Chris Evans

Hi, I’m Chris Evans. <— Click my name to shoot me an email!

No, these aren't my university students! This is the newspaper staff at Edmunds Elementary School, where I helped to create Paw Print Press. Click the photo to see our site!

I advise Student Media at the University of Vermont.

This site has been created to help students and others who help The Vermont Cynic, our student-run newspaper, WRUV-FM,our student-run radio station and UVMtv, our student-run television station.

ABOUT ME

Here’s a brief version of my resume, which I’d use if applying for a job in journalism or media.

THE JOURNALISM RESUME

And then here’s a version of the exact same resume but geared toward an academic audience. We call it:

THE CURRICULUM VITAE

SOME NEWS CLIPS:

1. RECENT ONLINE CLIPS:

As a professor teaching new media, I decided to start writing for Suite101, one of many online services offering news-type articles for general internet consumption.

Start Out Right With the School Newspaper. Mar 27, 2010.

Advice From Authors: Write Like a Jazz Musician. March 26, 2010.

How to Write a Press Release. March 22, 2010.

To Write a Novel, Trust Heritage and Voice. March 20, 2010.

The New Journalism Skill Set. Jan. 30, 2010.

Create an Online Portfolio Today. Jan. 8, 2010.

2. FREEDOM FORUM CLIPS:

I had the privilege of  working for the Freedom Forum during the too-brief life of the NYC First Amendment Center. Here are a few of my stories from that time.

Maxwell L. Anderson, Ken Paulson and Bill T. Jones on May 8, 2001, in an interview at the NYC First Amendment Center.

Don’t torpedo dissent in aftermath of attacks, free-speech pioneer Phil Donahue urges. Sept. 26, 2001.

Panel examines state of religious freedom in U.S. Sept. 10, 2001.

Documentary explores music’s ties to sex, society, censorship. Aug. 1, 2001.

Ruling on Web-link legality troubles some on panel. June 14, 2001.

Mike Wallace defends integrity of today’s journalism. May 25, 2001.

Edward Albee — always uncensored. May 21, 2001.

Seigenthaler: First Amendment protects free society, not just free press. May 21, 2001.

Faith-based initiative may be more curse than blessing, panelists say. May 11, 2001.

Choreographer Bill T. Jones dances between artistic truth and audience acceptance. May 10, 2001.

Blaming the media: What role does entertainment play in societal violence? May 2, 2001.

3. YELLOWING OLD-SCHOOL CLIPS:

I spent the first five years of my professional journalistic life writing for Florida Today, among other papers. Though you won’t be able to find these clips online—it was the 1990s, after all—I’ve reproduced them here for your enjoyment.

Teacher sex case: Who knew? When?  Nov. 7, 1995.

Working for schools, not kudos. (Profile: David Sawyer, superintendent of Brevard County, Fla., schools.) Feb. 25, 1995.

Breaking news: Waterspout touches down near Titusville: Waterspout touches down near Titusville. Aug. 23, 1993.

ABOUT MY STUDENTS

I am proudest of the work that I have been able to do for students. In my five years at UVM, we have seen some remarkable growth:

• At The Cynic, with its 127-year legacy, students have vastly improved their product, presentation and professionalism. When I started in 2006, we had no business or advertising staff, and now our business side is a well-tuned machine with a dozen regular student staffers. During this same time, our news department transformed from its opinion-heavy focus into a balanced communicator of news, sports, features and opinion. The Cynic has been named as a finalist in two national “Best of Show” competitions with College Media Advisers, and our interns and grads have begun landing in some impressive places, from USA Today and The Boston Globe  to the graduate journalism program at Columbia University in New York, N.Y. Moreover, in just five years, the newsroom has transformed from a “boys’ club”—with only one female manager out of eight top positions—to better represent the female-dominant nature of our campus. In fact, in 2009, the Cynic elected its first female editor-in-chief in more than 20 years.
• At WRUV, which has played for more than a half-century at UVM, student leadership development had largely fallen by the wayside, which meant that the joys and burdens of managing a 24/7 college radio station had largely fallen onto the backs of our volunteer DJs, who are members of the Burlington and wider Vermont communities. I am proud to say that the students have re-assumed the management and leadership roles they were due and to which they are now beholden. Not only are students learning   supervisory skills, their more youthful perspective has started to modernize the station in a way unrealized in the previous 20 years.
• At UVMtv, which started in 2001, we have tripled membership in just five years and bargained with the university to move us from some unused basement rooms in a residence hall to the most prominent place in our brand-new student center, where thousands of students can enter it every day.
• In all three organizations, students have learned how to truly lead their peers rather than just “go with the flow.” As a result, each organization has seen a dramatic increase in its membership and financial budget numbers: membership is stable from the beginning of the year to the end, with a clear line of succession, and the organizations have transformed their budgets so that they never end the year in debt but instead come out several thousand—or, at times, tens of thousands—of dollars ahead at the end of each fiscal year. I can say without hesitation that each of these organizations has become stronger and more dynamic in the past five years, thanks to incredible effort by our student leaders.