Yale Law School Announces 2000-2001 Recipients of Knight Fellowships in Law for Journalists

Yale Law School has announced the recipients of the Knight Fellowships in Law for Journalists for the 2000-2001 academic year: Ashbel S. Green, a reporter for The Oregonian; Christi Parsons, a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune; and Thom Rose, a producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Ashbel S. Green has been a reporter for The Oregonian since 1987. Most recently, his assignments have covered the federal courts, the state appellate courts and legal affairs. In 1999, Green and his colleagues shared numerous awards for spot news and deadline reporting for their coverage of the 1998 shootings at Thurston High School. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Christi Parsons has been a staff writer with the Chicago Tribune since 1989, and has been Illinois State House reporter since 1995. A magna cum laude journalism graduate of the University of Alabama, she interned with the Tuscaloosa News, the Birmingham News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is the recipient of several journalism honors, including the Peter Lisagor Award for her coverage of impeachment proceedings against an Illinois Supreme Court justice; and the Bell Award for her coverage of mental health issues.

Thom Rose has been a producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation since 1988. He has covered world events for CBC Radio as both a field producer, including assignments in Vietnam, Russia, Israel, England and Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the United States; and as a senior producer at CBC Radio Network headquarters in Toronto.

He is currently senior foreign affairs producer for the CBC National Radio current affairs program, “As It Happens.” Rose is an honors graduate of the University of Ottawa.

The Knight Fellowship program brings mid-career journalists to Yale Law School for an academic year to take courses and participate in seminars and other activities that will improve their understanding of legal and policy issues in order to enhance their legal reportage. Fellows who complete this course of study earn the degree of Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.). The Knight Fellowship at Yale is the only journalism fellowship that offers a master’s degree in law upon completion of the fellowship program.

This fellowship program was established to allow a select group of journalists to step back from the urgency of deadlines for a time and to learn about the law in depth. Thanks to the generous support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, fellowships include a stipend to cover living expenses during the fellowship year. In addition, in accordance with the fellowship program’s mission to enrich legal reporting, Yale Law School provides full-tuition grants to fellows who return to journalism after completing their year of study.

During the course of the year, fellows receive the basic foundations of a standard legal education, and have the opportunity to take elective courses that focus on their areas of interest. Fellows study alongside students in Yale’s J.D. and LL.M. programs, meet frequently with members of the Yale Law School faculty for informal discussions, and have the opportunity to organize panel discussions and events, and to meet as a group with legal experts and other speakers who visit Yale.

Applications for the 2001-2002 Fellowships in Law for Journalists program will be accepted until January 5, 2001. For further information, please contact Fellowships in Law for Journalists, c/o Yale Law School, Box 208215, New Haven, CT 06520-8215; via email to gradpro.law@yale.edu; or by telephone at (203) 432-1696