Dispatch
MAY 2011, vol. 4 issue 5
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS OF 2011!
As part of the University of Southern California’s 128th Commencement Ceremonies, the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism celebrated the conferral of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees to more than 900 students on May 13th.
As Dean Ernest J. Wilson III congratulated Annenberg’s newest circle of alumni, he lauded the “unique enthusiasm and dedication of the Trojan family” and urged them to carry forward the tradition of helping fellow graduates.
“Trojans carry and display the values of generosity, fairness, public service and respect for the rights and dignity of all. In particular, we possess a special optimism and can-do feeling,” he said, adding: “Now, you have a responsibility to pass along these values and great spirit to everyone – alumni or not – no matter where you are in the world.”
Wilson noted that he feels a special kinship with the Class of 2011, as he started his tenure at USC Annenberg as a freshman dean with them in 2007. “I think it’s been four good years for all of us!” he said.
Journalism graduates were treated to a special commencement keynote speech from USC President C.L. Max Nikias, whose daughter Maria was recieving a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from USC Annenberg.
Nikias emphasized to graduates that their “adventure of learning” will continue throughout their lives.
“I know you have learned much here, at one of the world’s premier universities and a world-class school for journalism and public relations,” he said. “I believe the most precious experience you have received was your ability to live and work and study in an environment that fosters new ideas and experimentation within a community that embraces change in order to guide change – a community that always seeks new ways forward.”
Nikias urged graduates, as they move forward in their careers and personal lives, to keep in mind that true character will take them farther and endure longer than the trappings of notoriety. Character also will help them develop both persistence and courage.
“Persistence is essential to success in your chosen field, a field that is so rapidly changing,” he said. “Courage ensures that you will never see a setback as the final world. And that you will instead have the strength to adjust your course."
Those qualities will help graduates nurture their spirit of adventure, Nikias said. “The person who can embrace adventure has an edge over all those many persons who grow timid whenever the winds of uncertainty blow.”
A fourth trait – good judgment – will also take USC Annenberg graduates far, he added.
“When a woman or a man has the persistence and courage and adventurousness to reach the mountaintop, she can use good judgment to maintain her place there and to fulfill her responsibilities as well.
“And you will need all of these, as you seek to lead your generation in defining the journalism and organizational communications of the future in a manner that advances a free and just society.”
He also acknowledged the disruption that technological change has brought to journalism and public relations.
“Everyone is in constant search for new business models of news and information,” Nikias said, reminding grads to invest themselves in techniques of the future, so that they may be the ones to guide their fields in the years to come.
Dean Wilson urged grads, as they navigate new business models and technology, to keep in mind the greater goal of their pursuits.
“The core of what we do to make the world a better place will remain: To tell important stories in interesting, compelling ways.”
“Your challenge will be to sustain and remain committed to the great values and traditional verities of the past – from Aristotle to Confucius, from Lincoln to Walter Lippman – who wrote of pursuing the truth, of ethics, caring and community, while using the ever-new communication techniques and tools to pursue these old values in new ways,” Wilson said.
At the School of Communication ceremony, Linda Douglass, vice president and head of corporate and strategic communications for Atlantic Media Company, recalled her own career in journalism and communication since she graduated from USC 40 years ago.
Douglass spoke of working in “every conceivable form of communication,” from being a gopher on a political campaign, to working as a TV reporter here in LA – a job she jokingly said came to her because of her most important qualification for the job in those days: “I was a blonde.”
Over the years, she covered government at every level, all the way up to Congress and presidential campaigns. She worked for President Obama’s campaign before becoming an executive at Atlantic Media.
As the speed of communication accelerates in a new digital, mobile world, Douglass warned against the temptation to misuse the power that comes with communication skills.
“You may be tempted to use your communication skills – whether in business, in politics, in law, in advocacy – to muddy the truth rather than serve it up nice and clean. Some will want to pay you to obfuscate. I hope you say no,” Douglass told graduates.
“Whether you are the financial executive explaining how your company makes its money; whether you are the advocate arguing for a cause; whether you are the political operative trying to explain your candidate’s record; whether you are the PR person trying to defend your company’s actions… tell the truth. You’ll be surprised what power it has.”
Even as the ways we communicate change rapidly with technology, “One thing should not change: your resolve to live your professional life with integrity,” Douglass said.
“Use your power to be clear, illuminating, persuasive, inspiring and honest. Do that and you’ll live up to the important values you’ve been taught here at the Annenberg School and at this great university,” she concluded.
Indeed, today’s graduates “can barely imagine what the next communication tool will be,” Dean Wilson told the class of 2011. “But I am confident many of you here today will help invent and disseminate those new technologies.”
“You can apply what you have learned – innovation, entrepreneurship, leadership and service – beyond our academic walls,” Wilson said. “By seeing opportunity where others see challenges, you will stand out among your peers. More than ever, our world needs the innovative thinking and leadership you will provide.”
School of Journalism graduates, Nikias were left with last words of inspiration fron Nikias:
“As you go forth, may you be bold in your struggle for perspective and for truth. May you bring insight that a democratic society needs like oxygen at this moment of change. And may you support one another as members of the Trojan family, today and for years to come.”
View photos >>
MARKETWATCH ARTICLE "THE NEXT SILICON VALLEY: USC'S ANNENBERG?"
An April 15 MarketWatch article titled "The next Silicon Valley: USC’s Annenberg?" features innovation taking place at USC Annenberg.
The article explores USC Annenberg projects such as the newly launched Annenberg Innovation Lab, which is a social and technological innovation lab that develops projects with both a real-world application and a societal impact. More than just an incubator, the lab will be a showcase and a bridge to outside businesses that will apply innovations developed at the school.
"Annenberg students sport a can-do spirit that’s sorely missing in media nowadays," the article's author, Jon Friedman, wrote.
"I observed a distinct lack of jaded people at the first annual Annenberg Innovation Lab Conference two weeks ago on the USC campus," Friedman continued. "USC students participated in the Lab’s Crunch Design Challenge. The winning projects — each of which was awarded $3,000 — were declared in four categories: the Future of eBooks, Transmedia Storytelling, Community Platforms and Tools & Applications.
"It was reassuring to see enthusiastic students not talking about the end of the media — which is often the case with members of the journalism establishment. At Annenberg, they see a future in the media biz."
Read the full Marketwatch artcile >>
Learn about the Annenberg Innovation Lab >>
STUDY REVEALS NEW DATA ON SEXINESS ON SCREEN
A new study released by USC Annenberg researchers Stacy Smith and Marc Choueiti shows that Hollywood continues to be a difficult place for women to find role models, both on- and off-screen, and provides some grim details about society’s sexualization of teenaged girls.
In a survey of the top 100 grossing movies from 2008, Smith and her research team found that 39.8% of female teen characters were seen in sexy clothing, and 30.1% were shown with exposed skin in the cleavage, midriff or upper thigh regions. For male teen characters, the numbers were drastically lower – 6.7% shown in sexy clothing and 10.3% showing skin.
In addition to the figures shown on screen, the researchers found that conditions for women behind the camera are similarly troubling. For every woman that directed, wrote or produced a movie in 2008, there were nearly five men chosen for the same creative positions.
“These findings are troubling given that repeated exposure to thin and sexy characters may contribute to negative effects in some female viewers,” Smith said. “Such portrayals solidify patterns of lookism in the entertainment industry.”
Hollywood’s emphasis on sexualizing its women continues, the study found. Across four [out of six] measures of sexuality – from wearing sexy clothing to being referenced as attractive – female characters were much more likely than their male counterparts to be portrayed with objectifying attributes.
The researchers found some evidence that movies with women in creative production roles may give female actors more chances for work. In movies with at least one female director, 44.4% of speaking characters were females as well, compared to 31.7% in all-male-directed films. A similar gender boost was observed in movies written by women.
This year’s study follows a similar analysis of movies released in 2007, and reveals some trends. There was a substantial increase in movies with at least one woman director, with 8% of 2008 films helmed by women (compared to only 2.7% in 2007). The proportion of female speaking characters in stories released by Hollywood studios also increased, climbing from 29.9% to 32.8%.
While this ratio represents the slimmest the gender gap has been across multiple studies conducted by the research group, which included more than 60 undergraduate research assistants, the report points out that females still have a long way to go. In 2008, there were twice as many men in speaking roles than women.
“Females are still being marginalized and sexualized in popular film,” Smith said. “While the higher percentage of females on screen in this sample of movies is a step in the right direction, gender equality for female actors and those working behind the camera is still nowhere in sight.”
Read the full report >>
Learn more about Stacy Smith and her other research projects >>
STAR-STUDDED PANEL DISCUSSES CHALLENGES FACING THE NFL AND ITS PLAYERS
A panel brought together by USC Annenbeg's Institute of Sports composed of a "super agent" and current and former professional football stars discussed challenges facing the NFL and its players in front of a capacity crowd April 7.
"The number-one thing right now is that we just want to play," said Houston Texans quarterback Matt Leinart, who won the Heisman Trophy and two national championships at USC. NFL owners are locking out Leinart and the rest of the players, putting next season in jeopardy. "The NFL is a business, but everyone needs to put egos aside and realize that football is the greatest sport in the world. The fans love it and we love it."
Leinart was joined by USC Annenberg alumnus and New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, who agreed that the most important issue in the NFL right now is for the players and owners to reach an agreement. Former NFL players Willie Gault (Super Bowl XX champion), Shelby Jordan (Super Bowl XVIII champion), Toi Cook (Super Bowl XXIX champion) and Sam "Bam" Cunningham (nine-year NFL veteran and 1972 national champion at USC) also joined the panel, as well as Leigh Steinberg, who is often credited as the real-life inspiration of the sports agent from the film Jerry Maguire. Communication professor Dan Durbin, director of the Institute of Sports, Media, & Society, moderated the event.
The retired NFL players and Steinberg mostly focused their attention on player health and benefits once they retire. Cook said the average life span of an NFL player is 55 years, which makes health insurance extra important after retirement.
"It’s all about the benefits and long-term health insurance," Cook said. "When I retired, you got two years of health insurance. It’s up to five now. The NFL needs to get health care on the table and discuss it."
Gault recommended that the monetary difference between the players and owners go into a fund for retired players. He also advocated that all players be required to get an EKG, which is a test that checks for problems with the electrical activity of the heart. His charity, Athletes for Life, aims to save lives through health education and provide medical access for everyone by using heart monitoring technology with new detection capabilities.
"If you see the shape these former players are in, it defies conscience not to help them," Steinberg said. "It’s one thing not being able to bend over for your child at age 50 – it’s another thing not to be able to even recognize your child."
Steinberg said the long-term effects of injuries such as concussions terrify him. He first realized the seriousness of severe concussions when he visited former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman after Aikman led the Cowboys to an NFC Championship win against the San Francisco 49ers, ensuring Dallas a spot in the Super Bowl. He saw Aikman, sitting alone in a dark room.
Steinberg said: "Troy looks at me and says, 'What are you doing here? Did I play today? Did I play well?' I said, 'You’re going to the Super Bowl.' His face brightened. Five minutes passed and he asked the same sequence of questions all over again. Five minutes more passed and it happened again. I could no longer represent players in the NFL unless I took the concussion issue seriously and got information from players about long-term repercussions."
Steinberg also stressed that current NFL players have a responsibility to be positive role models for a younger generation.
"My practice for 37 years has been built on role modeling," he said. "These athletes have the opportunity to make a tremendous difference in the world if they use their image correctly."
Jordan said he was never worried about what the score of a game was, as long as his team won. He said he approaches life with the same attitude.
"Life is about opportunities, and how we see ourselves in those opportunities as we approach them determines how well we do," Jordan said. "There’s always the next play and the next game. If you’re not satisfied with your performance and have the opportunity to critique it, then you always find something you can become better at. Keep getting up every day and put that day or performance in the win column, because every time you face the world you’ll win."
The Sports & Social Change Speaker Series, which has been funded by a generous grant from Nike, is designed to bring together sports professionals and scholars to discuss important issues in sports and sports media.
Watch the video of this event online >>
Read about the First Speaker Series Event with Scott Boras, Tara Lipinski, David Neal, Joseph Heitzler and Pat O'Brien >>
Learn more about USC Annenberg's Institute of Sports, Media, & Society >>
ECONOMIST IN RESIDENCE MCCOURT TELLS STUDENTS HOW TO SUCCEED IN TODAY'S MEDIA ECONOMY
“If you want to know where the world is going,” said USC Annenberg Economist in Residence David C. McCourt to a room packed with students, “don't look to the future. Put yourself in the future and turn around and look backwards and figure out how the present is going to get where you are.”
On April 7, USC Annenberg held its inaugural Economist in Residence presentation with McCourt, who has more than 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in the telecommunications and media industries. His visit was part of USC Annenberg's Media, Economics & Entrepreneurship M{2e} initiative, a semester-long speaker series designed to build economic awareness in journalism and communication students. His topic, "The Road Ahead," offered advice on how students can adapt to and succeed in today's changing media economy.
McCourt opened by discussing how the law of market elasticity that was once the core of media business models has been broken. The “combination of deregulation, competition and innovation” has surpassed the law of supply and demand.
“For the first time, digital revenue is actually down,” McCourt said. “If you look at the financial reports of Time Warner last quarter you'll see that the revenue is down.”
As distribution channels became more advanced, the price of content dropped but the amount of content went up by more than the price dropped.
As media content continues to decrease in scarcity and exclusivity in a flurry of opportunities for free streaming and downloading, media industries “need to build new economic models around those new realities.”
He said if media companies insist on trying to change your behavior like the music industry has with its threats to sue, then they will fail. Instead, “they need to build an economic world around where people are.”
McCourt argued that this rapid production of media can be seen as an application of Moore's Law, which is based on the idea that the number of transistors that can be placed on an integrated circuit doubles every two years.
The media equivalent, which McCourt dubbed the “Annenberg Law,” is that “the amount of video content that circulates around the world will double every 18 months.” He backed this by saying that it would take approximately 72 million years to watch all of the current video content in the world.
With all of this content, asked McCourt, “How do we separate the noise from the signal, the good information from the bad?”
This question led McCourt to advise journalism and communication majors to move into career paths that focus on making sense of media information. McCourt encouraged students to “go into the business of deciphering and separating noise from the signal.”
He urged students to be confident going into these fields instead of fearing the competition of older, experienced generations.
“You have the better deal,” McCourt said. “The experience they have is irrelevant to what is going on in the world.” He added that older generations are now at a disadvantage because so much has changed."
“Go for it and don't worry about failing,” stressed McCourt. “Failing when you're young is painless.”
“You hear constantly that your generation as students – with texting, video games and Facebook – will create an antisocial Attention Deficit Disorder generation of kids,” he said. “I actually think the opposite is true, I actually think you do more in less time than my generation by a long, long shot. It took Gandhi 30 years to overthrow the regime. It took my generation 10 years to overthrow Milosevic. It took the Tunisians six weeks and the Egyptians 19 days.”
McCourt said he was impressed with the USC Annenberg students during his four-day residency, and that they are fortunate for the educational experience they’re getting. He offered them more advice on how to be successful in their careers.
“I think the single most important skill for anybody coming out of school is the ability to communicate – the ability to figure out what your position is, and to be able to communicate it in a way that makes the recipient of that communication understand it.”
Read about David C. McCourt >>
Watch clips from "The Road Ahead" >>
ERNEST J. WILSON III ACCEPTS ANOTHER FIVE-YEAR TERM AS DEAN OF USC ANNENBERG
USC President C.L. Max Nikias announced that USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III has been offered and accepted another five-year term as dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.
"The dean was widely praised for guiding a range of innovative academic initiatives, including the recruitment of several excellent new faculty members, and a substantial increase in the funded research," said Elizabeth Garrett, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs. "He was also credited with effectively coordinating the varied elements of Annenberg, a convergence of disciplines and vision reflected in the new name of the school.
"Many also observed that Dean Wilson has effectively shepherded the school into the digital age, with appropriate investments in new technologies and a global outlook," Garrett continued. "Others said Dean Wilson has a good relationship with faculty, and is personable, dynamic and approachable.
"I am confident he will continue to make significant contributions to USC and the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, and I look forward to working with him as we pursue ever greater academic excellence."
Read more about Dean Wilson >>
MASTER'S IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY STUDENTS VISIT VIETNAM, SOUTHEAST ASIA
Five students in the Master's Program in Public Diplomacy returned to USC Annenberg recently from a two-week trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian cities. While abroad, the students conducted research in their respective areas of interest.
The trip was conceived and organized by second-year MPD candidate Candace Burnham, who spent last summer in Ho Chi Minh City at the U.S. Consulate General as a State Department public affairs intern. "I thought, ‘How can I share this with everybody?’" Burnham said.
The previous year, Burnham was part of an MPD student delegation that visited Dubai; this year, Burnham proposed and had accepted a trip to the Vietnamese capitol under the umbrella theme of "comparative public diplomacy."
"How do different organizations," Burnham wondered, "do public diplomacy in a controlled or constricted environment like Ho Chi Minh City?"
A group of fellow MPD students including second-year student Mark Preston and first-years Jerry Edling, Zhaleh Boyd and Emina Vukic joined Burnham to find out.
Sitting recently in the USC Annenberg west lobby, Preston, Edling and Burnham thanked and praised school administrators such as Abby Kaun, associate dean of Academic Programs and Student Affairs, and professor Nicholas J. Cull, director of the Master's Program in Public Diplomacy, for creating an environment where such direct, diverse and substantial international inquiries are not only possible, but partially funded.
"This is exactly the kind of thing that makes our program unique," Preston said. "It's these entrepreneurial experiences, ventures and pursuits that are so generously supported by Nick Cull. He actively encourages each of us to go out and do these things, not only as a learning experience but as something useful that will enhance our career."
The trip, which was timed to overlap with USC's Spring Break, began with Burnham arranging the core of the Ho Chi Minh City itinerary. The Trojan quintet met with officials from the U.S. Consulate General, U.S. Commercial Service, Habitat for Humanity, Loyola University Chicago, East Meets West and the Consulate General of Canada.
During the trip's second week, the MPD crew headed off in different directions, before most of them reunited in Hong Kong in advance of the fifteen-hour flight to Los Angeles. Preston, who, for example, is interested in aviation biofuels, went to Malaysia and inspected rubber trees and ginger plants and met with officials from the Forest Institute of Malaysia.
Edling, who was of draft age but wasn't conscripted during the Vietnam War and is transitioning from a media to a public diplomacy career, headed to Cambodia and Thailand. In the former, he discussed deforestation issues with a ranking forestry ministry official.
Boyd, a first-year MPD student who blogged about investigating "the role of communications in both perpetuating and combating human trafficking in Vietnam" – was heading north from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi to meet with groups such as the International Organization on Migration and the UN Inter-agency Project on Human Trafficking.
"Human trafficking in Vietnam registers many of the usual suspects found worldwide," Boyd blogged. "Multi-tiered crimes, cross-border ramifications, lack of empirical data, several precedents but few norms, corruption within anti-trafficking initiatives, victims too terrified to testify, and lack of cohesion among concerned parties."
While the trip went smoothly, there were some pre-departure anxieties. Three weeks prior to the trip, Burnham had booked only one Ho Chi Minh City appointment. The dearth of early bookings, later rectified, wasn't due to a lack of connections, effort or resourcefulness.
Instead, it was a first-hand lesson about the challenges of practicing public diplomacy in a developing nation where the civil society sector isn't quite as bustling as the hard-to-cross, motorcycle-and-scooter-jammed roads.
"Even some of the NGOs were afraid of how it would look if they met with us," Burnham said. "If the Vietnamese government found out they were meeting with us, what would they think?"
What could be so intimidating about five students? "There's no academic freedom in Vietnam," Burnham said. "And a lot of the areas that these NGOs work in are areas that the government does not want public, like human trafficking, minority or religious issues."
Edling, the incoming editor of the school's Public Diplomacy Magazine, picked up on Burnham's observation. "Public diplomacy [in Vietnam] is very indirect and kind of oblique," Edling said. "They'll set things up on a very innocuous subject area, but then the hope is that in the course of the discussions during the meeting they can get other points across."
The students say that's in part a lingering legacy of the Vietnam War. "Bilateral relations were reestablished in 1995," Vukic wrote in one of her two blog posts about the trip, "but any public affairs activities and diplomatic efforts can easily be misinterpreted as a threat for the communist regime."
Keeping all this in mind, the MPD contingent didn't engage in formal discussions about topics such as human rights or freedom of the press. But issues such as tourism and the environment proved to be accessible points of entry. Preston, Public Diplomacy's outgoing editor, for instance, met in Ho Chi Minh City with a ceramics factory owner who has instituted improved ecological standards and accountability.
Preston signed up for the trip abroad to research whether corporate social responsibility practices are deemed important in the city he calls the "New York of Vietnam." "The answer appears to be yes," Preston blogged, "but with many shades of gray."
Visit the students' blog to read their first hand experiences >>
Read about USC Annenberg's Master's Program in Public Diplomacy >>
RUBEL OUTLINES 5 STEPS FOR SUCCESS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS AT SMITH SYMPOSIUM
Steve Rubel, director of insights for Edelman Digital, said at the 21st annual Kenneth Owler Smith Symposium that public relations professionals must understand the media "cloverleaf" comprised of traditional, "tradigital," owned and social media. Days when companies were happy with a newspaper clipping are long gone.
"We have to rain on people so much for them to know they have to buy an umbrella," he said. "It’s different now. You have to literally deluge people now and that’s hard, even though we have more (media) options."
He outlined five steps for success in public relations:
- Elevate the experts. Identify a cadre of deep subject-matter experts — internal or external — who can cultivate new ideas and engage in meaningful conversations around them. Fan them out across the media cloverleaf.
- Curate to connect. This is the age of the digital curator: those who can separate art from junk. Now is your opportunity to own your zone. Identify an underserved niche and frame it up the way you want it to be seen.
- Dazzle with data. The Internet is rewiring our brains. We increasingly favor content that is fun and visual. Data visualizations and infographics not only captivate, they also convey expertise across the media ecosystem.
- Put pubs on hubs. Many businesses publish position papers, presentations, CSR reports and more. However, these often live solely on corporate websites. Syndicating these to document hubs also can build authority.
- Ask and answer. The media increasingly seeks out experts on social platforms, such as Twitter and dedicated Q-and-A sites. Consider making social media 1 percent of 100 people's job, not just 100% of one. Ask and answer questions.
He described the "three acts" of the digital-media play.
Act 1: Commercialization (1994-2002) — During the Internet's early days, publishing is costly and inaccessible to the masses. Media conglomerates invest to extend their authority into the digital realm. The dot-com boom gives rise to a few new players.
Act 2: Democratization (2002-2010) — The financial and technical barriers to publishing evaporate, democratizing content creation for millions — first in the United States and, later, globally. Simultaneously, we see dramatic shifts in trust.
Act 3: Validation (2010-?) — Later, the accessibility of publishing technologies and the simultaneous rise of social networking creates overload issues: both of information and "friends." The public seek expertise across a diversity of sources.
"People want experts who are high quality and matter to them," he said. "Ultimately it’s going to be, ‘What are the most important authoritative sources that I want to follow?' And they better be valid."
Rubel, an acclaimed thought leader on trends and innovations in media, technology, and digital culture, also discussed the division between PR and Journalism as well as journalistic adherence to objectivity. A panel discussion featuring Geneva Overholser, Geoff Boucher, Joel Bellman and Rubel with Jerry Swerling as moderator followed.
Visit Edelman Digital's website >>
ACCOLADES DOLED OUT TO TALENTED ANNENBERG SCHOOL FACULTY
In recent months, several academic awards have been bestowed upon a number of Annenberg's distinguished faculty members, which reflect their tireless commitment to excellence and innovation.
Among the honorees are four USC Annenberg professors who were awarded USC Mellon Awards for Excellence in Mentoring, which honor individual faculty for helping build a supportive academic environment at USC through mentoring. Communication professors Sandra Ball-Rokeach, Michael Cody and G. Thomas Goodnight each won a "faculty mentoring graduate students" award, and journalism professor Serena Cha won a "faculty mentoring undergraduate students" award.
"These prestigious awards given to our faculty members make a powerful statement about the high priority the USC Annenberg School places on nurturing the next generation within the classroom and beyond, and about the high quality of our professors," said Dean Ernest J. Wilson III.
Cody said he felt honored, gratified and happy to have been singled out for the Mellon Award. "To me, mentoring is listening to others in order to understand their interests and needs — and to find a framework in order to understand where they are and to identify the pathways that might move them toward success," Cody said. "I advise many students each semester, and have been doing so since 1982. It means a lot to me that time listening and talking and writing letters of recommendation for students is acknowledged as an important professorial act."
Undergraduate Broadcast Journalism student Kristen Steach said she admires Cha's dedication to the careers of the many students who have participated at Annenberg TV News. "Serena makes all of her students a priority, giving them the advice they need to succeed in broadcast journalism," Steach said. "Serena guided me from the very beginning of my college career, encouraging me to pursue internship and job opportunities. She taught me valuable lessons in producing that I will take with me as I begin my first job as a broadcast news producer. She has taught me how to be an objective journalist who values quality reporting."
Also recently receiving recongition is Journalism professor Bill Celis, who was honored with the Provost’s Prize for Teaching with Technology award for his “outstanding achievements in teaching through the incorporation of technology into courses and curricula.”Celis launched an iPad reporting experiment during the fall 2010 semester. He developed an entire class, including his instruction and students’ news gathering and reporting, conducted via iPad. The curriculum is the first of its kind in a journalism program, and its results have been presented at several national conferences.
The Provost’s award recognizes Celis’ body of work at Annenberg, including his aggressive introduction of technology in a range of courses. In 2006, he launched Watt Way, a blog authored by his magazine writing class. In 2008, he began requiring graduate students to produce multimedia research projects alongside their assigned papers. In his Urban Affairs Reporting class, his students produced reports with mobile technology through partnerships with Annenberg Professor François Bar and his Mobile Voices project.
Journalism and communication professor Félix Gutiérrez was also selected as the 2011 recipient of the Lionel C. Barrow Jr. Award for Distinguished Achievement in Diversity Research and Education, which is given by the the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in recognition of outstanding individual accomplishment and leadership in diversity efforts for underrepresented groups by race and ethnicity in journalism and mass communication.
Last, in addition to our outstanding faculty, Trojan Debate Squad director and clinical assistant professor of communication Gordon Stables recently received both the Cross Examination Debate Association's Brownlee Award - given each year to “a forensic educator who demonstrates outstanding achievement in scholarship, education and service to CEDA” - and the National Debate Tournament's George Ziegelmueller Award, which recognizes faculty members who have “distinguished himself or herself in the communication profession while coaching teams to competitive success at the NDT.”
Stables is the first person to win both awards in the same year and just the third person to win both awards in a career.
Read more about USC Annenberg's Mellon Mentoring Award Winners >>
Read about Professor Celis' Provost’s Award >>
Read more about Gutiérrez's Recognition >>
Read about the recognition of Stables >>
MOORE WINS 2011 READER'S CHOICE AWARD
Kelly Moore (B.A. Sports Information '89) recently won the 2011 Reader's Choice Award for "Best Dating Blog." Her blog, "Happily Ever After or Bust," chronicles Kelly's dating life and reflects on the woes and dilemmas of the dating world. Currently, Kelly is a yoga teacher and writer. Prior to this, she worked for the National Football League; lived in three war zones while working for the United Nations; served on the 9/11 Commission where she co-authored her first book, "9/11 and Terrorist Travel” helped run a global counterterrorism program at the State Department and was the Senate press secretary to Sen. Joe Lieberman during his vice presidential bid. Her writing has been published by The New York Times and U.S. News & World Report.
PRSA RECOGNIZES ALLEN WITH PYRAMID AWARD
Calvin Allen (B.A. Print Journalism '08) was the recipient of the Public Relations Society of America's 2011 Pyramid Award for Excellence in Public Relations in two categories: Special Events and PR on a Shoestring Budget. Calvin spearheaded the PR for BedBug University: North American Summit, a conference about bedbugs that generated over 1,500 media hits and placements within major outlets such as the “TODAY Show” and “Good Morning America.” He is the director of strategic communication at Cooper Pest Solutions in Lawrenceville, NJ.
ALUM HEADS NEW MEDIA FOR VILLARAIGOSA
Gregg Lichtenstein (M.A. Communication Management ’08) is the new media director for the Office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Previously, Lichtenstein worked as a digital media consultant at My Gym Enterprises.
Nick Trujillo (B.A. Speech Communication ’77) has released a CD under the name Gory Bateson titled Is That Viral Enuf 4 U? The CD is part of a larger research project in which Trujillo created an online alter ego to study viral videos on the Internet.
Susan Ritchie (B.A .Journalism ’80, M.A. Communication Management ’85) is currently the senior advisor to the head of the Bureau of International Information Programs at the State Department in Washington, DC. Prior to this, Susan was a senior partner at International Entertainment & Media Partners and the senior vice president of international communications at Discovery Communications in Maryland. From 1999-2003, she served as vice president of government affairs at AT&T.
Gail Thompson (B.A. Journalism ’80) was recently named the Wachovia Endowed Chair Distinguished Professor of Education at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina. Previously she was a professor at Claremont Graduate University. She has written six books and co-authored a seventh, all of which explore the dynamics between American minorities and education.
Diane Dray (M.A. Communication Management ’90) became the communications manager for Disney Corporate Citizenship in November 2010. Previously, she worked as a freelance writer and editor specializing in corporate news and marketing for PortionsWrittenBy. She also worked as a news writer, editor and producer for CBS for 20 years.
Cathy James (B.A. Communication and Social Sciences ’92) will be inducted into the BizBash Hall of Fame, which recognizes and rewards key event strategists who have made major contributions to furthering the event industry’s goals, as well as to personal philanthropy, through their careers. Cathy is the vice president of events and projects at the Entertainment Industry Foundation.
Christy Salcido Nelson (B.A. Public Relations ’92) is the director of marketing for the CHAYA Restaurant Group in Los Angeles. Previously, Nelson worked as a managing director for Emanate, a division of Ketchum Worldwide. Nelson also worked as the vice president of Marketing at Starbucks Entertainment and as a director for Starbucks U.S. Marketing & Public Relations. Prior to this, Nelson worked for over ten years at Ketchum Public Relations in Los Angeles and New York as vice president/group manager. She has 20 years of experience leading innovative campaigns for high-profile, high-growth brands, including Subway, Levi’s, and Mattel.
Dani Katz (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’95) is working on an as-yet-untitled book about relationship models. She finished the first draft while completing a residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute and is now working to finish the revisions while in New Mexico.
Deborah Dunn (Ph.D. Communication Arts & Sciences ’96) recently gave a lecture in the Czech Republic at Masarykova Univerzita titled "Dehumanizing Discourse: Language Choices & Implications." She was also on sabbatical in Belfast last year conducting ongoing research and consulting with grass roots peacemaking organizations in Northern Ireland. Deborah is currently a professor in the department of communication studies at Westmont College.
Anita Elberse (M.A. Communication ’98) spoke at USC Annenberg as part of the M{2e} speaker series. Her presentation, Technology's Impact on the Entertainment Industry: Will Blockbuster Strategies Survive? examined the profound impact digital technology is having on the media and entertainment industries and the concurrent pressure on existing business models.
Suzanne Rumsey (M.A. Organizational Communication ’98) led a session on talent management at the third annual HRevolution event for professionals in the human resources industry. Her session, titled "Six Thinking Hats," addressed different perspectives from which to approach talent management strategy. Rumsey currently works as a senior consultant and director of consulting services at Knowledge Infusion, a human resources consulting organization.
Rich DeMuro (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’00) is a tech reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles. Previously, Rich was an editor for Techmeme, the top tech news aggregation website in the world. He also served as technology reporter for KCBS and KCAL TV stations in Los Angeles.
Jim Brenner (B.A. Communication ’03) accepted a position as an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, Calif. Previously, Brenner was an associate at White & Lee. Brenner earned his J.D. from UC Hastings College of Law where he served as the co-editor in chief of the Hastings Communication & Entertainment Law Journal.
Peter Scheer (B.A. Communication ’03), Zuade Kaufman (M.A. Print Journalism ’05) and Kassandra Zuanich (B.A. Communication ’09) were all part of the team that helped Truthdig win the 2011 Webby for "Best Political Blog" for the second year in a row. Scheer is the managing editor and has a background in the film industry. Kaufman received a bachelor’s degree in film theory and criticism from the University of California at Santa Cruz and completed Stanford University’s professional course in publishing before becoming Truthdig’s co-founder and publisher. Zuanich, who is Truthdig’s web designer and developer, is also the CEO and founder of Neonlist.
Nate Berg (B.A. Print Journalism ’06) is an assistant editor for Planetizen, a public-interest information exchange that covers a variety of planning, design and development issues in the community. Berg is also part of the Urban Insight team, a firm that consults clients, including Planetizen, in web development, content management and internet strategy.
Thomas Kelley (M.A. Print Journalism ’06) is a web producer and editor at Yahoo! News. He recently directed the 2010 election coverage on the site.
Regina Cabrera (M.A. Communication Management ’07) is the director of communications for Grand Performances, an L.A. based non-profit performing arts company. Previously, Cabrera was the director of communications at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles.
Rhett Bollinger (B.A. Print Journalism ’08) is the head beat reporter covering the Minnesota Twins for mlb.com. Before accepting the position in Minneapolis, Rhett was a Los Angeles-based associate reporter covering the Anaheim Angels.
Matias Cavallin (M.A. Strategic Public Relations ’08) has started his own public relations agency, @6pr, which specializes in multicultural outreach, social media consulting and strategic communications, specifically for the Hispanic market. Matias serves as the creative director of the firm.
Lily Fowler’s (M.A. Print Journalism ’08) article "Gene tests don't have the answers" was published in the Los Angeles Times. Currently Lilly Fowler is an assistant editor at FairWarning, a nonprofit, online investigative news organization focused on safety and health issues.
Caitlin Mattias (B.A. Public Relations ’08) is a senior account executive at Merritt Group. She is also the vice president of the PRSA LA Young Professionals group.
Joey Nosowicz (B.A. Communication ’08) was accepted into the General Psychology graduate program at New York University.
Stephaney Roy (M.A. Strategic Public Relations ’08) is a business service representative for the veteran's pilot program at Goodwill Southern California. Previously, she was working with the United States Veteran's Initiative.
Penny Sang (M.A. Communication Management ’08) is a financial correspondent for China Business Network TV in Shanghai. Previously, Sang worked as a new media strategist at the U.S. Station of China Press and as a newsroom intern at the Fox Business Network. Sang also worked as an editor for ELLE Magazine in China.
Wendy Carrillo (M.A. Journalism ’09) was honored as a "distinguished woman of the 32nd District" by Congresswoman Judy Chu. Wendy is a multimedia broadcast journalist with a passion for story-telling. Her show airs at 6 a.m. every Sunday on Los Angeles radio station Power 106 FM, where she discusses issues that matter most to the LA community. During the historic presidential election of 2008, Wendy Carrillo won a national competition to represent young Latinos, by receiving more than 7,000 online votes to report from the Democratic National Convention for SiTV and Voto Latino. In 2009, Wendy won the San Francisco-based "Elfen Award for Social Justice" in Poverty for a short film on Homeboy Industries, an organization that works to end gang violence.
Bill Lascher (M.A. Journalism ’09) is a freelance journalist whose focus is on environmental reporting, with a concentration on green building, transportation, energy and greenwashing. Lascher recently published a piece in the April 2011 edition of Portland Monthly regarding the intersection between green identity and the carbon economy.
Nicky Loomis (M.A. Specialized Journalism ’09) was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study in Hungary. She is a freelance writer whose work has been published in the Pasadena Star News and the Los Angeles Times, among others.
Meghan Moran (Ph.D. Communication ’09) will be an assistant professor at San Diego State University.
Benjamin Brown (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’10) is one of two winners of the Amble Resorts Island Intern contest, beating almost 100 competitors from all over the nation for the opportunity to explore a 400-acre island in Panama, where an eco-luxury resort at Isla Palenque is being developed. Brown will have the opportunity to document his island experience over the summer. He currently works as an elementary school teacher in Las Vegas with Teach for America. He also works as a Las Vegas ethnic foods writer for Examiner.com and as a travel reporter and intern coordinator for JohnnyJet.com.
Sasha Costanza-Chock (Ph.D. Communication ’10) will be an assistant professor at MIT.
Rebecca Haithcoat (M.A. Specialized Journalism - The Arts)’10) is the acting music editor for LA Weekly. She was previously the assistant music editor.
Matt Weber (Ph.D. Communication ’10) has accepted a position as an assistant professor at Rutgers University.
Ashley Williams (B.A. Broadcast and Digital Journalism ’11) was named the "Student Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Williams has had experience interning for People, NBCs Dateline, Nightly News, and Today show. She served as President of Annenberg's Black Student Association, has participated in the Meredith-Cronkite Fellowship Program and frequently contributes to The Huffington Post.
John Cheney-Lippold (Ph.D. Communication ’11) has accepted a position as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
Lauren Frank (Ph.D. Communication ’11) will be an assistant professor at Portland State University.
Joe Phua (Ph.D. Communication ’11) has accepted a position as an assistant professor at Georgia State University.