DeWayne Wickham
Opportunities to be immersed in the “real world” of journalism and mass communication are a cornerstone of the educational experience we offer students in the School of Global Journalism and Communication.
This seamless movement from classroom to the workspace – supervised by our faculty and working professionals – allows students to work under deadline pressures in a “real world” work environment. In this issue of the MGJR, two of our students will describe their experiences during a reporting trip to Havana, Cuba in June. In addition to printed stories, the students produced video reports and used social media to chronicle their activities for an audience back in the United States.
Earlier this year, a team of students went to Selma, Ala., to report on conditions that city, which was once a hotbed of resistance to the push for voting rights for blacks and other minorities in 1965. Morgan’s student reporters joined with students from West Virginia University in producing a multimedia report on this historic community.
Working through our Digital Newsroom, students covered the Maryland gubernatorial election in November 2014, the Maryland legislative session (January – March 2015), and the disturbances that wracked Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray, an event that was covered by journalists from around the world.
Next year we will send some students to Berlin to collaborate with German students in the production of a documentary on the life of Hans Massaquoi, an Afro-German who came of age during the rule of Adolph Hitler and eventually migrated to this country, where he became a journalist and eventually landed the job of managing editor of Ebony magazine.
It’s these and the many other immersion opportunities that provide our students a vibrant place for learning – and which will make our School of Global Journalism and Communication a leader in journalism education.
DEAN'S CORNER
4