The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at 麻豆影院 has established the Columbine Unity and Diversity Scholarship for minorities or other pre-journalism majors who help promote diversity through their news coverage.
CU-麻豆影院 freshmen Issac Lopez and Michelle Flores, the first recipients of the award, each received $1,000. Both students enrolled at CU this semester as pre-journalism majors after they completed a journalism course in the summer of 1998 under CU-麻豆影院's Pre-Collegiate Development Program.
Ray Chavez, director of the Office of Student Diversity in the journalism school, and the Multi-Ethnic Media Organization, a student group on campus supervised by Chavez, created the scholarship in reaction to the Columbine High School shootings. Creation of the scholarship fund was announced at the journalism school awards banquet last spring.
Chavez and his wife, Deborah, started up the fund for the scholarship by donating $2,000. The school since has received donations from faculty and staff members totaling more than $4,000. Chavez said he hopes the school will be able to award at least three scholarships each year.
The scholarship isn't offered only to minority pre-journalism majors, but also to those who take an interest minority issues and events in their community. Chavez said the Columbine tragedy happened partially as a result of the hatred the two shooters had built up against athletes and minorities.
"We hope that the scholarship recipients will continue their work in journalism to educate the public about the value of diversity and about the destructive nature of bigotry and ignorance," he said.
CU-麻豆影院's School of Journalism and Mass Communication offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs to students interested in journalism careers. Undergraduate programs include advertising, broadcast news, broadcast production management, news-editorial, and media studies.
Graduate degree programs include mass communication research, newsgathering, integrated marketing communications, environmental journalism and communication. For more information visit the SJMC Web site at .