DES MOINES, Iowa – An intensive apprenticeship program, upgrades in technology, enhancements to the Meredith Integrated Media Suite, and continuation of the Meredith Professional in Residence are highlights of a renewed $500,000 partnership agreement between Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP) and the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University.
The bulk of the latest Meredith gift to the Greenlee School will go to fund the Meredith Apprentices in Service Journalism program. Each year, Iowa State selects a total of eight outstanding journalism and graphic arts students to spend a whole academic year working 15-20 hours a week at Meredith. In addition to invaluable experience and hands-on instruction from Meredith’s editors and designers, the students receive an hourly wage and academic credit.
Meredith (www.meredith.com ) is a leading media and marketing company known for its national brands, including Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Family Circle, Allrecipes.com, Ladies’ Home Journal, Fitness, American Baby, Traditional Home, Midwest Living, EveryDay with Rachael Ray and FamilyFun. The company, which owns and/or operates 13 television stations, also operates more than 50 Web sites that reach an average of more than 40 million unique visitors each month.
The company’s partnership with the Greenlee School dates back to 2004 when it created what is now the Meredith Integrated Media Suite in ISU’s Hamilton Hall and funded five year-round apprenticeships per year. That number was increased to eight when the company renewed its gift to the School in 2008. The Meredith Apprentice Program to date has employed more than 50 ISU undergraduate students as part-time entry-level professionals at the company’s Des Moines headquarters.
Michael Bugeja, director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, credited Meredith’s "hands-on attitude toward apprentices," allowing them to work side-by-side with talented professionals who both teach and critique the students and their work. "Meredith apprentices leave the workplace with portfolios of printed (or soon-to-be printed) stories and layouts and references whose names carry weight on the students’ resumes.
"More important," Bugeja added, "students depart with instruction that complements what they’ve learned in the classroom. They put theory into practice – a trait Iowa State is known for – under the tutelage of Meredith professionals."
"That caliber of education is a hallmark of our partnership."
Meredith’s latest gift funds the partnership through the 2016-17 academic year. Debra Gibson, the Greenlee School’s Meredith professional in residence, coordinates the apprentice program for Iowa State. Under her supervision, the apprentices also produce the Greenlee Glimpse, the school’s annual alumni magazine, and serve as the school’s ambassadors at events throughout the year.
"The Meredith/Greenlee partnership is a model that has been extremely successful and has garnered national attention," said Art Slusark, Meredith’s Vice President of Corporate Communications and Government Relations. "It works because (1) Greenlee students are among the best trained and hardest working in the country; and (2) Meredith’s editors and designers embrace the program and take a deep personal interest in developing the students’ skills."
The Meredith Corporation has hired several ISU apprentices as permanent staff members. Other apprentices have gone on to work at national magazines such as Glamour and USWeekly. Students who have been selected as 2012-13 apprentices will be interning this summer at such magazines as Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan and Runner’s World.
The Meredith gift also will support the continuation of ISU’s PEER program, established in spring 2005. PEER (Production, Editing and Electronic Research) allows Greenlee students outside the apprentice program to work for Meredith titles and departments throughout the academic year and in the summers. The PEER Program is housed in the Meredith Integrated Media Suite that features state-of-the-art multimedia technology.
To date, more than 30 ISU students have worked at Meredith via the PEER program. Like their MAP counterparts, these students gain professional journalistic experience, build resumes and portfolios for future employment, help define their specialty areas and develop effective workplace skills.
The Greenlee School, founded in 1905, is the oldest and largest such program in Iowa and one of the longest continuously accredited programs in the country. It boasts nationally acclaimed programs in advertising and journalism and mass communication. Alumni have won five Pulitzer Prizes, and the School’s faculty includes two Pulitzer Prize winners. In the past year Greenlee students have won national awards in advertising, newspaper, magazine, broadcasting and online design and content.
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ISU Media Contact: Michael Bugeja Director, Greenlee School of Journalism, (515) 294-0481,l Bugeja@iastate.edu
Meredith Media Contact: Art Slusark Vice President/Corporate Communications, (515) 284-3404, art.slusark@meredith.com