If you’re my student in Journalism 199 (Research in Journalism), you may now get your class cards and unclaimed papers from the department.

For students who incurred an INC in the previous two semesters, kindly submit your lacking requirements before the end of October. I will be very busy in the first week of November so I will not have time to compute your final grade should you delay the submission of your lacking requirements. Please also don’t forget to fill out and submit a completion form.

Thank you for your attention.

If you’re my student in J 117 (Online Journalism) and J 200 (Thesis), you may now get your class cards from the department. (Yes, I haven’t blogged in a while since I was busy computing your final grades.)

By the way, I have speaking engagements on October 19 (Friday) and 20 (Saturday) within and outside Manila so I won’t be in the campus starting tomorrow. I will be back from my out-of-town trip on October 23 (Monday).

Should you need to talk to me before Monday - and that goes also for my other students in J 199 (Research in Journalism) and J 300 (Thesis-MA level) - please call through my mobile phone as I may not have access to the Internet.

Thank you for your attention.

Consider this post a mish-mash of important announcements and inconsequential (read: shameless!) plugs.

For students who are asking me my schedule for the first semester of Academic Year 2007-2008, I will only be teaching three undergraduate courses, to wit:

Journalism (J) 117 TWX
Online Journalism
Tuesdays, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Beltran News Room (BNR)

J 199 HUV
Research in Journalism
Thursdays, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
M 203

J 199 HWX
Research in Journalism
Thursdays, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
A 101

Of course, I will also serve as undergraduate thesis adviser.

I will not be handling any graduate courses, and my only involvement with graduate students in the coming semester will be as master’s thesis adviser to some of them (sorry if I can’t tell exactly how many I have right now, as some of my master’s thesis advisees have not contacted me for quite a long time).

With regard to media appearance, I was interviewed last April 20 (Friday) by the Associated Press Television News (APTN) regarding my views on South Koreans studying in the Philippines. The University of the Philippines (UP), after all, has quite a number of South Korean students and some of them are even enrolled in our College under a student-exchange program. Yes, the interview was an offshoot of the shooting rampage at VirginiaTech (located in southwestern Virginia, USA) last April 16 where a Korean student killed 32 people before committing suicide.

I have known the journalist who interviewed me since our Philippine Collegian days. Before the actual interview, he told me that he got in touch with me since he saw me on television in the past. This reminds me of the time when I had dinner at a fastfood chain three years ago and the cashier asked me if I’m “Danny Arao” who was interviewed on a television news program. (Ah, the power of television! But I digress…or do I?)

Incidentally, my taping for an upcoming television show will start on Friday (April 27). I was asked to serve as one of the board of judges for this show, the details of which I will post in the next few days.

Clue: This particular show was cancelled last year even if it had a wide following among students and those who prefer quality programming on television. I am very happy to be part of its re-launching sometime in May, so please visit this blog again in the next few days for my announcement, this time bereft of any “blind spots.”