Category Archives: Alumni

       
 

Alums snare top prize for film on endangered sea turtles

By Steven Maier
Michigan State alums and sibling filmmakers Laura and Rob Sams have won Best Engaging Youth Film at the Jackson Hole Film Festival for the second time in their careers
Their short children’s film, “My Haggan Dream,” follows a girl as she learns about the life cycle of the endangered sea turtles of Saipan, the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands in the West Pacific.

My Hagan Dream

My Hagan Dream


“I think we were a bit surprised we won this year because we were up against some really good films,” Laura said.
Laura was there at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming that night to receive the award. She announced the victory with a text to her brother, who had stayed at home in Portland, Oregon, to care for his wife, who would give birth to their second son the next day.
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Alaskan alum visits Knight Center, Canadian Studies Center

By Steven Maier

Students attend lunch talk with Margie Bauman

Students attend lunch talk with Margie Bauman


The Knight Center has again hosted Margie Bauman, the Alaska bureau chief for the Fishermen’s News, environmental and fisheries reporter for the Cordova Times on Prince William Sound, Alaska, and an alum of Michigan States School of Journalism.
Bauman joined Knight Center staff and students of the Journalism School for lunch, talked about covering Alaska-British Columbia environmental issues to a class on international journalism taught by Knight Center director Eric Freedman and spoke at an evening session hosted by MSU’s Canadian Studies Center. Continue reading

Knight Center team hits the Society of Environmental Journalists conference

A delegation of Knight Center faculty and students participated in the 2017 annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists in Pittsburgh.

Knight Center director Eric Freedman and sernior associate director Dave Poulson participate in a panel

Knight Center director Eric Freedman and sernior associate director Dave Poulson participate in a panel Photo credit: Mary Hoff


Knight Center director Eric Freedman and senior associate director Dave Poulson participate
in a panel, “How to Go from Prof(essional) to Prof(essor),” about making a successful transition from full-time professional journalist to full time college teaching.
Such a transition and the change in workplace cultures can be difficult, but colleges offer little guidance or mentoring for new faculty arriving from the profession. Freedman, Poulson and fellow panelists Randy Loftis of the University of North Texas, Kate Sheppard of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Sara Shipley Hiles of the University of Missouri drew on their own experiences to offer guidance and suggest best practices.
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Knight Center grad shows humor in the face of wildfires

By Kate Habrel

Sarah Coefield.   Photo credit:  Shannon Edney

Sarah Coefield. Photo credit: Shannon Edney


MSU graduate and former Knight Center employee Sarah Coefield was featured recently as “Monday’s Montanan” in the Missoulian.
The reason? In part: dumb smoke jokes.
Coefield is one of two Missoula County air quality specialists. She wears numerous hats for her job – writing policy and rules for air pollution control and air quality updates. It’s those updates that have recently attracted a lot of attention. Continue reading