University Daily Kansan / Monday, October 30, 1989
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Job fair attracts minority students
Bv Jennifer Metz
Kansan staff writer
Minority students pursues careers in journalism had an opportunity to interview with as many as 20 newspapers from across the country Thursday through Saturday at the Minority Job Fair.
The fair, in the Kansas Union, attracted more than 75 students from KU and other colleges as far away as Michigan State University.
This year, the School of Journalism acted as host to the job fair, and the Topeka Capital-Journal organized the fair. The American Society of Newspaper Editors and the American Newspaper Publishers Association sponsored the fair.
Recruiters from newspapers such as the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times and the Calla Morning News were represented at the fair.
Miretelle Granpeniois, minority affairs director at the ASNE, said minority job fairs had been conducted for the past six years between October and February. At least 12 fairs are conducted each year at various locations across the country.
"It is our hope that we can have newspapers better represent the diversity of their leadership by putting journalists as recruiters together with minority members, working in the newsroom," Grangenois said.
Newspapers serve all of the community, and a newspaper's staff should reflect the whole community, she said.
Chris Murray, journalism graduate student from Michigan State, said he came to the job fair to get
Mervin R. Aubespin of Louisville speaks at the Minority Job Fair.
contacts for internships and a future position at a newspaper.
He said the job fair was helpful because it gave students experience to see what interviewers were look-
1 came to test the waters, and to see where I'm at in terms of development and to access my progress," Murray said.
Murray said there were not a lot of Black males in the newspaper profession.
"Many Blacks don't realize that they are a very powerful media," he said.
Anastasia Pittman, University of Oklahoma junior, said this was the second year she had attended a job fair.
"Right now they are looking for people to hire, and you learn the concept of what an employer is searching for." Pittman said.
"Her speech was educational and also encourage," Pittman said. "She said to follow your aspirations or sell yourself by being aggressive."
She said she particularly enjoyed one of the speeches given at the job fair called "Surviving the Interview," given by Betty Baye, an assistant editor from the Louisville Courier-Journal.
James C. Clark, a recruiter from the Orlando Sentine, said that only 7.5 percent of editorial staff members were minorities, according to ASNE surveys. The goal by the year 2000 is to raise that number to 10 percent.
"We want our newspaper to have a culturally diverse newsroom, which reflects our community and our circulation," Clark said.
Lewis W. Diuguid, an assistant minority recruiter for the Kansas City Star and Times, said that they had been successful in finding competent journalists from this type of job fair.
He said it was important to represent minorities through jobs at newspapers but also through the stories that the newspapers print.
Engineering conference directs Blacks
By Beth Behrens
Kansan staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The message to the 268 students attending the National Society of Black Engineers Conference was clear; You are our future.
Les Franklin, director of the governor of Colorado's job training office, delivered that message Saturday as the keynote speaker at a banquet for the society.
Franklin joked about tapping his foot to "Roll out the Barrel" as the music from a wedding next door pushed its way through the divider between the ballroom and the conference room in the plaza.
But the serious message he brought to the students was reflected even through his light comments.
He read a series of statistics to the students concerning illiteracy in society, average wages, the number of working people contributing to Social Security before the baby boom and projected statistics for the time when the baby boomers should retire.
"Basic demographics are going to affect this nation like they've never affected it before," Franklin said. "If the statistics are right, by the year 2000, three out of five women are going to be in the work force. And 80 percent of all jobs are going to be held by minorities and women."
Franklin's speech reflected the attitude of the conference as students and professionals fielded questions about the future and realities of the corporate world.
Students from 23 universities; including the University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M University, the University of Arkansas and Louisiana Tech
University, spent the weekend building future plans on speeches and information gathered from corporate and student panels.
Brian Gower, St. Louis, Mo., senior, said attending a workshop on upward mobility might have changed his perspective. He said the conference was a good experience because it made him think about his future.
"I was just planning to go get my MBA after I finished here and have it in my back pocket for when I needed it," Gower said. "Now I'm not so sure."
During the panel discussion, Karen McMurray, a KU alumna, told students that a degree would depreciate without use, changing Gower's outlook on future plans.
The conference was a joint effort by 16 chapter members of the University of Kansas and Kansas State University.
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