SPJ 2011-12, from the President

Hey SPJ-ers and IU SPJ fans! I realize it's summer and you probably aren't thinking about the 2011-12 school year yet (or trying not to), but your IU SPJ officers are.

We have some great things coming up this year. In addition to our annual First Amendment Free Food Festival, which we'll have in September for our third year, we're adding a lot of new programming. With this we hope to accomplish several things. We want to give you programs you actually want to go to, plus we want to increase our visibility on-campus.

The term "journalist" means many things. You don't have to be a journalism major to be a reporter. Going forward with this attitude, we want to offer events that will please and inspire anyone interested in media and journalism. We're expanding beyond the doors of Ernie Pyle this year -- and we need your help to do it.

Among our new programs will be our participation in Indiana University Dance Marathon in early November. We currently have two dancers, which is great for our first time out! Our goal is to raise $1,000 that will benefit Riley's Children's Hospital.

Shortly after IUDM weekend we'll invite professors and media professionals for a discussion panel about how, when and how deeply journalists can and should be involved in philanthropy events. We want to explore how involved journalists should be in their community without succumbing to bias. We hope to get a great discussion going with this one!

We also have plans to host a mixer in August, speak with Storify founder Burt Herman, have internship search workshops and, of course, take as many members as possible to the national conference in September and the regional conference in the spring.

In addition to all that, we're nixing the monthly chapter meetings this year. In the past we've seen low turnout and participation, so it's gone. Instead, we'll keep our monthly officer meetings, but these will now be open to the entire chapter. You won't be able to vote, but you can certainly voice your opinion to our executive board while they discuss plans.

We want your feedback. Please, write me to tell us what types of programming you'd like to see! This isn't for us (well, it's a little for us -- we like to have fun, too!), it's for you.

Have a great summer, and we can't wait to see you in August!

Mary S. Kenney
President: IU/David Adams Memorial Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists
Mobile: 260.415.8760
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