Jackson selected for Rutgers Fellowship

Veteran Trenton Correspondent Herb Jackson has been selected as the first “North Jersey Media Group Journalist in Residence” at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Herb was among five strong candidates at The Record who applied for the fellowship, which lasts a semester.

“Herb Jackson is an exceptional journalist,” says John V. Pavlik, professor and chair of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers and director of the Journalism Resources Institute (JRI). “We are delighted he will serve as the inaugural fellow in the newly established Journalist-in-Residence fellowship here at the JRI at Rutgers.”

The fellowship is a unique partnership and exchange between Rutgers University and North Jersey Media Group designed to strengthen their ties for their mutual benefit. It allows a staffer to teach a journalism course and to take a class--for free--in a subject that will enhance their on-the-job skills and knowledge. The university benefits by having a trained professional with up-to-date, cutting-edge skills and practical experience at the front of the classroom, working closely with Rutgers faculty to inspire and instruct students interested in print journalism. NJMG and Rutgers also benefit because our company gets an early line on prospective talent for its two dailies and 33 weeklies.

Starting in September, Herb will teach a newswriting course in print journalism once a week at Rutgers University while being paid by NJMG. He also will participate in faculty meetings in the journalism and media studies department, a part of the School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies, and be involved in the activities at the university's Journalism Resources Institute, which conducts journalism research and on-going training for students and professionals.

While at Rutgers, Herb plans to take a course for credit at Cook College on computer-mapping software. He hopes to broaden his skills and expertise by using computer mapping in future stories about the state's budget, taxes, and voting trends.

Herb isn't a stranger to Rutgers University.

Currently, he is president of the board of trustees of The Daily Targum, the independent, student-run newspaper at Rutgers. In the late '80s, he taught a basic reporting course at the university, and, in 1983, he received a bachelor's degree in journalism at Livingston College, part of Rutgers University.