VCU student receives one of two PRSA Richmond scholarships

The Richmond Public Relations Foundation announced the two winners of their $1,000 scholarships for juniors or seniors at four-year colleges or universities in central Virginia who plan to pursue a career in public relations.

The scholarships were awarded at the Nov. 19 PRSA Richmond luncheon at the Sheraton Park Hotel.

• The winner of the Bill Dietrick memorial scholarship is Duncan Phillips a senior at the University of Richmond.


• The winner of the David Hurdle memorial scholarship is Lauren Gauthier a senior at Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Alumni Networking Reception

The School of Mass Comm and CRT/tanaka are hosting an alumni networking reception on Tuesday, Nov. 25. (more)

Graduate students in multimedia program produce high-quality journalism

The first class in the VCU School of Mass Communications’ multimedia journalism graduate program is well into its second semester. The group of thirteen students has already taken two courses in online journalism, as well as a research methods and a visual journalism class.

One visual journalism project involved the entire class. The idea for “Richmond is…” came from the students; the goal was to define what the city of Richmond means to its residents. Teams of three-to-four students set out on one day to talk to as many people as possible.


The multimedia graduate students also recently completed a series of online projects on topics ranging from the state fair to retirement planning to homeschooling. Teams of two or three worked together to use all the multimedia tools available to them, including video, audio, text and stills, and they experimented with various forms of interactivity and presentation. Check out the two projects linked below.

What lies beneath?
This exploration of Richmond’s slave history focuses on an old burial ground and other important sites that have been all-but destroyed by time and neglect. It also profiles the local groups trying to preserve this history and the latest initiative to get the city involved.

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Homeowning 101
This project explores what a first-time home buyer will go through in the current economic environment, as well as provides useful information for anyone buying a home.

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___________________

Read more about the program or contact:

June O. Nicholson
Associate Director for Graduate Studies
Room 1108 Temple Building
(804) 827-0251
jonichol@vcu.edu

Mass Comm annual food drive

The School of Mass Communications and its Student Advisory Board will host an annual holiday food drive November 10 through December 3. This is not the same old food drive that you are familiar with, there’s a twist; the Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations sequences will be competing against each other this year.

Students and faculty will compete to donate the most canned food and nonperishable goods to win class pride! Families across Richmond will benefit from your donation. In recent years, the School of Mass Communications has donated nearly 1000 pounds to the Central Virginia Food Bank.

Food donations can be dropped off in your sequence box located inside the School of Mass Communications office. Items will be tallied regularly and a winner will be announced December 3.

With your help and a little bit of competitive spirit, you will feed hungry families across Richmond this holiday season.

CreateAthon onCampus 2009 is accepting applications from non profits

Are you a nonprofit in need? Is your marketing budget next to nothing?

Apply to the 2nd annual VCU CreateAthon onCampus and you may be selected to receive free marketing materials. VCU student teams mentored by local professionals will create a wide variety of projects at no cost to the nonprofit organizations.

For a second year, VCU’s CreateAthon onCampus is looking for area nonprofits who are in need of marketing and/or promotional materials including but not limited to: logo, letterhead, business cards, brochures, posters, press kits, newsletters, ads.

There may be other needs you have that aren’t listed here. You never know until you ask if we can do it. The worst we can say is no, maybe next year….

Deadline for application: November 21, 2008

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Mass Comm Week 08' Scores Big

Mass Comm Week 08’ blew through VCU like a hurricane from October 6-10, giving students a whirlwind of exposure to the professional level of mass communications. The VCU School of Mass Communications’ week of events ranged from lectures and book signings to compelling speeches by accomplished professionals and alumni.

Tradition was continued as Mark Ethridge, former editor of The Charlotte Observer and author of the book and upcoming film, Grievances, delivered the Turpin Lecture on News Management. The Miami Herald was duly represented by its police courts editor, Sergio Bustos, and its investigative journalist, Ronnie Greene, who have both recently published their first books. The two VCU Alumni returned to their alma mater to share their news room and book authoring experiences.

The cultural trend of online social networking was the topic of the day as Geoff Livingston, CEO of Livingston Communications, lectured on PR and Social Media. Livingston engaged a room of more than 80 students, all of whom received free copies of his award winning book on new media, Now is Gone.

After these and nearly two dozen other speaker events, the week was wrapped up with the Mass Comm Internship Fair, which attracted communications students hooping to follow in the footsteps of the week’s motivating guest speakers. Over 50 “dressed to impress” students mingled with internship providers such as WRIC TV, Radio Disney, the Richmond SPCA, Midlothian Exchange and Sprint.

The School of Mass Communications extends a resounding “thank you” to all those who helped make this week-long event a success!

In the Photo: The National Press Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a nationwide conversation that looks at where the news business is going and what news consumers should be demanding. The NPC panel discussion at VCU featured Bob Sullivan, who covers Internet scam and consumer fraud for msnbc.com; Reid Ashe, who supervises Media General's three operating divisions; moderator Gil Klein, a veteran national correspondent for the Media general News Service; Nancy Kent, news director for NBC-12; and Jeff South, associate professor of journalism.

Mass Comm Week finishes with the Brandcenter Friday Forum: Brooklyn Brothers

Technology hasn’t changed our basic human nature, but it has changed the way we consume. Marketing to the new consumer requires a rethink of the way we create communications and use media. Advertising needs to be disposable, ideas need to be the medium, and the consumer needs to be invited into the brand. Come get inspired as Guy Barnett, cofounder and creative director, and Paul Parton, partner, share their perspectives.

The session is Friday, October 10, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. at VCU Brandcenter, 103 S. Jefferson St.