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 graduate student lands tech fellowship

Amelia Havanec

Amelia Havanec


Michigan State University Knight Center graduate student Amelia Havanec recently snagged a summer fellowship with a Seattle independent electronic journal.
Crosscut is a non-profit publication founded in 2007 and that serves residents of the Pacific Northwest with facts and analysis of local news. Seattle is the home of such tech giants as Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia and Zillow. Amelia will report on the region’s growing science, environmental and tech space.
She will also help implement Crosscut’s third “Community Ideas Lab,” an ideas contest that organizes people of the Pacific Northwest around local issues that need collective attention. The contest helps put Crosscut’s news stories into perspective.
Amelia has a bachelor of sciences degree in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the University of Rochester. She has immersed herself in the pursuit of a scientific journalism career and has written for Scientific American MIND, LiveScience.com and The Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute, in La Jolla, California.
She enrolled in MSU this past January and is the recipient of The Len Barnes AAA Scholarship and The Don Caldwell Memorial Scholarship in Environmental Journalism.
Amelia is also a producer and host of The Food Fix, a student-led podcast that explores food systems innovations around the world.

Knight Center grad lands job as environmental communications director

Haley Walker

Haley Walker


Michigan State University Knight Center graduate Haley Walker recently landed a job as the communications manager of The Freshwater Trust in Portland, Oregon.
The Freshwater Trust is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that actively works to preserve and restore the country’s freshwater ecosystems. The group builds, locally implements and scales game-changing tools that help achieve freshwater health.
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Knight Center students snowshoe to journalism workshop

Knight Center students and faculty snowshoe to the University of Notre Dame’s Linked Experimental Ecosystem Facility. Attending the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources are from right students Jenna Chapman, Kevin Duffy and Amanda Proscia and Knight Center Senior Associate Director David Poulson. Image: Jim Bloch

Knight Center students and faculty snowshoe to the University of Notre Dame’s Linked Experimental Ecosystem Facility. Attending the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources are from right students Jenna Chapman, Kevin Duffy and Amanda Proscia and Knight Center Senior Associate Director David Poulson. Image: Jim Bloch


By Amanda Proscia
With noses running, bodies shivering and faces smiling, three Knight Center student journalists recently snowshoed to a session of an environmental journalism workshop.
The Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources (IJNR) hosted the two-day “Talking Science, Telling Stories” workshop in South Bend, Indiana, for reporters mostly from the Midwest.
Continue reading →

MSU journalism students eligible for scholarships; many are environment-related

The application deadline for scholarships from the MSU School of Journalism is Jan. 30.
Many of the scholarships target students interested in environmental reporting. You can find a list of the scholarships and how to apply online here.
The scholarships are awarded spring semester for use the following summer or fall. Undergraduate and graduate students who will not graduate in the spring are eligible.