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FSC selected as Center for Editing Excellence

LAKELAND, Fla. (Jan. 15, 2003) - Florida Southern College has been designated a Center for Editing Excellence by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund (DJNF) training program for college newspaper copy editing interns. This marks the fourth straight year in which the college has been chosen as the training site for the southeastern United States. 

Professor Rick Kenney, chair of the communication department and director of the Center for Editing Excellence, attended the Dow Jones recruitment program in Princeton, N.J., Dec. 11. "We are in good company among the big journalism schools," he said, noting that other editing centers are at the large state universities in North Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Nebraska, and San Jose, Calif., and at New York University and Temple. "(Former visiting department chair and alumnus) George Crutchfield was instrumental in bringing the program to Florida Southern from Virginia Commonwealth, and we've been able to keep it here."

Juniors and seniors from as far away as Missouri and West Virginia will travel to Lakeland in May to receive intensive training from a full-time faculty of four editing professors and a half-dozen visiting professionals, including journalists from The Ledger. After their two weeks at Florida Southern, the interns will go on to 10-week paid internships at The Ledger, Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times, as well as other newspapers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and New York. FSC will train 15 interns in May, three more than in the previous year, which increases the amount of this year's grant to more than $30,000. Kenney also reported that the DJNF executive director, Richard Holden, noted that past interns have commented favorably on college facilities and the campus grounds. 

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world. 

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