ABOUT

The Young and the Wireless is part of News21, the Initiative on the Future of Journalism sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. News21 is a partnership among 12 participating schools. There are eight “incubator” schools that name 10 fellows each, and four schools that contribute three or four fellows each. The program emphasizes innovative, hands-on journalism study and practice. The 90 or so students participate for 10 weeks each summer, starting in late May or early June. The participating campuses are networked by a National News21 coordinator who works to find outlets for the students’ work in mainstream and emerging news organizations; each incubator also produces a standalone Web site. The students’ products are experimental in substance and style and on a topic of global importance. This year’s project is American Tapestry: Exploring the Demographics of a Changing Nation. Each of the eight incubator schools determined an aspect of that broad topic, to encourage cross-campus collaboration and to capitalize on each university’s strengths.

For 2009, the incubator topics are:

Arizona State: The Latino Experience Across America
California-Berkeley: Urban Reporting, Demographics and the American Tapestry
Columbia: U.S. Charter Schools — Exploring Cultural, Linguistic & Immigrant Challenges
Maryland: The U.S. Political Landscape — Racial Identity and Attitudes
North Carolina: Changing America — Population and Energy Use
Northwestern: Urban Youth and the New America
Southern California: Southwestern Shifts — New Communities and New Realities
Syracuse: Teens and Technology

FACULTY

Steve Davis
Chair, Newspaper, Associate Professor
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Steve is the chair of the Newspaper and Online Journalism Department and has worked at The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University for 10 years. He has 20 years’ experience in newspapers, including six years running the National and Washington desks at USA TODAY. He published a book, Click on Democracy, chronicling the first wired election (Bush v. Gore, 2000). A textbook, Think Like an Editor, will be published next year.

Bruce Strong
Associate Professor
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Bruce has been a staff and freelance photojournalist who has shot in nearly 60 countries while working on assignments and personal projects. His work has been published in Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, National Geographic and various international magazines, as well as The Orange County (Calif.) Register, where he was on staff for more than a decade. Bruce teaches graduate and undergraduate classes in multimedia story telling, photojournalism, broadcast video, and picture and multimedia editing in his role as associate professor at Newhouse. Previously, he served as the visiting professional at Ohio University School of Visual Communication, where he mentored two College Photographers of the Year and was awarded the Knight Fellowship in Newsroom Graphics Management and Publication Design. Bruce also served as the Kellogg Public Policy Fellow at the University of Michigan Journalism Fellowships Program, during which time he and his wife, Claudia, also published their first book, “Armenia: The Story of a Place in Essays & Images.” Over the years, Bruce’s photography has received much attention and many honors, including California Photographer of the Year, as well as recognition from the National Press Photographers Association, the Society of Newspaper Designers, Women in Communications and The Associated Press News Executives Council.

Ken Harper
Assistant Professor
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Ken started his professional career as a designer at Sun Publications in Chicago. Harper went on to join the features design staff at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, where he began his transition to new media design. Harper decided on a digital vagabond lifestyle, traveling around the country by motorcycle, designing on a freelance basis through his own company, IronCladImages.com. He has worked as a multimedia designer and producer for MSNBC.com, New York Life, Bausch & Lomb and various non-profit organizations including the United Nations, ElectronicIntifada.net and Aidchild. Harper served as an interactive producer and designer at RockyMountainNews.com in Denver before becoming an Assistant Professor of Visual and Interactive Communications here. He lives in Cazenovia with his wife Dara and their 2 children, Rio and Amélie.

FELLOWS

Adeniyi Amadou, master’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Amadou describes himself as “relentless in everything I do.” He admits to many sleepless nights, compulsively mulling every word and every verb, reverently marshaling every quote, interview, and fact, and rapidly learning the craft. He was born in Benin, raised in Paris and educated at a Virginia boarding school. His college studies started at the U.S. Academy at West Point and he earned his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Amadou’s interest in journalism developed during his undergraduate studies.

Racquel Asa, master’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Emphasizing broadcast journalism, Asa joins the News21 fellowship program with three years of professional experience, working as a backpack reporter and as a news anchor for a TV station in Binghamton, N.Y. Asa says her motivation to be a good journalist is fueled by her passion to tell people’s stories. Her main goal in every assignment is to put a face to an issue and illuminate a solution for people or groups facing adversities or obstacles.

Andrew Burton, bachelor’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Burton, a junior, labels himself a photojournalist and multimedia producer with a passion for in-depth journalism. He has worked and lived internationally, covering topics ranging from immigration in the United States to the 2008 Olympics. Previously, Burton attended Oregon State University where he worked as the photo editor at the student paper, The Daily Barometer. He interned at Bloomberg News’ photo desk and served as an assistant to Vincent Laforet. His work has been recognized by COPY (first place, in 2008, for sports portfolio and sports single photo), the Hearst Foundation (fourth place, 2008, multimedia) and the Oregon Newspaper Publishers’ Association.

Mary Buttolph, master’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Buttolph grew up in Virginia and attended Virginia Tech, earning a degree in fisheries science. After working for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest and the Intermountain West, she decided to return to school to study photography. She earned a degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology before pursuing a master’s in photography from Syracuse while serving as a teaching fellow and a research assistant. Buttolph hopes to focus her journalism efforts on the environmental challenges and opportunities facing the world.

Brad Horn, master’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
During his graduate studies, Horn focuses on multiplatform journalism, NPR-style radio and online storytelling. He has a self-designed degree in documentary studies from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was on the team that produced the Online News Association’s 2005 Student Journalism Project of the Year. He also studied at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.

Sabina Kuriakose, bachelor’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
As a dual major in broadcast journalism and international relations, Kuriakose was a reporter for the Syracuse bureau of ABC News on Campus, covering local and campus-related news. In 2008, she interned with NBC10’s investigative unit in Philadelphia. She is very interested in reporting for a multimedia platform. Kuriakose grew up in Bensalem, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia.

Courtnee Lowe
College of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Nebraska
Courtnee pursued majors in broadcast journalism, French and international studies. In 2007, she spent six months at the Université de Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, and received the Diplôme d’Etudes de Langue Française. A native of Tyler, Texas, she moved to Nebraska with her family before high school. She enjoys being a student worker at HuskerVision, where she produces and edits videos for the Husker Swimming and Diving Team.

Melissa Romero, undergraduate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
A native of Wilmington, Del., Romero is pursuing a bachelor’s in print journalism with a minor in anthropology. She serves as the research editor for Equal Time, a student-run general interest magazine, and writes for the Cicero North Syracuse Star News, a local paper. She also volunteers as a Newhouse peer adviser and ambassador. When Romero is not running around interviewing people, she’s running around the track as a member of the Syracuse University track and field team as a high jumper.

Phil Tenser, bachelor’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
Tenser is earning bachelor’s degrees in broadcast journalism and philosophy. In addition to new media and multimedia technology, his interests include watching movies, traveling, and cooking. Tenser interned with NBC Sports as a logger for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. He also interned for KVOA News in his hometown of Tucson, Ariz., and was later hired there as a fill-in video editor. Learn more about him at philtenser.com.

Jennifer Ward, master’s candidate
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University
With an honors bachelor’s degree in literature from the University of Winnipeg, Ward, a native Canadian, brings creativity and innovation to her storytelling. Her 27 years of meeting new people and exploring new places brought her to journalism, where she finds comfort among dinosaurs: the printed word. She was a spring intern at The Syracuse Post-Standard, and her work has appeared in numerous small publications, community newspapers and magazines. She writes a food blog at freshcrackedpepper.com . For a break from her computer screen Ward trains for triathlons, cooks tasty meals, and tries to spend as much time outside as possible.

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