The halls are alive with the sound of journalism.

Our pioneering students are finishing their final semester, completing their capstone projects, touching up their resumes for the job hunt ahead, and looking forward to a truly historic day: our first commencement. On December 18, they will march down the aisle in the auditorium of The New York Times, our next-door neighbor, to receive their Master of Arts degree in Journalism, Class of 2007.

What a proud moment for all of us!

Meantime, the seamless web of academia rolls on. Our new students, the Class of 2008, have settled in – another talented, motivated, and diverse group. The two classes are similar in age (a median of 26), gender (65% women), test scores (they’re smart), and diversity (more than 40% from minority or immigrant backgrounds). But there seem to be subtle differences in personality and style.

Perhaps it's just chemistry. Or perhaps it reflects the second-child syndrome of their less-anxious parents – the faculty and staff. My colleagues at other schools tell me this is par for the course: each class, in ways mysterious and marvelous, is different beyond mere nuance. I can’t wait to see the Class of 2009, which we are now busy recruiting. (Note to applicants: the deadline is January 2.)

The J-School itself is beginning to realize its ambitious goal of becoming one of the very best graduate schools of journalism in the country. We are recruiting key faculty members (often professionals who work within walking distance of our Times Square headquarters), adding courses (look for our new international offerings), and raising money for scholarships and special pro- grams (more than $8 million in two years). Time Warner is our latest benefactor.

We also are reaching out for partners in the journalism world.

We recently joined forces with the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism to co-host the South Asian Journalists Association’s annual conference. We’ve teamed with the Committee to Protect Journalists to establish and support the International Journalist in Residence program at CUNY J-School. Our first scholar is Roozbeh Mirebrahimi, an Iranian journalist who fled Iran after imprisonment and torture for the crime of being a journalist.

Roozbeh will sit in on courses, participate in panel discussions, and generally enrich life at the J-School. He is being mentored by Professor Lonnie Isabel, who is developing our international program.

We received additional support from the Correspondents Fund, which has a long history of supporting journalists in distress. I'm proud to be on their board of advisors.

Similarly, we are hosting a Fulbright researcher from Russia, Alexander Zolotarev, a recent graduate of Moscow State University. Alexander is here to study American media, and he, too, will mingle with our students, in class and out. Professor Steve Strasser, a former Moscow bureau chief for Newsweek, is guiding Alexander.

Small world department: one of our students, Dmitry Kiper, who was born in Russia before emigrating to the U.S. as a boy, has bonded with Alexander. It is a joy to hear them speaking Russian, as well as English. (Other languages spoken at the J-School: Arabic, Chinese, Creole, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, and, of course, Spanish.)

I want to mention three other events that show our emerging role in the world of journalism. On Oct. 10, Professor Jeff Jarvis, who heads our interactive journalism program, organized a summit on networked journalism – his term for what others call citizen journalism or pro-am journalism. By whatever name, it is a hybrid model that combines the best of traditional journalism with the best of citizen reporting and blogging.

More than 150 people, including our students and some of the biggest names in the field, spent the day at CUNY J-School sharing ideas and, yes, making deals. Sponsored by the John D. andCatherine S. MacArthur Foundation, it is the first of two such summits. The next, in the spring, will focus on new business models for the media.

Thanks to Jeff and his colleagues, including Professor Sandeep Junnarkar, CUNY is second to none in this new media world.

Two days later, Professor Trudy Lieberman, head of our health/medicine reporting program, hosted 150 members of the Health Care Journalists Association, headquartered at the Missouri School of Journalism, for a workshop in urban health reporting at CUNY. Other sponsors: Montefiore Hospital, the New York Academy of Medicine, The New York Times, The Commonwealth Fund, Consumer Reports/Consumers Union, the New York Academy of Medicine, Community Health Foundation of Western & Central New York, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

At an opening reception next door at the Times, managing editor Jill Abramson welcomed the group to the newspaper’s splendid new building before they came to ours. She joked that all these handsome new facilities would make "some people think that these are the salad days for journalism."

Hang in there, Jill. We'll get there.

Finally, a word of thanks to our good friends at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. On September 25, Knight President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen came to the School to host a reception for the Class of 2007. All of our students had summer internships at media companies, a requirement of our program. Many schools offer internships, but we are alone in ensuring that our students are paid for their summer work – either by their employers or by us.

Last summer, the Knight Foundation generously supported about two-thirds of our students, with stipends of $3,000 each.

At the two-hour reception, Alberto mingled with our students, listened to five speak about their summer experiences, and talked to us about journalism, diversity, and Knight’s role in backing journalism education. Then, to our great surprise and delight, he announced Knight would support our students again next summer.

We are extremely thankful for Knight's generosity and friendship. At the reception, one of our grateful students, Leslie Caraballo, spoke for all of us when she said it was tough to support herself over the summer, even with the Knight stipend. But without the grant, she said, “it would have been impossible."

Leslie's moving words reminded us once again why we are all here: to provide opportunity to a diverse population, to support those in financial need, and to help turn all of our wonderful students into outstanding professionals.

My thanks to all for your friendship and support.

Stephen B. Shepard
Dean