Meet Your New Journalism Ambassadors (No Men Included)
The new Journalism Ambassadors have been hired, and (yay!) every emphasis area is now represented in the Journalism Ambassador Corps.
But take a close look at the list of new Journalism Ambassadors below, and you will notice one key absence: men. No men were hired this year.
This is as good a time as any to mention that I am a Journalism Ambassador, and I actually interviewed applicants for the job.
The Journalism Ambassadors are the student representatives for the Missouri School of Journalism: their primary duty is to sit in on a half-hour talk that a faculty member (usually Suzette Heiman) delivers to a group of prospective students, and then take them on a tour of the J-School.
The reason why no men were hired? Almost no men applied. I could be fired for saying anything more, but trust me when I say discrimination against males is not at play here.
Next year, the Journalism Ambassador program will have ONE man: David Wietlispach, or as he is known to KOMU viewers, David Earl.
“Being a great ambassador isn’t about being male or female. It’s about being the best example of the fantastic students we have at the best journalism school in the world,” he told me. “I just hope our new ambassadors don’t take offense when I say ‘you guys.’ I’m from Chicago–everyone is ‘you guys.’”
Well, good luck to “the other David” to bring the testosterone next year.
Just like our Mizzou 39 post, here is the full list of new Journalism Ambassadors in no particular order, along with their emphasis areas and home states. Congratulations, everyone!
- Lindsay Roseman (Magazine, Illinois)
- Laura Davison (Convergence, Kansas)
- Sangeeta Shastry (Print & Digital, New York)
- Rachel Coward (Photojournalism, Oklahoma)
- Barbara Maningat (Convergence, Missouri)
- Elizabeth Hagedorn (Broadcast, Missouri)
- Courtney Ledo (StratComm, Minnesota)
- Hannah Jones (StratComm, Illinois)
- Laura Kebede (Print & Digital, Virginia)
- Jamie Hausman (Magazine, Illinois)
- Raha Obaei (Magazine, Illinois)
- Natasha Desai (StratComm, California)
- Shaina Cavazos (Print & Digital, Illinois)
- Ashle’ Robinson (StratComm, Illinois)
- Tayler Overschmidt (Broadcast, Wisconsin)
- Audrey Raymond (StratComm, Missouri)
- Kathryn Jankowski (StratComm, Pennsylvania)
- Kayleigh Milas (Broadcast, Tennessee)
- Kacie Yearout (Broadcast, Washington)
- Kayla Miller (Magazine, Missouri)
- Caitlin Miller (Photojournalism, Missouri)
- Kylie Tutko (StratComm, Colorado)
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Hiring all females is just as bad as hiring all males. Or all blacks. Or all whites. Or just rich kids.
Unless the existing group was 100% male and needed to be diversified, hiring all females is not a good move. What are we teaching our students if we are content to make hiring moves like this? I find it hard to believe that there were NO qualified males in the pool of applicants. If there were not any qualified applicants then you go looking for qualified applicants.
Every hire is important. Diversity is important. We can’t accept just pulling from the applicants that come across your desk. The J School must lead by example. These are very high-profile positions for the J School — people will notice imbalances like this.
I wish I could be more specific in my defense of the Journalism Ambassadors, but I just updated the post to say that very few men applied to be a Journalism Ambassador. I wish I could say exactly how many, but that statement alone could land me in hot water :/