The student-run online newspaper will be under construction soon thanks to a Mellon grant English Lecturer Erica Dolson and Etownian staff were awarded.
“The editorial staff had expressed interest in redesigning the website,” Dolson said. “This staff of editors is talented and creative, and I am excited to see what they contribute to the design, too.”
Dolson and the students drafted a proposal entitled, “Redesign of the Etownian Website.” The grant was accepted as part of the Confronting Challenges with Confidence: Humanities in our World Today grant. It’s a part of the College’s efforts in implementing a Digital Humanities Initiatives program.
The Humanities program is designed to demonstrate how the humanities study promotes critical thinking, stimulates the imagination, and cultivates engaged citizens. The website redesign illustrates the College’s commitment to engage faculty members and students across the humanities in a systematic study using digital resources for research and dissemination.
“One of the goals for the new website is to have better sharing and multimedia capabilities,” Dolson said.
Other features the grant planning team is considering adding to the new site includes enhanced visuals with vibrant photographs, slideshows, videos and the potential of podcasts for users. It will be a digital newspaper where student writers will have the opportunity to showcase their creativity.
“The ultimate goal, once the website is up and running, is to illustrate the different ways to tell a powerful story – not just with words, but through images, video, and sound,” Dolson said. “I hope the project also gives our students experience with multimedia journalism.”
About the Mellon Humanities Grant
In spring 2014, the Andrew M. Mellon Foundation invited Elizabethtown College to apply for a grant “that would enable you to explore the ways and means of preserving the centrality of liberal education on your campus.”
Concerned about the shrinking student demand for a liberal arts education, the Foundation is interested in funding innovations in curriculum and pedagogy that attracts students to the arts and humanities.