Congratulations to JAWS president Mira Lowe on becoming the next dean of the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication at Florida A&M University (FAMU). She will assume her new role on Oct 22. Mira currently is assistant dean for Student Experiences and director of the Innovation News Center (INC) at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC).

Facebook for Journalists is a Society of Professional Journalists training program in partnership with Facebook, and JAWS is bringing this program to you this month. Join trainer and journalist J. Kyle Foster Wednesday July 28 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET for this workshop aimed at teaching the ways Facebook tools can help create and share incredible works of journalism, as well as engaging the public in the stories about their communities.

For the last 35 years, we at Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) have been supporting underrepresented journalists across the US — and beyond — with meaningful networking, advocacy, and personal and professional development. If you’re a 2020 or 2021 journalism graduate who self-identifies as a woman (cisgender and transgender) or non-binary person, we have a graduation gift to help kickstart your career.

WOW! What an incredibly successful Mother’s Day fundraiser! Past president Kat Rowlands offered to match the first $3,000 that came in during our Mother’s Day fundraiser. And you did it! You gave more than $3,000 -- honoring women who’ve inspired you, whether mothers or others. Kat doubled your donations, giving us $6,061 total in May.

In the 1970s, four dynamic journalists arrived at National Public Radio and began shaping a then-scrappy network, as well as demanding airtime and the right to do the kind of serious reporting often denied to women at the time. Instead of reciting headlines, journalists Linda Wertheimer, Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg and Cokie Roberts worked to explain the news and its impact, and to deep-dive topics like Washington politics, sexual harassment and the Supreme Court.

On this World Press Freedom Day, the members of Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS) add their voices of solidarity to the multitude of voices around the world in support of journalists who are targets of press freedom. We especially call on governments and law enforcement personnel to thoroughly investigate online attacks of women journalists. 

JAWS is packed with inspiring women who are blazing journalistic trails — drawing on the strength, love, support and inspiration we’ve gotten from our mothers and from other women who’ve been our models and our mentors. So for Mother’s Day, what better way to honor those women than to make a gift to JAWS — as part of this year’s 35 for 35 campaign?

JAWS and the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) will present A Freelancers Guide to Protections: Personal, Professional, and Financial Considerations on May 5. A one-hour panel discussion on freelancer protections starts at 6 p.m. ET and will be followed by another hour of breakout room conversations led by our panelists.

The JAWS Board of Directors has decided to host CAMP 2021 on Oct.15-17. Just like last year, it will be online and on demand. We know many of us were hoping we’d be able to meet again in person this year. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding travel, vaccinations and large in-person gatherings due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. An online event is the safest and most responsible way for us to gather during the pandemic.

Fran Lewine, one of the founding members of the Journalism & Women's Symposium, would have been 100 years old this month. JAWS has honored her over the years with the Fran Lewine Interview Project to record the stories of women who made a mark in journalism. Fran was a leader among women journalists in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, protesting discrimination against women in jobs and assignments.

The 9-hour time difference was causing Linda Ngari a problem. She managed to participate in several sessions of the 2020 JAWS virtual conference in December. But others she had to watch later, when it wasn’t the middle of the night in Kenya. Ngari is a fact checker for Africa Uncensored, an independent investigative online media outlet in Nairobi. She was one of 12 journalists who received an Alice Stipend that covered conference registration.

Couldn’t make it to CAMP? Register here for On-Demand access and watch all of the sessions at your own convenience. Tickets cost $50 and once you have registered, you will have access to all of the #CAMPOnDEMAND resources until December 2021.

As we prepare for our annual conference, members of Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS) are deeply saddened by the news that longtime member Betsy Wade passed away at home in Manhattan on Thursday, Dec. 3. Wade’s husband, James Boylan, told The New York Times that she had learned in 2017 she had colon cancer. A born and raised New Yorker, Wade was 91. Throughout her legendary, decades-long career, she fought for women’s rights, workplace protections and equal pay in newsrooms.

We’re saying everything you’ve kept — manuscripts, scripts, first drafts, second drafts, final drafts, calendars, pamphlets, minutes, reports, diaries, blogs, letters, emails, subject files, pink slips, rejected stories, photos, rants, websites, awards, travel schedules, notes, that entire stash of stuff you usually clean out or vow to return to someday — is beyond valuable. 

Before joining the JAWS Board I was rather timid and unsure of myself. What was this organization? How could I make a difference? Through the encouragement of Kate Gannon, the former regional captain of the Borderland JAWS group, I attended my first CAMP conference, a gathering that combines professional development, productive training, networking and invigorating speakers.  

For 35 years, JAWS has been a unique sisterhood, fostering connections between women journalists and supporting them in the profession. It has served as a source of information and inspiration, a place for women to share, care and dare to be themselves.

As we celebrate this milestone, look for special events on jaws.org  that celebrate our history of supporting the professional empowerment and personal growth of women and people who identify as women, along with our dedication to diversity and inclusion. Here is a sneak peek at what is coming up …

This is what I know about the first JAWS gathering, 35 years ago this month at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado: As organizer Tad Bartimus led our troop of 15 up to a mountain cabin to hear Jean Gaddy Wilson report on the number of women in newsrooms and editor’s offices (bleak); as we sat around a campfire introducing ourselves (what an eclectic group!); as we laughed and grimaced and told stories of knowing joy in our profession despite the rotten ways we were often treated….I knew I was home.

Women journalists are facing unprecedented levels of hate and harassment online. Abusive trolls are joining forces to disproportionately target, intimidate, discredit, and silence women and those who also identify as LGBTQIA+, Indigenous, Black or other journalists of color. Building on PEN America’s Online Harassment Field Manual, this training session equips journalists, as well as their allies and employers, with practical tools and strategies to defend against online abuse.

The past few months have been challenging for all of us. COVID-19 has been particularly dangerous for women and women who identify as journalists, the UN reports, as incidences of violence have increased and more reporters experience online bullying and threats. In the face of these difficult times, the JAWS Board of Directors and Committees have been pushing on and making strides.