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Covering Religion 2020

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INFORMATION SHEET AND APPLICATION FOR “COVERING RELIGION”

SPRING 2020

PROFESSORS ARI L. GOLDMAN, GREG KHALIL AND DUY LINH TU

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

  • Info Session: Tuesday, November 5, 12;30 p.m., Room 601B
  • Application Deadline: Monday, November 18, 9 a.m.

“Covering Religion” aims at preparing students to write about religion with intelligence and sophistication for secular media outlets in the U.S. and around the world. In the Spring 2020 semester, the class will focus on the role of religion in the American South with special (but not exclusive) attention to the 2020 Presidential election. Thanks to a generous grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation, the course will include a 10-day study-tour of two Southern states, Louisiana and Mississippi, at virtually no cost to students. (The minimal expenses that students will incur are described below.)

The study-tour will take place over Spring Break, with the weekends before and after the break used for travel. The tentative dates are March 13 to March 23, 2020. The first seven weeks of the course will be spent reporting on religious diversity in the greater New York area. At the beginning of the term, each student is assigned a faith, or a sect of a faith, in which to specialize. While a primary focus of the semester will be on the region’s diverse Protestant and Catholic communities, the class will also look at minority faiths like Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and others. In addition to their reporting and writing projects, each student will make an oral presentation in class about his or her assigned faith. While still in New York, students will identify and begin to report on the stories that they want to cover while traveling in the South. (The stories they report on the trip will not necessarily be on their faith beat.)

We believe that this spring is a particularly good time to look at the role of religion in the Southern states, especially as we approach the 2020 presidential election. It is clear that the Evangelical support for Donald Trump was one of the stories overlooked during 2016 election. This factor was one of the reasons that Trump’s victory caught much of the news media by surprise.

The 16 members of Covering Religion class will travel as a group for parts of the trip, visiting houses of worship and speaking with religious leaders. But there will also be several “reporting days” for students, working alone or with a partner, to pursue their reporting projects. Students in the class will have the opportunity to work in print, audio or video.

During the 2020 trip, the class will maintain a website that will include daily updates from our travels. Each day on the trip, one student will be responsible for reporting on that day’s activities and posting the story on the Web. In addition, two students serve as Webmasters and others coordinate photographs, video and social media. Upon returning from the study-tour, students will complete and post their major reporting projects from the trip. (The Websites from previous years can be found at www.coveringreligion.org.)

Here are a few additional points —

  • Class size: The class is limited to 16 students drawn from the M.S. Program.
  • Dates for the trip: The trip roughly takes place over spring break, making use of the weekends before and after for travel time.
  • Full-time and part-time students in the M.S. Program & M.S. Data Journalism programs are invited to apply.
  • The class meets for 15 Tuesdays, from roughly 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., beginning on Jan. 28.
  • Academic Requirements: All students must be up-to-date on assignments for all other classes. No student on academic probation or academic warning will be allowed to go on the trip.
  • Composition of the class: We are looking for a group of students that will reflect the diversity of the school in terms of gender, language skills, travel experience, region of the United States and country of origin. No prior travel experience is necessary.
  • Cost to students: The Scripps Howard Foundation grant pays for airfare, hotels, transfers and two meals a day. Students can apply for extra money for other reporting excursions during the class trip. Students will have to arrange their own travel to and from the airport in New York.
  • Application process: Please fill out the on-line application at http://bit.ly/CUJ_religion. 
It asks for a 500-word essay on why you would like to be considered for the class. It should include personal information as well as a statement about what contemporary religion story you would cover in the South if you had the opportunity.

Good luck. We look forward to reading your application.

DEADLINE: November 18, 2019, 9 a.m.

Instructions for Viewing Course Evaluations

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR VIEWING COURSE EVALUATIONS IN COURSEWORKS

STEP 1:   Log into OLD CourseWorks at https://courseworks.columbia.edu/welcome/ using UNI and password

STEP 2:   In the upper right hand corner, click VIEWABLE COURSES

STEP 3:   Under Search Viewable Courses, click Search for Evaluations

STEP 4:

  • Type in the last name of the Instructor you are interested in.
  • Under School Name, scroll to Graduate School of Journalism.
  • Under Department Name, scroll to Journalism.
  • Click on Show Instructor Evaluations.
  • Click submit.

STEP 5:    A list of courses will appear. Once you have selected a course click on Click Here at the left of the screen under Evaluation.

STEP 6:   Past evaluations from the course selected will appear. Click on one of the links and you can view that semester’s evaluation of the course.

See example: Screen shot 2015-07-10 at 11.30.32 AM

MAJOR MEMO: Graduation Registration Memo

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Dear Graduating Students, Just Graduated Students, Spencers, & 3rd semester doc students:

This year’s graduation information page is now live at: http://bit.ly/CUJ15Grad

It is important that you visit the information page as well as read and follow the instructions below carefully.

To graduate and participate in the two ceremonies (Journalism School Graduation & CU Commencement), you must complete a number of tasks:

  1. Diploma Application form – This was due back in December for May 2015 graduates. To double check that yours was received, please visit SSOL and look for the diploma application status box. If yours has not been received, please fill out the form, ASAP.

Spencers do not have to do this.

October 2014 and February 2015 grads have already received diplomas.

Currently enrolled 3rd semester docs do not have to do this yet.

  1. Journalism School Graduation Registration/Ticket Request: http://fs8.formsite.com/cjdos/gradprogram/

All those graduating must complete this form even if they will not be participating in either ceremony.

Graduating Journalism students are required to register online for the Journalism School Graduation ceremony (at a different link than the one for the university ceremony), where they will also be able to request up to three (3) guest tickets for this ceremony. Graduating students do not need tickets for themselves. Tickets for the Journalism ceremony will be hard copy and available for pick-up in 207A beginning on May 8 for those who both registered to attend and who have completed the online graduation survey which will be available as well on May 8.

Part-time students can contact Chanel Roche at cr2586@columbia.edu about having tickets mailed, if necessary.

Registration Form Submission Deadline: Monday, April 20

  1. Columbia University Commencement Registration/Ticket Request: http://columbiacommencement.universitytickets.com

Only those who will be participating in this ceremony need to complete this form. PhD Graduates need to complete this process through GSAS not Journalism.

Graduating students are required to register online to attend the Columbia University Commencement ceremony, where they are also able to request guest tickets (up to three). Graduate school degree candidates may request up to three (3) guest tickets. Graduating students do not need tickets for themselves.

Your Commencement guest tickets will be electronic tickets and will be available to you upon completion of registration. Please choose only one option to receive your tickets (printing the tickets yourself or sending electronically for your guests to print) to distribute to your guests. Each ticket has a unique QR code that can be scanned only once. Distributing your tickets via both options will cause confusion for guests when they reach the admission entrance. Please make sure that each guest has one numbered ticket which contains a unique QR code. Only the first guest arriving with that unique ticket will be allowed entry to the ceremony. Any additional copies of the same ticket will be turned away at the gates.

Please be sure to send or give your tickets to your guests prior to Commencement Day as it will be nearly impossible to navigate from upper (degree candidate procession area) to lower (guest seating area) campus on the day of the event. Each ticket must be printed out in advance and will be scanned for admission into the ceremony. This will reduce lines at the General Admission gates.

Please note that University Commencement is held on Low Plaza and the processional route for students includes stairs. Those graduates whose disabilities limit their ability to walk or negotiate stairs should contact Disability Services at 212-854-2388 (Voice/TTY) or email access@columbia.edu to arrange for accessible seating by Friday, May 8.

Commencement Registration Form Submission Deadline: Friday, May 8.

  1. Assessment: By May 15, all M.S. and M.A. students must have submitted the required work to the Assessment System: http://bit.ly/CUGSJ_Assessment
  2. Sexual Respect Initiative: By May 15, all graduating students must have completed the requirements of this program: http://bit.ly/SexualRespectCJS
  3. Graduation Survey: To be cleared to pick up the Journalism School graduation ceremony tickets you requested above (item 2), you must complete this survey. The link will go live and be distributed on May 8.

There will be multiple graduation info sessions in April at which you can ask all of your questions. The dates are listed at http://bit.ly/CUJ15Grad

MAJOR MEMO: Registration Instructions

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Dear Students,

Below are links to pdfs of the instructions for registration on Monday, July 14.

There are a number of tasks to do in advance of the registration appointment, so please read this document carefully and take action ASAP.

Please be certain to read the correct instructions.  There is a memo for FULL-TIME students and one for PART-TIME students.