N.Y. Times, with HBCUs, Establishes Student Journalism Institute

In a special newspaper-university partnership, The New York Times is working with some of the nation's historically black colleges and universities to develop a first-ever New York Times Student Journalism Institute at Dillard University in New Orleans. The first class will enter the Institute this spring.

The highly competitive program will accept up to 30 promising undergraduate journalists from the colleges. Veteran journalists from The Times newsroom and selected HBCU faculty members will work with students in an intensive two-week residency program at the campus. Students will refine their skills in reporting, writing, photography, and editing. Instrumental to the program is the Black College Communication Association, an organization of faculty advisers to student newspapers from the institutions who have worked with The Times in other educational outreach programs.

Selection of students for the Institute will be based on academic achievement, commitment to journalism, writing, editing or photographic ability, and faculty recommendations. Applications are available at WWW.NYTIMES-INSTITUTE.COM and selections will be made by next March.

There is a Feb. 15 deadline for applying to the Institute. More information and application forms can also be obtained by calling the Institute number, (212) 556-1800. The Institute will be offered the last two weeks in May so as not to conflict with traditional summer newspaper internships.

The program is the latest addition to a joint venture announced at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Orlando by Howell Raines, executive editor of The New York Times. It has been under way for the past year.

In announcing the initiative, The Times said it was celebrating the role that the nation's historically black colleges and universities have played as a seedbed for journalistic talent. Raines said:

"What we are trying to do by partnering with historically black colleges and universities is to pair these great and singular American institutions with The New York Times, another great and singular American institution. In both cases, I want to add irreplaceable to the words great and singular. In the colleges and at The Times, each one of us must be a good steward of that with which we have been entrusted.

"For our part, we want to underscore and advance our own ambition -- the career-long ambition of Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., the chairman and publisher of the Times, and all of us who work with and for him -- to make the Times newsroom one of the most diverse in America. So it is only right and natural that we would seek to work together, to reach out and offer to share the job of training young black men and women to take their place as journalists in America."

"As a thriving liberal arts institution in a lively news city, Dillard University is a perfect venue for a Student Journalism Institute. Mass communications has become an inviting career choice for more and more African Americans, who bring diverse perspectives in their coverage of national and international news," said Dr. Michael L. Lomax, president of Dillard University.

The dates for the Institute are May 18-31. Students will get free room and board at Dillard, which is located on a 55-acre campus in New Orleans. Each student will also receive a stipend of $200 a week. The Institute is directed by Don R. Hecker, a former supervisor of the Metropolitan Copy Desk at the Times and a former recruiter of copy editors for the paper.

In the last year, despite the recession and aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, The Times has expanded its support for the initiative. Teams of reporters and editors have visited 12 campuses to conduct intensive workshops in news editing developed by Hecker and to talk to student journalists on campus newspapers. So far, the campuses have included Florida A&M University in Tallahassee; Dillard and Xavier universities in New Orleans; Tennessee State University in Nashville; Southern University in Baton Rouge, La.; Jackson (Miss.) State University; Grambling (La.) State University; Alcorn (Miss.) State University; Benedict College in Columbia, S.C.; Central State (Ohio) University; and Hampton (Va.) University.

The Times has also participated in special sessions of the Black College Communication Association, and has been host to students and faculty advisers from Southern University and Xavier University for a look at the newsroom from the inside.

Through these sessions, journalists from The Times in the past year have worked with more than 500 undergraduate students contemplating careers in journalism.

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2001 revenues of $3.0 billion, publishes The New York Times, The Boston Globe and 16 other newspapers; owns eight network-affiliated television stations and two New York radio stations; and has more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. In 2002 the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's list of America's Most Admired Companies. Among all 530 companies on the list, the New York Times Co. ranked No. 1 in quality of products/services and No. 1 in social responsibility.

The company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.