It's Fall Semester and We're Back

Welcome to Fall Semester 2009! The new freshmen will be the graduating class of 2013. And we have 15 new freshmen in Mass Comm this year. I am teaching Mass Media Survey this semester, so I'm meeting all of them. And if you read my status updates on Facebook, you'll know that I'm trying to scare them, just a little, in the beginning. Just trying to make sure they do their homework. Please send me your news updates and photos to share with everyone on this blog. I also have plans to post the photos on the Facebook Mass Comm Alumni page.

In the meantime, here is a bit of news about the faculty. Dr. Blakeslee has relocated to West Point, New York, where her husband is the new head of the Ear/Nose/Throat department at the hospital there. Dr. Moss spent a good chunk of the summer conducting a debate camp for high school students here in the Swanson Center. Dr. Van Cantfort is busy busy busy teaching his classes and managing all the responsibilities as Mass Comm department chair. Professor Arbitter's twin boys are now 17-months old.

Hope to hear from all of you soon!

Relive the Days

This year's seniors definitely slept well last night, after finally completing their capstones. A few of our alumni came to watch. Justin Poole put some of them on YouTube. Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jpoole0732

Remember I asked you to send me photos for my new bulletin board? A few of you responded and here's what it looks like (above). Keep sending them in over the summer and I'll post them when I get back to Piedmont in the fall.

I received some news from Eric Mathews and David Brandt. Eric is the new Development Associate at Mental Disability Rights International in D.C. and David Brandt has just won the Bronze Award for Best Feature from the Magazine Association of the Southeast. Congratulations to both!

Alumni News

• Per Nyberg is a producer for the CNN International London Bureau. Here is a link to his 0n-air debut: http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2009/03/18/bpr.nyberg.london.fire.cnn
• Mindy Pfeiffer has been promoted to local sales for WBTS with Cox Radio Group-Atlanta
• Darlene started her own full-service event planning service, Ziraleet: www.ziraleet.com

Springtime in Mass Comm

Springtime in the Mass Comm department brings... Capstone presentations and the Awards dinner! We are busy preparing for these annual events, and nothing makes them more special than having our alumni come back to share the joy. Please let me know through Facebook or email if you plan to attend either (or both!). Here are the essentials:

Wednesday, April 29 3:30pm Capstone Presentations:
Ruben Mendez
Brian Carter
Tim Becker
Missy Hoffman

Thursday, April 30 3:30pm Capstone Presentations:
Daniela Guevara
Cale Padgett
Sandi Tatum
Myron Phelps

Sunday, May 3 6pm Awards Dinner

*All events will take place in the Swanson Center Screening Room
*RSVP to Stacy Simon by April 10th.

Navigator Wins Awards

The Piedmont Navigator won six awards at the Georgia College Publishers Association Better Newspaper Contest:

1st place Layout & Design

1st place Improvement

1st place Campus Community Service - News

2nd place General Excellence

2nd place General Advertising

2nd place Campus Community Service- Editorial

This year's convention was expanded to two days and held in Athens. I was accompanied by:

Sandi Tatum, Editor-in-Chief

Cassie Scarborough, News Editor

Tim Suda, Opinions Editor

Matt Jackson, Features Editor

Rebekah Scruggs, Calendar Editor

Brian Carter, Sports Editor

Hollie Autry, Copy Editor

A big thank you to all the alumni who worked so hard on the Lion's Roar and the Navigator in the past. We built on your success!

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.