Spring Lowe Institute Openings: Economic Journalism
Description
The Lowe Institute of Political Economy is seeking students to join our Economic Journalists (EJs) to write and promote our blog, The Lowe Down during the spring semester. The Lowe Down is focused on quantitative analysis and illustration of data relevant to economics, politics, and public policy with a particular focus on Southern California and the Inland Empire. We take fivethirtyeight and the NY Times’ upshot blog as our models.
We are seeking 2 or 3 EJs to work with the existing group of 6 EJs and in concert with Professor Shelton. EJs are responsible for researching and writing posts for the Lowe Down under the direction of Professor Shelton. EJs would also be responsible, with the assistance of program coordinator Kelly Alexander and Professor Shelton, for promoting the blog to increase readership. This would be excellent preparation for jobs in any field using data analysis as well as jobs in journalism.
Students available on campus and for the bulk of the summer are preferred but there is some flexibility in location, hours, and weeks provided the ability to coordinate with the other EJs is not inhibited.
Qualifications:
In all cases, the institute seeks committed individuals with a genuine interest in using data to answer questions of relevance to academia, business, and policy. Good candidates will be able to execute open-ended directions and will display initiative in solving problems while asking for help when needed. Good candidates will be able to generate and follow-up on interesting ideas, will have experience with statistical analysis, and will be interested in all aspects of the job from research to effective communication to promotion. Successful completion of Econ 50 is required. Further courses in economics and government are encouraged, especially statistical analysis (Econ 120, Econ 125, Gov 55).
Allowed School Years: Sophomore, Junior, Senior
Allowed Majors: All
Work Authorization requirements: US work authorization required
Pay: $12 – $14/hour
Duration: through the spring 2019 semester
Hours: 4 to 8 hours/week
Applicants should complete and submit through the portal below one single PDF file with the follow items: 1) A cover letter of no more than one page describing your interest in the position and your availability, 2) an unofficial transcript, 3) a one page description of an idea for a post, with attention paid to how it would fit with our themes—data, illustration, etc. If you have questions, please email Kelly Alexander at kalexander @ cmc dot edu.
Applications due: Wednesday, February 20th, 2019
Application deadline extended until Friday, February 22, 2019.
Applicants who pass a first round will be contacted by the Director, Cameron Shelton, for an interview.
