Meet Our New TV Adjunct, Prof V. Goes Back to School…and More

Dante Higgins in action.

Professor Higgins of CBS–New at CCNY

As you may know, last year we added a television journalism class among our required courses for the CCNY Journalism minor. Students learn about the industry, the craft of reporting and writing for television and get hands-on camera and editing experience.

For two semesters, Sumi Aggarwal, a producer at 60 Minutes taught the course. Her class is challenging, popular and includes a CBS tour!

Sumi Aggarwal (in black dress) with students.

Professor Aggarwal is taking a break this semester, and we’ve been fortunate (again) to welcome Dante Higgins to fill in as a visiting adjunct. Professor Higgins is a talented, experienced journalist and passionate educator. He is a producer for network news at CBS, where he covers a variety of stories. In 2008, he was embedded with Senator John McCain on the presidential campaign trail–and survived–and he has also worked for CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

You can learn more about Dante here.

Professor Villarosa Goes to Grad School!

Yes, I’m in graduate school. Throughout my career, I was always too busy to get that master’s degree, and now that I’m also an academic, I need it. So over the past year, I’ve been at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism studying interactive media, with a concentration in Urban Affairs. It’s been wonderful and frustrating and tiring and humbling (I’m in with two former students, Regina Michelle and Mikhael Simmonds!) and ultimately a game-changer for me. Yes, I took Advanced Social Media, so follow me on Twitter @lindavillarosa.

I hope to graduate at the end of the year…or next year. Here’s a video I made about Trinity Cemetery, and another about my cat and dog. No snickering, but this is why Sumi and Dante teach TV journalism, not me.

 MCA’s New Master’s Program

Have you heard about BIC? It’s a master’s degree program MCA is rolling out next fall. This 36-credit, portfolio-driven degree in Branding + Integrated Communications has been designed as a laboratory, think tank and executive training ground. For more info, see the program blog.