CHICAGO, IL. (July 30, 2009) –This summer, eight Columbia College Chicago departments offered study abroad programs that spanned the spectrum of academic disciplines. With each passing year, Columbia continues to add culturally rich destinations to its passport, exposing a diverse student body to an expanding international landscape of the arts and media.
The historic city of Florence, Italy was host to six programs organized by the college’s office of Academic Initiatives & International Programs. Classes ran from June 25 to July 25, and were offered from the departments of Fiction Writing, Film & Video, Journalism, Humanities, History & Social Sciences, Art & Design, and Arts, Entertainment & Media Management.
Art & Design also staked out another region of Italy, taking students to Venice from June 6 to July 4 to participate in an extensive class studying the world’s oldest and most prestigious international art exposition, The Venice Biennale.
Prague has served as a second home to the Fiction Writing department for a decade now. This summer, sessions ran from May 23 to June 25, and June 27 to July 30. Also in Prague is Marketing and Communications, which held session from May 26 to June 27, marking the department’s second year of studying in the elegant European city and working with the internationally acclaimed advertising agency, DRAFTFCB Prague.
From May 26 to June 27, the Humanities, History & Social Sciences department traveled to South Africa, offering a five-week intensive course entitled “The Future of History: Memory in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” During the five week program, students visited Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban.
As Summer Session draws to a close, the Photography department will be traveling to the South of France from August 3 to August 18, returning to Chicago just in time to shake off any jet lag and get ready for the new school year.
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CHICAGO, IL. (July 22, 2009) – The Poetry Program of Columbia's English Department has been reaching out to Chicago educational and social service entities whose clients could benefit from some creative engagement. With the help of Program Director Dr. Tony Trigilio and former Assistant Programs Director of Poetry and Literature, Becca Klaver, three unique community outreach programs were created in a collaborative effort to bring the arts to diverse populations.
In the fall of 2008, Columbia’s Poetry Program created a partnership with the Coonley School at the behest of Catherine Marchese, an active member of the Coonley School Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). Coonley is a North Center community PreK - 8 school that specializes in low-incidence special needs and gifted students. Coonley allocated a portion of a grant to serve an after-school arts program in the winter of 2009 and hired two Columbia College Poetry MFA students to staff the Writing Center. The school hopes to continue the collaboration into the upcoming school year.
Columbia poets also work with the Night Ministry Open Door Shelter in West Town. The Open Door Shelter offers respite for homeless youth and is one of the only shelters in the city that accepts pregnant teenage mothers. Candace Nordahl, the Residential Services Coordinator for the Night Ministry, approached Klaver in fall 2008 about creating evening poetry workshops. In spring 2009 Klaver and three MFA students organized and spear-headed a twice-monthly workshop for Open Door Shelter. The success of this collaborative effort is continuing into the 2009-2010 school year, with MFA student Chris Williams taking the lead.
The programs at Coonley School and the Night Ministry are flourishing, and another project is in the works. Representatives for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Wayne Richard and Mimi Chubb, have been working with Klaver and Trigilio to create writing workshops focusing on poetry and creative nonfiction as part of their ongoing writing program, Horizons. The year-old program seeks to help homeless men and women find their own artistic voices through poetry, prose and storytelling. The workshops, according to Richard, expose participants to a range of literary genres and techniques in a safe, inviting atmosphere. “We believe that participants’ writing has the power to change both their lives and the world,” says Richard.
As the fall semester at Columbia approaches, the faculty and students in the English Department prepare once more to lend their talent to communities across the city that have creative voices waiting to be heard.
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Chicago, IL (July 8, 2009) – WCRX, 88.1 FM, Columbia College Chicago’s radio station has received the Gold World Medal in the student station awards category from New York Festivals. The 52-year-old international competition recognizes excellence in Radio and Television in the areas of programming and promotion. Entries are judged by industry professionals from 25 countries.
“This award is a testament to the quality of work developed and produced by our talented students,” said Cheryl Morton-Langston, long-time director of WCRX. “We are thrilled to receive this recognition.”
For its winning 2009 entry, WCRX submitted a 30-minute audio montage of public service announcements and programming that included live presidential election night coverage, the station’s multi-platform public service broadcast promoting Green initiatives, and broadcast of the “Holly Jolly Trolley” annual fundraiser for Greater Chicago Food Depository. Earlier this year the station also won 2009 Communicator Awards in two categories for the Holly Jolly Trolley broadcast. Over the years, WCRX has won nearly 80 national and international awards.
“While we are in a period of rapid change for all media, the climate for radio broadcasting and audio media is excellent,” said Barbara Calabrese, chair of Columbia’s Radio Department. “Radio now encompasses terrestrial stations as well as satellite and limitless internet opportunities. Audio and radio podcasting are being used as marketing and communications tools by numerous industries. Highly trained employees with a vision for the future are in demand, and higher education is a must in order to gain access to the most creative and lucrative job opportunities. As this prestigious recognition demonstrates, Columbia students can meet the challenge – meeting the needs of both the public and private sectors in creative programming and public service.”
Columbia has long ties to Chicago’s dynamic radio scene and the program has always emphasized hiring working professionals to teach the next generation of radio talent. Just some of the household names currently teaching in the department are: Terri Hemmert, Dave Berner and Cheryl Raye-Stout. In keeping with the Columbia hands-on, minds-on approach to professional undergraduate education, all Radio majors get a spot on WCRX. “The station,” emphasizes Calabrese, “is fully integrated with the department’s curriculum.”
“Our award winning faculty and staff model the balance between rigorous scholarship and the very latest practices and technological innovations,” says Doreen Bartoni, dean of the School of Media Arts. “They have guided and inspired our students to achieve the high standards that befit this illustrious award.”
The Radio Department at Columbia College Chicago offers a program that provides each student with a comprehensive overview of the art and business of radio broadcasting while developing in-depth knowledge and skills in on-air talent and show hosting, production, programming and producing for commercial and public radio formats including satellite radio, podcasting and webcasting. This professional approach is supported by an in-depth liberal arts education. More information on undergraduate degrees in Radio can be found at www.colum.edu/academics/radio
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Jane M. Saks, Executive Director of the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media at Columbia and Institute Advisory Board Member Evette Cardona were among 250 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) leaders, activists, national rights activists, and philanthropists from across the country in attendance at a special reception and speech at the White House with President Barak and First Lady Michelle Obama on Monday, June 29.
The historic White House gathering was a celebration of LGBT Pride Month and commemorated the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riot in New York City which is noted as the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement. The invitation recognizes the tireless contributions of these individuals and many, many others to the LGBT fight for equal rights.
In addition to Saks, Cardona, and eight other LGBT activists from Chicago, the Obamas welcomed educators, artists, journalists, cultural workers and national rights advocates including Joe Solomonese, Human Rights Campaign; Kate Kendell and Shannon Minter, National Center for Lesbian Rights; Kevin Cathcart, Lambda Legal Defense Fund; Mara Keisling, National Center for Transgender Equity; and Rea Carey, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
“This event and President Obama’s content-filled speech were deeply important and valuable as reflective of the administration’s commitment to equality.” Saks said. “This is only the second time in US history a group of LGBT individuals was hosted at the White House, and the first time in history by the President. As the President commented on Monday, not long ago it would have been impossible to imagine LGBT individuals being invited to the White House – and being greeted by an African-American President.”
The historic event was not without controversy. Recent actions by the administration have received significant criticism from LGBT activists, who have expressed impatience with the speed at which President Obama is fulfilling his campaign promises to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (the federal law barring gay marriage) and the “don’t ask don’t tell” military policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly.
President Obama acknowledged the frustration of the LGBT community, noting that, “It’s not for me to tell you to be patient any more than it was for others to counsel patience to African-Americans who were petitioning for equal rights a half-century ago.
“We’ve been in office six months now,” he added. “I suspect that by the time this administration is over, I think you guys will have pretty good feelings about the Obama administration.”
As a long-time LGBT activist who worked on the Obama campaign, Saks reflected on the progress: “As remarkable as this gathering is, and the important and historic work of this administration in their short six months in office, it is not enough until the long and hard-fought work for equitable laws and policies are enacted. I look forward to continuing to participate and engage in that struggle and work with this administration. We all have the responsibility to be catalysts for social change–through our activism, engagement and holding our elected officials and leaders to the highest standards that a democracy promises. It promises equitable participation engaging a population that represents the full breadth of our global society.”
Jane M. Saks is a feminist activist, arts administrator, writer and educator. She has focused her work on arts and culture, women, gender, race, LGBTQ issues, and political human rights and social justice movements. She is the co-chair of the Chicago Foundation for Women’s Lesbian Leadership Council and has served on their board for six years. In addition, Ms. Saks advises and/or serves on the boards of many arts, LGBTQ, and progressive nonprofits including Radio Diaries of National Public Radio, OUT at Chicago History Museum, Chicago Committee of African Women’s Development Fund, Experimental Station, Friends of South Africa’s Constitutional Court Architecture and Artworks Programme Committee and she served on Planning/Programming Committees for the national conference, “Race, Sex and Power: New Movements in Black and Latina/o Sexualities,” and Margaret Garner Opera Community Partners. Saks served on the Obama Campaign as a LGBT Liaison Committee Member. She has lectured widely on the arts, advocacy and social change, at numerous conferences and cultural and educational institutions and as a media spokesperson. She was recently honored by Business and Professional People for the Public Interest with the “40 Who Have Made a Difference” Award. Her full bio is available on the Institute web site (www.colum.edu/institutewomengender).
CHICAGO, IL. – (July 2, 2009) - The world of social media is constantly evolving and Columbia continues to keep up with the times.
This June, the Associate Chair of the Journalism Department, Suzanne McBride, spent seven days in Thailand as part of the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs speaker program. From June 16-20, McBride held workshops in Bangkok, Hat Yai, and Chiang Mai for Thai citizen journalists. The workshops focused on the emerging field of citizen journalism, an innovative new branch of reporting that allows non-professional journalists a chance to inform the public about issues that are underrepresented. This new realm of journalism also provides a platform for voices and opinions that may otherwise be excluded from the mainstream media.
McBride used her workshops to discuss the growing importance of new media tools and their role in citizen journalism, including information on legal risks, ethics, and responsibilities, funding, and how to use current social media like Twitter, blogging, and YouTube to broaden the reach of their stories.
During her time in Thailand, McBride met with more than 100 citizen journalists, members of the mainstream media, as well as students and professors. “It was fascinating to meet with everyday people doing journalism in Thailand,” she says. Her interactive seminars were also attended by participants in the Thai PBS’ civic journalism program and members of the Thai Netizen Network.
For McBride, an award-winning journalist and co-founder and co-publisher of ChicagoTalks.org, her trip to Thailand was a remarkable one. “It was eye-opening to see how hard it can be for them (Thai people) to get information from their government,” she explains. “That’s a lesson I hope to highlight again and again here at Columbia – we need to take advantage of the many freedoms we have here, because not every country is as open as ours.”
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