HIGHER EDUCATION Photos courtesy KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
Area Universities Training the Next Generation of Storytellers Today’s students are learning how to use technology and social media to tell stories within the Akron-Canton Metroplex and beyond. Students in Kent State’s Emerging Media and Technology class have the opportunity to learn how different technologies can enhance their ability to tell engaging stories.
BY KAREN HANNA
The voice and tone of tomorrow’s area businesses and organizations are being set today, as universities within the Akron-Canton Metroplex prepare students to use emerging technologies for roles in PR and marketing. Instructors at the University of Akron, Walsh University in North Canton and Kent State University say they’re getting the message across: Using social media as a professional is a little different than among friends. But, in a lot of ways, the purpose is the same–to create community. “What we’re really seeing now in the trend is this increased personification of organizations, so this abil-
ity to make a company feel like a person when we’re interacting with them on social media,” says McKenna Vietmeier, an associate professor of instruction in the University of Akron’s School of Communication. For students who came of age alongside social media, learning to craft a professional voice means honing new skills. With so many platforms, the opportunities are endless—meaning organizations are giving more leeway
“You kind of balance what it is that you want to do with what it is that you think the audience needs.” JACQUELINE MARINO, a journalism professor at Kent State. 30 Akron-Canton Metroplex
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to earlier-career professionals who know how to make a connection. “The entry-level PR job was to be chained to a desk and write press releases, essentially, trying to get things placed in the media,” says Mark Rogers, director of the communication program at Walsh University. “And now much more, our students are going out, and their jobs are updating the social media sites and writing content for the social media sites for the different businesses and, in some cases, making video or podcast or audio content.” “We talk really succinctly about brand management and how brand voice can come through across all of these different channels of communication, so how do we write differently for a website versus how we write for an Instagram video versus how we present ourselves in a TikTok video?” Vietmeier says. At Kent State University, which is known for its journalism program, stu-
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