Columbia Journalism sChool Winter 2010 - Berkeley Graduate ...

include political and economic turmoil
in Argentina and civil war in El
Salvador. During the ’80s he spent
nearly a decade in Nicaragua, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and
Panama reporting for “World News
Tonight.” Quiñones has won seven
national Emmy Awards for his
“Primetime Live,” “Burning Questions”
and “20/20” work. Among
his other honors are the First Prize
in International Reporting and Robert
F. Kennedy Prize for his piece
on “Modern Slavery — Children
Sugar Cane Cutters in the Dominican
Republic.”
Ron Suskind ’83 is a Pulitzer Prizewinning
journalist, an author and
teacher, who has written some of
America’s most important works of
nonfiction, framing national debates
while exploring the complexities of
human experience. His latest book,
“The Way of the World” (August
2008), is a multilayered narrative
about the forces at home and
abroad fighting today’s battles for
hope and security. His previous
book, “The One Percent Doctrine”
(June 2006), is the definitive work
on how the U.S. government frantically
improvised to fight a new kind
of war after 9/11. And his book, “A
Hope in the Unseen: An American
Odyssey from the Inner City to the
Ivy League,” which follows the
three-year path of an African-
American religious honor student
from a blighted Washington, D.C.,
high school through the end of his
freshman year at Brown University,
is one of the all-time most
acclaimed books on the subject of
race and class. It was launched by
The Wall Street Journal series for
which Suskind won the 1995 Pulitzer
Prize for Feature Writing.
Arnold Zeitlin ’56, visiting professor
at Guangdong University of
Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, China,
has devoted himself to improving
the performance of students and
working journalists in the developing
world. Zeitlin started working
for the Associated Press while still
a journalism student and worked as
a correspondent and overseas
bureau chief for the AP for nearly
30 years, covering civil wars and
martial law in Nigeria, Pakistan and
the Philippines. He was the pool
reporter aboard the U.S. Seventh
Fleet command ship for the April
1975 U.S. evacuation of Vietnam. In
1961, Zeitlin interrupted his journalism
career to serve for two years as
a teacher in Ghana with the first
group of Peace Corps volunteers.
He wrote a book about his experi-
ence, “To the Peace Corps, With
Love” (Doubleday 1965). Zeitlin’s
career has taken him to Bangladesh,
to launch a weekly English
newspaper, to Hong Kong, for
United Press International, and to
China, where he has been a visiting
professor and consultant to a unique
English-language undergraduate
journalism program at Guangdong
University of Foreign Studies.
A special alumni award will be
given to Lydia Polgreen ’00, foreign
correspondent for The New York
Times, for her coverage of Africa’s
deadliest and most complex conflicts,
from the crisis in Darfur, Chad
and the Central African Republic to
the continuing chaos in Congo. Polgreen
is based in New Delhi and,
along with a team of two other correspondents,
she covers India,
Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan
and the Maldives. From 2005
to 2009, she was the West Africa
correspondent for The Times. Her
work in Africa has been recognized
with numerous prizes, including the
George Polk Award for Foreign
Reporting, an Overseas Press Club
award and the Livingston Award
for International Reporting.
7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
ALUMNI AWARDS RECEPTION
AND BOOK SIGNING BY
ALUMNI AUTHORS
Books written by alumni authors in
2009 will be on display, and alumni
authors will be available to sign their
books from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The Alumni Book Fair has become
one of the most popular events
during Alumni Weekend, with dozens
of graduates participating in
the book signing following the
Alumni Awards ceremony. We
invite authors who have published
a book between April 2009 and
April 2010 to participate in the
Book Fair on Friday, April 23,
from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the
Rotunda of Low Library. Books
published by the authors will be
on display and for sale during the
reception. Our office will work with
the Columbia University Bookstore
to order copies of your book. If you
would like to participate in the
Alumni Book Fair or if you have
any questions, please contact our
office (jalumni@columbia.edu) by
March 1, 2010, and we will send you
a form to complete.
SaTurDay, aPril 24, 2010
8:30 a.m.
CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
SOCIAL MEDIA SKILLS FOR
JOURNALISTS: PRACTICAL
TIPS FOR CHANGING MEDIA
LANDSCAPE
9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Part 1: Basics of Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn
9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Part 2: Intermediate/Advanced
material from the course
Professor Sree Sreenivasan ’93,
Dean of Students
Having a tough time keeping up
with all the technology changes
around you? Worried that there’s
some new tech tip, cool site or
social networking tool that all your
friends and family already know
about but you don’t? Then this
fast-paced seminar aimed at writers
and other media professionals is
for you. You will learn about some
terrific new ideas that will make
you more efficient, help you with
your work, and improve your online
life. You will leave with more than
10 ideas, a useful handout and a
whole new outlook on technology.
After this, YOU will be the one showing
off to your friends and family.
11:00 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
CLASS PHOTOS
12 noon
ALUMNI LUNCHEON
Low Library Rotunda
Presentation of the Dean’s Medal for
Public Service to Michèle Montas ’69
Michèle Montas is an award-winning
journalist who has dedicated her life
to securing democracy and freedom
in Haiti (see profile, page 10).
Keynote Speaker: Walt Mossberg ’70,
Personal Technology Columnist,
The Wall Street Journal
Walter Mossberg has been the
country’s most influential reviewer
and commentator on technology
for nearly 20 years. He is a champion
of the average consumer, a
skeptic of technology for its own
sake, and a sharp critic of the technology
companies when they fail
the consumer. Just as readers have
long sought informed opinions
about theater, film, politics, sports
and other traditional topics, they
now hunger for similar guidance on
technology products and issues.
And Walt is the columnist they turn
to most often, and with the most
confidence. Beloved by readers,
respected by the industry he covers,
and widely followed across the
Web, Walt Mossberg offers a shining
example of how newspaper
journalism can still be relevant and
influential in the Internet age.
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
CAREER SERVICES
OPEN HOUSE
Meet the staff from the Office of
Career Services, and hear about
programs in place to assist our
community of students and graduates.
Pose questions about your
career and get a few pointers about
transitioning to a new position or
advancing in your current job.
2:30 p.m.
STUDENT-LED TOURS
OF BUILDING
2:30 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF
AMERICAN JOURNALISM
Dean Nicholas Lemann and
Professor Michael Schudson
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
CLASS OF 1965 MEETING
3:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
FOX/MSNBC ET AL.: IS
PARTISANSHIP JOURNALISM?
Moderated by Ferrel Guillory ’70,
director of the Program on Public
Life Center for the Study of the
American South (University of
North Carolina)
Panelists will include Courtney
Hazlett ’05, MSNBC.com; Robert
Papper ’70, Lawrence Stessin Distinguished
Professor in Journalism
and chair of the Department of
Journalism, Media Studies and
Public Relations at Hofstra University
(N.Y.); and Betty Winston Baye
’80, editorial writer and columnist,
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.).
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
DEAN’S HAPPY HOUR FOR
25TH AND 50TH REUNION
CLASSES
For members of the classes of
1960 and 1985
6:30 p.m. on
CLASS SOCIALS
19