Katherine Watier's Academics: Dateline Washington, DC Class Evaluation

HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE COURSE EVALUATION

Name: Katherine A. Watier Year of entry: 94/09 Term: Fall 1994

Number and Title: CCS 122 Dateline: Washington, D.C.

Instructor: James Miller, Professor of Communications

This small proseminar comprised first-term students who studied critically and in great detail the

news making process in the nation's capitol. Students read a rich variety of material, much of it assembled into a packet, including articles from the general and specialized press and book chapters, on the elite status of Washington journalists, White House and congressional press practices, the demographics of Washington reporters, the changing style of writing in Washington news, the rise of the "punditocracy" and other matters. We viewed C-SPAN tapes, gave a close reading to newspapers and conducted a conference call with a deputy assistant to President Clinton char-ed with media relations.

4z)

Students wrote essays on either the demographic and social characteristics of the Washington press corps or the strategic disclosure of information by governmental sources, a critical appraisal of issues raised by David Gergen's career, and compared the Clinton and Reagan administrations' news management techniques. The final project allowed students to imagine they had been hired to advise the current White House or Democrats in Congress on how to improve their current press coverage.

Katherine was easily the most accomplished student in the class. Not only did she attend meetings regularly and often participate in our discussions, but it was clear that she had carefully prepared for these sessions. In her thoughtful self-evaluation Katherine says she learned to discipline her written and spoken expression, and found refining her essays to be especially challenging--and rewarding. This, of course, is what is supposed to happen in a seminar. Katherine took her task to heart, and produced reliably strong writing that built forceful arguments with astute use of referenced material. This was a semester of significant achievement for her.

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				HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE COURSE EVALUATION Name: Katherine A. Watier Year of entry: 94/09 Term: Fall 1994 Number and Title: CCS 122 Dateline: Washington, D.C. Instructor: James Miller, Professor of Communications This small proseminar comprised first-term students who studied critically and in great detail the news making process in the nation's capitol. Students read a rich variety of material, much of it assembled into a packet, including articles from the general and specialized press and book chapters, on the elite status of Washington journalists, White House and congressional press practices, the demographics of Washington reporters, the changing style of writing in Washington news, the rise of the "punditocracy" and other matters. We viewed C-SPAN tapes, gave a close reading to newspapers and conducted a conference call with a deputy assistant to President Clinton char-ed with media relations. 4z) Students wrote essays on either the demographic and social characteristics of the Washington press corps or the strategic disclosure of information by governmental sources, a critical appraisal of issues raised by David Gergen's career, and compared the Clinton and Reagan administrations' news management techniques. The final project allowed students to imagine they had been hired to advise the current White House or Democrats in Congress on how to improve their current press coverage. Katherine was easily the most accomplished student in the class. Not only did she attend meetings regularly and often participate in our discussions, but it was clear that she had carefully prepared for these sessions. In her thoughtful self-evaluation Katherine says she learned to discipline her written and spoken expression, and found refining her essays to be especially challenging--and rewarding. This, of course, is what is supposed to happen in a seminar. Katherine took her task to heart, and produced reliably strong writing that built forceful arguments with astute use of referenced material. This was a semester of significant achievement for her. 1/2 DIV I CCS Y
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