The University of Tennessee was recently awarded $50,000 from the Scripps Howard Foundation to have the rare opportunity to learn from professionals in journalism throughout the rest of the academic year.

The Scripps Howard Foundation is a section of the E.W. Scripps Co., whose mission, according to their website is to "advance the cause of a free press through support of excellence in journalism, quality journalism education and professional development."

This teaching approach allows professionals to share journalistic experience and technique with students. It also allows the professionals to identify practicum, internship or even employee prospects.Peter Gross, JEM DirectorThe grant, called the "Tennessee Web Journalism Project," will consist of two workshops and a "virtual team teaching." The virtual team teaching will take place both this semester and in spring 2008.  Three faculty members selected from professional Web editors and reporters will be paired with JEM faculty to create two teaching teams.

In a press release to UT, Journalism and Electronic Media director Peter Gross said, "This teaching approach allows professionals to share journalistic experience and technique with students. It also allows the professionals to identify practicum, internship or even employee prospects."

The second section of the project, "Student Convergence Media Week," will take place in spring 2008 also. During the event, the professionals employed during the fall will come back to the UT campus and visit. They will lecture in several classes, hold different workshops and converse with faculty members about different web-teaching concepts.

In a recent press release, Dean Michael Wirth of the College of Communication and Information said, "Collaboration between university journalism and electronic media programs and the media industry is essential in the fast-changing media world. We are very grateful to the Scripps Howard Foundation for the opportunity to bring our vision of educating the next generation of media professionals to fruition."

The third section of the "Tennessee Web Journalism Project" will be a two-day workshop that will be hosted by the School of Journalism and Electronic Media in spring 2008. This section will be called "A Public Conversation among Media Professionals, Faculty and Students."

"A Public Conversation among Media Professionals, Faculty and Students" will feature various Tennessee-based media editors and webmasters who will show students different ways to display information, news and advertising on websites.

All of these components of the "Tennessee Web Journalism Project" will be open to Tennessee media, journalism and communication organizations, along with Journalism and Electronic Media students and faculty members.

"The Future of Web Journalism" will be an open panel for the general public in which different workshop presenters will give presentations to inform the general public of the path that web journalism is taking.