Month: September 2018

Kickoff set for Louisville conference

By Kelly Messinger

At the ACP/CMA conference in Louisville, CMA will launch its student research program.

Many students conduct some kind of undergraduate capstone experience in media, and that experience could earn a student an Apple Award at the New York City convention in March.

“Student research has been shown to be a high-impact educational practice,” said Kelly Messinger, committee member and adviser at Capital University. “We want to acknowledge traditional and non-traditional kinds of scholarship. Elizabeth R. Smith, Lisa Lyon Payne and I are looking forward to seeing projects students will be submitting. We welcome anyone who wants to help.”

The session, “Grow Your Academic Mullet and Get Rewards: CMA’s Call for Undergrad Research” at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 26 will fill everyone in on the details. The research must pertain to current issues in media and be produced from July 1, 2017 through Dec. 31, 2018.

“A student research initiative by College Media Association is probably long overdue,” said Kenna Griffin, CMA president elect and professor at Oklahoma City University. “Working with students to produce worthwhile academic research is a huge part of what many of our members do. Having a way for students to share their research findings makes sense. I’m excited to see the quality of work we will receive and look forward to watching students present at our New York convention.”

A January 2019 deadline for projects will be announced. Nontraditional research, such as a documentary, would need an accompanying academic paper.

Constitution Day is Sept. 17

By Ted Petersen
Florida Tech

The Florida Tech Crimson has hosted “Free Speech Day” for the past seven years. As Constitution Day approaches, other colleges might learn from the inexpensive and successful program at Florida Tech.

About six months into my role as adviser to the Crimson, the student-run newspaper at my private university, I learned something new—the Crimson is a free press. Continue reading “College Media Celebrate Free Speech”

The Five Ws of College Media Training

By Kelley Lash
Rice University

While the temperature outside might not seem to agree, fall is coming, and so are our students. Whether you work with a lab publication, just one or two media, or an entire group of outlets, one of the most important things you can do to serve your students is to set up some kind of training boot camp.

Like anything else in college media, the approach will vary, as you can see in this piece from CMR in 2013. This updated version will focus on the core five Ws and H of college media boot camp: whom are you serving, what will you cover, where should you hold it, when will it have the greatest impact, why it matters and how you can pull it all off.

The most important thing to remember is that training must suit your needs and, most importantly, the needs of your students. No single approach works for everyone, but paying attention to the core questions will help you develop something that sets you up for success in the coming year. Continue reading “College Media Boot Camp Basics”