Henry Luce Foundation Awards Special Grant to FIU’s Kopenhaver Center for New Mentorship Initiative

Leadership Fellows Program to ignite the careers of female Hispanic/Latina media professionals

NORTH MIAMI, FL – The Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at Florida International University (FIU) today announced it has received a $30,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to fund its Leadership Fellows Program to advance Hispanic women media professionals in their careers. The funds will support the resources needed for the mentorship program for a 12-month period starting September 2015.

The Leadership Fellows Program is a yearlong mentorship plan that pairs up-and-coming female media professionals of Hispanic or Latina descent with three to five years of work experience with top executives who have been in the business for 10 years or more. The initial group of 10 mentees will gain the benefits of one-on-one guidance, feedback, resources, and workshop training that will allow them advance and accelerate their media careers and expand their leadership opportunities.

Mentors selected for the program will, in turn, have the opportunity to share valuable experiences accumulated throughout years of successful careers and provide coaching and insight to the next generation of media professionals. The connections they forge with their mentees will help strengthen the future of the media industry, build their network among younger professionals, and offer new perspectives on the rapidly evolving communication fields.

“We are very honored to receive this special grant from the Henry Luce Foundation for our Leadership Fellows Program,” said Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, founder and executive director of the Kopenhaver Center. “With this pilot program, we hope to continue upholding the Foundation’s own pursuit of exemplary service, knowledge, and leadership by instilling young Hispanic/Latina women with the means for success in today’s media-driven world.”

“The Henry Luce Foundation’s grant recognizes the excellent work done by the SJMC and the Kopenhaver Center in the area of leadership training for female communication professionals,” said Raul Reis, Dean of FIU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “It will allow the Center to continue its important and innovative mentorship program.”

“By launching this program we hope to equip our mentees with the necessary impetus, build their confidence and professional skills to further pursue leadership positions in the local and national media industries. With the help of experienced mentors, our mentees will learn ways to overcome possible boundaries they might face in the future in their journey,” added Sigal Segev, Associate Director at the Kopenhaver Center.

The program will begin with a two-day Leadership Institute held at the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication at FIU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication in September 2015. The Institute will provide the initiates with an introduction to skill building in leadership and an opportunity to network with the full class of mentors and mentees. The fellows will return to campus twice during the year for daylong training intensives, one dedicated to media technology, the other to entrepreneurship. Throughout the year, fellows and their mentors will schedule at least one day a month for in-person shadowing and meetings. Additional phone calls and check-ins can be scheduled as needed. The program concludes in August 2016 with a daylong workshop at FIU for a discussion of best practices. All expenses for the program will be covered by the Foundation grant.

For more information on the Leadership Fellows Program, or to download the Application Forms, please visit: http://www.kopenhavercenter.org/programs/leadership-fellows-program/

Applications are due by May 1, 2015, to Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver, executive director, Kopenhaver Center, FIU School of Journalism and Mass Communication, kopenhav@fiu.edu.

 # # #

Media Contact:

Carlos Folgar
EMAIL: cfolgar@fiu.edu