Jerry Burns, editor of Blowing Rock’s Rocket since 1966, has announced his retirement.  During the 1930s and 1940s, the Rocket was a summer newspaper and a student from the journalism school here in Chapel Hill was hired to edit the paper.  Today the school partners with the North Carolina Press Association in providing stories about Latino culture and business in the state.  Jock Lauterer’s community journalism class produces an online newspaper for Carrboro.  Jock’s class also serves as a bucket brigade for editors in need.  Last year the students helped write and edit the Spring Hope newspaper when editor Ken Ripley had surgery.  Editing teacher Andy Bechtel recruited students to work with Ryan Beckwith on the Raleigh News & Observer’s Under the Dome blog.  Ryan Thornburg’s students currently are working with several North Carolina papers to cover the statewide issue of high school dropouts.

The school’s association with the state press is a tradition worth keeping.  We hope to continue to be partners with the press as we wind our way through the difficult economic times and the dramatic industry changes of the early twenty-first century.

I just returned from a meeting of journalism and mass communication administrators in Mexico City. Every few years this group meets at an international location in an attempt to broaden curriculum and to embrace global education. This year was particularly interesting.

Alejandro Junco de la Vega, publisher of Reforma, spoke about the challenges journalists face in investigating corruption and drugs - narco-terrorism - in Mexico.

Others talked about partnerships between institutions in Latin America, Mexico and the United States. Prominent public relations personnel in Mexico discussed changes in the Mexican economy and how to shape the public relations message for the future. We visited the Monterrey Tec campus and the AP bureau.

At each stop, I regretted not being able to speak Spanish. I was in a taxi for about an hour from the Tec campus to the airport. And I couldn’t talk to the driver.

As a student, I was told that French was the most important language to know in addition to English. But times change. Now, the languages to know are Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin.

At home, we’re catching up. We encourage our students to study languages. Students with great language skills have greater opportunities at home and abroad.

And we’re leading by example. Every Friday morning about 14 faculty and staff gather to study Spanish in the school. We try to embrace the future. Learning to speak more than one language helps us do exactly that.

Emily Motley, a senior public relations student, has been named a finalist in the PRWeek Student of the Year competition sponsored by Hill & Knowlton.

Today she’s in New York City for the final round of competition. She is pitching the judges with a 30-minute campaign presentation, reacting to a mock crisis scenario, and pitching an international media outlet for her campaign.

She’s the third UNC-Chapel Hill student in three years - yes, that’s one per year - to make the cut in this national competition. Heather Forster was a runner-up in 2008, and Katie Test was a runner-up in 2007.

We’re all cheering for Emily today and tomorrow.