Dr. Blakeslee on Leave

Dr. Blakeslee has taken a medical leave of absence. No details are available at this time and it is not clear when she will return to Piedmont.
Dr. Van Cantfort is acting as chair for the rest of the academic year, and all the mass comm faculty are working together to divide up her teaching and advising duties. We are confident we can continue to take care of the students and run the department professionally and effectively.
I know you are all concerned about Dr. Blakeslee, and I will post information if and when I am able to do so.
Stacy

Save $$ at Piedmont Bookstore

Champion Buy One Get One Sale at Bookstore

(November 2008) – The temperatures may be cooling down, but sales are just warming up at the Piedmont College Bookstore. Between November 9 and November 30, you can buy any regular price Champion item and get a second (of equal or lesser value) at 50% off.

All men’s, women’s, and even children’s Champion apparel is included in the sale. It’s a great opportunity to get an early jump on holiday shopping – right on campus. The bookstore offers a variety of Champion items bearing the school name and logo. Make sure your friends and family show their school pride from top to bottom.

Piedmont College Bookstore is located at 551 Georgia Street, Demorest GA., across from the Post Office on the corner. It’s open Monday –Thursday 8:00 – 6:00 Fridays 8:00 – 3:00 for your convenience.

We are a Barnes and Noble Bookseller store. We have gifts items as well as books. Please drop by and see us.

Claudia Sam Barton
Store Manager

Chance Encounter with David Brandt

I was watching my son Jeffrey's soccer game in Decatur this morning and noticed a familiar face. David Brandt was the referee! He did a great job calling the game, although he did call Jeff offsides, which, technically, he was. Apparently David believes in fairness and impartiality in his role. Jeff's team lost 3-2, but Jeff made a gorgeous goal with his left foot, so that made the loss easier to take. I didn't have my camera, but I sure plan to bring it from now on.

Mallory Dumas Writes

Last night I called into Jerisa's radio show for an impromptu interview. It made me realize that I really do miss Piedmont. The resident rules were annoying, the administration politics were frustrating and the mass comm workload was hectic, but I wouldn't trade any of it!

I'm still enjoying my job. We're working on all the holiday promos for "Season's Eatings". It's our busiest time of year, but I feel like I'm getting the job done. Right now I'm responsible for assisting the producers assigned to me. That involves getting footage, music and graphics for their promos and checking all the spots as they come in. Of course, there's more involved, but it's a lot of little stuff.

I talked with our new creative director the other day, and after the holidays he's going to try to get the PAs more training and shadowing time with producers so that we can start editing our own spots. I'm really excited about learning more. I do eventually want to produce content, but I'm enjoying promos for now and can see myself working at Food Network for awhile.

I'm still loving New York and Hoboken. I've never relied this much on public transportation. I haven't driven a car in 5 months! But I'm learning my way around and becoming more and more comfortable with my new life.

I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it down for the December capstones. However, I plan on being there for the spring presentations. Let me know if anyone is applying for IRTS this year. They can ask me any questions if they want to. It's an incredible program and I really encourage everyone to consider it.

Thanks again for making me work so hard for the last four years. It really is paying off in "the real world."

More Than a Game: Working in Sports

The Department of Mass Communication invites Piedmont College students, faculty, staff, alumni and guests to a sports symposium entitled: "More Than a Game: Working in Sports" to be held in the Swanson Center Screening Room 12pm-1:30pm Friday, October 24th.

Three speakers will discuss their experiences in the field of sports and mass communication:

Gerard Farek, Supervising Producer at CNN International, covered the Beijing Olympics and produces a sports news show.

Adrienne Midgley is in her fifth season with the Braves and her first as coordinator of media relations.

A.R. Van Cantfort has more than 50 years of broadcast experience and is currently with the Jacksonville Jaguars doing pre-season games.

Please join us!

Mass Comm Launches New Web Site

The Mass Comm Department launched its new re-designed Web site. Tell us what you think!
www.piedmont.edu/masscomm

Meredith Kisgen Home from Peace Corps

I am back from serving in the Peace Corps in Swaziland subsaharan Africa. While there I completed various projects under the ambiguous title of "HIV/AIDS educator." I worked with a girls' scholarship and mentoring program at a local highschool benefiting 42 orphaned/vulnerable young females. I worked with fellow volunteers to organize and implement a 12-day, 200 kilometer border to border walk across the nation for HIV/AIDS awareness on the rural level. I also served on a 2-man Monitoring and Evaluation team for the event which touched over 100,000 people. During this UN sanctioned event I filmed and documented AIDS in Swaziland at the rural level and edited it into a 45 minute documentary/video journal which was distributed to our partners, including the UN, to summarize the event and its importance/impact on the people. I also used my video skills to put together a Welcome DVD for potential Swaziland volunteers which was sent to headquarters in D.C. to be used as a pilot for other Peace Corps posts. The DVD included Special Features geared at preparing new volunteers for their service in different fields such as "Packing" and "Volunteer Life." I wanted to let you know that the passion I found working in Film at Piedmont during those experimental times has stayed with me and flourished. I am now looking into applying for an MFA in Film at TISCH and USC Cinema for starters.