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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Donna Nicholson or Doug Stone
651-696-6203April 23, 2002
Contacts: Donna Nicholson or Doug Stone, 651-696-6203ST. LOUIS PARK RESIDENT LANDS TWO PRESTIGIOUS HONORS:
-WATSON FELLOWSHIP FOR STUDY ABROAD
-SELECTED TO DELIVER STUDENT SPEECH AT
MACALESTER COLLEGE COMMENCEMENT MAY 19St. Paul, Minn. Macalester College student Jane Turk of St. Louis Park will spend next year studying publicly funded broadcast media in Europe and Asia as the recipient of a prestigious Watson Fellowship for independent study outside of the U.S.
Turk, the daughter of Lou and Carolyne Turk, is a graduate of St. Louis Park High School. She is a senior at Macalester with a double major in communication and media studies and humanities and cultural studies.
Turk's research will take her to England, Germany, Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, China and Japan. "From the U.S. perspective, the concept of government-funded media has an air of propaganda and monolithic ideology," Turk said. "Freedom of the press is a very slippery concept, and I want to see how journalists and citizens interact with information in historically non-commercial media systems."
As part of her fellowship, Turk also plans to meet with several international journalists she worked with through Macalester's World Press Institute, which each year brings reporters and editors from around the world to the U.S. for an examination of the complexities of life in America.
Turk is one of only 60 students around the country awarded the fellowship funded by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. This year more than 1,000 college seniors applied for the program, which identifies prospective leaders and allows them to develop their independence and become world citizens. The year of travel provides Fellows an opportunity to "take stock of themselves, test their aspirations and abilities, pursue their own in-depth study and develop a sense of international concern."
Another Macalester student, Owen Kohl of Wellesley, Mass., also received a Watson Fellowship.
In addition, Turk was selected to deliver the student speech at Macalester's commencement exercises at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19. This year, writer, humorist and "Prairie Home Companion" host Garrison Keillor will be the keynote speaker. Honorary degrees will be awarded to Carleton College President Stephen Lewis and Juan Williams, National Public Radio (NPR) correspondent and a Macalester parent.
Following the year-long Watson Fellowship, Turk plans to attend the Ph.D. communication program at Columbia University. She hopes to become a college media studies professor.
Macalester is a private liberal arts college with a full-time enrollment of 1,787 students. Macalester is nationally known for its commitment to academic excellence, internationalism, diversity and service to society.
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