Aug. 12: WPI fellows arrive in the Twin Cities.
Aug. 14: Welcome picnic and gathering with Minneapolis/St. Paul host families.
Aug. 15: Orientation to the program with David McDonald and WPI staff.
Aug 16-21: On University of St. Thomas campus with former WPI director John Ullmann discussing American journalism, investigative reporting, computer-assisted reporting and more. Also meeting with Eric Ringham of Minnesota Public Radio to discuss writing commentaries.
August 22-28: Visit to Ely, in northern Minnesota, for a community forum and a few hours at a Outward Bound, a center teaching outdoor survival skills. Later in the week a visit to Minnesota Public Radio, the leading regional public radio network in the country, and a visit to 3M Company in suburban St. Paul along with dinner with the WPI Board of Directors.
August 29-Sept. 3: A trip to Muscatine, Iowa, for a meeting with foreign affairs experts of the Stanley Foundation and a visit to a local farm. Later in the week the journalists will meet with a panel of local professors and journalists who will discuss Minnesota and national politics and the importance of the 2012 elections. They will also hear from U.S. District Judge John Tunheim, an expert on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. They’ll visit Cargill and meet the company’s CEO. They’ll conclude the week with two University of St. Thomas journalism professors talking about environmental reporting and journalism ethics.
Sept. 5-7: Los Angeles for visits to Public Radio's Marketplace, LA Times, and Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California.
Sept. 8-10: In San Francisco, highlights include a visit to Google; Bay News, an online news service and partner of The New York Times; the Center for Investigative Reporting; and a visit to Stanford University.
Sept. 11-13: Boston for a visit to the Boston Globe, PBS’s “Frontline,” BBC World, and Global Post, an international online news service.
Sept. 14-18: In New York, the fellows will visit The New York Times, Bloomberg News, ProPublica, Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, the United Nations, and more.
Sept. 18-21: Washington, D.C., to visit members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation, political experts, the Washington Post, a major all-news radio station, the Atlantic Magazine, and the Newseum, a center of journalism history.
Sept. 22-23: Atlanta for a visit to CNN World Headquarters, Coca Cola and the Carter Center and Library.
Sept. 24-Sept. 27: In Miami, the fellows will visit the Miami Herald and Univision, the largest Spanish language TV and online network.
Sept. 28-Oct.1: Chicago where visits may include the Mercantile Exchange, another online news partner of the New York Times, Obama national re-election headquarters, political and immigration experts and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
Oct. 2-7: Back to the Twin Cities for visits with St. Thomas faculty and students, other Minnesota companies and organizations, an open forum, and a graduation ceremony.