Looking for a unique journalism class for the spring semester? Please consider enrolling in the following special topics journalism classes:

J500 Green Reporting, Green Building, Green Justice 

• Description: This designated service-learning course offers a new take on embedded journalism through an experiential overview of the fastest-growing and most diverse field in environmentalism: green collar jobs. The class will explore, study and report on the movement from the inside out, garnering a unique perspective on how green jobs impact various constituents. Classes will meet in Lawrence and students will also work in Oakland, Calif., with the non-profit GRID Alternatives over spring break, working on one full installation of solar panels on low-income housing (serving residents most in need of reduced costs for energy but least able to afford such energy efficiencies). This effort will be grounded in a contextual understanding of advocacy journalism, green building and design and the specific challenges of low-income communities of color facing environmental injustice. 
• Instructor: Simran Sethi (contact Sethi at simran@ku.edu with questions about costs associated with California travel.)
• Prerequisite: None, open to journalism and non-journalism majors
• Offered: 6:30-8:30 T, 303 S-F (Meets at KU on 1/26, 2/2, 2/23, 3/12; includes field work in California from 3/14 – 3/21)
• Credit Hours: 3

J201 Current Issues in Journalism: Social Media

• Description: Social media is transforming how audiences, customers and employees interact with each other and organizations. In this class we’ll explore the social media landscape, its scope, and the problems and opportunities it presents. We’ll examine the Web 2.0 strategies and tools organizations of all types (media, small business, corporate, non-profit) are using to build and strengthen relationships with stakeholders. We’ll use many of the tools we study to enhance classroom learning and also discuss how you can use these same tools to meet your own professional objectives.
• Instructor: Denise Linville
• Prerequisite: Jour 101 with a grade of 2.0 or better.
• Offered: 9:30-10:45 TR, 100 S-F
• Credit Hours: 3

J500 Media and the Military

• Description: This non-traditional course takes students out of the classroom to examine the vital roles of the press and the military in a democracy. Students spend the first half of the semester discussing issues such as: the pros and cons of embedding, the tension between journalism and patriotism, and the history of the press in military coverage. Students spend the second half of the course working with officers at Fort Leavenworth helping them learn how to report, write, broadcast and prepare for press conferences, including social media.
• Instructor: Tom Volek
• Prerequisite: Eight hours of journalism.
• Offered: 1:30-2:45 TR, 303 S-F
• Credit hours: 3

J536 Documentary and Corporate Video

• Description: The documentary is a genre that allows for diversity, information and insight into local, national and world issues and ideas. This course will consist of a lecture on the history of documentary, including Vertov, Flaherty, Riefenstahl, as well as contemporary films and lab work (out of class production). The lab will consist of the students taking on issues as a class and small groups to produce a 15-20 minute documentary during the semester. The course will work to provide understanding of the fundamental aesthetic tools of documentary filmmaking: camera, sound, structure, and interviewing in the context of individual filmic style. Students will learn to be storytellers for the topics, with an understanding that the topic drives the outcome of the production. From conception to completion the students will adhere to the basics of journalistic principals. 
• Instructor: Jerry Crawford
• Prerequisite: JOUR 415 or JOUR 435 with a grade of 2.0 or above.
• Offered: 11:00-1:30 T, 2000 Dole
• Credit Hours: 3

J691 Community Journalism

• Description: Looking for clips from a professional news organization? Then don’t miss this course opportunity! J691 Community Journalism is back on the schedule for spring 2010 semester. This is a great opportunity to work for a professional news site such as the Lawrence Journal-World before you graduate. Depending on your interest, you would work 10-12 hours a week throughout the semester as a reporter, copy editor, producer, photographer or in another role. There also may be an opportunity to work on a new start-up site devoted to health and wellness. Coursework will focus on two areas: developing quality news content and innovation and change in local news organizations. The idea is to help students improve their skills AND give them get a great feel for how news organizations are changing to meet audience needs. If you have questions, please contact Prof. Pam Fine and pamfine@ku.edu.
• Instructor: Pam Fine
  Prerequisite: Eight hours of journalism, plus one advanced media course or an internship with a news organization.
• Offered: 11:00-12:15 TR, 206 S-F
• Credit Hours: 3

J840 SPORTS, MARKETING, SALES AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Description: The course, taught by Prof. Max Utsler, combines practice with theory as we study successful, and sometimes unsuccessful, marketing, sales and public relations campaigns in U.S. professional sports. The ongoing class activity will begin by studying market research and creating several new expansion Major League Baseball teams. Our student "team owners" will study other sports franchises and leagues and present their findings in case studies before developing their own marketing plans. The "owners" will then draft their new teams in an online fantasy draft and follow those players through spring training and the start of the season. The class will feature live guests or Skype interviews with sports marketers from around the country such as: Kim Hobbs-Goodyear Rubber Company; Michael Brown-Yellow Roadway Transportation; Anne Hastings-San Francisco Giants; Howie Erenberg-KC Wizards Soccer; Mike Barack-Texas Brahmas Hockey; Eric Stisser-St. Louis Blues; Joel Cox-FoxSports.com/scout.com; Lisa Schmitz-Office Depot/Tony Stewart; Julie Fie-Phoenix Suns; Steve DeLay-Mandalay Baseball; Ken Cohn-Just Marketing, Charlotte, NC; Kasey Schweitzer/Kim Hillix-Kansas City Royals; Chris Snyder-Ft. Wayne TinCaps; and Cal Burleson-Indianapolis Indians.

J500 MEDIA AND THE ENVIRONMENT

• Description: This course is taught by Prof. Simran Sethi. Environmental communications have expanded from discussions about land conservation to explorations of the ways in which the natural world encompasses and impacts every aspect of our lives: from national security to economy prosperity, conservation to civil rights, public health to personal well-being. Using food and agriculture as the primary lenses of exploration, this class will explore the continuum of issues that relate to the environment and the types of media in which they manifest (ranging from press releases to audio podcasts). This designated service-learning class will work with Citizens for Responsible Planning—a local advocacy group dedicated to soil preservation in development and urban planning—to expand environmental conversations and serve the public interest, explaining science in ways that are relevant and accessible and using the power of storytelling to enable people to connect to their most urgent concerns.