KENT, Ohio — Building on its nationally recognized scholastic journalism program, Kent State will in 2007 become home to a new Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism.
A total of $2 million in past and current funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is endowing the new tenured faculty position. Kent State will run a national search, set to start this fall, to select an outstanding journalist to hold the chair.
The Knight chair will help lead national campaigns currently underway to increase scholastic journalism education and student media in America’s high schools, as well as help increase the use of news in classrooms, and First Amendment and civic education.
Though high school media introduce students to the core values of journalism, news literacy and civics, the Knight Foundation’s “Future of the First Amendment” study showed that 3,659 high schools, or 17 percent of the 20,375 schools surveyed, did not have any form of student media. Even more surprising, the study showed that 75 percent of America’s high school students either didn’t know about the First Amendment or said they took it for granted.
“Kent State is prepared to seize this opportunity to play an integral role in strengthening scholastic media programs across the nation and, in turn, groom the next generation of highly skilled journalists, editors and designers,” said Kent State President Lester A. Lefton.
The chair marks the 20th Knight Chair in Journalism to be created, endowed and awarded by the Knight Foundation since 1990. It honors the Knight brothers: John S. and James L. Knight, who championed editorial quality and the power of community at the newspapers they owned.
“The prestige of being awarded with one of only 20 Knight Chair’s in Journalism, indicates the importance of scholastic journalism from a Knight Foundation perspective and also indicates the regard in which Kent State’s program is held – as one of the best in the nation,” says James Gaudino, Kent State’s Dean of the College of Communication and Information.
For six consecutive years, Kent State has been one of five universities nationwide hosting the American Society of Newspaper Editors High School Journalism Institute. Kent state program coordinator Candace Perkins Bowen is on the board of the Journalism Education Association and the Advisory Council of the Student Press Law Center.
“Too many of our public schools are not teaching our children the basics of what they need to know to be good citizens,” said Eric Newton, Knight Foundation director of journalism initiatives. “We hope Kent State can help schools provide student media, news literacy and civics education – the sunlight, water and air of a growing democracy in America.”
Among the jobs to be taken on by Kent State’s new Knight Chair in Scholastic Media:
- Turn the university’s existing Scholastic Media Program, which is Ohio-based, and into a national center for scholastic media.
- Establish a scholastic media Advisory Board, which will include major Knight grantees working in this area, such as the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Radio and Television News Directors Foundation, Ball State University’s J-Ideas, George Washington University’s Prime Movers program and the Student Press Law Center.
- Develop new and innovative courses and areas of research that will include tracking the amount of student media in the United States, use of news in the classroom and First Amendment student attitudes.
- Develop an online and on-campus master’s program for media teachers
- Develop web sites for the chair and center, posting lesson plans and other teaching materials and research.
- Convene a national meeting of major players in scholastic media and establish a leadership project to help them better work together.
The Knight Chair in Scholastic Media was created with a new grant of $150,000, made in June, added to a previously donated endowment for an endowed chair in English theory and composition, which now will be transferred into the journalism school.
Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication provides professional undergraduate and master’s programs within the liberal arts tradition. The accredited program positions students to succeed in today’s fast changing media-related workplaces with nine undergraduate programs of study and a faculty with strong professional experience. More than 1,200 undergraduate and 40 graduate students study an innovative curriculum that focuses on critical thinking, collaboration and experience in multi-media work environments. Award-winning independent student media provide strong co-curricular learning to build upon classroom experience. All undergraduates are required to complete at least one internship.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes journalism excellence worldwide and invests in the communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since its creation in 1950, the foundation has invested more than $275 million to advance journalism quality and freedom of expression.
For more information about the new chair, visit http://www.jmc.kent.edu or http://www.knightfoundation.org/.