Magazine Association Establishes Endowment to Assist UM Students

Samir Husni (left), director of the UM Magazine Innovation Center, and magazine students Kiara Manning, Hannah Hurdle, Brittany Abbott and Daniel Dubuisson (right) visit with Susan Russ (second from right), MPA senior vice president of communications, at the association’s headquarters in New York. The four students are the first recipients of a new MPA grant. Submitted photo

The Association of Magazine Media has awarded a $25,000 endowment to the University of Mississippi’s Magazine Innovation Center to launch a fund that will support the next phase of magazine education through the Meek School of Journalism and New Media.

The award is earmarked to assist with the cost of educational internship expenses and travel, up to $1,500 per student. It is to be awarded to as many as four students each summer.
“The beauty of the deal between MPA and the Magazine Innovation Center is that it helps remove one major stumbling block from the pursuit of a career in magazines,” said Samir Husni, journalism professor and Magazine Innovation Center director. “Every semester, we have eager and talented students who want to enter the magazine media field, and are offered wonderful internship opportunities, but can’t afford the cost of travel or stay in the major cities to get started.”
This year’s inaugural recipients are Brittany Abbott, a senior majoring in journalism and English from Holly Springs; Daniel Dubuisson, senior journalism major from Pass Christian; Hannah Hurdle, senior journalism major from Oxford; and Kiara Manning, senior journalism major from Jackson. The award made it possible for the four to participate in the Magazine Media Making May intersession course, a two-week class, last month in New York.
MPA is a trade group with more than 150 members in the magazine media industry. The organization serves as an advocate and voice for magazine brands by promoting leadership and strategies while amplifying the research supporting the effectiveness and credibility of magazines.
Through its work, MPA attracts students to careers in magazine media. Many students are interested in pursuing internships, but sometimes the cost of travel and extended stay in places such as Manhattan can be a deterrent.
Even a little bit of money can go a long way for students, said Linda Thomas Brooks, president and CEO of the trade group.
“Internships are vital for the career-starting process, but the expenses associated with the experience can make them prohibitive,” Thomas Brooks said. “There are tons of smart, young students who dream of working in magazine media, and MPA wanted to give some of them a path to make that happen.”
The group’s members felt enough of a need for an internship assistance program at the Magazine Innovation Center that they worked with Husni to make their donation an endowment that can support many semesters of students. The award helps fulfill MPA’s desire to recruit students to the magazine media industry while directly supporting the university’s strategic goals to enhance student success.
Individuals or organizations interested in the Internship Assistance Program can contribute to the endowment to benefit future students by contacting Husni at hsamir@olemiss.edu.
About Magazine Innovation Center
The Magazine Innovation Center, founded in 2009 at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi, is an international collaboration linking the best thinkers in publishing, marketing, printing, advertising and distribution. It seeks to generate focused innovation in magazines and other print media. The magazine and magazine media industry employ the world’s great minds. The center will channel their creativity and intellect (away from the grinds of everyday work and challenges) to provide blueprints for productive change.
About MPA
MPA – The Association of Magazine Media is the primary advocate and voice for the magazine media industry, driving thought leadership and game‐changing strategies to promote the industry’s vitality and increase its revenues and market share. Established in 1919, MPA represents more than 150 domestic, associate and international members. MPA is headquartered in New York City, with a government affairs office in Washington, D.C.

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