Even though it finds jobs for more than a third of its graduates, the publishing certificate program at the City College of New York still struggles to attract funding, and its directors complain that even securing commitments for student internships from the New York book publishing industry is difficult.
Despite the program's struggles, David Unger, director of the PCP, said enrollment was "great" and praised the PCP's relationship with BEA and the Association of American Publishers, which have both worked to strengthen PCP's internship program.
The PCP program was launched at CCNY in hopes of attracting minority students to a publishing education program that would provide entry into the profession. With the help of author Walter Mosley and more than $200,000 in funding from New York trade houses, the program has produced about 62 graduates and placed about 25 of them in publishing jobs.
Students in the program take courses in editorial, design, marketing and advertising. Once done with coursework, they are placed in paid internships (a minimum of 150 hours of work is required) in their area of interest. In addition to a long list of visiting professionals, the faculty has included Malaika Adero, Chris Jackson, Lisa Healy, Tracy Sherrod and George Nicholson. Among the program's graduates are Mary Ann Jacobs, now with the National Book Foundation; Winfreda Mbewe at W.W. Norton; and Melissa Torres at S&S Children's Books.
However, in the wake of the September 11 attacks and the downturn of the book business, Unger said that many PCP graduates received pink slips, victimized by the "last hired, first fired" syndrome. The program is run on what Unger calls a "bare-bones budget" of $80,000 a year, and publishers have been slow to renew their support. "We'll be all right for a couple of years," Unger told PW, "but we need more support from the industry."
Unger and his associate director Catherine McKinley said that despite a good track record, it is often difficult to get publishers to provide internships for its students. Many houses, according to Unger, reserve internships for students associated with their own employees or will use interns only in certain departments, rather than placing the students in departments in which they register an interest. McKinley told PW that the PCP will fund internships if necessary, but lamented having to fund interns at large corporate houses. "Those funds should go to small houses or university presses."
McKinley said another problem is the high turnover rates in the human resources departments of publishers, which makes it difficult to establish "longstanding relations. We work with someone, they leave, and the new HR people see us as a social welfare program. We have to resell the program every year."
Unger acknowledged that PCP students may need help to adjust to the book industry. He described a publisher that would take "only students that could compete with Ivy League interns," as missing the point. "This isn't a sink-or-swim program," said Unger. "We're bringing people into publishing who need a bit of support. They're not from the Ivy League. They have a different background. We're a working-class, commuter school."
Lisa Staras Abrams, human resources manager at John Wiley, said working with PCP had been "very positive" and noted that "one intern has been hired for a full-time position" and "another is being considered." She said interns had "performed well."
McKinley said the program has 70 to 80 students currently taking classes and noted that the PCP is considered a "model program" within the City University system. The AAP, Unger said, is providing funds for internships and scholarships as well as providing special support to sponsor minority students interested in scholarly publishing.
Unger said he would love to work "with other publishing education programs" and said the program will unveil a multipurpose resource room, outfitted with a children's book library, reference section and computers, in December, made possible by a $25,000 gift from Bernard Mazel of Bernel Books.
