»We're pleased to welcome Karen Mitchell as our newest colleague on the Convergence Journalism Faculty at Mizzou! Of course, our students need no introduction. Karen has co-taught our Fundamentals course for the past two-and-a-half years while completing her Master's degree in Journalism. She has worked for more than 25 years as a photographer and picture editor for the Associated Press and the Des Moines Register.

»Curt Wohleber, an inagural member of the Convergence faculty, has left us for a new position as multimedia producer for MU's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. Good luck, Curt!

»Convergence graduate student Matt Zimmerman, Assoc. Prof. Lynda Kraxberger and chair Mike McKean joined six other Missouri journalism students and faculty at the recent Paley Center Journalism in the Service of Democracy Summit in New York. The Carnegie Corporation invited representatives from 12 leading schools to discuss how to keep journalism education relevant in the changing media environment.

»Mike McKean spoke late last year at a convergence curriculum workshop for educators and practitioners held at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. AUT is home to the largest and best known journalism program in the country. Prof. Martin Hirst is leading a drive to provide a stronger convergence focus for the school.

»McKean describes the first two years of the Missouri convergence program in the Fall 2007 issue of Nieman Reports available online from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. "Teaching Journalism in the Digital Age" also offers perspectives from 15 other academic leaders, including the journalism deans and directors at Columbia University, University of North Carolina and Boston University.

»Charles Gasparino, CNBC’s On-Air Editor, met recently with convergence and business journalism students at MU. Gasparino often breaks news on major issues involving corporate America including mergers and acquisitions, investigations into corporate crime, and company management changes.

»Oh Yeon Ho, founder of the global citizen journalism site OhMyNews, has received a Missouri Honor Medal for service to journalism. Mr. Oh's site boasts more than 60,000 citizen reporters worldwide and 65 full-time staff reporters.

Another medalist, Dirck Halstead, offered a two-day version of his Platypus workshop here at the J-School for photojournalists wanting to learn more about convergence videography. An award-winning photographer, Halstead is also the founder of DigitalJournalist.org.

»International Programs Director Fritz Cropp, emeritus professor Byron Scott and Convergence Chair Mike McKean recently wrapped up a five-year curriculum enhancement project with the Journalism Faculty at Moscow State University.

The partnership has lead to the creation of a convergence lab at MGU, the world's largest journalism school, as well as a new focus on what dean Yassen Zassoursky calls "universal journalism" -- telling compelling stories with all available tools. Though the million-dollar, State Department-funded project officially concluded September 30th, the two schools have pledged to continue their partnership informally.

»CurrentTV, the San Francisco-based television and web network targeting young adults, is working with the Convergence sequence to develop more news and documentary content from the Midwest. You may have seen that CurrentTV recently won an Emmy for its work to "democratize" television.

»Convergence faculty chair Mike McKean is organizing a student entrepreneurship contest on behalf of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and corporate partner Adobe Systems. Three finalist teams of students from journalism, computer science and business are currently developing desktop applications using Adobe's new AIR system to improve the practice and profits of community journalism. The winning team will split a $10,000 grand prize! Watch for the announcement here at the end of February.

»Our first class of graduating seniors crossed the stage in May. If you're looking for talented employees, or just want to see what they've been doing with themselves, check out their online portfolios. Portfolios for our December 2007 grads will be available in the next few weeks.

»Meanwhile, students in the other end of the convergence pipeline, those who've just finished our Fundamentals course, have completed some compelling class projects.

»Congratulations to Assoc. Prof. Lynda Kraxberger, recipient of a 2007 William T. Kemper Fellowship! The Kemper award is the top teaching honor for MU faculty.

»Mike McKean has also been honored with the 2007 Excellence in Education Award presented to faculty members, advisors and academic administrators who have made significant contributions to the out-of-class learning experiences of MU students.

»McKean took part this spring in the grand opening of the new convergence lab at Shantou University's School of Journalism and Communication. This is the first convergence journalism facility operated by a Chinese university. Shantou journalism director Ying Chan is moving aggressively to bring convergence training to her students. The Missouri School of Journalism has a long and rich history with the people of China and its journalists.

»Reporting, Editing & Marketing Converged Media, our capstone class, is producing several interesting long-form projects. Read and react to the postings of our students, faculty and followers in our blog, "The Convergency Room."

»Mac Users: watch embedded Windows Media files from KOMU.com and other sites by downloading the free WMV Player from Flip4Mac.com.