the hallway waiting for their classes to start to use this time productively watching information from the department as well as world news.

Members of the Journalism Department technology committee are Dr. Stan Mukasa (chairman), Dr. Pat Heilman, and Dr. Michele Papakie.

These students chose journalism as their concentration as part of IUP’s Robert E. Cook Honors College Summer Program.

From 9 a.m. to noon each day, Dr. Michele Papakie exposed the students to various careers within the journalism field. They participated in an editorial board meeting at the Indiana Gazette, toured the facility, and watched the presses run. They learned basic news writing in the IUP Journalism lab, then visited a mock crime scene on campus and wrote an article about “the crime.” They explored how convergence, social media, blogging, and other multimedia tools have influenced the field. Students also toured IUP’s radio station, WIUP FM, and read from a teleprompter while being filmed in IUP’s TV station, WIUP TV.

Visit the Alumni Connections website to donate. Whether you click on “give now” or “make a pledge,” when you come to the “designation options” portion of the form, please specify that you would like your donation to be made to the Kristen Stormer Memorial Scholarship Fund.

After graduating cum laude, Kristen, ’09, of Hollidaysburg, moved to Ocean City and was working as a beach photographer for Scopes Photography. She was an excited, happy, beautiful, promising alumna who was enthusiastic about starting her career.

But on June 23, 2009, in Ocean City, Md., Kristen’s life was cut tragically short when she was hit by a delivery truck and killed while crossing the Coastal Highway at 33rd Street on her bicycle. Kristen’s obituary, published June 25, 2009, can be viewed on the Altoona Mirror website.

Thank you in advance for your generous gifts.

Siverling presented her research proposal June 26, 2009. The title of her project is “Shot and Wounded: How Journalism’s Magic Bullet Theory is Crippling the Business.” Her theory is that the media is causing unnecessary panic in the field by reporting that various newspapers are going out of business, when in actuality journalism is alive and well, but the medium is just changing once again.

During the Summer, Siverling will create a survey for IUP Journalism students to take when they return to school this Fall, and she will spend her Fall and Spring semesters analyzing her data and completing her project.

The McNair Scholars Program at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is an exciting academic year-round commitment focusing on first-generation college students with financial need, and those from underrepresented groups who have demonstrated strong academic potential for preparation in acquiring requisite skills needed for entry into graduate study and eventually earning a doctoral degree.

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania Journalism Department’s student-run public relations agency, Lasting Impressions, received big news at the end of last semester. It was officially recognized as a chapter of the national organization Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).

Many thanks to the tireless Kaitlyn Johnston ’09, whose persistence with this project finally paid off! Her executive staff should also be proud of its accomplishment: Katie Morgan, Jake Kocan, Barry Wade, Justin Placer, Nicole Blessing, and Graham Tripp.

PRSSA was founded in 1968 as an organization that would cultivate a favorable and mutually advantageous relationship between students and professional public relations practitioners. Today, PRSSA has more than 9,600 members in 284 universities across the country. PRSSA IUP is one of twenty-four chapters in Pennsylvania.

Congratulations and good luck to the inaugural executive board of PRSSA IUP (the agency formerly known as Lasting Impressions): President Nicole Blessing, Vice President Michele Luebbers, PR Director Tiffany Fasig, Secretary Emily Eberhart, Social Chairman Steven Hall, Treasurer Laura Kale, and Historian Barry Wade.

The student society aims to foster the following:

• Understanding of current theories and procedures of the profession
• Appreciation of the highest ethical ideals and principles
• Awareness of an appropriate professional attitude
• Appreciation of associate membership in PRSA and eventually accredited membership

PRSSA’s Mission:

• To serve our members by enhancing their knowledge of public relations and providing access to professional development opportunities;
• To serve the public relations profession by helping to develop highly qualified, well-prepared professionals.

After graduating cum laude, Kristen moved to Ocean City and was working as a beach photographer for Scopes Photography.

“In my thirty years of teaching in the IUP Journalism Department, where I’ve worked with nearly two thousand students, I’ve never known a student who was more filled with life than Kristen Stormer,” said Randy Jesick, professor and department chairman. “She was so uplifting to talk with because she had such a wonderful enthusiasm for her career and her life.

“Every time I ever saw her in our classrooms and in my office, she had the broadest and most sincere smile on her face,” he continued. “She always impressed me as a hard-working student who really was destined for professional success. Plus, she seemed like a truly, genuinely happy young woman. She was always aglow with life.”

Friends, faculty, and staff are already discussing plans to hold a memorial service when students return in the Fall. They are also anxious to begin a memorial scholarship within the department.

Kristen’s obituary, published 6-25-09, can be viewed at the Altoona Mirror website.

In his presentation, Dr. Mukasa showcased IUP’s distance education project for Africa, which has so far trained over three hundred journalists, particularly in Somalia.

He also discussed future collaboration with IUP in distance education in journalism and mass communication with officials from the Kenya-based African Virtual University as well as the University of Nairobi. The conference brought more than two thousand participants from around the world.

Feldbusch, a public-relations practitioner at Xenophon Strategies in Washington, D.C., and Henninger, a staff photographer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, discussed their careers and answered audience questions about how they landed their jobs.

Four students…three cities…six alumni…and one video you’ve got to see!

During Spring Break 2009, four undergraduate students, including DeAnna Allen, a senior Journalism major and member of the IUP Ambassadors, traveled to New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., to film interviews with six IUP alumni about their experiences in college and in their professional and personal lives.

The result is RoadTrip IUP, a video inspired by the PBS documentary and series RoadTrip Nation. Watch the video above, or find out more at the Career Development Center website.

Utilizing state-of-the-art, professional grade software, including Adobe InDesign and Dreamweaver, students in the Journalism class explored every facet of magazine creation and design, including concept, articles, photography, art, editing, design, and production.

Back row: left to right: Nicole Roser, Abby Laskowski, Samantha Bond, Sara Lamberson, Emily Franey, Shannon George, Drew Walters, Mike Bowser. Front row: left to right: Carol Rosenthal, Dara Fennell, Katie Morgan, Nicole Blessing, Kate Sechrist, Josie Grimes. Picture by Pat Heilman
Select for larger photo

“Each student assumed a role critical to the editorial function of a magazine,” instructor Pat Heilman explained. “Each student was then responsible for that individual role as well as the integration of that function with those of their classmates.”

The magazine features articles on college student cuisine, from local pizza parlors to microwave masterpieces to late-night snacks. Each student was responsible for researching and writing one of the articles as well as for providing a favorite recipe.

In addition, students learned the differences in writing and design for print publications and webzines (on-line publications). These differences included “chunking” stories for the on-line version, which entailed writing screen-size portions of the stories for ease of reading on line.

Students, sometimes overwhelmed by the enormity of the project, worked diligently at the end of the semester to get the job done.

“Creating the magazine in this class was a completely different experience than anything I have ever done,” junior Samantha Bond of Leechburg, nameplate designer, said. “It really gave me a better understanding of how putting together a publication actually happens. There are so many angles that you overlook. You don’t consider how many times people actually have to edit the stories or the amount of time it takes just to organize the links. I realized that since everyone had different positions in our ‘staff’ and their tasks occurred at different times throughout the semester, that we really had to help each other when it came down to ‘crunch time.’”

Fourteen stories and numerous photographs are contained in both the print and on-line version. And, students seem proud of their endeavors.

“Creating just one edition of Taste of Class from scratch was frustrating at times,” twenty-two-year-old senior Sara Lamberson of Wallingford, the photography director, said, “but it gives me a sense of pride when I look at the final product. We were forced to work collaboratively and to depend on each other, making this class a hands-on and creative working environment. Taste of Class is our class’s baby, and I, for one, will be proud to present it as part of my portfolio.”

Other students remarked:

“This was certainly an eye-opening experience. Doing a few magazine pages by myself is not a big deal, but when everyone has to do a few pages then everyone has a part in putting the magazine together, and there is a little chaos. I'm glad I took the publications class because we learned what a real job is like, by completing several different projects at the same time throughout the semester.” — Nicole Blessing, junior from Muncy, managing editor

“Doing a print and Web version was a good experience because I got to see how all the different aspects and parts come together to form the whole magazine. It was also helpful to see the differences between the formation of a print and Web version of a magazine.” — Emily Franey, junior from Export, copy editor for the Web edition

“Overall, from the very start of the magazine, the best skill that this project taught the class was the ability to work together as a team to pull something off—even if we didn't have much experience with it. This magazine helped me learn how to take initiative and have a responsibility to others. Without everyone doing their part, we would not have pulled it off!” — Katie Morgan, senior from Harrisburg, computer storage and site map manager

“Working with the publications class to put together this magazine was such a nice experience. It was a learning experience for me. I learned how important each individual is to a publication.” — Nicole Roser, junior from Indiana, copy editor, print edition

“It was really great being in the publications class and being our own little magazine staff. It was close to a real-world experience, at least as close as I've come in any of my classes. Having deadlines to meet and style sheets to follow were just some of the things that made this project so realistic. Seeing it all come together in these last few weeks has been really exciting. I’m so proud of our class!” — Carol Rosenthal, senior from Waterford, table of contents creator for print and Web version

Other students involved in the creation and production of the magazine include: Mike Bowser, senior from Ford City and Kate Sechrist, senior from Indiana, copy editors, print edition; Drew Walters, senior from Bristol, copy editor, Web edition; Josie Grimes, senior from Bessemer, Web design coordinator; Shannon George, senior from Milroy, print design coordinator; Dara Fennell, junior from Fredericksburg, Va., home page designer; Abby Laskowski, senior from Erie, nameplate designer for print version.

The on-line version can be viewed at Taste of Class. Those wishing to see the print version may download a PDF copy from that site.

JRNL427 Publications is offered in the Spring semester for Journalism majors who have successfully completed JRNL327 Layout, Design, and Production.

Are you an organ donor? If not, have you ever considered it? If you sign up this month via the internet—it only takes ninety seconds of your time—you could help IUP win a statewide campus challenge! In Pennsylvania, it is simple. Log on to DonateLife-PA.org and click on the “It’s On!” link. The site is safe, secure, and simple to use. The life-giving transplants that are so precious to those waiting only happen when donors and families are benevolent enough to grant the gift of life.

April is National Donate Life Month as proclaimed by Congress each year. This year, IUP is participating in the first-ever “It’s On!” Campus Challenge. It’s a statewide competition to see what school can win by registering the most number of people to become organ donors. There are more than 101,000 people waiting for transplant opportunities. This can only happen through the kindness of organ and tissue donors.  (Picture by Lee Vest)

Some very enthusiastic students from my PR Problem-Solving class this semester were in the Oak Grove on Friday, April 17, 2009, spreading the word and signing up people on line. They took pictures of passers-by in a large, fun driver’s license they made, giving away treats, and held raffles for gift cards from Subway, Starbucks, and the IUP Co-Op Store! Picture (right) by Tim Yockey.

If you have any personal concerns or fears about becoming an organ donor, please visit the myths part of the DonateLife-PA website and be sure you are making a well-informed decision.

So please reflect, engage, and celebrate National Donate Life Month with your families, patients, and colleagues. And let’s help our school win the statewide competition.

Thank you!

Michele Papakie
Associate Professor of Journalism
IUP Department of Journalism 

“Michele, What a great thing for students to do! Thanks for doing this! As a personal testament, there is one person who can see today because of my family donating my father’s eyes. There were also about 4 burn victims who received his skin tissues.

“When we received letters from these people, it was one of the most touching moments in my own life and we knew that, although my father died at a young age, there were people living a better life because of him . . . Thanks again for doing this."

Janet Walker
Professor of Mathematics

Tara Friedl, a senior from Moon Township, earned an Outstanding Paper Presentation award for her research about the gender bias in media broadcasting.

Jessica Brown, a sophomore from Vintondale, earned an Honorable Mention for her research about organizations using Facebook as a public relations tool.

Eleven other students from Dr. Michele Papakie's JRNL 481 PR Research class participated in the forum. Five students presented papers, and six students presented posters.

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania sponsors the annual essay contest, and cash prizes were provided by the Society of Professional Journalists, Keystone Pro Chapter.

See the 2009 Sunshine Week Essay Contest at the Andruss Library Government Documents Unit 

IUP Department of Journalism

Last year the event raised about $1,100, according to Larissa Whiteley, community relations director for Lifesteps.