Teacher, journalist, and author Susan Tifft (T ‘73) served on the faculty of the Sanford School of Public Policy as the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism from 1998 until her death in 2010. Throughout her career as a journalist (Time Magazine) and later as an author chronicling America’s great newspaper dynasties (The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty and The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times), Tifft was laying the groundwork for her true calling, that of an inspirational teacher and mentor to Duke students.
The Susan E. Tifft internship and research grants carry on the work she loved and challenge future Duke students to think hard about the questions she excelled in asking and the field she helped to advance.
Susan E. Tifft Internship Grants
Made possible through the generous support of Alex S. Jones.
Duke undergraduate students can apply for Tifft Internship funds for summer or semester-long internships with journalism or media organizations.
Application deadline for summer of 2013: Monday, April 15, 2013, 5:00 pm.
Semester funding requests should be submitted when a student confirms an internship opportunity.
Congratulations to the 2012 Tifft interns!
Rosalie Forman, T’13, International Comparative Studies
CBS News, New York
Emily Sobel, T’14, Public Policy Studies
News Intern, WTOP News/WFED Federal News Radio
Washington, DC
PROFILES OF 2011 TIFFT INTERNS
Susan E. Tifft Research Grants
Made possible through the generous support of Susan Tifft’s friends and students.
Tifft Research Grants support research by students in classes offered by Duke’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy or students working with the Center’s faculty.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis (no submission deadline).
2012 Tifft Research Grant Recipient
Nusaibah Kofar-Naisa, T’12
- Research Topic: “Working to Tell New Stories”
Kofar-Naisa will build upon her research for her senior honors thesis on communal responses to the illegal demolition of the historic Kofar Na Isa gate in Kano, Nigeria. She will also serve as Producer of the 2012 Students of the World National Team, to document life in Chiapas, Mexico and the Grenadines Islands, working with the Nature Conservancy. Kofar-Naisa’s research proposal explains: “Though the two projects discussed above take place in different parts of the world and have different missions, they are connected at their roots as examples of how new stories from people not often heard can have grave impacts on how communities function and how change occurs. My proposed research combines these two experiences and asks the question, “What are the reasons, challenges, and effectiveness of telling ‘new stories’?‟”
2011 Tifft Research Grant Recipients
Conor J. Tolkin T’11
- Research topic: “The “Free” Flow of Information: Global Attempts at Internet Censorship”
Tolkin, together with Professor Kenneth Rogerson, presented a research paper at the International Studies Association meetings in Montreal: http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/4/9/9/4/2/pages499423/p499423-1.php
Taylor Knight T ’12
- Research topic: Media coverage of the health care reform debate
Knight utilized the Vanderbilt TV archives to explore media coverage of the national health care reform debate, comparing broadcast media coverage to print and electronic media coverage. Taylor’s research is ongoing.
For more information about the Tifft internship or research grants, please contact Shelley Stonecipher, at ude.ekudnull@rehpicenots.yellehs.
