Student editors from The George Mason Review (GMR) invited interim Mason President Anne Holton to write the guest essay in their just-published 2019-2020 issue. President Holton was gracious enough to accept their invitation and contributed a letter spotlighting the importance of undergraduate research and Mason's classification as a Carnegie "Tier 1" research institution.
Mason's student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) hosted a virtual "Women in Media" panel event in partnership with Her Campus George Mason on Tuesday, May12th. Connecting online turned out to be a great way to network while Mason students were stuck at home.
Panelists included Fourth Estate and SPJ alumna Fareeha Rehman(Mason class of 2018) who is currently a web producer for WDVM-TV, and health reporter Chelsea Cirruzzo(American University class of 2017) who is a former Her Campus writer. Both panelists provided attendees with career advice and tips about the media industry. Here are a few of the insights they shared:
Freelancing is great way to build your portfolio. Even if you are pursuing or in a different industry, freelancing is a nice seque to start in media.
Look into opportunities at local journalism outlets. Local journalism is so important and it allows you to build many valuable relationships.
Promote your work and be yourself on social media. Make sure you are comfortable with potential employers seeing what you put out there, but let your social media be for you.
Student Media partnered with Dr. Sojung Claire Kim to serve as the "client" for COMM 331 students whose course assignment was to create a PR campaign promoting the First Amendment. Here is what Dr. Kim had to say about the partnership:
"The COMM 331 PR Campaigns course is designed for students to apply their knowledge of strategic communication research, planning, strategies and tactics to a client’s problem by creating a turnkey public relations campaign.
In Spring 2020, four student teams have worked as an independent PR agency to develop a public relations campaign to raise awareness and promote the First Amendment rights on Mason campus. All teams conducted secondary and primary research to understand Mason students, created campaign messages and promotional items, drafted media press releases, and carried out a campus-wide event plan to encourage student engagement.
This course project was supported and guided by the 1 for All Grants from the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University."
You can check out all four presentations, including class winner "District Collective" below!
Students in WGMU faculty advisor Rodger Smith's spring 2020 COMM 148 (Radio Workshop I) class produced public service announcements spotlighting University Life offices and services. These PSAs will air on WGMU Radio, live streaming 24/7 at wgmuradio.com.
Students in WGMU faculty advisor Rodger Smith's spring 2020 COMM 354 (Radio Podcasting and Production) class produced public service announcements spotlighting ways to get involved with Student Media. These PSAs will air on WGMU Radio, live streaming 24/7 at wgmuradio.com.
WGMU faculty advisor Rodger Smith has submitted two nominations of student work for consideration in the National Student Production Awards. The awards will be presented at the National Student Electronic Media Convention Oct 21-24 in Baltimore. Here is more information about the student work that was submitted for awards consideration:
Best Podcast Submission: Jamar Burrell of the #talkaboutittuesday show on WGMU Radio submitted a podcast featuring Jay Wareham, a school counselor intern at Round Hill Elementary in Round Hill, Virginia. Jamar and Jay discussed how he got into the mental health field and how he has dealt with the stigma surrounding mental health, the impact of race, and the lower rates of men working in the helping field. They also discussed how we can be advocates and ways to inspire during the pandemic. Click here to listen to Jamar's podcast >
Best Audio PSA Submission: Aimee Thibert from Comm 354 (Radio Podcasting and Production) created a 30-second PSA highlighting University Life. Click here to listen to Aimee's PSA >
Sports Broadcasting Team
In spite of the abrupt end to our year due to COVID-19, the Sports Broadcasting Team still produced 63 broadcasts with 22 paid staff, 2 interns, and over a dozen volunteers.
In our seven years doing this, we've always tried to improve and this year was no different. Probably the most noticeable change to our broadcasts was the addition of instant replay and a new wireless video transmitter that allowed us a lot more freedom in camera placement.
Associate Director David Carroll would like to thank all the students involved, especially Zach Hamilton, Student Media's graduate assistant.
Communication Team Learns Remotely
Over the past two months, the work-study students of the Communication and Sales Teams have stayed connected remotely, learning new skills online through professional development courses and trainings. Successful completion of each course required an online quiz or submission of a 1-2-page reflection each week.
All students began with a free Introduction to Marketing course from Coursera taught by professors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The team also completed a "deep dive" social media analysis and took advantage of Mason's LinkedIn Learning resources.
The semester culminated with students sharing highlights and what they learned in the areas of marketing, social media, and distribution through presentations to the professional staff.
BurnAlong: Two New "Intro to Tap" Lessons
A few weeks ago we shared the first installment of Ben Hosig's beginner tap dancing course on Burnalong. We are pleased to announce that two new lessons are now available!
Ben currently serves as Student Media's business manager, but you may not know that he had a career as a professional tap dancer working with legends like Savion Glover and Gregory Hines before he joined our team last May!
For more information on creating your own custom BurnAlong content, contact Lewis Forrest, Associate Dean of University Life: lforres1@gmu.edu
