School of Journalism

The University of Montana

December 1998

Tom Brokaw will speak on Dean Stone weekend

NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw plans to speak at the University of Montana this April, fulfilling a commitment he made nine years ago. In 1989, Brokaw's trip to Missoula ended before he got here. He flew as far west as the Minneapolis airport, when NBC sent him back to New York to anchor coverage of Tiananmen Square. Former NBC correspondent Don Oliver, who is teaching three courses at UM this semester, helped renew the contact with Brokaw, the anchor of "NBC Nightly News" for the last 16 years. Oliver said it was simple. "I asked him to come and he said 'yes.'" It's also the beginning of fishing season, Oliver noted. Brokaw was born Feb. 6, 1940, in Webster, S.D., and was educated at the University of South Dakota. In 1976 Brokaw was an NBC White House correspondent before following Barbara Walters as the host of the "Today" show. Brokaw also filled in as the Saturday evening host of the "Nightly News." When John Chancelor retired in 1981, Brokaw and Roger Mudd shared the nightly newscast for a year, but Brokaw's youthful yet calm, easygoing manner won him the top spot. Brokaw has held the anchor position ever since. He and his wife Meredith have three children. They own a ranch in Montana between Bozeman and Livingston, where Oliver said they spend a great deal of time. Brokaw will be the featured speaker for Dean Stone weekend. The J-school's Dean Stone awards banquet will be held on Friday, April 16. Brokaw will speak at the University Theatre on Sat., April 17. Students, faculty and the general public are invited.

Washington Post editor hired as visiting Native American journalist

A veteran editor on the foreign desk of the Washington Post will be the journalism school's first Native American journalist in residence, acting dean Carol Van Valkenburg announced this week. Starting spring semester, Dennis McAuliffe Jr., an enrolled member of the Osage tribe of Oklahoma, will teach courses for one year at both UM and Salish Kootenai College in Pablo. The hiring of McAuliffe was made possible by a $90,000 grant from the Freedom Forum last July. The grant pays for his salary as well as support, travel and student recruiting costs. "We are really pleased to have Denny join our faculty. He will be a wonderful mentor for students and will also help us reach our goal of attracting more Native American students to journalism," Van Valkenburg said. "We are also grateful to the Freedom Forum for providing the support that allowed us to attract a journalist of Denny's caliber." McAuliffe has worked at the Post since 1983 and on the foreign desk for 11 years. He has been the night foreign editor for the past several years, working the 7:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift. According to one recent in-house evaluation, "Denny McAuliffe is perhaps the most gifted all-round editor on the Foreign Desk. He brings a grace to his writing and editing that is rare, even at The Post, and is universally agreed to be a pleasure to work with. He knows when to rewrite-and when not to. He can un-muddle and redo the worst we get, but his judgment is good enough to make only essential fixes in the good stuff. A graduate of the University of Maryland (and, as he says, "a graduate of the Harvard School of Hunt and Peck Journalism"), McAuliffe began his first newspaper job at age 15 with the now-defunct Washington Daily News. After a stint in the Army during the Vietnam conflict, McAuliffe worked as a stringer in Panama for Reuters and the London Observer, and then on the copy desk of the European Stars and Stripes. The Post editor is looking forward to his new responsibility. He said, "I believe strongly that I would be performing a valuable service, both to my own sense of personal responsibility and to the larger societal need, if I can assist the University of Montana in setting itself up as the center for Native American Journalism, both to train Indians for the profession and to educate all journalists, be they Native or not, on Indian issues. In spring semester, McAuliffe will teach a two-credit seminar on multicultural journalism and help teach the school's award-winning Native News Honors class. The class will be combined this year with the Radio-Television Department's Student Documentary Unit, which has won several Rocky Mountain Emmy awards for its productions. In the spring term at Salish Kootenai College, on the Flathead Resevation, McAuliffe will teach a reporting class.

J-School students receive recognition

Three UM journalism students recently won five prestigous national awards. Tom Mullen placed 14th in the nation in the Hearst Journalism Competition for a piece he wrote for the Native News honors class, called "An Uneasy Education." The article featured Indians who leave the reservation but find acceptance difficult once they return with a degree and a new way of thinking. Mullen, editor of the Kaimin autumn semester, graduated with honors in December. Mullen also won 12th place in the editorial-writing section of the Hearst competition, but pride of place in that contest goes to Kim Skornogoski, a May '98 graduate of the Journalism School, who took 6th place for editorial writing, earning a $500 scholarship. Stuart Thurlkill won two prestigious photojournalism awards. He captured first place in the Rich Mahan Student Portfolio category in the 1998 Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar. His entry included a collection of 40 photographs of his best work in the last year. The award earned Thurlkill $750 and a Nikon N90S camera. Thurlkill also won a $500 scholarship after placing ninth in the Personality/Profile and Feature category of the Hearst Photojournalism Competition. The School of Journalism wins a matching $500 from Hearst in honor of his work.

Student programs to air on Montana Public TV

The next two "Montana Journal" programs will air next month on public television. The half-hour magazine-style news program is created by senior R-TV students, featuring 5-7 minute stories on Montana topics. The first program, aired last month, included stories on how Montana is attempting to rejuvenate its economy: the working poor of Montana; how hungry families are being assisted; how Missoula is making use of its historical buildings in its long range growth planning, and the annual bison roundup on the National Bison Range near Noxon. Aaron Pruitt, director of programming for Montana Public TV, applauded the student-made programs as "really well done." The next "Montana Journal" is tentatively scheduled to run on KUFM-TV public television on Jan. 22 at 8:30 p.m. The program will repeat on Sun., Jan. 24, at 9:30 a.m. The second program will air on Fri., Feb. 19, at 8:30 p.m. and will repeat on Sun., Feb. 21 at 9:30 a.m.

DATES AND DEADLINES

Dec. 7 Spring Semester Class schedule and statement mailed to students. Dec. 14-18 Final exams. Dec. 18 Spring Semester class schedule/statement no longer mailed. Students must pick up. Jan. 4-22 Intersession.