MPJI August 2021 Letter To Friends, Donors, Students and Alums

Dear Friends of MPJI,

Greetings from New York City, where tourism, commerce and culture are rapidly returning post-pandemic. At MPJI, we are excited about: 

NYCJ: A full class of 13 students attending the NYC Semester in Journalism (NYCJ) program this fall, bringing diverse backgrounds and perspectives from across the U.S. (and one from Brazil). We are placing these students in newsroom internships including AM New York, Brooklyn Paper, Newsweek and Bold TV. If your newsroom wants an intern now or in a future semester, please do reach out!

Fall 2021 Class of NYCJ Students

Summer Academy: Our Summer Academy high school journalism program enrolled 17 students across two tracks: Arts and Culture reporting with Prof Paul Glader and Sports reporting with Prof Clemente Lisi July 26-30. We had a great week!

Summer Academy 2021 students

JCS: We look forward to welcoming our Journalism, Culture and Society (JCS) four-year majors back on campus in a matter of days. We are excited about strong and diverse leadership teams at The Empire State Tribune campus news outlet and in our on-campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists led by its new president Sofia Valdes.

Advisers & Friends: We are delighted to welcome a few new names to our MPJI advisory committee: Jordan Ritter Conn, Dr. Anne Hendershott, Hamil Harris, Jerry Mitchell, Brandon Mercer, Bobby Ross, Meagan Clark, Hope Hodge Seck and Michael Goodwin. Congratulations to Marshall Allen for his new book “Never Pay The First Bill” published by Portfolio / Penguin (where it was edited by Bria Sanford, another advisory committee member). And congratulations to Nathan Pyle for his best-selling books, “Existence Chronicle,” “Strange Planet, "Stranger Planet.” Also, our adjunct colleague Stephen Kurczy, who teaches media law and ethics to our JCS majors, has a new book out with Dey St. press titled “The Quiet Zone: Unraveling the mystery of a town suspended in silence.” We published a QnA with Annie Augustine, who worked in PR at The Atlantic, The New Republic and Vice News before teaching an elective class in media PR at King’s.

Congratulations to our ALUMS doing great work. Here are a few updates:

• Lydia Moynihan covers Wall Street for The New York Post, recently switching to that role from her job as a producer at Fox Business.

• Bernadette Berdychowski is a retail and real estate reporter at The Tampa Bay Times, recently switching from her role in audience development.

• Morgan Chittum is a finance reporter at blockchain news outlet Blockworks, after her year as a fellow at the New York Daily News.

• Wesley Parnell has published some enterprise pieces in addition to his daily coverage as a metro reporter and photojournalist at New York Daily News.

• Anastassia Gliadkovskaya is a staff writer at Fierce Healthcare after interning this spring at Forbes.com.

• Michael Sheetz was all over the summer billionaire space jam in his job as space reporter at CNBC.

• Jessica Mathews joins Fortune magazine as a finance reporter, after three years at FinancialPlanning. Her fellow TKC alumna, Anne Sraders, has been a finance reporter at Fortune for two years.

• Kat Samelson is a production assistant at the Today Show.

• Zoe Jones is working at CBS News.

• Elissa Esher is a digital producer at Hearst.

• Maria Monteros is associate editor for retail at IndustryDive.

• Hope Hodge Seck is managing editor at Military.com.

• Rachel Greenland is a research editor and analyst at Boardroom Insiders.

• Mitch Chamberlain and Amy Chamberlain, who met in the NYCJ program in 2016, got married and had twins!

• Sydney Franklin, an alum of NYCJ forerunner WJC, completed her year-long fellowship at The New York Times on the real estate desk.

• Callie Patteson joined The New York Post as a political reporter after nearly a year as breaking news editor at The Washington Examiner.

Events: If you missed our awesome session last fall with investigative reporter and MacArthur Grant recipient Jerry Mitchell, you canread about it and watch it here. We also posted videos and details from our spring SkepTech 2021 forum with David French, Al Sikes and others. We also posted a video of photojournalist Gary Fong’s spring 2021 MPJI lecture. Stay tuned for some exciting events this coming school year!

End Note: We were glad to hear from Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, Norway, recently about their upcoming production of The Lehman Trilogy by Sam Mendes. The organization plans to reprint (with our permission) an obituary of Robert Lehman written by John McCandlish Phillips in the theater program. Here’s the obituary: click here.

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We remain grateful for your friendship and support. Big THANK YOU to the Salinger Foundation for their recent annual support of scholarships for NYCJ students. If you would like to support the work of MPJI, you can make a tax-deductible donation here and specify that the donation should go to MPJI. 

Paul Glader

Director of MPJI

The McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute is a home of journalism-related programs and majors at The King’s College in New York City. In addition to its academic programs, it hosts events and provides resources to its students, alums, friends and donors. The institute is named in honor of the legendary reporter at The New York Times who was an exemplar of standards, ethics and style in the craft of journalism and was a kind friend and mentor to those of us who knew him.

The King’s College, NYC, To Host Week-Long High School Summer Academy Online with Journalism and Finance Tracks

High school students will earn one college credit for a week of virtual study in finance or journalism this July.

This July, The King’s College in New York City will host two week-long summer sessions for high school students to earn college credit studying with finance and journalism faculty and industry leaders.  

Each week includes interactive classes with professors and field-trip style sessions virtually exploring New York City institutions. The King’s College is a Christian liberal arts college, and professors bring a biblical perspective to their areas of expertise.

This is the college’s sixth year offering Summer Academy and the first hosting the program virtually. Summer Academy Online is offered at the highly discounted rate of $200 for one week or $350 for two weeks. Dates and track options are as follows:

• July 12–17: Faith and Finance

• July 26–31: Sports Journalism | Arts and Culture Reporting

Paul Glader, track leader for Arts and Culture Reporting, will take students on a virtual visit to Newsweek magazine and on virtual visits of MoMA, Pace Gallery and the David Zwirner Gallery. “The arts world has long wrestled with digital categories,” says Glader, a former reporter at The Wall Street Journal who also edits the award-winning web-site ReligionUnplugged.com. “And this year their ability to make, show and demonstrate art in that new format is very important.” Students will explore this digital trend and consider how it will shape the future of the art world. They will discuss NYC as a hub of book publishing, fashion, art, film / tv, music and many other parts of culture. They will also consider how Christians can think about and approach culture. And they consider how Christians are working in the world of art and culture at a high level.

Clemente Lisi, track leader for Sports Journalism, will give students hands-on writing experiences to hone their craft, including an examination of how society engages with sports on TV, apps and the Internet as well as in person. This is even more relevant during a year in which pro sports and college sports are adapting to Covid-19. Lisi is a former deputy head of news at The New York Daily News and a sports journalist who covers major league soccer and the World Cup. One element of the course covers the life of Jackie Robinson and features a virtual tour of Brooklyn locations that highlight the famed baseball player. "Robinson is the kind of historical figure that transcends sports. He broke the color barrier to become the first African-American to play in the major leagues in 1947," Lisi says. "He was also a devout Christian and remains a role model for so many Americans seven decades after he played baseball."

In the Faith and Finance track, Dr. Kimberly Reeve and Prof. Michael Hrynuik will lead group activities and discussions to teach students the economics, instruments and institutions of financial markets using New York City as a case study. As Christian finance practitioners, they will discuss how Biblical principles are applicable to everyday operations at a financial institution. Dr. Reeve has an MBA and a PhD and has worked as a managing director at Cathedral Consulting Group. Hrynuik has an MBA from Yale University and has worked in finance at Lehman Brothers, MUFG Securities and Queensboro Capital. “We start with the very roots of capitalism in New York City,” Dr. Reeve says. They plan to cover an overview of money from seashells and gold to cryptocurrency. And Hrynuik says they aim to help students answer the question: “Is it possible to be a Christian leader within the world of financial services and to find a way to glorify God?" 

Students can apply and submit their enrollment fee at www.tkc.edu/sa. Applications due by July 8 for the finance track and by July 17 for the journalism tracks. 

The King’s College (www.tkc.edu) is a Christian liberal arts college in New York City’s Financial District founded in 1938. It chooses to engage American culture at its heart, providing students with opportunities they won’t find elsewhere. The College’s Core Curriculum gives students a robust intellectual foundation for principled leadership throughout society. Under the mentorship of its faculty, students learn to seamlessly integrate their faith and morality into their lives and careers. King's is not a college for the faint of heart — it calls students to be good, brave and ready.