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Feb. 17, 2015 – “Honoring Ida: Celebrating the Legacies of Ida Tarbell and Ida B. Wells-Barnett,” the third annual journalism conference at Allegheny College, will bring together students and experts to honor investigative journalists Ida Tarbell and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. The conference on March 6-7 is free and open to the public and requires no preregistration.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1857, Ida Tarbell was the only woman in her 1880 graduating class at Allegheny College. She exposed the illegal practices of the Rockefeller trust in her groundbreaking work “The History of the Standard Oil Company.” Born in Mississippi in 1862, Ida B. Wells-Barnett reported on lynching in the South. An advocate for women’s rights and suffrage, she also helped block the establishment of segregated schools in Chicago.

Women journalists will serve as speakers, mentors and coaches during the conference. In addition, on Friday, March 6, journalism students from Allegheny College, Ohio University and the University of Mississippi will team up to report in Meadville on local women who make a difference in the community. The invited journalists will work as mentors with students to produce multimedia pieces that will debut at the end of the conference.

“During last year’s conference, ‘The Story Next Door,’ Ohio University and Allegheny College students worked on documenting local stories in Meadville. Many of the students stayed up all night working on their projects and have stayed in touch since,” said Cheryl Hatch, visiting professor of journalism in the public interest at Allegheny College. “It was, and will continue to be, a great thing for the students, which is our goal: training and inspiring the next generation of storytellers and journalists.”

Conference presentations will be held in the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts. The schedule includes:

• “A Different War: Liberia in the time of Ebola,” at 7 p.m. on March 6, with Cheryl Hatch, a photojournalist who teaches at Allegheny College. Hatch recently visited Liberia to cover the U.S. military’s efforts to help the Liberian government combat Ebola.

• “Delta Jewels: One woman’s journey, many women’s voices,” at 10:30 a.m. on March 7, with photojournalist Alysia Burton Steele, who teaches at the University of Mississippi. Her book “Delta Jewels” highlights the lives of 50 Mississippi Delta church mothers. Steele was a photo editor at The Dallas Morning News when the photography team won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath.

• “WWID: What would Ida do?” at 2 p.m. on March 7, with award-winning photojournalist Peggy Peattie, whose work at the San Diego Union-Tribune focuses on the border region, the environment, the homeless, the military and San Diego’s ethnically diverse communities.

• “Honoring Ida,” a presentation at 7:30 p.m. on March 7, with students presenting the results of their previous day’s work documenting women of Meadville. The presentation will be preceded by a reception at 6:30 p.m.

Also serving as a mentor during the conference will be Stan Alost, an associate professor in the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University who has extensive experience as a photo editor, photojournalist and designer.

Alost and his OU colleague Josh Birnbaum will be bringing to the conference a team of six graduate and undergraduate students who are giving up their spring break to participate. “It is an honor for the Ohio University School of Visual Communication to collaborate with Allegheny College in this event,” he said. “Our students and faculty love the art and craft of visual storytelling. This conference provides a unique opportunity to collaborate with other students and professionals exploring the wonderful community of Meadville.”

Students will also benefit from the experience and expertise of local photojournalist Richard Sayer, who, with Cheryl Hatch, has helped organize all three of the journalism conferences at Allegheny. “We would like students to push themselves outside their comfort zone,” he said, “and take advantage of the great opportunity they have to work with world-class journalists as well as aspiring journalists from other schools.”

For more information on “Honoring Ida” – or to suggest story ideas – contact Cheryl Hatch at chatch@allegheny.edu or 814-332-3237. Community members who want additional information on how to participate can learn more at https://sites.allegheny.edu/honoringida/ and on Facebook, using the key words Honoring Ida.