Sept. 21 Pitt Panel Discussion on "How to Get an Internship" to Feature Communications Professionals

PITTSBURGH--The University of Pittsburgh's Department of English will host a panel discussion titled "How to Get an Internship" from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sept. 21 in Room 501 of the Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. The free event will include various communications professionals and is open to the public.

The featured panelists include Ann Scales, deputy Living editor at the Boston Globe; Christopher Pike, vice president and general manager of KDKA-TV; Sally Quinn, deputy managing editor for features at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review; Jeanine Rokicsak, assistant account executive at Jack Horner Communications; and Patrick Yoest, Pitt senior and former intern with Congressional Quarterly. David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, will moderate.

Arriving at the Boston Globe in 2003, Scales has held a number of posts within the newspaper and most recently became the deputy Living editor. She previously worked at the Dallas Morning News and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A 2004 Duquesne University graduate, Rokicsak has been working at Jack Horner Communications since she received her degree in communications and English. Prior to being an assistant account executive, she was an account coordinator for the firm.

As vice president and general manager of KDKA-TV, Pike has been overseeing the newsroom operations for the last 16 months. With 27 years of broadcast news experience, Pike has been with various news stations, most recently with WJLA, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C.

Quinn oversees features in her role as deputy editor with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Prior to her arrival at the Tribune-Review, Quinn was an editor with Pittsburgh Magazine.

As a senior at Pitt majoring in economics, Yoest had an opportunity to intern with Congressional Quarterly. He has also worked for The Pitt News. He will be graduating in December.

The Al McDowell Memorial Scholarship, named in honor of the late television newsman, also will be presented that evening. The scholarship supports an undergraduate student in the English department's nonfiction writing program. New this year will be the presentation of the Frank E. Bolden scholarship, given to a student with financial need who is planning a career in writing. Bolden, who earned the Bachelor of Science degree in education at Pitt in 1934, worked for the Pittsburgh Courier for more than 27 years. Accredited as one of the first two African American war correspondents, Bolden interviewed Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Mahatma Gandhi.

The panel discussion is cosponsored by Pitt's English department and The Pitt News. For more information, contact Harry Kloman at 412-648-7842 or kloman@pitt.edu.

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9/13/05/blg