Upcoming courses offered at MSU's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism

Here’s the academic schedule for Michigan State University’s Knight Center for Environmental Journalism for the summer and fall of 2014 and spring of 2015.

Special notes:

  • The courses are open to all majors provided permission is obtained from the instructor to waive the pre-requisites required of some courses.
  • Some courses feed the Knight Center’s nonprofit environmental news service, Great Lakes Echo, providing students with professional experience and bylined clips.
  • More than $10,000 a year in scholarships is reserved exclusively for undergraduate and graduate students in environmental journalism courses.
  • You may take JRN 472/872 and JRN 473/873 more than once as the focus of each section is different.
  • Enrollment is limited.

Course descriptions:

JRN 472/872: Environmental Reporting Lab

  • Fall: News Eye in the Clear Sky (3 credits) Shoot video from a drone you pilot in the only J-School class with a flight school. Use satellite imagery, other high tech and traditional techniques to report for Great Lakes Echo environmental news service. Opportunities available for text, photo, video, audio and social media reporting. Instructor: Dave Poulson (poulson@msu.edu, 432-5417) (Tuesday & Thursday 12:40-2:30)
  • Spring: The Great Outdoors (3 credits). Reporting about rivers, lakes, forests, biodiversity, wildlife and public lands for Great Lakes Echo environmental news service. Opportunities available for text, photo, video, audio and social media reporting. Instructor: Eric Freedman (freedma5@msu.edu, 355-4729) (Tuesday & Thursday 12:40-2:30)

  JRN 473/873: Environmental Reporting Seminar

  • Summer: Visual Representations of Environmental and Scientific Issues (1 credit, online). Explore and analyze images, photographs, films, and other visual depictions of environmental and scientific issues in media and popular culture. These include: “Gravity,” “The Day After Tomorrow,” “The Simpsons,” “Cosmos,” “New York Times” and “National Geographic,” among others. Instructor: Bruno Takahashi (btakahas@msu.edu, 432 2454)
  • Fall: Science in Media Coverage of Environmental and Health Affairs (3 credits). Seminar focusing on news media reporting of environment, science and health issues. Instructor: Bruno Takahashi (btakahas@msu.edu, 432-2454) (Wednesday 3-5:50)
  • Fall: Courting the Environment (1 credit, meets Sept. 16-Oct. 11) Covering litigation about Superfund, air and water pollution, endangered species and other environmental issues. Instructor: Eric Freedman (freedma5@msu.edu, 355-4729) (Tuesday 4:30-6:30)
  • Spring (Section 1): No Respect for the Boundaries—International Comparisons of Media Coverage of Environmental and Health Issues (3 credits) Review and analyze major environmental and health issues around the world in recent times, such as climate change, ozone layer hole, hydraulic fracturing, nuclear energy, GMOs, cancer, AIDS and SARS. Learn to apply a comparative cross-national perspective based on differences in culture, values and media systems. Instructor: Bruno Takahashi (btakahas@msu.edu, 432-2454) (Monday 3-5:50)
  • Spring (Section 2): Unravel the Mysteries of the Universe (3 credits) Science and health issues are too important to leave to scientists and policy wonks. Learn to explain fascinating issues important to the public. We’ll explore writing venues as diverse as magazines, blogs, brochures, museums, newspapers and planetariums. Instructor: Dave Poulson (poulson@msu.edu, 432-5417) (Tuesday & Thursday 6-8:50 p.m.)