With financial support from the Academic Senate via a SIG award, Professor Michelle Stonis and Dr. Reut Cohen will hold an inaugural Pulitzer Center Student Seminar on April 9 from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m in SV 130 for students interested in applying to a reporting fellowship.

Not only will students be able to learn more about an opportunity to travel and report on a topic of their choosing, but they will also get the chance to attend a seminar that is free of charge. The event will include two small lectures and a session with a previous and current fellow. Professor Stonis, a professor in the social science department at GCC, will be hosting a small women’s history lecture. During this lecture, students will learn about how women’s history and gender studies can be applied to journalism. Dr. Cohen, a journalism professor with GCC’s Language Arts division, will be holding a small journalism lecture. Students will learn techniques such as how to pitch an article, how to organize a story, and longform journalism. Students will learn how to utilize gender studies and journalism to make a strong proposal for the reporting fellowship.

This event will be a great opportunity to network with fellow GCC students and an introduction to a university-style seminar. Plus, with Stonis and Cohen being the founders of this initiative, there will be a ton of support on fellowship proposal ideas. Dr. Cohen shared that the “April 9 event is about getting people curious.” By leaning into their curiosity, students who attend the event will get a more detailed look at what makes a compelling proposal, boosting their chance of becoming a Pulitzer Center reporting fellow. “We may be sitting in the room with the 2025 fellow,” said Professor Cohen.

“I think a lot of people think that they can’t do this opportunity if they aren’t a journalism major,” said Brittany Klintworth, the Pulitzer Center’s 2023 reporting fellow. “But a lot of the other fellows I met aren’t studying journalism, so this opportunity is great for anyone. Learning how to tell good stories is a versatile skill set to have.” said Klintworth. She found out about this once in a lifetime opportunity through Professor Cohen’s Journalism 103 class. Klintworth was able to travel outside her comfort zone to Italy to report on ethical fashion after being selected as fellow. Through the experience of being a fellow, Klintworth’s confidence grew. “If I can do this, I can do anything else,” she said.

This long awaited seminar has been in the works by Professor Cohen and Professor Stonis since the start of the 2023 winter session at GCC. Receiving the Senate Innovation Grant was what prompted this seminar in the first place. With the funding, the co-founders are able to provide attendees with a free lunch, educational materials that set a critical foundation for reporting and history, and provide lectures on relevant journalism and women’s history.

As for the application process, it consists of three easy steps that make up a proposal. First, present a formal pitch of your topic. Second, propose who you would like to interview. Third, give a proposed budget for your destined location. Attending this seminar will give students a glimpse into everything they need to know about this initiative.

Samantha Smith, a GCC alumna who is now attending CSUN, is the 2024 Pulitzer Center reporting fellow representing GCC. She will be reporting in England this summer to talk about the lack of women in formula one.

Interested students can register for the event at bit.ly/GCCSeminarRegister. 

Keilani Pak can be reached at [email protected].