Category Archives: Masters


 
Any MSU School of Journalism masters student can enroll in an environmental journalism class to fulfill graduate requirements or electives.
Students can also complete a specialized master’s degree environmental option that combines environmental journalism, science or policy courses. Students learn advanced reporting techniques for covering complicated environmental issues. The environmental option appears on a graduate’s transcript.
FAQ for masters program.
Students must be admitted into the M.A. Program in Journalism and have selected the Environmental Option. The MSU environmental journalism option requirements are here.

Knight Center and affiliated faculty teach a rotating schedule of graduate-level environmental journalism courses. Consult schedule of courses for the latest offerings.
Graduate students are encouraged to join the student Environmental Journalism Association and report for Great Lakes Echo, the Knight Center’s award-winning non-profit environmental news service.
They are encouraged to augment their study with environment classes and programs elsewhere at MSU such as through the Environmental Science and Policy Program.
    
 Apply
 
Applications to the School of Journalism’s masters program are accepted on a rolling basis. Students should submit an electronic application and send GRE scores and two copies of their official undergraduate transcript. International students should submit TOEFL scores. Send to:
 
MSU Admissions Office
250 Administration Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Mich. 48824
 
 
Applicants should also send the following:

three letters of recommendation
a 750-word autobiography
a 1,000-word statement of purpose
a resume
and an indication of interest in an assistantship or other financial aid
to the Journalism School:
 
MSU School of Journalism
c/o the Graduate Secretary
School of Journalism
305 Communication Arts Building
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1212
 
For questions, contact graduate student coordinator Nancy Ashley, ashleyn@msu.edu
  
Aid
 
Limited graduate assistantships are occasionally available, depending on faculty research grants. Students may also qualify for scholarships.
 

 
 

Knight Center alum nabs byline in Audubon

Andy McGlashen

Andy McGlashen


Knight Center alum Andy McGlashen has a story in Audubon about how even a little bit of oil can make it hard for birds to fly.
McGlashen recently started an editorial fellowship with the birding publication in New York City. He is the former communications director for the Michigan Environmental Council.
His freelance reporting has appeared in Scientific American, Midwest Energy News, Bridge Magazine, The Daily Climate, Environmental Health News  and other publications.
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Knight Center student a finalist for national reporting prize

Carin Tunney

Carin Tunney


A story by Knight Center graduate student Carin Tunney was recently named a finalist in a national Association of Food Journalists competition.
The story “Can tiny livestock solve big hunger” about eating insects in North America appeared in two Knight Center publications: The Food Fix and Great Lakes Echo.
The winner will be announced in September at the annual conference of the Association of Food Journalists in Philadelphia.
 More information.

Knight Center student reports on destructive insective

Kelly van Frankenhuyzen

Kelly van Frankenhuyzen


The emerald ash borer’s devastation of ash trees in forest and cities is the subject of a website produced by a Knight Center student for her masters project.
The goal of the project by Kelly van Frankenhuyzen is to understand the impact of the insect in Michigan and Ohio. The website is geared toward middle school science students with the idea of engaging future generations in citizen science and in the skills and knowledge needed to protect natural resources.
She worked with two Forest Service scientists in Delaware, Ohio, to learn how some trees survive the insect next to those that do not.
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Saint Petersburg State University offers Popular Science Journalism master’s program

 

Julia Balashova

Julia Balashova


Professor Julia Balashova heads the master’s program in popular science journalism at St. Petersburg State University in Russia. She is affiliated with the Knight Center as a Fulbright Scholar doing research at MSU this academic year.
 
By Julia Balashova
Schools of journalism in Russia offer a variety of specialized master’s programs. For example, those at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Saint Petersburg State University include International Journalism, Political Journalism, Business Journalism and Sports Journalism. Several years ago, we started a new master’s degree program called Popular Science Journalism, and it is the only such specialization in Russia.
Training science journalists is necessary for the country, society, science and the media themselves. Global media markets demand science journalists. However, until recently, Russian universities were not engaged in preparation of science journalists. The contemporary trend, named “science with and for society,” means establishing communication between separate areas of the elite scientific and societal spheres.  Continue reading