1st Jones Journalism Fellowship Awarded at Williams
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - Williams College senior Molly M. Hunter has been awarded the inaugural Jeffrey Owen Jones '66 Fellowship in Journalism. The $10,000 grant is intended to help a graduating senior make a start on a career in the field of journalism."Competition for the fellowship came from five remarkable candidates. Molly swayed the selection committee with her probing mind, fearless work ethic, and sparkle of enthusiasm," said Peter Richardson '66, a representative of the organizing committee.
The fellowship was endowed by a group of friends and family to honor Jones, who died of lung cancer in 2007. The endowed fellowship will go each spring to a student who exemplifies the qualities for which Jones was widely admired: integrity, talent, independence of mind, wit, strength of character, skepticism of authority, and concern for others.
During his college years, Jones was editor of the student newspaper, The Record. Following a Fulbright year in Uruguay, he served as editor of Behavior Today Magazine before moving into broadcast journalism. In 1997, he won an Emmy for Outstanding Fine Arts Programming.
Hunter, who is from Kentfield, Calif., writes for the Williams Record. She is also co-chair of the Stanley Kaplan Program in American Foreign Policy, serves as an eco-representative for the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, and has student taught at the Williamstown Elementary School.
She is a political science major with a leadership studies concentration. This summer, she will travel to the Middle East, undertaking a reporting project focusing on the Iraqi refugee crisis. She plans to investigate access to education and health care, pervasiveness of child labor and prostitution, illegal employment of refugees, and the truth behind "voluntary returns." She hopes to freelance her stories to a variety of news outlets and through the digital media.
Hunter hopes that by providing original reporting on these issues through the voice of a young American woman reporting in the Middle East, she will also give voice to her underrepresented female peers from the region. She looks forward to working for an established news service in the fall.
In 2008, Hunter was awarded the Levien Journalism grant, part of the Williams Alumni-Sponsored Internship Program and worked at ABC News, where she was a digital media and political intern. Sara Just, a senior producer at ABC, said Hunter has a combination of attributes that will help her succeed in the world of journalism: "the right blend of intellectual curiosity, attention to detail, fearless work ethic, and sparkle of enthusiasm."
When the college announced the new fellowship, it said, "Today the field of journalism is under siege -- battered by commercial pressures, public antipathy, and its own painful failings. An award that in some small way goes against this grain, by helping a promising young person into the field, would not only honor Jeff [Jones], but would most certainly have pleased him."
And, as Hunter puts it, "I am confident my generation will successfully tackle the new age of media; I plan to be a part of it."
