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Classes started early
for SJMC faculty and staff. Last week faculty participated in a video
production and a media ethics workshop, while staff shored up their grammar and
proofreading skills. These professional development opportunities were possible
thanks to the generosity of John E. "Jack" Holden ('48) and a grant
from the Ethics & Excellence Foundation.
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January 2009
Bylines Briefly
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"Uncertain" doesn't begin to describe the current state of the news business this month. How
does a journalism school respond to weekly news of sales, bankruptcies
or closures of some of the most respected newspapers in the country?
Not by wringing its hands, and certainly not by sitting on them. The faculty has already met this month to start rethinking the ways we prepare our students for media work. We're
far from laying out details, but I think it's safe to say we want our
students to be able to better adapt their media majors to careers that
will break traditional media boundaries--without losing sight of
the values and skills which make journalism and media so
important to our democratic society. Stay tuned; as they're saying in Washington, change is in the wind!
Paul S. Voakes
Dean
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SJMC Launches New Career Series
The SJMC's New Career Series is designed to help students and alumni approach this competitive media market with confidence. Spring sessions include presentations and panels on multimedia, freelancing and nailing the job interview.
"New Opportunities in New Media" Wednesday, Jan. 28, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., in Continuing Ed room 140. Panelists include Tim Skillern, news director for AssociatedContent.com and former Rocky Mountain News multimedia produce; and Christine Tatum, editor-in-chief of Infoition News Services, Inc., a provider of business news and information to dozens of Fortune 500 companies, congressional lawmakers, trade associations and law firms, and Efrem Rodriquez ('07) of JohnstonWells PR. He handles emerging media, online communications and Web interfaces.
"How to Nail the Job Interview" Wednesday, Feb. 11, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., in Humanities 135.
Find out how to stand out in a crowded job market. Gary Burandt, executive director of an international network of ad agencies and member of the school's advisory board, will share the secrets to rocking the interview.
A panel on "Going it on Your Own: the Freelance Life" is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 25, in Humanities 135.
Alumni are invited to these and all SJMC events throughout the semester including the March 11 Career Day at the UMC.
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Final Call
We welcome nominations for the 2009
Distinguished Alumni Award. This annual award recognizes alumni for
extraordinary achievement and ongoing support for the School. Send your
nomination soon to Bylines@Colorado.edu with "Distinguished Alumni" in the subject line. Tell us in two to three
sentences why your nominee deserves this recognition. |
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Advertising for Independent Eyes
If you make it to the Sundance Film Festival this month, take a look at the end credits of the feature-length documentary The Cove and you'll see the names of 17 CU students. Brett Robbs' fall 2008 Advertising Campaigns class developed viral and online branding materials for The Cove. To say thanks, the film's director Louie Psihoyos included their names in the film credits.
The Cove was one of only 16 feature-length documentaries accepted at Sundance out of more than 700 submitted. The film started as a project by the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) to document the world's oceans. But it became much more when Psihoyos, a renowned photographer and executive director of OPS, heard about Taiji, Japan.
The film exposes the secret slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, so the students had a difficult task determining how best to advertise the sensitive documentary. They worked on the project throughout the semester, conducting quantitative and qualitative research to identifying themes most likely to appeal to the target audience. Then they developed and executed more than 30 viral and online ideas including online games, banner ads and viral videos. OPS Communications Director Viki Psihoyos ('02) said the students' work was "Great stuff! Witty, inventive, fun."
OPS plans to use some of the students' work if the film gets picked up for distribution.
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Adaptations
Have you recently had a change in job status because of media downsizing, closure, etc.? If so, please share your story with us. We would like to learn how SJMC alums have been affected by--and how they might have adapted to--dramatic change in the journalism
and mass communication industries.
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Alumni Updates
Inaugural Festivities
Broadcast production senior Kasia Broussalian
and Ryan Van Duzer ('03) are headed to D.C. for President-elect Barack Obama's
inauguration next week for the Boulder Daily Camera. Broussalian will
follow four Colorado
groups attending the week-long event and Van Duzer, the Camera's "Out
There Guy," will be doing his thing. Here he is at the New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunge at the Boulder Reservoir.
Broadcast Grad Places in National Hearst
Contest
Phillip Milani ('08)
was a top-ten winner in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program broadcast features
competition. Milani, a photographer for KKTV in Colorado Springs, placed
seventh among 56 entries in the contest. The broadcast news competitions are
held among 110 accredited colleges and universities in the United States.
Novel Marketing for the Net
Last January Susan
Arnout Smith ('70) launched her book, The Timer Game, with a series of short film clips or "webisodes."
Now fans can get a sneak peak at the second book in the series, Out at
Night, when a new webisode hits the Net each Friday and Tuesday until
March 3.
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Voices from the Podium
Scholar-in-Residence Jim Sheeler reflected on his journalistic journey, hoping to give new SJMC graduates courage to follow their own path during his speech at the winter graduation ceremony, Dec. 18, 2008.
"Looking back over the
lessons that have taught me the most during my career... It's not famous people who
showed me the way--it was everyday people who showed me where to look."
"No matter what field of mass communication
you're headed for, take people someplace they've never been, someplace they can
learn something, and they'll come with you every time."
"By focusing on the
obituary beat--this part of the paper that had been largely forgotten by other
reporters--I was able to make it my own, and I think those stories played a
huge role in opening the door for me to larger newspapers. That's a lesson for all
of you. Look for the forgotten places--that's where opportunity hides."
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News & Events
CEJournal: Blogging for Perspective
Associate Professor Tom Yulsman is exploring a new model of journalism with the Center for Environmental Journalism blog CEJournal. He is currently working on an article about the future of the climate change story and blogging about his findings as he goes along. "I take seriously the possibilities for conversation that Web 2.0 opens up, which is why I'm doing this blog," Yulsman writes.
Final Salute DVD
Scholar-in-Residence
Jim Sheeler (MA'07) spoke about his Pulitzer-Prize-winning series,
"Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives," at SJMC Homecoming 2008.
Special guests included Lt. Col. Steve Beck, a central
figure in Sheeler's series, and Katherine Cathey, widow of Marine 2nd Lt. Jim
Cathey, a 2004 graduate of CU. Broadcast Instructor Paul Daughterty has
produced a 58-minute DVD of the program. We are offering the DVD to you for a
nominal fee of $5 to cover the reproduction and shipping costs. Please send a check made out to the University of Colorado and send it to Final Salute, School of Journalism & Mass Communication, 478 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0478. Make sure you include your address with your check!
LinkedIn Group Grew!
The SJMC Alumni LinkedIn group grew from about 40 members to more than 150 members in one month. With
all of the upheaval in the media business right now, we're interested whether online networking is working for you. We want to know if you use
services such as LinkedIn and how online social networking has impacted
your career. Send us your story!
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Pay it Forward
Connect with other alumni by joining the Career Network.
- Join the Career Network.You'll become a contact for other SJMC graduates looking for jobs in your area of the country or
field of work. Our Career Network has hundreds of alumni contacts.
Adding your name is an easy way to give back to the School by sharing
your expertise with other SJMC alums.
- Tell us what's new!
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Happy New Year! We'd love to know what you're up to!
Regards,
Beth Gaeddert
Director of Career Services and External Affairs
&
Felicia Russell
Newsletter Editor
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