News and Updates

• Felicia McDaniel has been crowned Mrs. Washington Plus America and will be competing for the crown this summer in Monroe, Louisiana.

• Eric Mathews is working part-time in a Washington D.C. hostel while he looks for PR work in politics. He says he had a blast working on political campaigns this past year in Atlanta. He started out interning for free at the Martin campaign during the primary, then landed a job doing campaign finance for Bill Jones, who ran for U.S. Congress in District 6. Eric started writing press releases and speeches for Jones and eventually ended up serving as the campaign's communications director.

• Brandon Orth is working in Atlanta for a corporate real estate consulting firm. His position as a transaction specialist requires him to travel and negotiate leases for his firm's fortune 500 clients. He also negotiates lease renewals and early terminations for corporate clients. Brandon says he hopes to one day work in television.

• Dr. Blakeslee is recovering from a health issue which contributed to her resignation last semester. I had lunch with her last week, and she is in good spirits and looks great. She plans to attend student capstone presentations April 29th and 30th in the Swanson Center Screening Room.

Spring 2009

Spring semester has begun, and faculty and students have returned to Swanson Center. We've had a few changes around here. Dr. Blakeslee resigned from Piedmont College, and Dr. Van Cantfort is chairing our department. Jerisa Pierce graduated after impressing all of us with her capstone on graphic novels.

Over the break, I learned that the Navigator won 6 awards from the Georgia College Publishers Association. The categories are:
Best Campus Community Service--Editorial
Best Campus Community Service--News
Improvement
General Advertising
Layout and Design
General Excellence

As in past years, we know only that we've placed. We find out how well (1st, 2nd or 3rd) when we attend the conference Feb. 6 & 7. In another change, the GCPA moved its conference from Macon to Athens. You can imagine how well that news is going over with the students. Check back here for an update after the awards ceremony. And remember to email me at ssimon@piedmont.edu with all the news you'd like to share with your fellow Piedmont mass comm alumni.