Displaying items by tag: William Frievogel

William “Bill” Freivogel became the director of the School of Journalism in the spring of 2007.  In this position he has been able to enhance student education and contribute to the J School program by using the practical knowledge he has gained from a stalwart career in journalism.

Freivogel is originally from Kirkwood, Mo. where he still lives. He graduated from Stanford University with his Bachelor’s degree in political science. While at Stanford he was the editor of the Stanford Daily, the student newspaper.

After graduation, he and his wife Margaret moved to the east coast where he planned to attend law school. However, as someone starting a family Freivogel put aside his aspiration to become a lawyer and took a job at the Washington, D.C. bureau for the St. Louis Post Dispatch. The Freivogels actually shared a reporting position, which allowed them to continue their careers and raise a family. The couple covered a variety of beats and issues during their time in D.C. The Reagan shooting, Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Supreme Court were some of the larger topics.

In 1992 Freivogel returned to the St. Louis area to work locally with the Post-Dispatch. After working in the editorial department for a few years, he was made the Deputy Editorial Editor in 1995. He continued in this role until 2005. He provided editorial series about civil liberties violations by John Ashcroft, the plan to keep desegregation moving forward in St. Louis schools, and the lack of proof for weapon of mass destruction in Iraq.

Freivogel was able to finally fulfill his aspiration to go to law school while he was at the Post Dispatch. He graduated from Washington University School of Law with a Juris Doctor degree in 2001.

In June 2005 Lee Enterprises purchased the Post Dispatch. As part of their restructuring on the newspaper several senior employees were offered contract buyouts. The Freivogels were both a part of this group. They left the newspaper in December 2005.

Margie went on to found the St. Louis Beacon, an online newspaper. Freivogel is a member of the board of directors for the Beacon and an occasional contributor.

After departing the Post Dispatch, Freivogel became a visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at SIUC. He would provide presentations, guest lectures and write for the Institute’s blog.

In the summer of 2006 he become the interim director of the School of Journalism, which later transitioned into a permanent position. According to Freivogel, he has worked with J School faculty and staff to modernize the curriculum by adding more audio-visual, online and multimedia courses. There has also been an increase in courses for new media news production and news websites.

“We are trying to teach students all the tools of storytelling,” said Freivogel. “We want them to be able to work in a multimedia format. We have even incorporated new photojournalism projects to allow students to develop professional skills in that area.”

The recent photo books and websites for the communities of Murphysboro, Cobden and Alto Pass, along with books on Cairo and the Shawnee National Forest are examples of this new approach.

According to Freivogel, during his time as J School director, the school has regained full accreditation as a journalism program. In 2010 the School of Journalism assumed publishing responsibilities for the Gateway Journalism Review. The student newspaper, The Daily Egyptian, which is produced through the School of Journalism, has won multiple awards and published several special editions. These are just a few of the accomplishments of the students, staff and faculty of the School of Journalism in the past few years.

Recently, in collaboration with other journalism schools and professional organizations, the SIUC School of Journalism has helped to form a consortium for investigative reporting. The project is funded by a $75,000 grant from the McCormick Foundation. The goal is to train students in print or broadcast on the skills to be investigating reports and to conduct student projects in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin.

“My favorite part of the job is working with the students,” said Freivogel. “We have terrific students and I enjoy being involved in the projects.”

Freivogel has four children; three of who are chamber musicians and the other a physics professor.

The School of Journalism received a grant from Liberty Tree to host a seminar on April 12 to focus on journalism ethics and the First Amendment issues.

The panel discussion asked “Are the traditional media tools of accountability – ombudsmen, newsroom ethics codes, journalism reviews, news councils and public journalism – able to keep up with the mushrooming ethical issues of a Twitter, Facebook, WikiLeaks world?”

According to William Freivogel, School of Journalism director, the panel was comprised of Alicia Shepard, NPR’s ombudsman, Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab, Margaret Wolf Freivogel, editor of the St. Louis Beacon, and Gary Gilson, former head of the Minnesota News Council.  Bill Babcock, SIUC ethics professor and editor of the Gateway Journalism Review, moderated.

The panel was followed by a lunch with a second panel discussion, which reacted to the morning’s discussion.  The afternoon group included Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center, David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, Carolyn Kingcade, a journalism professor and former Reader's Advocate at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Mr. Freivogel.

“Additionally, we have solicited student essays of up to 1,000 words on the topic of the conference, with the winner’s essay to be published in the Gateway Journalism Review,” said Freivogel. “The winner will receive a $300 award.”

Comments and discussions will be published in the following issue of the Gateway Journalism Review.  The cover story of the journalism review will be on the subject of the conference.

The Liberty Tree Initiative is aimed at building awareness of the First Amendment through education and information. The goal is to bring enlightening and thought-provoking programs to college campuses across the country. The Liberty Tree Initiative campus program is made possible by the support of the McCormick Foundation, American Society of News Editors, the First Amendment Center and the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida.

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- From Facebook messages to “tweets” on Twitter, the explosion and use of social media for sharing everything from gossip and accomplishments to complaints and snide comments continue to grow.

Derreck Langwith, a senior in linguistics from Sparta, applied his interest in today’s social media, the First Amendment and research on existing slander and libel laws, to earn a spot in one of the nation’s most prestigious undergraduate research forums.

Langwith is one of only 74 undergraduate students nationwide chosen by the Council on Undergraduate Research to present their research at the 2011 “Posters on the Hill” on April 13 in Washington, D.C.

Langwith will make his presentation during a poster session in the Rayburn Office Building, which is near the Capitol. The presentation is to members of Congress, congressional staff members, federal government officials and others, according to the undergraduate research council’s website. Nearly 700 undergraduate students applied.

“The selection process for ‘Posters on the Hill’ is extremely competitive, and we’re very proud of Derreck’s accomplishment,” Chancellor Rita Cheng said. “This achievement speaks to his dedication not only to his studies, but to advancing knowledge, and to the important role of our faculty in mentoring our students.”

Langwith is in the University Honors Program, has participated in a study-abroad program in Nagoya, Japan, and is a representative to the College of Liberal Arts’ Council.

It was in an Honors-level course on the First Amendment in fall 2009 taught by William H. Freivogel, director of SIUC’s School of Journalism, which sparked Langwith’s interest in the topic.

“I grew up with the Internet so I guess it has a special place in my heart,” Langwith said. “When I read about cases of people suing over Twitter, it didn’t make sense to me. It’s not a published academic article, it’s not a professionally written article by a journalist. To me, it’s almost someone speaking out loud to themselves.”

The final paper was so provocative that Freivogel encouraged Langwith to pursue it as a research project this year. Langwith thought it would be interesting to use linguistic tools to see whether language used in Internet posts from often informal discussions through e-mails, instant messages, chat rooms and social networking websites can be categorized by its formality, said Freivogel, one of Langwith’s mentors.

With the rise of social media in the last decade, there seems to be no clear answer as to whether online comments are libel or slander, Langwith said. Current lawsuits that involve online defamation seem to go to a standard for libel, or written defamatory statements. But Langwith contends that some forms of online communication are closer to spoken defamation, or slander.

Some instances should fall into a category where the comments are neither slander nor libel, and akin to what Freivogel calls “over-the-back fence” talk.

The research has importance in today’s world, where a flip comment can lead to serious consequences. Langwith’s interest started with a libel case involving a Twitter post a few years ago by a woman who complained about her moldy apartment. The firm that managed the property sued, but a judge dismissed the lawsuit because the tweet was too vague to meet legal standards of libel, according to media reports.

“The social media has become such an important part of free expression and such an important part of the press … how law and society deal with free expression on social media sites is really important,” Freivogel said.

Much of today’s free speech controversies involve “almost spontaneous expressions” on social media sites that in some ways are more analogous to what people discuss in a bar or write in a diary locked away, Freivogel said.

People did not get suspended, fired or prosecuted for what they told neighbors “over the back fence,” Freivogel said. “Should the law treat things said on Facebook the same way as something printed in a newspaper?”

Langwith is a first-generation student and the first in his immediate family to attend college. His father, Donald, is a disabled Vietnam veteran and his mother, Loretta Stork, has worked retail her entire life, Langwith said. His parents are “both incredibly excited” with the honor, Langwith said.

Langwith will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in linguistics that focused on teaching English as a second language. He hopes to go to South Korea to teach English for a year or two, and then attend graduate school, but is undecided on education or linguistics.

“Ever since I’ve entered I’ve taken it very seriously,” Langwith said. “It’s a lot of money and my family didn’t have a lot to spend. I had to keep my grades up to get financial aid because if not, I would be swimming in debt.

“I’ve always treated it as an opportunity I was given because the rest of my family didn’t have that opportunity,” he said. “School always takes priority over almost everything else right now.”

Freivogel said it is gratifying to have a student take a class, and then go beyond the class to develop a research project from it “that can have some academic and possibly down the road some practical value.”

“It’s great to have a student who is a first-generation college student for whom school is the most important thing,” Freivogel said.

Alan C. Vaux, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said Langwith is a “first-rate” student actively engaged with University life.

Langwith is an undergraduate research assistant for Paul McPherron, an assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics. McPherron said Langwith is working with him on two different projects -- creating a website that hosts digital stories created by English language learners in China, and helping find literature relating to a case study project on foreign teachers of English in China. Some of the interviews with teachers in China will be through Skype, McPherron said.

McPherron said he and Langwith will present the website on digital stories and how to use them in an English classroom at the Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages (TESOL) international conference this week in New Orleans.

“This is the largest and most prestigious conference to present at in the field of TESOL,” McPherron said.

Langwith is one of two students in the Department of Linguistics who will receive the department’s Undergraduate Achievement Award during Honor’s Day ceremonies next month This year’s award went to students who completed a majority of their courses and maintained a cumulative grade point average of more than 3.9.

“We in the College of Liberal Arts are very proud of Derreck’s accomplishment,” he said. “Selection to ‘Posters on the Hill’ is very competitive and a significant honor.”

Langwith’s success “shows that SIUC students’ scholarly work competes with the best in the country,” said Gary P. Kolb, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. “His collaboration with Professor Freivogel is an outstanding example of the kind of success that is bred by our unique undergraduate research programs.”

Lori Merrill-Fink, an associate professor in theater and director of the University Honors Program, said Langwith’s selection to “Posters on the Hill” is the second for the program since 2009.

“It is indeed an honor to be selected,” she said. “The University Honors Program is very proud of Derreck’s work and grateful for the mentoring he has received from Professor Freivogel. Derreck is in the top 10 percent of the applicants who applied for this prestigious and highly selective honor.”

In July 2010 the SIUC MCMA School of Journalism assumed responsibility for publishing the St. Louis Journalism Review. Charles and Rose Klotzer started the St. Louis Journalism Review in 1970 with the purpose of providing critical coverage of print and broadcast media in the St. Louis area.

"The Dean (Gary Kolb) saw this as an opportunity to give SIUC an advantage; to be able to bring the St. Louis Journalism Review here and produce it is a great experience for staff and students," said William Freivogel, director of the School of Journalism. "It is exciting to be able to create a whole new magazine and to build on the SJR shoulders with the help of our staff and students."

Freivogel said the geographic area the Journalism Review will cover is expanding well beyond the St. Louis region to encompass the 16-state region of the Mid-West. The name change to Gateway Journalism Review reflects this expansion of coverage.

While each issue will contain a special supplement focusing on media in the St. Louis area, the new regional coverage will provide a larger "megaphone" to talk about journalism issues and keep SIUC's School of Journalism in the discussion, according to Freivogel.

"It's time journalism criticism moved west of the Hudson and beyond the D.C. Beltway," said William Babcock, GJR editor. "We are also expanding to encompass integrated marketing communication. We are in the Twitter age and we need to address all areas of media."

Babcock, an SIUC professor and former editor at the Christian Science Monitor, said Roy Malone would be the editor for the St. Louis area. Scott Lambert, a graduate student at SIUC, is the student editor.

"This is a goldmine of opportunity for the people at SIUC," said Babcock. "We have Ph. D. graduate students, undergrads, and faculty all working together to showcase what we do in the School of Journalism in the Gateway Journalism Review."

Freivogel said Babcock was a University hire specifically to concentrate on ethics. The GJR will be the perfect place to put Babcock's expertise to use through journalism criticism and working with students to help them address issues in media, Freivogel added.

"In a time when the Internet creates new means of delivering news, we have new ethical issues come up every day," said Freivogel. "We need tools like the GJR to analyze and discuss these issues in the digital age."

SJR had been published six to 10 times a year. GJR will be published quarterly to allow for more in-depth articles and packages. In addition to the print copies there will be two special online issues each year. The new website, www.gatewayjr.org recently launched and will contain timely articles.

"If we are fortunate enough to get substantial financial support, we would consider publishing six times a year," said Freivogel.

The University has committed to $25,000 over the first four years for operations. Patrons from the St. Louis area have committed to supplement the budget over that time. However, Freivogel and team are looking for ways to develop and stabilize the operational budget.

The goal is for the Gateway Journalism Review to be self-sustaining through grants, fundraising, advertising and subscriptions. An annual subscription to the GJR will be $25. For more information on GJR visit the web site or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please encourage students to check out the MCMA Spring 2011 Class Preview Day this Friday. It is a great opportunity for a "sneak peek" at what is being offered. Any help you can give in getting the word out would be appreciated.

Want the chance to check out a Spring 2011 course ahead of time? Take advantage of the College's Spring 2011 Class Preview Day  this Friday, October 29th in the COMM Building.

The following classes are being showcased. Each participant will be given a ticket upon the conclusion of any session which may be turned in for pizza at 12:30. Program brochures will be available in COMM 1032 the day of the event. 

This is a FREE program. 

Session I 11:00-11:20

MCMA 396/JRNL 419 Publishing on the WWW/Online Journalism         Stoner         COMM 1205

RT 489 003/MCMA 497 001 Gender, Militarization and Media                         Brooten       COMM 1032

JRNL 337 Video/Online Journalism                     Helleny        COMM 1122

Session II 11:30-11:50

RT 357 Media Promotion                          Wall                 RT Conf., Room

CP 260 Understanding Visual Media            Felleman         COMM 1122

MCMA 563 Globalization, Culture and Media    Brooten           COMM 1032

JRNL 410 Multimedia Project: Reports            Recktenwald   COMM 1205

Session III 12:00-12:20

JRNL 435 Advanced Graphic Communication                      Veenstra       COMM 1205

RT 489 001/MCMA 555 002 Media in the Lives of Childhood and Adolescents Lemish         COMM 1032

RT 305 Audience Research                       Wall             RT Conf. Room

CP 452 Screenwriting                  Rowley        COMM 1122

Lunch 12:30-12:55

Session IV 1:00- 1:20

RT 461/digital graphics classes Multimedia Production                     Lewison     COMM 1046

CP 102 Intro to Sound and Image Production                      Aguayo      COMM 1122

Session V 1:30- 1:50

RT 489 002 Blaxploitation Films of the 1970's     Lawrence       COMM 1046

CP 470D Generative Art                                 Spahr             COMM 1122

MCMA 555 004 Policy Reporting and Research        Freivogel       COMM 1032

Questions? Contact Deborah Tudor at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Students in Southern Illinois University Carbondale's School of Journalism will again hit the streets this weekend to highlight two local communities.

From sunrise, Friday, Oct. 1, until sunset, Sunday, Oct. 3, approximately 30 students will chronicle the Union County villages of Cobden and Alto Pass with the multi-media workshop, "A Weekend in Cobden/Alto Pass."

Mark J. Dolan, an assistant professor in the School of Journalism, said last year's successful "A Weekend in Murphysboro" helped provide the impetus for this year's workshop.

Cobden and Alto Pass are smaller communities than Murphysboro, but Dolan also sees many similarities, particularly when looking to tell a story.

"There are great stories everywhere. You don't have to be in a big city to find good stories. I think what the students will gain is the intensive interaction with professionals who are there … to help improve their skills. It's invaluable."

Media Advisory

For more information on the "A Weekend in Cobden/Alto Pass" project, contact assistant professor Mark J. Dolan at 618/536-3361 or 315/882-2446, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The story settings are still developing but Dolan anticipates the communities' strong agricultural history, including orchards and vineyards, to be a focus in the project. Residents of the communities seem to be very excited about the students' efforts and "we are very excited about the potential for it."

Cobden Mayor Molly Beckley and the Cobden Business and Community Association have been really receptive to the project, Dolan said.

Beckley said the project is "absolutely exciting."

"We have a lovely town, a beautiful town. All we ever want to do is promote our village," she said. "I love the idea that students will be involved."

Students will use digital still photography, sound and video to document the communities. Students will bring their work for editing to a community center in Cobden -- a former feed store west of the railroad tracks. Some of editing work will also take place on campus, Dolan said.

Students will shoot their assignments, have the work edited, and receive immediate feedback for improving their work from SIUC faculty and the volunteer professionals, Dolan said.

"The 'Weekend in Murphysboro' project last fall was a terrific success in all respects -- for the students and for the community," said Gary P. Kolb, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts. "The resulting images and stories have been widely exhibited in the community and showcased on the 'Southof64.com' website. It is a great way for the University to reach out to the region and produce something of lasting value for the communities involved."

The Murphysboro project, which includes the website and traveling photo exhibit, has been very successful, Dolan said. A journalism class is designing and will publish an 80-page coffee table-style photo book of photos from that weekend, he said.

Kolb, Dolan, and William H. Frievogel, director of the SIUC School of Journalism, all said they hope the upcoming workshop also results in a website and book.

The weekend workshops "provide our photojournalism students a unique opportunity to work with some of the country's best photojournalists," Frievogel said. "They also are a chance for the School of Journalism and the College to give back to a Southern Illinois community."

Dolan became interested in profiling Cobden while working with students this summer on a documentary project on the migrant community.

Dolan hopes the community photo workshops become an annual event, with students then working on the website and book each spring. The workshops are not possible without the contributions of visiting professionals.

"That kind of intensity, coaching and editing that students receive is what makes it possible," he said.

Budget concerns and reduced funding resources almost prompted organizers to postpone this year's workshop. But several students who participated in the Murphysboro project expressed support for another project this year, Dolan said.

"We decided to try and do it on our own," Dolan said. Some of the volunteers are coming at their own expense, and several are coming for a second year, he said.

"The photojournalism community is so good about giving back to the community and, in particular, things like this project that help the students, Dolan said. "We've got this incredible lineup of professionals who will be here as editor and coaches coming in to work with our students."

Graduate student Julia M. Rendleman is one of several students who participated last year and persuaded Dolan to continue with the project this year. What students receive from the intense three-day workshop is beneficial, said Rendleman, who will graduate in December with a master's degree in the Professional Media and Media Management Studies program specializing in photojournalism.

"It's compact learning," she said. "It's a way to learn what you would over the course of a semester in a weekend."

Rendleman said one benefit is visiting faculty discussing with students their initial photographs, offering ideas and suggestions how to improve them, and then allowing students to back and improve their shots right then.

"It was a great experience," she said.

The visiting faculty newspaper photographers are: Chris Berry, The State, Columbia, S.C.; Elizabeth Conley, Detroit News; Jay Drowns, The Sporting News; David Grunfeld, Times-Picayune, New Orleans; Danese Kenon, Indianapolis Star; Erin McCracken, Evansville Courier; Chuck Novara, The Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale; and Todd Panagopoulos, Chicago Tribune. Other visiting faculty include Scott Allen, regional director for public affairs, U.S. Department of State, Chicago, and Sean Gallagher, freelance photographer, sponsored by the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting.

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Originally posted at: http://news.siuc.edu/news/September10/092910par10144.html.

Jaclyn Brenning, former Journalism grad, and Anthony Souffle, Journalism grad and current M.S. student, worked with Journalism Director William H. Freivogel on a special report called, "Kirkwood's Journey."

The online and hard copy publications reported on how Kirkwood, Mo. has dealt with its racial past in the two years since a city hall shooting caused the death of six city officials. The project was in conjunctions with the St. Louis Beacon, an online news publication in St. Louis.

The online version is at: http://www.stlbeacon.org/content/view/100029/34003/

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- William Freivogel (pronounced Fry-vogel), an award-winning journalist who has covered the U.S. Supreme Court and served as deputy editorial page editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will lecture and spearhead major projects next year at Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

"Bill has had an outstanding journalism career, and we are delighted to have someone of his caliber take a lead role as the institute tackles significant public policy and media issues in 2006," institute Director Mike Lawrence said today (Dec. 8).

Freivogel, who has a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis, will spend the year on campus as a university professor based at the institute. He recently took advantage of an early retirement program at the Post-Dispatch.

"The School of Law, the School of Journalism and the College of Liberal Arts all have expressed strong interest in having Bill interact with their students. We anticipate he will teach courses and serve as a guest lecturer," Lawrence said.

In his work with the institute, Freivogel will organize and lead an initiative to examine possible means of addressing conflicts that arise when prosecutors and other key players in the legal system want journalists to reveal confidential sources and seek other materials that reporters regard as private. He also will bring together local government officials and journalists to discuss and debate the implications, requirements and ramifications of Illinois' Open Meetings Law.

"Bringing Bill here is an excellent way to use endowment funds the institute has been raising since it was launched," Lawrence said. "We are keeping faith with donors who liked the idea of enriching the University and the institute's agenda by attracting accomplished professionals to the campus."

Freivogel, 56, began his journalism career with the Post-Dispatch in 1971. He was a member of the newspaper's Washington bureau for 12 years, where he served as assistant bureau chief, focused on the Supreme Court and reported on such historic events as the assassination attempt on President Reagan.

He returned to St. Louis to become the deputy editorial page editor in 1997.

Freivogel's editorials on former Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Constitution made him a finalist in the 2002 Pulitzer Prize competition. He also won Sigma Delta Chi's top award in 1991 for a series on the Bill of Rights, and he shared the Sidney Hillman award for a series on civil rights policy changes during the Reagan administration. Freivogel was the main contributor to a 1987 project that won the Benjamin Franklin award as the best newspaper series on the bicentennial of the Constitution.

In his early years in Washington, he won the Emery A. Brownell Award for stories influential in blocking the Reagan administration's attempt to kill the Legal Services Corp. He shared the Investigative Reporters and Editors award and National Press Club's Washington correspondence award for stories on defense fraud at General Dynamics Corp. He also won a Washington correspondence award for reporting on dioxin contamination in Missouri and political machinations within the Environmental Protection Agency.

Freivogel won three Connie Rosenbaum awards in the 1970s for stories that reformed the St. Louis bail bond system and cleaned up a corrupt suburban police department after a suspect was killed in police custody.

He and wife Margaret, who also served in the Post-Dispatch's Washington bureau and has served as Sunday editor at the Post-Dispatch, are the parents of four children ages 22 to 30.

Developing citizen-leaders with global perspectives is among the goals of Southern at 150: Building Excellence Through Commitment, the blueprint the University is following as it approaches its 150th anniversary in 2019.

(Caption: Joins institute staff - Mike Lawrence (left), director of Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, listens as William Freivogel talks with reporters today (Dec. 8). Freivogel, an award-winning journalist who has covered the U.S. Supreme Court and served as deputy editorial page editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, will lecture and spearhead major projects next year at the institute.)

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A fundraiser and auction is set for next week to raise donations for a scholarship that honors a Southern Illinois University Carbondale photojournalism student who died from injuries received in a car accident last spring.

The event for the Ryan Rendleman Photojournalism Scholarship is Friday, Oct. 24, at Blue Sky Vineyards, 3150 S. Rocky Comfort Road, Makanda. Lunch begins at 12:15 p.m., with the auction at 1 p.m.

The scholarship is closing in on $18,000, according to Ron Graves, constituency development officer for the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts and associate director for institutional advancement with the SIU Foundation.

The scholarship will honor Rendleman, a 22-year-old senior, who died April 29 south of Nashville. The crash occurred less than two weeks before Rendleman was to earn his bachelorís degree. Family members accepted Rendlemanís diploma posthumously during commencement ceremonies May 10.

Lunch registration is possible by contacting with the SIUC School of Journalism at 618/453-5200, or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The lunch is $10 per plate.

Among the items up for auction are photographs Rendleman shot, along with photos taken by other SIUC School of Journalism graduates, said William H. Freivogel, director of the school. Four members of Rendlemanís family plan to attend. Rendleman was on his way to interview a young relative of winery owner Barrett Rochman for a story on Tay-Sachs disease when the accident occurred. Rochman waived the pavilion use fee for the event, Freivogel said.

"We always want to keep Ryan in our thoughts. He is the reason for this. He is someone whom we miss a lot and who was a talent in the School of Journalism," Freivogel said.

Freivogel said he anticipates announcing an additional $2,000 contribution by four faculty members who initially contributed money when the scholarship fund started.

"I hope by the end of the day that we are close, if not there," Freivogel said. "I think we are doing well. I think we are going to get there. I'm every encouraged. It's one of those things you have to stay on until you get it done. I hope we will be there either at the Oct. 24 event, or soon after."

The event is in conjunction with the Southern Illinois Editorial Association mid-year meeting, Freivogel said. Roger A. Hart, a lecturer in SIUC's College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, is giving a short talk to SIEA members at noon, Freivogel said.

Graves said he is very pleased with the progress in the scholarship drive, and he hopes more people will step up to reach the $25,000 endowed scholarship goal. The scholarship will go to an SIUC photojournalism student. Other specific criteria remain to be determined.

Contact Graves at 618/453-4748 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information on the Ryan Rendleman scholarship or to contribute.