Program Coordinators
The day-to-day operations of the Journalism program are overseen by two coordinators, who are also professors in the program. These two are the first point of contact for any questions or issues relating to admissions, course work, internships and career advice. Carey French is the contact for all initial admissions inquiries, as well as for first- and second-year students. Mike Karapita is the contact for all accelerated diploma students and for all final-year students.
Carey French
Carey French, Coordinator of the Journalism Program, is an award-winning journalist and educator, who has covered issues ranging from International Terrorism and War to Globalization on three continents. As an international news agency correspondent in southern Africa he reported on the struggle against Apartheid, before joining the Globe and Mail in 1976. In the following two decades his beats and columns included analysis and coverage of conflicts in Africa, South America and the Middle East; Arctic Sovereignty, the Environment, and International Fraud and Counterfeiting. He has taught at Humber for 18 years.
carey.french@humber.ca
Mike Karapita
Mike Karapita, Coordinator of the Journalism Program, has been at Humber and Guelph-Humber since 2004. A working journalist for over 20 years, he has worked in online, television, radio and print journalism. Mike was an invited speaker at World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications in Vienna, Austria in 2008, and again in Toronto in June of 2010. On both occasions, he spoke about Humber’s groundbreaking teaching work in online journalism. Mike has worked at the Canadian Press, CTV News, CBC News and Toronto 1 Television. He has been nominated for a Gemini and has also worked as a freelance travel writer for the National Post and the Canadian Press. He continues to work part time as a writer/editor for CBCNews.ca and a producer for CBC News Network. Mike holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Toronto’s Victoria College, and earned his Master’s Degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa.
mike.karapita@humber.ca
Our Staff
Salem Alaton
Salem Alaton has been teaching print journalism at Humber College and the University of Guelph-Humber since 2003 and became a full-time faculty member in 2006. Salem began his journalism career in 1981 as a features writer and arts reporter at The Globe and Mail. He was the first foreign-based arts correspondent ever posted by the Globe, reporting for four years from New York City. He is completing a Master’s thesis at York University on how news media commodify emotion.
salem.alaton@humber.ca
Terri Arnott
Terri Arnott joined Humber’s journalism faculty following a busy and fascinating career as a reporter/photographer, and editor of community news throughout Ontario as well as management positions in magazines. Specializing in the teaching of news and feature writing, editing and all aspects of print production and management, Professor Arnott has worked closely with students in the newsroom to produce weekly newspapers and award-winning magazines. A former Journalism coordinator and former president of the Ontario Journalism Educators’ Association, she has also taken a lead role in international projects and articulation. Terri completed her undergrad and post-grad journalism training at The University of Western Ontario and is now a doctoral candidate at Charles Sturt University in Australia.
terri.arnott@humber.ca
Jim Bard
It's nearing the end of the '50's decade and Orillia teen Jim Bard is in search of a career. Aviation intrigues him but so does journalism, and heh, he can already type. He packs his bag, pays his tuition at Ryerson Institute of Technology, (about 200 bucks), for the first year of a three year course. He learns that journalism is for him. His career since graduation from Ryerson’s class of '63 includes both newspaper and TV journalism in Toronto. There's been some freelancing too. His teaching career began - the year Elvis died, 1977, with a full-time stint at Humber ending in 1989 after three years as Journalism Coordinator. He's continued as a part-time teacher at Humber to this day. He must like it. Ask him.
Ken Becker
Ken began his journalism career in the mid-1960s as a copyboy with his hometown paper - the New York Times - and went on to become a reporter and editor in the United States and Canada with newspapers and wire services: United Press International and The Canadian Press. He later worked for 10 years as a writer and producer for CBC News. Ken has been a mentor and teacher for generations of journalists and journalism students.
Jennifer Buchanan
Jennifer has an extensive background in Broadcast Journalism that began more than two decades ago. With a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from Fanshawe College in London, she began her career in local radio. Not soon after, she made the jump to television with Rogers Cable where she not only worked as the anchor for their local community news station, but also as the News Director lining up the days news events and heading up a team of ten reporters. After more than a decade with Rogers, she moved on to A-Channel news, first as a seasoned reporter for the nightly news, then as the morning show host for A-Channel’s 3-hour live morning show. Jennifer has years of expertise in television reporting, communication, interviewing, story telling, scripting and editing and now runs her own media consulting business. She is currently working with the corporate head office of SNAP Newspaper Group helping them make the move from print media to video and web news.
jennifer.buchanan@humber.ca
Judy Charles
With experience in local and national radio and TV, as well as a proficiency in writing, Judy is a longtime Humber professor who enjoys working closely with students in a newsroom setting. Judy studied at Ryerson and earned her Master's degree at Athabasca University. A former Journalism program coordinator, she continues to work part time as a writer, lineup editor and producer for CBC Newsworld. Judy was honoured at Humber in Sept. 2010 with a Distinguished Faculty Award.
judy.charles@humber.ca
Joy Crysdale
Joy Crysdale has been teaching at Humber and Guelph-Humber for seven years. She was program director for a specialty channel at CTV, as well as executive producer at CBC, and won two Geminis and numerous international awards for her news, current affairs and documentary programs. The interactive specialty channel she helped create and run at CTV was lauded for its breakthroughs both creatively and technologically. Joy has also produced documentaries on everything from the health impact of the Chernobyl disaster to new discoveries in dinosaur science. Her first book, Fearless Female Journalists, was published in April, 2010.
joy.crysdale@humber.ca
John Fitzgerald
A Toronto writer, photographer and editor, John has held staff positions with the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Montreal Gazette and The Canadian Press. He has also worked on GUSTO!, the Globe’s National Magazine Award winning food and wine quarterly, and for Broadcast Week, among other publications.
Apart from his journalistic pursuits, John is also a painter; two of his abstract oil paintings appeared on wine labels for the Hillebrand winery.
john.fitzgerald@humber.ca
Pierre Hamilton
Pierre Hamilton is a copy editor/paginator with the National Post, where he gained employment prior to his graduation from Humber's accelerated journalism program in 2005. His design and production work pays the big bills, but it's the allure of freelance writing that first drew him to this career. Pierre also holds a media studies degree from the University of Western Ontario. He returned to Humber and Guelph-Humber in 2006 to oversee production of the GH Radix, while teaching newspaper and magazine design. He enjoys making podcasts, seeing concerts, reading books and articles, and travelling the world.
pierre.hamilton@humber.ca
Lara King
Lara King started teaching in the Humber journalism program in 1999. She has been a faculty adviser for the weekly newspaper Humber Et Cetera and eight award-winning magazines produced each year, gold crown winner Convergence magazine. Her professional experience has been with trade magazine. Before coming to Humber she was managing editor of Canada Computes! a series of technology news magazines in five cities across Canada. Lara is a graduate of the Humber program and is now working on her Masters in Communication Journalism.
lara.king@humber.ca
Peter Martyn
Peter Martyn has taught at Humber and the University of Guelph-Humber since 2007, and in Sheridan’s Canadian Journalism for Internationally Trained Writers program. Peter spent 21 years at Canada’s largest newspaper, the Toronto Star, where he was Deputy Foreign Editor from 1998-2007. Over a 40-year career, he held editorial, reporter and photographer positions in newsrooms in Canada and the U.S. In 2008 he earned the Master of Journalism degree from Carleton University in Ottawa; his thesis was titled “Get Your Mojos Working: How the techniques and technologies of mobile multimedia reporting affect the practice of journalism.” He has also driven from the Northwest Territories to the Beagle Channel – and back.
peter.martyn@humber.ca
Philip Mascoll
Philip is returning to teach with us again this fall, having taught in the past in both the Journalism and the Media Foundation programs. A veteran journalist, Philip, among other things, has been a writer and a copy editor for the Toronto Star. From 1987 onwards he averaged 200 plus bylines per year. These include breaking stories and spot news, in Canada and overseas, features, investigative reporting, court reporting, in-depth follow-ups of breaking stories. He has also served as an Assignment Editor and Assistant City Editor at The Toronto Star. In addition, Philip has also been a consultant for media in Canada and the United States on West Indian and Latin American political and general affairs and a columnist and writer for The Caribbean Times, Caribbean Life and Ethnic Focus magazines and The Jamaica Gleaner. He has appeared regularly as a guest on Toronto and Jamaican radio shows and has been a consultant on two documentaries by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and CTV. He also worked with BBC Scotland Frontline in March, 1998, on deportation segment.
philip.mascoll@humber.ca.
Siobhan Moore
Siobhan Moore has taught at Humber and Guelph-Humber since 2005. Before her move to the classroom, she spent 20 years working for newspapers in the Maritimes and Toronto. She has worked as a reporter, photographer, editor, replate editor, page designer, assignment editor, features editor and manager. Her last job was as the editor in charge of the Sunday Sun, Sun Media's largest circulation daily in Toronto. Siobhan earned her Masters of Arts in Journalism through the University of Missouri. Her thesis examined the impact the Toronto Star’s short-lived production of an electronic newspaper Star P.M. had on the routines and practices of Star journalists. Siobhan uses her working experiences and her academic research into the effects of new media and technology have had on newspapers to teach the next generation of journalists how to tell real stories about real people on any platform.
siobhan.moore@humber.ca
Kimberley Noble
Kimberley Noble is one of Canada's best-known business journalists. After 14 years as a reporter at The Globe & Mail's Report on Business, she spent several years at Maclean's magazine, where she was National Business Correspondent as well as a senior writer responsible for special business projects. She is now a regular freelancer for a number of publications including Toronto Life, Canadian Business and The Globe & Mail, and is working on a book under contract to McClelland & Stewart. In addition to other professional commendations, Noble's feature and investigative stories have been nominated for four National Newspaper Awards, of which she has won two.
kimberley.noble@humber.ca
Jackie Ruryk
Jackie started her journalism career more than 20 years ago as a reporter for the Guelph Mercury and the Markham Economist & Sun newspapers. She also worked at United Press Canada, UPI's Toronto bureau, first as a print reporter, and then as a writer and editor for the news agency's broadcast service. When the company was sold to the
Canadian Press, Jackie signed on for more reporting, editing, assigning and writing for radio and television clients. Since 1999, she has worked at the CBC in various jobs with the online news department. She has been
teaching journalism at Humber since 2004.
Alan Shanoff
Alan Shanoff is a practicing lawyer who has specialized in media law since his call to the Bar in 1978. He has represented numerous newspapers, magazines, television and radio stations giving pre-publication advice as well as in court. He has authored several articles on various media law issues.
Leslie Shepherd
Leslie is a senior editor and news manager with more than 25 years reporting, writing and editing experience in Canada, the United States and Europe. She is currently working as the Senior Public Relations Specialist at St. Michael's Hospital downtown. Her journalism career has included work as the deputy national editor at the Globe and Mail; Assistant Foreign Editor and Editor of The Loudoun Extra at The Washington Post, and Reporter-Editor at The Associated Press. She is a grad of the University of Western Ontario and the
University of Washington. leslie.shepherd@humber.ca
Renee Wilson
Renee Wilson is a Humber Journalism grad and has worked in various editorial positions at publications, including: Canadian House & Home magazine; Design Engineering magazine; The Toronto Star; Toronto Computes newspaper; and more. She has received several Best Of awards through Rogers Media Publishing and is currently a regular freelance writer for both Canadian Family and Today's Parent magazines. renee.wilson@humber.ca
Anne Zbitnew
Anne has been working as a photographer for over 25 years and teaching since 1990. She is currently responsible for the images on the Dove.com website and over 20 Dove websites around the world. She is most proud of her work as a mentor and teacher to youth involved with Leave Out Violence. Anne believes that image capture is about communication and perception and that discussing, capturing, cropping, enlarging, altering and collaging images can lead to self-discovery. Studying photography can lead to interest in social justice, other cultures and can establish unique ways to see and think. It can develop self-esteem and tell a story, define history, illuminate or mystify.
anne.zbitnew@humber.ca