Welcome

On behalf of Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, I'm pleased to welcome you to the 2009 ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Institute.

With your input, we're lining up a terrific program in which we'll explore journalism fundamentals and the exciting and rapidly evolving future of media. Then we'll connect those lessons to the classroom. You'll hear from industry leaders and world-class educators.

You are coming to a state-of-the-art facility that is unparalleled in journalism education. It offers 14 digital newsrooms, two TV studios and the most sophisticated technology anywhere. Even better: It is home to top-flight faculty and is located near The Arizona Republic, the state's largest newspaper, and major broadcast outlets in the nation's fifth-largest city. Follow this link to see a news video about the building's opening in August 2008 and about ASU's growing campus in downtown Phoenix. And here's a recent New York Times feature about the Cronkite School.

A little more about me: I came to the school in 2006 after 19 years as a reporter, editor, newsroom administrator and business executive with The Associated Press. I serve as a professor of practice and print/digital director of Cronkite News Service. It's my third year directing the ASNE Reynolds High School Journalism Institute at ASU. If you want more information, here's my bio.

This blog is a big part of the curriculum. I encourage you -- and as the institute approaches, I will require you -- to use this as a forum to get to know each other and to share thoughts about what you will learn here.

I have e-mailed each of you information on establishing an account so you can feed this blog. I will moderate posts and comments.