Carol Ann Bassett has received a book contract from OSU Press to write a collection of personal narratives about traditional peoples and the environment. The book, A Gathering of Stones, was inspired by Bassett's travels around the world as a journalist and educator.

The special sections of The New Era (Sweet Home) and the Polk County Itemizer Observer (Dallas) created by Clyde Bentley’s and John Knowlton’s reporting classes last year were called the "best idea of the year" for 2000 by the Inland Press Association. The project, which combines reporting, editing and photography classes with a community newspaper, is described in an article of The Inlander available online at http://www.inland press.org/inlander/oregon.htm.

Pam Cytrynbaum’s article, "What will it be, college students? Use time wisely or face a McJob," appeared on the front page of the "Living Today" section of The Oregonian on December 24, 2000.

John Russial

Charlie Frazer traveled to Brisbane, Australia, in April. He spent the majority of his time at Queensland University of Technology as a consultant on curriculum development to the faculty of business. After some travel in Australia, he worked on a research project in Sydney before returning to the United States. At the end of May, he traveled to Tokyo to present a research paper co-authored with Kim Sheehan at an advertising educator conference. The paper compares U.S. and Australian ads recognized for their effectiveness.

Scott Maier served as Newspaper Division program chair at the winter meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism Mass Communication. His manuscript, "Getting the Numbers Straight: Source and Reporter Perceptions of Mathematical Inaccuracy in the News," was accepted for presentation in Montreal at the annual conference of the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers. Another article, "Digital Diffusion in Newsrooms: The Uneven Advance of Computer-Assisted Reporting," was published in the spring edition of the Newspaper Research Journal.

Duncan McDonald, who serves as public director of the board of the Accrediting Council on Graduate Medical Education, spoke to the Association of American Medical Colleges in Scottsdale, Ariz., on May 1 on "Changing Societal Expectations of Medical Care."

Julianne Newton’s book A Burden of Visual Truth: The Role of Photojournalism in Mediating Reality was published in the fall by Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.

John Russial has begun work on an editing textbook, tentatively titled Strategic Copy Editing, to be published by Guilford Press. He attended and presented a session at the American Copy Editors Society conference in April in Long Beach, Calif.

Kim Sheehan

Kim Sheehan recently had articles published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and the Journal of Interactive Marketing. She also contributed a chapter to the book Internet Marketing 2.0.

Al Stavitsky has been on sabbatical during winter and spring terms. He taught a short course on "Issues in US Broadcasting" at the University of Tampere in Finland in February, which included students from seven countries. On that same trip, he gave a workshop on humor in broadcast programming for producers at the Finnish Broadcasting Co. in Helsinki. Stavitsky presented a paper on low-power FM radio at the annual conference of the Broadcast Education Association in Las Vegas in April, where he also served on a panel on Scandinavian broadcasting. He is currently writing a book on the state of US radio.

Leslie Steeves’ promotion to full professor has been approved by the Provost and will be effective September 16, 2001. She has been a faculty member since 1987.

Jim Upshaw’s op-ed piece, "Network profit motive cheats voters out of information," appeared on the front page of The Oregonian Commentary section on December 17, 2000.

Janet Wasko’s new book, Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy

Janet Wasko recently published her book, Understanding Disney: The Manufacture of Fantasy, Cambridge, U.K.: Polity Press/Basil Blackwell, as well as an article, "Ten Lessons We Learned from Herb," (with Eileen Meehan), Television & New Media (Special Issue "Remembering Herbert I. Schiller"), Vol. 2, No. 1, Feb. 2001. Wasko represented the University of Oregon Canadian Studies Committee at the Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium meeting in Seattle, Washington, Feb. 1-3.

Tom Wheeler gave a presentation titled "Musical Instruments as Art: The Electric Guitar" on the history, cult and culture of collecting electric guitars as part of the UO Museum of Art "Art a la Cart" series at Sacred Heart Medical Center Auditorium.

Rick Williams, who is teaching advanced photography this term, was noted in Molly Ivins’ column just before Christmas. Ivins recommended Williams’ new book Working Hands, calling it "a lovely book of photo essays… Cowboys and roughnecks, sure, but high-tech workers and scientists, too. A lovely book of modern Texas." On March 30, Williams presented the keynote address at the Rochester Institute of Technology conference "Visual Communications: Rhetorics and Technologies."