Teresa Puente
“These are
challenging times in journalism, but it’s a time of great opportunity to be
entrepreneurial and creative.”
http://www.colum.edu/Academics/faculty-profiles/teresa-puente.php
photos
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Written by Chris
Terry, Fiction Writing
Even if the
newspapers are getting smaller, journalism is getting bigger. Teresa Puente,
assistant professor in the Journalism department, is exploring the emerging use
of new technologies through the diverse subjects covered in her courses -
multimedia, ethnic media and travel writing. Puente wants her students to be
aware of opportunities as they move into this ever-changing field.
“I feel fortunate
to play a role in revising and creating curriculum. Diversity is very important
to me. I want to include it in any class. Tech is very important as a tool to
enhance story telling, but first and foremost, the written word is important.”
In 2008, with a
grant from the McCormick Foundation and J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive
Journalism, Puente launched Latina-Voices.com. The site focuses on the voice of
Latina women in the media and Puente’s Latina Voices class serves as an
incubator for new contributors. Puente is working to build a network of Latina
writers in Chicago and is currently reaching out to bloggers and writers across
the country with the hopes of having both national and regional features on the
site.
Puente has
received several grants to develop new media projects and she tells people who
are developing projects that, “It’s just a matter of having an idea and
figuring out a way to fund it. People in the foundation world are actively
funding new media.”
In addition to
Latina Voices, Puente writes an independent blog for ChicagoNow.com called Chicanísima. The blog launched in May of
2009, coincidently on the day President Barack Obama nominated Latina judge
Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.
“I think this
news event really spoke to the need to have a Latina viewpoint on politics and
culture, being that she is the first Latina nominated, and fortunately
confirmed, to the Supreme Court. I wrote a lot about her nomination and my blog
got a lot of attention because of that. I was interviewed by the AP, plus radio
stations in Chicago and California.”
Prior to joining
the faculty at Columbia, Puente worked at the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago
Sun-Times, and taught at the Tecnologico de Monterrey in Guadalajara.
“A cool thing
about coming to Columbia was moving from old-fashioned journalism to
multimedia. I’ve grown as a journalist and it sets a good example for students
to see multimedia journalism. There are lots of opportunities to create your
own media.”