JPR&NM Magazine
Summer 2012
We are Baylor
JPR&NM
Table of Contents 3-4
New Media Sequence
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Student Brag Book
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Who We Are
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Study in Italy
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Awards Banquet
New Media Sequence By: Lindsey Tigert
Social Media Facts • Social networking now accounts for 22 percent of all time spent online in the US. • Twitter has more than 140 million active users, with more than 340 million Tweets per day. • As of April 2012, Facebook has 900 million users. • YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world. • In four minutes and 26 seconds 100+ hours of video will be uploaded to YouTube. • One out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media. • One in 6 higher education students are enrolled in online curriculum.
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An exciting opportunity awaits incoming students in the department of Journalism, Public Relations & New Media in the fall. Along with the current News Editorial and Public Relations Sequences within the journalism major, a New Media sequence will be added to the program. The New Media sequence was proposed because of the rapidly changing field of journalism as a result of advancing technologies. Professors believe that in order to keep up with new types of electronic communication sites such as Facebook and Twitter that have transformed the field of journalism, students should be offered a program that continues to keep up with those trends. Specifically, the sequence will help students develop skills in web applications, blogs, various types of visual communications and social media. “The New Media track fits into the university’s mission of preparing our students for worldwide leadership and service,” Clark Baker, associate professor in the department, said. “The department needs to respond to these significant changes in the field if our students are to
New media is a term that emerged in end of the 20th century that refers to on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device. As well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community formation around the media content.
New Media Channels Twitter is a real-time information network. Users post “Tweets,” which are 140 characters long. You can see photos, videos, conversate and use hashtags to label Tweet themes.
be well-equipped to enter the profession in important positions.” The New Media sequence will still require 30 semester hours, like the Public Relations and News Editorial sequences, with four core courses and two separate groups the students can choose between. The first group consists of multiple advertising courses that provide students with a business perspective. Courses taken by students in this group are to provide them skills in advertising management and development. The second group will include classes in photography and videography. This group is for students who are primarily interested in working in visual communications. The department hopes to help its students achieve great success after graduation by responding to the requests of students to add this sequence. “We want students to leave with a good feel for design and photography or advertising,” Dr. Stone added. “The sequence will benefit and compliment the work the department is already doing.”
Pinterest is a virtual pin board that lets you organize and share things you find on the web. You can browse pin boards that share your interests, discover new things and get inspiration.
Blogger is a blog hosting site that is owned by Google. Blogger is free, user-friendly, and you can have a blog up and running in a matter of minutes.
WordPress is also a blog hosting site. It allows users to have a selfhosted (.org) blog. With it’s professional apperance and customization options, it’s great for branding your blog.
Stumbleupon users “stumble” through a series of web pages that are tailored to their selected interest categories. It’s a great resource for a website to market its page content.
LinkedIn is the largest professional network with more than 120 million members. It connects contacts, and allows users to exchange knowledge, ideas and opportunities with a broader network of professionals.
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Brag Board: JPR&NM Student Work
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"Lighthouse" By Chelsi Patterson
"RG3" By Devin Etzold
"Independence" By Sarah Watson
MOUNT PLEASANT Regional Airport Design by Lindsey Tigert Design by Iliana Garcia
Barkley Animal Clinic and Hospital 7207 New Sanger Rd. Waco, Texas 76712 254-776-5073 Hours of business: Mon.-Fri. 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sat. 7:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. www.barkleyanimalclinic.com/
Robert F. Barkley Barkley, DVM Animal
“30 years small animal experience, offering diagnostic, medical, surgical and dental services.�
Design bY AMY STONE
Design By Brian Sanders Design By Sarah Watson
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Faculty & Staff
Who We Are
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2 Baylor JPR&NM
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1 Words of Wisdom
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Paul Carr, director of student publications
“What I love about our department is that our students get to take what they are learning in the classroom and then get to apply it with hands-on learning with our student publications. Our journalism majors get outstanding experience and clips that help them when they look for jobs.”
Carol Perry, senior lecturer “Dance backwards”
3 Kevin Tankersley, senior lecturer
My 7-year-old daughter visited my office one day, and asked, “What’s journalism?” I explained that journalism is about writing stories. “I want to write a story,” she replied. That’s the exact response I hope to elicit from my students each day. When they leave my classroom, I want them to say, “I want to write a story.”
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“My kids think I’m in the CIA. ... I’d interviewed with the CIA at one point and it’s just my job and I travel and I’m a photographer, and so my daughter’s friends … they’re convinced.”
Robert Darden, associate professor
“On my very first day in the department, I had my times mixed up for my first class. I was sitting in my office when I received a phone call from my son Van, who just so happened to be in that class. ‘Dad,’ he whispered, ‘Where are you? The class started 10 minutes ago!’ I ran to the classroom, where I found 25 confused students, including my son, who was sitting on the back row, his baseball cap pulled low over this face. Needless to say, I lost the ‘moral high ground’ for the entire semester with him!
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Dr. Clark Baker, associate professor
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Michael Blackman, Hartman Chair in Journalism
“Because of my Baylor journalism training, I was able to work in journalism my entire career and not a single day did I ever not look forward to going to work.”
Dr. Elizabeth Bates, assistant professor “Future journalism students should look for any opportunity to gain experience while they are in school...Doing this makes students more marketable.”
Dr. Brad Owens, senior lecturer “Try different media, try different genres, you know: news feature, feature, straight news. Learn to shoot photos for your own stuff. Take pleasure in the weird diversity of the people you talk to. And trust your instincts. Fear not, that’s what I wind up telling almost anybody I talk to about anything is … trust yourself. When you screw up, you’ll know it and you’ll get over it and so will whoever you hurt. Take it seriously when you mess up, but don’t fear. Charge on in there.”
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Jan Loosier
“I love working with and getting to know our students. Seeing our students learning, creating and being successful puts a smile in my heart and that silly grin on my face!”
Maxey Parrish, senior lecturer
“The outstanding feature of our department is the hands-on experiences students have in learning the craft of journalism. Whether writing, photography, design or technology, our graduates leave Baylor with the skills necessary to earn a living in a fast-paced, cutting-edge field that is essential to our world.”
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The Baylor JPR&NM Department offers students the opportunity to spend a summer traveling in Europe with Baylor in Florence.
Department Spends Second Summer in Italy By Molly Dunn
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hotographing Michaelangelo’s most famous works or writing about a trip to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore will become real opportunities for 18 Baylor students this summer. Those students will get to practice their writing and photography skills in Florence, Italy, by participating in the Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media’s second Baylor in Florence study abroad program. The program has already grown from the original 13 students who embarked on the five-week trip last year. The group will fly into Rome and spend one week there, rather than staying in Florence for a week before traveling together to Rome as the group did last year.
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“This makes a lot more sense because we eliminate the concern of
The Journalism Public Relations and New Media Department Baylor University Waco, Texas
everyone arriving on time and get to see Rome at a slower pace,” Senior Lecturer Maxey Parrish, one of the program’s lecturers, said. “We’ll also have more time for teaching there.” The purpose behind this program was to be a unique way for students to grow as journalists. The study abroad website describes the program as “a holistic teaching approach [that] will blend and synergize the two disciplines just as they are in the professional world.” In the program last summer, students were able to bring both aspects of reporting and story telling together. They took two courses, one for writing and one for photography, based on their academic needs. Parrish and Dr. Clark Baker, associate professor of journalism, public relations and new media, were the two instructors. They will be teaching this summer’s courses as well.
“The field school approach means that you’re spending a lot of time out and about looking at things, learning about things and it’s not just about a writing assignment that the student will go out and do and bring it back to the professor,” Parrish said. “It’s kind of a collaboration process.” Students had the opportunity to work on assignments and photograph the architecture and culture that surrounded them before and after their afternoon classes at the Florence University of the Arts. They were given access to the university’s computer labs, classrooms and photo studios, allowing them to create work fit for their portfolios. Dallas junior Kelsey Polarolo said learning outside
“The purpose behind this program was to be a unique way for students to grow as journalists.”
the classroom, especially in Italy, enhanced the course experience. “Regular photography at Baylor is awesome, but taking photography in Florence was a million times better because we were taking pictures of things that other people don’t get to see in their lives,” she said. Students lived in apartments within the city of Florence and traveled as a group to Rome, Venice and various surrounding cities on the weekends, which gave them exposure to the
Italian culture. Unlike study abroad programs where students live in dormitories, the 13 journalism students lived in an apartment complex as many Italians do. Being immersed within the culture allowed them to see, understand and appreciate Florence differently than if they had stayed in residence halls secluded from the city. Houston junior Sanmai Gbandi said having patience was the biggest difference between the Italian and American cultures. “The culture there is so much different than ours. We’re always going and always moving, but in Italy, they take time to appreciate the important things in life,” Gbandi said.
“They spend hours at dinner just talking and enjoying each other’s company. We don’t do that so much here. It really made me put things in perspective and ask myself what’s really important.” Because Baylor in Florence was designed to be a field school, the students learned outside the classroom more so than they did inside the classroom. Baker and Parrish took every opportunity they had during trips to museums, train rides to
and from cities, and leisurely walks throughout Florence to teach their students how to experience Italian
“Taking photography in Florence was a million times better because we were taking pictures of things that other people don’t get to see in their lives.” culture and tell the Italians’ stories. Students were given assignments that involved reporting from the cities they traveled to and speaking
with Italians to bring the human perspective into their stories. “No story about experiencing a place is real unless you bring a human perspective into it,” Parrish said. “There’s also no better way to do it than with a native who lives there every day.” Dallas sophomore Mollie Kirk will travel to Florence this summer with Baylor in Florence and said she is excited for the opportunities offered through the program.
“I chose to go on the study abroad trip to Florence because of what I think I will gain from the experience,” Kirk said. “I think I will strengthen my writing and photography skills and build up my portfolio.” Parrish said he hopes this trip is beneficial to all journalism students who decide to attend. “I think the Baylor in Florence program is a tremendous thing for the department,” Parrish said. “Students receive a great deal of personalized instruction and get to spend time living in a remarkable place. They come away with a better portfolio, which can help in the job search, and develop a different outlook on life for having lived overseas.”
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Guest Speaker
Mariana Pineda Navarro
Awards Banquet April 17 2012
By Sara Tirrito
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here have been numerous struggles in the Department of Journalism, Public Relations and New Media in the last several years — there have been attacks on the department’s work; there has, at times, been a lack of support from the outside. But the department has fought through these trials and has made history with the number of awards its students have won, associate Professor Robert Darden said at the department’s award banquet April 17. “The golden age of journalism at Baylor University is right now,” Darden, the master of ceremonies at the banquet, said. “And you guys took the worst that the world and the university and your colleagues and technology could [give]. And you smiled and you buckled up your chin straps and you went back at it again and you turned out the very best yearbooks, the very best newspapers, and the very best Focus magazine this campus has ever seen and I am so proud of every one of you.” 2004 Baylor journalism graduate Mariana Pineda Navarro was the guest speaker at the banquet. Navarro currently works as a television news reporter for Univision’s Houston affiliate, KXLN 45. She spoke about her time with Univision, and also remembered her years in the department with professors who she said encouraged her to believe in herself and put forth extra effort to help her.
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“I had awesome professors,” Navarro said. “I recall spending extra hours with Professor Maxey [Parrish], he helped me so much. That made the difference. And Dr. Owens, I remember he made papers bleed. But hey, a tough professor’s always best and you don’t forget the basics.” At the banquet, numerous awards and scholarships were given out, most to students in the department. But one special award was given to Professor Michael Blackman, Hartman chair in journalism. Blackman was honored with Kappa Tau Alpha’s Keith P. Sanders Outstanding Service Award and a standing ovation. In an interview, Blackman said he was grateful for the award, especially as it came from the very department that helped him enter the journalism field. “I was obviously surprised and certainly grateful for the recognition,” Blackman said. “If it weren’t for Baylor journalism, I don’t know what field I’d have been in, but it wouldn’t have been writing and editing all my career.” The award recognized Blackman’s “45 years of dedicated service to the journalism profession as writer, editor and educator.” In an interview, Dr. Sara Stone, interim chair of the journalism department, said those involved in the decision-making process had no trouble choosing the winner.
Below: Senior Nick Dean embraces Dr. Sara Stone, interim department chair, after receiving his Outstanding Senior Award. Right: Director of Student Publications Paul Carr presents the First Amendment Freedom Fighter Award to Hadassah Schloss, the cost rules administrator in the Open Records Division of the Office of the Attorney General. Photos by: Matt Hellman
Award Winners
“Hands down, everybody wanted it to be Mike as a culmination of a long, distinguished career in journalism,” Stone said. Stone said the department has been “so pleased and so proud” to call Blackman one of their own. Another special award went to Hadassah Schloss, the cost rules administrator in the Open Records Division of the Office of the Attorney General. She works with those having difficulties in obtaining copies of public records, and has worked with the Lariat in the past. Director of Student Publications Paul Carr presented Schloss with the First Amendment Freedom Fighter Award for 2012. “Who is she? She’s the defender of freedom,” Carr said. “She’s the most influential official in the Texas government working to keep other government agencies open and transparent to the public. That’s my opinion.” Schloss encouraged journalists to keep democracy strong by doing their jobs. “Remember, democracy is not just voting,” Schloss said. “Democracy is being able to confront government. Keep asking the questions, and do not accept no for an answer.”
Outstanding Senior Awards: News/Ed: Nick Dean PR: Rachel Moorman Outstanding Graduate Students: Master of Arts: Dani Brown Master of International Journalism: Kelsey Prenger Most Oustanding in NABJ: Chris Mitchell and Jocelyn Fowler Most Outstanding in SPJ: Caitlin Giddens Best Career Portfolio: Devin Etzold Best Multimedia Portfolio: Ilianna Garcia Best Web-Based Portfolio: Amber Owens Best Designer: Sarah Watson
Best Public Servant in PR: Trevor Allison Best Team Player (PR): Claire Turner Most Outstanding Intern Work Ethic: Katie Compton Best Overall Media Programming Student: Sarah Van Ert Best Overall Advanced PR Student: Carmen Galvan Best Photojournalist: Kyle Beam Best PR Agency Student: Cate Westenhover Top Senior Scholars: Rachel Moorman, Caty Hirst and Jessica Chia Best Team Player (News Ed): Matt Hellman
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