 | Court TV founder Steven Brill (center), shown here with Yale students, has been teaching an advanced journalism seminar at Yale. |
Citing a critical need for talented young men and women committed to the ideals and standards of the journalism profession, President Richard C. Levin has announced a multimillion-dollar Yale Journalism Initiative that will educate, train and provide career guidance to 15-25 "Yale Journalism Scholars."
"Our world needs skilled, committed journalists as never before," Levin said. "The Yale Journalism Initiative will encourage and equip some of our best students to become career journalists through a rigorous, multi-faceted program."
The Yale Journalism Initiative originated with an advanced journalism seminar that Steven Brill, the author and founder of The American Lawyer magazine and Court TV, began teaching in 2001.
Student interest in both the seminar and the career options it made possible was so strong that Brill, a 1972 graduate of Yale College and a 1975 graduate of the Law School, began to help students find internships and permanent jobs at various news organizations.
"It was extremely satisfying to teach these aspiring journalists and then to help them with recommendations and career guidance once they left Yale," Brill said. "I therefore made a commitment to serve as an informal career counselor to any student who successfully completed the course. As a result, I was helping to inject highly qualified, committed young people into a profession that needs them."
Brill and his wife, Cynthia, also a 1972 graduate of Yale College, subsequently worked with Yale College Dean Peter Salovey and the Yale Writing Center to devise a plan to institutionalize this combination of education, career guidance and real-world experience by making a gift to Yale for a multi-faceted program that would select 15-25 Yale Journalism Scholars each year.
The Yale Journalism Initiative supported by the Brills will provide:
* support for another experienced journalist to teach a core seminar in addition to the one taught by Brill;
* a career counselor for the Journalism Scholars to help them find internships and jobs upon graduation;
* internship funding for students in need of support; and
* support for journalism events and speakers, including visits from former Journalism Scholars who will discuss their careers with current students in the program.
To be designated as Yale Journalism Scholars, students will have to complete certain courses, participate in a journalism internship, and edit or write for publications at Yale or elsewhere.
Recent Yale graduates who have taken Brill's seminar have gone on to work for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, The Boston Globe, Fox News, Businessweek, The New York Observer and a variety of other news organizations. Reporters who have started their careers at Brill's legal publications or Court TV (both of which he sold in 1997) include leading journalists at the New York Times, The New Yorker, NBC News, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNBC and Vanity Fair.
"The purpose of the program is to serve students with diverse interests and areas of academic concentration -- from economics to the arts, politics to biophysics -- and provide them the tools and the career guidance to apply those interests and those passions to journalism," Salovey said.
The Brills and Yale officials intend to seek additional contributions to supplement the Brills' starting gift.
"We view this as a great way to pay Yale back for the educations we received, and we think others will agree," said Cynthia Brill, who, like her husband, received financial aid from Yale as a student. "It's also a great way to give something to our larger community by attracting smart people with the right ideals to become the next generation of great journalists."
"By subsidizing internships where necessary," Steven Brill added, "we will be able to place Yale Journalism Scholars in smaller newspapers and magazines in the United States and around the world that otherwise might not be able to afford interns but where the opportunities to gain meaningful experience might be greatest."
The Journalism Initiative will be overseen by the newly established Yale Writing Center and Alfred E. Guy Jr., the R.W.B. Lewis Director of the Center. Several hundred Yale students elect to take creative or non-fiction writing courses every year, and the campus population supports more than 35 student publications. The Journalism Initiative and the Yale Writing Center provide focus and support to Yale students working to develop their talents as writers.
T H I S
University launching new program
to train tomorrow's journalists
Cynthia and Steven Brill are supporters of a new Yale Journalism Initiative that will provide 15-25 Yale Journalism Scholars with the tools and guidance to pursue a career in the field.
Salovey said that he expects the program will attract undergraduates majoring in various disciplines, and may also be of interest to law, business and other professional students at Yale.
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