For the fourth time, a student at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism has been selected for a summer internship sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York at the award-winning Brian Ross investigative unit of ABC News. Selly Thiam, a Class of 2011 student in the International Reporting program, is one of just four graduate journalism students nationally chosen for the 10-week internship, which carries a $7,500 stipend.

Selly Thiam

In his letter nominating Thiam for the honor, Dean Stephen B. Shepard called her “a strong student with a passion for in-depth reporting, vivid writing, and extraordinary dedication to quality journalism.” He also cited her substantial skill in producing audio and video stories.

Raised in Chicago by her Senegalese immigrant father and American-born mother, Thiam graduated from Columbia College, Chicago, with a B.F.A. in Creative Writing. While in college, she tutored students in the Chicago public school system.

Before enrolling in the CUNY J-School, she was an independent reporter for National Public Radio (WBEZ Chicago,) producing stories on international issues and immigrant communities. Next, she moved to New York to work for StoryCorps, creating numerous broadcasts for NPR’s Morning Edition and segments for the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History. She then became a new media producer for Learning Matters/PBS, developing web videos and audio podcasts for educational segments on PBS. This semester she is interning at NY 1, helping to produce profiles of prominent New Yorkers.

While working and studying at the J-School, Thiam has also directed an ongoing four-year project documenting the plight of gay and lesbian Africans. She has traveled widely in Africa, recording stories and documenting abuse for an oral history archive called “None on Record: Stories of Queer Africa.”

Thiam is scheduled to receive her Master of Arts degree in Journalism in December. She is very interested in broadcast, multimedia reporting, and documentary film-making.

Previous Carnegie Fellows at ABC News from CUNY were Class of ’07 graduate Angela Hill, who now works as a full-time producer and reporter on the Brian Ross staff; Kieran Krug-Meadows (’09,) who is on the production team for Democracy Now; and Nadia Sussman (’10,) who is interning for The New York Times video unit while completing a fourth semester at the J-School.