The
2003 Covering Religion Class
Professor
Ari Goldman, former religion reporter for The New York Times, has
taught the "Covering Religion" course at Columbia University's
Graduate School of Journalism every spring for the past 10 years, preparing
his students to write about religion for a diverse readership. The course
looks at different religions today through a case study of how religion
is evolving in the former Soviet Union, with each student researching
a specific faith or denomination and reporting to the class on what he
or she has learned.
For the past
four years, the Scripps
Howard Foundation has subsidized a 10-day class trip during spring
break, in which students put their expertise to work by studying the workings
of faith in a region where it is a developing story. Previous classes
have visited Israel, the Ukraine and Russia; this class will travel to
Moscow and Kazan, the capital of the autonomous Republic of Tatarstan,
a member state of the Russian Federation.
Alexandra
Alter
was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and grew up in Dhahran. In 2001, she
recieved a Bachelors of Arts in Religion from Columbia University, where
she
studied Asian religions and Sanskrit. She is currently in Columbia University's
dual Masters program in Journalism and Religion. She has worked as a fiction
reader and editorial assistant at Esquire and as a freelance journalist
for
a weekly English-language paper in Nepal.
Muhammad
Athar Lila,
Webmaster
fWebmaster, Jedi Master, and
servant of Allah, Muhammad has spent the last year trying to avoid being
photographed. Prior to that, he served on the Community Editorial Board
of the Toronto Star before being named Host and Associate Producer of
Living Islam, a weekly, syndicated current/religious affairs television
series aired in Toronto, his off-season home and also Canada's largest
media market. In his spare time, he enjoys training in the martial arts,
reading, and the occasional game of road hockey. He is also pursuing a
dual Religion-Journalism degree at Columbia University, an institution
that he hopes to one day own.
Lila
III Arzua
has covered
religion for both The Miami
Herald and The Virginia Episcopalian. Sadly, she
missed the days when the latter publication was known by its traditional
name, The Virginia Churchman. She is now a student at the Columbia School
of Journalism and in May will graduate to The Washington Post
editorial page. While they might seem mutually
exclusive, she is both a Christian and a native South Floridian.
Kodi
Barth
Before coming
to Columbia in the summer of 2002, Kodi edited a religious
magazine and taught computer software for three years in Nairobi. He holds
undergraduate degrees in Philosophy, Sacred Theology and Religious Studies
from the Pontifical Urbanian University, Rome, and the Catholic University
of Eastern Africa. He has a birth certificate from a hospital on the shores
of Lake Victoria, the source of the Nile, in south-western Kenya.
Celestine
Bohlen, Adjunct Professor
has been a cultural
reporter for The New York Times since September 2000, after spending
12 years abroad as a foreign correspondent for the Times. Previously,
she was a Moscow
correspondent
and a Rome
and Budapest bureau chief. She
joined The Times as a reporter on the metropolitan desk in August
1988. For the past year, Ms. Bohlen has hosted a bimonthly cultural affairs
program from New York, called ''A Stroll Down Broadway," which has
been broadcast on the Russian television station, Kultura, in Russia.
Born in Paris to a foreign service officer, Ms. Bohlen was raised in Moscow,
Manila, Washington and Paris. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard
College in 1973.
Manya
Brachear, Teaching Assistant
is a
freelance religion reporter based
in New York and the first candidate for dual masters'
degrees in religion and journalism at Columbia University.
She has worked for The News & Observer in
Raleigh, N.C. and interned this past summer on the
state desk at The Dallas Morning News. This is her
second foray to cover faith in the former Soviet Union.
Dan
Burke
is in the
first year of Columbia Universitys two-year,
journalism and religion dual-degree program. He graduated from
Georgetown University in 1998, receiving a BA in Literature and
Psychology. The Jesuits there made him take many courses in
theology and ethics, which explains a lot about why he is studying
religion, and also why he is an atheist. He recently spent several
months attending Charismatic Catholic prayer meetings in New York
City for his masters project. He did not learn to speak in tongues.
Dan
Evans, Photographer,
is one
of seven Dans in the Columbia Journalism School's class of 2003,
but the only one from San Diego, Calif. Before coming to New York, he
worked at the San Francisco Examiner, covering legal issues and
writing a thrice-weekly Q&A column. He is one of five former employees
of the
newspaper who is not planning on writing a book about the experience.
Before the Examiner, Dan worked for the Los Angeles Daily Journal,
a legal-trade publication, and rather liked LA, thank you. He graduated
from UC Berkeley in 1998 with majors in English and Philosophy.
Mariam
Fam
was born and raised in Cairo,
Egypt. In 2000, she received a bachelors degree in journalism from
the American University in Cairo, where she worked as a reporter, managing
editor, and editor in chief for the campus newspaper. For two years, Mariam
has worked as a journalist for the Associated Press in Cairo and reported
from Egypt and Iraq. After getting her masters degree in journalism
from Columbia University next May, Mariam will do a summer internship
at The New York Times. She then hopes to report from the Middle
East, where religion is a part of the regions politics, cultures,
and lifestyles.
Ari
Goldman, Acting Associate Dean
This is Professor Ari Goldman's tenth year as a journalism
professor and fourth year as a leader of the Scripps Howard study tour.
In 2000 and 2001 he took the religion class to Israel and Jordan.
This is the second year he is leading the Russia expedition.
Professor Goldman was educated at Yeshiva University,
Columbia and Harvard. He the author of three books on religion,
the newest of which will be published in the fall of 2003.
Before becoming a professor, he was a reporter at The New York Times.
Meital
Hershkovitz, Photographer
is a documentary and art photographer.
Earning dual
Masters Degrees from Columbia University's School of
International and Public Affairs and the Graduate School
of Journalism, her work considers issues of human rights,
spirituality and cultural expression. Her recent
collection FAITH includes images of the entire world.
Tim
Lavin
Tim Lavin grew
up in Massapequa Park, New York. He
graduated from Boston College in 2002 with an English
degree and has worked for several magazines, including
Fortnight, in Belfast, and the Atlantic Monthly, in
Boston. Neither paid living wages, a recurring problem
in Tim's journalism career. Upon graduating from
Columbia Journalism School in May, Tim hopes to be
employed by anyone. Anyone.
Sara
Leitch, Managing
Editor
graduated
from Yale in 2000 with a degree in biology. She was a reporter and editor
at the Yale Daily News, but wasn't sure that she wanted to make
journalism her career, so she went to work in the financial services industry
after graduation. It took just over a year on a bond trading desk for
her to
realize that reporting was what she really wanted to do, and now she is
a student at Columbia Journalism School. She has interened at a wire service
and a magazine, and this summer she'll be reporting for the Cleveland
Plain Dealer. Sara's first visit to Russia was in 1989, with her mother,
Cathey.
Stephanie
Levitz
grew up in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada. She graduated from McGill University, in Montreal, Quebec, in
2001 with a degree in history, economics,
English and political science. An avid traveler - she only needs to cross
Africa and Australia off her list of continents visited - Stephanie celebrated
graduation with a summer long jaunt through Europe before moving to Washington,
D.C. In D.C., she interned with The Washington Center for Politics and
Journalism where she worked in the D.C. bureau of The
Globe and Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers. Going
from one world capital to the next, Stephanie then spent six months working
for a member of the Canadian Parliament in her hometown of Ottawa. She
is currently pursuing a master of science degree at Columbia University's
Graduate School of Journalism and also freelances for The Canadian
Press and The
Ottawa Citizen.
Alyssa Litoff
worked as an
assistant producer and researcher for ABC Sports and ISB TV before entering
Columbias Graduate School of Journalism. She
graduated from Brown University in Providence, R.I. in 1998, where she
majored in Classics and Comparative Literature. She was also the Executive
Editor of the Brown Daily Herald. Alyssas mother was born
a
Methodist and later became a Quaker. Her father was
born Jewish and later became a Shaman.
Mariana
Patino
Mariana
Lemann holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Marketing in Brazil.
Currently, she is pursuing her Master in Journalism at Columbia University.
She has worked for business and career magazines in Brazil. Moved to New
York in 1999, where she has freelanced for Brazilian magazines and newspapers.
She interned for Globo
International (the largest brazilian TV Network) in New York and London.
While in London, she also freelanced stories for Brazilian publications
in England and Italy.
Gabriel
Rodríguez-Nava,
Site designer
and
Webmaster
was born in
Amexica, or the US-Mexico border. He graduated with honors from
Tecnológico
de Monterrey in Mexico and European University in Belgium. After obtaining
his bachelor's degree in International Relations, he worked as a Mexico
City correspondant for El Diario de Monterrey and in that same
city, he became the managing editor for Eres magazine at Editorial
Televisa.He was also a contributing writer for Milenio Semanal,
a culture and politcs magazine. Before coming to Columbia to concentrate
in new media journalism, Gabriel co-founded and directed In&Out
magazine in laid-back, super sunny Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Michael
Serazio,
a
California native, will graduate in
May 2003 with a master's degree from Columbia
University's Graduate School of Journalism. He hopes
to pursue creative reporting and rich writing for a
newspaper or magazine - chasing after reality and
mining
it for poetry. Anything. Anywhere.
Angela
Uherbelau
grew
up in Ashland, Oregon. She graduated from Smith College with a bachelors
degree in Government. She worked as a researcher for
Clinton-Gore 92, managed her mothers successful campaign for
the Oregon Legislature and served as Rhode Island State Director for Gore-Lieberman
2000. As a public affairs consultant in New York City, she advised groups
like National Audubon Society and Coalition for a Smoke Free City. A professional
stage and television actress, she is also a freelance writer whose work
has appeared in Newsweek and Marie Claire.
Jamal
Watson
previously served
as the urban affairs and race relations reporter at
The Boston Globe. Before joining The Globe, he worked as
a reporter
at The Baltimore Sun. His writings have also appeared in USA
Today,
The Washingtonton City Paper, The Washington Post and The
Philadelphia Daily News. He has also freelanced for more than a dozen
ethnic
newspapers and magazines. He has also taught journalism and writing at
Emerson College and Queens College and in 2001,
he won a media fellowship to study at Vanderbilt University.
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