Compendium (Vol. 4, 2020)

COMPENDIUM CSUDH COMMUNICATIONS ALUMNI PUBLICATION

Vol. 4 Issue 1 August 2020

A Year to Remember

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This has been an extraordinary year. Literally one for the history books. A global pandemic that has shut down the world. A financial crisis rivaling the Great Depression. A social uprising calling for racial and social justice, surpassing even the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

And that was just in the spring of 2020. Here we will take stock of what has been happening in the COM Department of CSUDH amidst the backdrop of all this, highlighting our own historic moments and showing what some of our alumni are documenting during these unprecedented and historic times (See Pages 35-36).

TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter From the Chair

PR Class Competition

Dr. Nancy Cheever discusses the year’s developments Page 3

AD/PR students battle it out for real-world experience Page 25

Teacher Award

Bulletin TV on Hiatus

Dr. Eagle wins Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award

Page 4

COM Department hopes to relaunch the broadcast Page 27

Faculty Earn Tenure

School of Arts Proposal

Dr. Eagle and Dr. Burkey earn tenure and promotion

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How the new proposal will affect the COM Department Page 29

New Faculty Search

Alumni Podcast

COM Department has a successful COM alumni Justin Barnette search for new Journalism Faculty launches professional podcast

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Page 31

Accreditation

Alum’s Magic Touch

The COM Department’s pursuit of accreditation is delayed

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One COM alumni gets a magical career opportunity Page 33

Diversity Initiative

Signs of the Times

Dr. de la Serna leads the call for more campus and department diversity

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Photo essay by two COM alumni capturing social change

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Students Win College Journalism Awards Journalism students win competition for multiple awards

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Challenges of Internships Internships can be both challenging and rewarding Page 17

New Era of Journalism Training journalists in a transforming field Page 19

New Digital Magazine Journalism students get new outlet to showcase their writing

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COMPENDIUM CONTRIBUTORS Editor Dr. Brant Burkey, Associate Professor, Dept. of Communications

Writers/Designers/Photographers Robin Bolton Julissa Casillas Jordan Darling Melanie Gerner Julian Guerrero Sarai Henriquez LaVielle Hibbert Dayszha Lino Malena Lopez Glenn Marshall

Angelica Mozol Carina Noyola Chelsea Vera Ocampo Jennifer Olguin Kelsey Reichmann Jenny Regla Violeta Rocha Ulises Rodriguez Destiny Torres

Students Get A Voice

Alumni Use Their Voices Checking in with our Toro alumni Page 24

DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES 1000 East Victoria Street • Carson, CA 90747 (310) 243-3313 / (310) 243-3683 • Fax (310) 516-3779 ©2017 All Rights Reserved

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How the COM Department helps students find their voice

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Letter from the Chair

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This year I write to you from my home office, where I have been practicing extreme social distancing since mid-March. Like so many others in higher education, the faculty, staff and students at CSUDH have been working remotely—via email, Zoom, and telephone—with no clear understanding of when we will be back on campus. The challenges of the stay-at-home order are endless; however we persevere, and continue to provide the best experience possible within the limits of our new reality.

Despite the pandemic, our enrollment is strong. We welcomed more than 100 new transfer and firstyear students to our degree programs this summer, and combined we have almost 700 majors across the three degree programs.

We held a successful virtual Student Awards Ceremony in May, where alumna Sheniece Smith (2007, B.A. in Communications: Public Relations) gave three $1,000 awards to students struggling with pandemic-related issues as part of her Hope Scholarship. We were able to provide an additional $10,000 in assistance to housing and food insecure students thanks to a generous donation from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. And again we received substantial scholarship gifts from longtime supporters Roy Nakai and Gil and Shirley Smith.

In this issue of Compendium, students from our digital magazine class share stories and images of achievement, hope, change, and the protests in support of racial justice. The department has issued its own statement about the BLM movement and our commitment to an anti-racist, inclusive and diverse education for all. One of our goals this academic year is to create a plan to ensure our curriculum is free of bias and racist connotations.

Four students on The Bulletin student newspaper staff won big at this year’s California College Media Association Best of College Media

2020. Sixty-five colleges and universities from throughout California submitted a total of 940 entries, resulting in 318 winners across 39 categories. Our students won three first-place awards and one second-place award. See the story on page 15.

California Campus Compact awarded one CSU Dominguez Hills student with a $500 scholarship as part of its new initiative, Community Engagement Student Fellowship: Youth Voice-Youth Vote. The scholarship supports student leaders advancing service, service-learning and community engagement focused on some aspect of voter engagement and youth voice at California Campus Compact member campuses throughout the state. The student they selected was Journalism major Iracema Navarro, who is writing a series of stories on youth voting.

We have a new Journalism faculty member, Dr. Fernando Severino, who is finishing up his doctoral work before joining the CSUDH family in August. A native of Chile, Dr. Severino brings a rich academic and professional background to students. He worked as a news editor and anchor for CNN Chile and as a marketing professional before earning his master’s of international and public affairs at Columbia and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities.

Finally, it is our ongoing commitment to keep you informed about our faculty, students, events and programs. Additionally, we would love to hear about your successes and accomplishments.

If you have something to share or would like to be featured in our next edition, please contact Dr. Brant Burkey at bburkey@csudh.edu. I hope to see you at a future awards ceremony, whether it’s virtual or face-to-face, and you can always call or email me. As always, we look forward to hearing from you and reconnecting.

Dr. Nancy A. Cheever Chair, Communications Department

Dr. Eagle Distinguishes Herself as 2020 Teacher of the Year Award Recipient

By Robin Renay Bolton

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tudents bustle by Dr. Eagle’s office as she softly shuts the door and settles at her desk.

It’s a late Wednesday afternoon and the sun can be seen setting out the window over her right shoulder. She’s usually leaving campus at this time of the day but she stayed behind to speak with a student. Like many many other students in the Communication program, this isn’t the first time Dr. Eagle has stuck around to help them out. That’s just the kind of professor she is. Always dedicated, always ready to help, however she can.

Like most professors, Dr. Eagle’s life is just as busy outside of school as it is on campus.

She has a family and hobbies in her “real” life but

being there for her students is just as important. This, in addition to many other reasons, is why Dr. Eagle is the recipient of the 2020 Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award.

To Dr. Eagle, being there for her students is the bare minimum of what a professor should be. She believes every student deserves to have professors who listen to them while valuing their existence. It seems like an easy concept but many college students will tell you some professors seem to struggle with this aspect of their job. All too often, students pile into classrooms, go through the motions for an hour, and leave feeling like their professor has no idea who they are. But Dr. Eagle’s students are different.

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Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle

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Angelica Mozol is a student in Dr. Eagle’s Media and Representation class. The class examines how different communities and ethnic groups are represented in the media. The class is one of Mozol’s favorites, not because of the course material but the professor teaching it.

“She explains things in a way that’s not only easy to understand but also in a unique way,” Mozol said. “The way she approaches her lessons makes me look at things I thought I already knew in a different light. She challenges my usual way of thinking, which is why I love the class so much.”

While applying for the Teacher of the Year award, Dr. Eagle reached out to students for letters of recommendation. She recalls feeling strange asking students for these letters but admitted she knew it was important to have their voices highlighted during this process.

Dr. Eagle knows her students think highly of her but, as the letters started trickling in, it blew her away to learn the different ways she has affected them. To her, she’s just doing her job by giving students the type of education they deserve, but glowing recommendations like Mozol’s and the

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other students who submitted letters to be included in her application meant the world to her. As she reflected on different compliments she’s received from students over the years, she found herself getting a little emotional.

“I noticed as I was reading through the letters from students, one of the things they kept commenting on is the way I made them feel seen,” Dr. Eagle said. “I think that’s what an award like this means. It’s a small confirmation I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.”

Every year, CSUDH awards the Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award to a faculty member who thoroughly knows their subject while demonstrating an ability to keep course materials relevant. Some professors do this by focusing on the course itself but, for Dr. Eagle, it starts with the students. Students can’t and won’t learn in environments where they are not comfortable. They are unable to thrive with professors they don’t connect with. Dr. Eagle has managed to foster classrooms that feel like home for her students and that among other reasons is why she is the recipient of such an esteemed award.

Dr. Eagle earned the prestigious Lyle E. Gibson Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award for 2020.

COM Professors Earn Tenure

By Jordan Darling

meaningful work for the department.”

Being tenure track is a six- to seven-yearlong process that puts professors under the microscope for their performance and contributions to the faculty, department, college, and university, which culminates in a tenure review that evaluates their service, teaching record, and research agenda.

For the first five years, candidates are expected to turn in review packets that are narratives showing they have progressed in these three areas, as well as show evidence they have published research in their field, improved in their teaching methods, and have taken part in services to the university through various committees or other activities.

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In 2020, CSUDH was ranked 72 in Best Regional Universities West by U.S. News & World Report, and number 12 for Best Undergraduate Teaching Programs.

However, in 2019, the Bulletin reported that California State University, Dominguez Hills had the lowest number of tenure track faculty in the California State University system at 44.2 percent. At the same time, student enrollment at CSUDH hit an all-time high in the fall of 2019 with an estimated 17,027 students enrolled at the 347-acre college campus.

Luckily, the Communications Department at CSUDH is increasing its number of tenured faculty with two professors who went up for tenure this year, Assistant Professors of Communications Dr. Brant Burkey and Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle.

Choosing members for a tenure track is decided during the hiring process and both Dr. Burkey and Dr. Eagle caught the eye of the department early on.

Dr. Eagle has been with the university for seven years, pushing her tenure off an extra year after giving birth to her daughter, and Dr. Burkey has been at Dominguez for the past six years, both are considered staples in the CSUDH Communications Department by students and staff alike.

“Dr. Burkey came in with extensive teaching experience,” Dr. Nancy Cheever, Chair of the Communications Department, said, “[and] Dr. Eagle is the whole package, a teacher, great research agenda, proven service. They both seemed like a good fit for the department.”

Dr. Cheever also had this to say about Dr. Burkey and Dr. Eagle earning tenure this year. “It’s very positive,” Dr. Cheever said, “it means we will have more tenured professors and be able to do more

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Dr. Burkey has been here at CSUDH for the past six years, and has just finished his review year for tenure. Any student that has taken one of his classes knows his stories pretty well and is familiar with the infamous and facepalm-inducing bald jokes, as well as his signature leather briefcase and ever present coffee mug in hand.

But his path has not always been so clear.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Sonoma State University, Dr. Burkey tried on a lot of hats as a journalist, serving as everything from religion editor to wine critic to calendar editor at weekly and daily newspapers, as an associate editor in educational publishing, and senior reporter in business, before getting his mater’s degree from the University of Oregon, his teaching crediential at California State University, Long Beach, and working for nearly ten years as a high school history teacher and journalism advisor in Norwalk, Calif.

In addition to teaching high school by day, he also taught evenings at CSULB as an adjunct instructor in their journalism program. The experience taught him that he would fit better into a professor position and was encouraged to pursue a Ph.D.

So at 40 years old, he moved north and started over completely as a graduate student again.

Dr. Burkey received his Ph.D. in Media Studies with a Certificate in New Media & Culture from University of Oregon in 2014 and returned to Southern California to accept the tenure-track position at CSUDH. While he says it has been worth it, the entire process has taken him 10 years between his Ph.D. program and tenure track.

“It is grueling. It is really hard to stay so singularly focused for six long years trying to meet these various expectations after you’ve already gone through four years of graduate school working toward this singular goal. So I cannot overstate how important that is to me,” Dr. Burkey said.

“Not because of the idea of tenure, but because I set a goal for myself that took me ten years and to get to a point where you can almost taste it if I do achieve it...It’s proving to

Dr. Brant Burkey, Associate Professor

myself that I can do something that I wasn’t sure that I could accomplish.”

During his time here, Dr. Burkey has published four articles in various academic publications, presented at numerous conferences, managed grants, and his most recent research project is an ongoing venture into social media surveillance.

Dr. Burkey frontloaded himself in the beginning of his tenure with service to the university. In the past six years, he has sat on a variety of committees, was a founding member of the Untenured Faculty

Organization, chaired a faculty grievance committee, moderated panels for World Press Freedom Day, was the keynote speaker for the Latinx Staff and Faculty Association fundraisers, assisted with the school newspaper, served on educational advisory boards, department search committees, and had a hand in rewriting the Journalism curriculum.

“I enjoy service a lot, it is an opportunity to get to know other professors in other disciplines and understand the inner workings of how the university operates,” Burkey said.

But Dr. Burkey’s true passion lies in the classroom, where he was the opportunity to share his passion.

“I am literally living my dream,” Dr. Burkey said. “I get to be in the classroom with young minds and have the opportunity to talk about things that I am passionate about in the hopes that that passion will translate to students, to get them to question the way the media landscape works, to think critically, to make connections between the content we are talking about, to make it relevant to their lives. That is an amazing aspect of teaching, planting seeds and seeing them grow. There is no other career that provides those kinds of rewards.”

Like Dr. Burkey, many people spend their lives searching for their passion, their niche, their place. Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle also found hers in teaching.

“There was a part of me that was always drawn to being a teacher and being able to talk to a group of people about things that I am interested in and being able to share that love with other people,” Dr. Eagle said.

wood by the Horns, which helps CSUDH students gain contacts in film making, she has sat on six committees and helped to design the curriculum for the Film, Television, and Media Studies (FTVM) program.

“Being able to spearhead the media studies option into the FTVM program,” Eagle said, “designing and developing a curriculum that would help serve our students well, and would set them

up to pursue things they love, it is rare to have that much of an impact on the curriculum that you teach. That was exciting and I got to do something that was really going to last beyond my time at the university.”

Dr. Burkey and Dr. Eagle both earned tenure and promotion at the end of Spring 2020 and will be starting this fall as Associate Professors in the Communications Department.

Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle, Associate Professor

“I was really drawn to the fact the campus had so many first-generation students and I wanted to work in a place where students understood the importance and the value of education, it isn’t just for them it is for their families and communities, and working with and mentoring students means a lot to me and it is a dream to work in a place like this.” - Dr. Ryan Bowles Eagle

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Dr. Eagle is in the seventh year of her tenure track and is the most recent recipient of the CSUDH 2020 Lyle E. Gibson Award for Excellence in Teaching and Education.

Dr. Eagle has a reputation as a gifted and involved professor who listens and provides empathy, understanding, and guidance to each of her students.

“She’s very intuitive…

She would pull me to the side and ask me if I was okay,” Journalism senior Robin Bolton said. “She is very encouraging and very nurturing. She goes out of her way to encourage you. She goes out of her way to make sure you understand [ the concept].”

Dr. Eagle teaches courses in Media and Representation, Genre Analysis, and Media Industries but her heart lies in teaching about documentaries.

“There is a real perception that documentaries can only be one thing and in class, we watch so many different types of documentaries and we see how storytellers choose categories. [It is] more diverse than they imagined,” Dr. Eagle said.

Before becoming a professor, Dr. Eagle worked in the media industry with independent documentaries. Her research has been published in various feminist publications and her favorite article centers on the Hague and human rights. Dr. Eagle’s background in documentaries, her studies, and her research all highlight her prominent belief in having each story and voice be heard in her classroom.

Dr. Eagle’s passion for teaching and for the university at CSUDH shows in her work. She is one of the founders of Holly-

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Rate My New Professor

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by LaVielle Hibbert

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pline, and what classes they may teach. In most cases, a department is looking for someone with a PhD with a specific area of specialty but sometimes they are looking for faculty with a master’s degree and more professional experience.

“Do we need somebody in PR? Do we need somebody in journalism? Once we decide that, we need to know exactly what kind of person that we need,” said Dr. de la Serna. “Do we need somebody who has this characteristic or the other? Then we draft a job description. For this job description, we wanted somebody who has a PhD or a Masters with a lot of experience in journalism because we know that a PhD may bring something but we are also lacking somebody who has been out in the field right now.”

The search committee was trying to find a professional journalist who has teaching experience and worked with Spanish-language media, as the journalism program hopes to eventually offer a Spanish-language journalism certificate. They were also hoping to find a candidate who can develop networking opportunities for journalism students with LA-based Spanish-language media organizations. So it’s important to be very selective on who they eventually choose.

Once the search committee makes their determination, they recommend to the Dean who they think would make the best fit for the COM Department. Then the Dean will make an offer to the candidate based on that recommendation and his own determination.

“I found that as much as this is time consuming and it’s a lot of work, the important part of it is, we’re trying to choose the right person to join our full-time faculty,” said Dr. Burkey. “It is great to see our fulltime faculty expanding. We have more classes to offer and we have more colleagues who are not just part-time lecturers or adjunct faculty. To grow our full-time faculty, we want to make sure that we are choosing the right person for the job.”

This year’s search was successful and the candidate chosen to join the full-time COM faculty is Dr. Fernando Severino, who will start teaching this fall.

Dr. Severino received his PhD from the University of Minnesota and has conducted extensive research on immigration news in Latin America, as well as having worked as a News Editor and Anchor for CNN Chile, making him the perfect candidate to join the full-time faculty and have an impact on future Journalism students here at CSUDH.

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Most students do not know the true details of the Most hiring process for university professors. Unlike many jobs, it is not as simple as sending in a resume, going in for an interview, and accepting the position.

There are certain steps that have to be taken in order to get yourself in front of the classroom at the university level.

Dr. Ana De La Serna, Assistant Professor of Journalism, is currently serving as the chair of the search committee hiring a new tenure-track faculty for the Journalism program for Fall 2020. She explained how extensive the process is with choosing a candidate that best fits their description of what they are looking for in a full-time faculty member.

“You have to have all the requirements to be a [full-time] professor,” said Dr. de la Serna. “If you’re in the tenure track, you have to do three things. You have to do teaching, research and service to the university.”

Dr. Brant Burkey, an Associate Professor of Journalism, is also a part of the search committee and explained how extensive the selection process is when trying to narrow down a large selection of candidates.

“Being on a search committee as a professor is important,” said Dr. Burkey. “It’s a lot of work because you do get involved with a lot of things, from going through applications, narrowing down candidates, and then video interviews until we select three of four qualified candidates to invite for campus interviews.”

Once the candidates visit the campus, they have to go through a day-long interview process, including meeting with the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, the Chair of the Communications Department, student organizations, as well as conduct research presentations, teaching presentations, have lunch with the COM faculty, an interview with the search committee, along with a dinner with the COM faculty.

Currently, there are only eight full-time faculty members in the Communications Department, with four tenured and four of whom are currently tenure-track.

The other faculty are part-time or full-time instructors.

“It’s not good that we have so many people who are part-time,” Dr. de la Serna said, “because they are not getting paid what they should and they don’t have the benefits that they need but that is pretty much in all of academia in general.”

The whole process begins when the CAH Dean authorizes a department to be able to search for a new hire. A department must then determine what they are 7looking for, in terms of their expertise, area of disci-

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Journalism Program ‘Charges on’ to Accreditation

By Melanie Gerner

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r. Nancy Cheever, Communications Department Chair, sits behind her desk and flips through the strategic plan for the journalism program at CSUDH. As Dr. Cheever scans each page of the document, she shares recent accomplishments of the Journalism program, including a newly dedicated space for The Bulletin newsroom, a revised curriculum, and the establishment of a diversity committee.

Just as third year junior students at Dominguez Hills attend ‘Charge on to Graduation’ workshops, the Journalism program is charging on toward accreditation.

Each student reviews an academic advisement report to ensure all requirements are met to graduate. Dr. Cheever reviews the strategic plan to ensure the accomplishments of the Journalism program are aligned with the nine standards of accreditation required by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC).

For the past four years, Dr. Cheever has led the charge for the accreditation process. The program has been considering accreditation for several years and in the fall of 2016, ACEJMC made an initial visit to the Dominguez Hills campus.

During the visit, the ACEJMC team evaluated the program and made recommendations. Since that visit, 11 the Journalism program has been

reviewing and developing staff, curriculum, physical spaces, modes of operation and best practices.

The rigorous self-examination process required by the ACEJMC is testimony to the colleges and universities seeking this accreditation, to hold themselves and their students to the highest standards of journalism excellence.

There are only 117 accredited schools in the United States, with less than ten in California. It is important to note that this accreditation is globally unique as it is self-initiated. There are not any government mandates at work.

“It means that we are providing an education that meets the standards of the highest accrediting council in the United States,” Dr. Cheever said. “Every student that comes here will know that we are providing them with the very best journalism education they can get.”

The program has made some significant changes over the last four years in the pursuit of accreditation. With the creation of the journalism major and reconstruc

tion of the curriculum, more classes are devoted specifically to the journalism discipline. This gives students a greater opportunity to be trained in their specific field. For example, the COM 490: Senior Project course includes a multimedia social justice project and a digital portfolio

As undergraduates confirm completion of general education, major and GPA requirements, the Journalism program confirms completion of the ACEJMC recommendations to meet the nine standards of accreditation. Each standard requires an “indicator” and “evidence.” An “indicator”

for a student would be proof of enrollment in a class and “evidence” would be the transcript of a passing grade.

Two of the most recent “indicators” of the Journalism program are the advisory board and the exit exam. The board and exam were initiated two years ago.

The advisory board is made up of industry professionals who oversee the program and make recommendations, in addition to reviewing and giving feedback on students’ senior projects. The advisory board helps to meet standard #5 of the ACEJMC, specifically professional activity. This professional insight is invaluable to graduating seniors.

The board’s experience and feedback help prepare seniors for the next step, careers in journalism. The advisory board has included a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, CSUDH alumnus from Telemundo and a Los Angeles Times Executive Editor.

Dr. Brant Burkey, AssociateProfessor of Journalism and the instructor for COM 490: Senior Project, sees the advisory board’s feedback as a particularly useful tool for students to get a different kind of feedback than they would from professors.

“The advisory board are giving more of a sense from someone in the field,” Dr. Burkey said. “They can say, this is what is really good, and this is what needs some work.

It is preparing students for a more professional review.”

The second recent “indicator” is the Journalism program’s exit exam. The exam is comprised of 50 questions and covers basic practices and principles of journalism. It involves topics including the First Amendment, Associated Press style and plagiarism, to name a few. The exit exam aligns with standard #9 of the ACEJMC, Assessment of Learning Outcomes. Students do not receive a grade for this exam.

It is a resource for the program to evaluate itself and better serve future students by determining what content needs more attention in the journalism coursework.

The exit exam will also serve as a tool in creating the self-study examination and report that Dr. Cheever is submitting to the accrediting council before the ACEJMC team’s scheduled visit in late fall of 2020, which has been postponed because of the Covid pandemic. When it does occur, the site visit will include three days of the visiting team inspecting facilities and equipment, talking with students and faculty, reviewing curriculum and examining the journalism program as a whole.

“With the improved curriculum and all the other things we are doing, I think we are well on our way to being accredited,” Dr. Cheever said.

Despite the delay in the accreditation visit because the campus will be closed in the fall, Dr. Cheever hopes to learn the outcome of the journalism program’s accreditation sometime in 2021 or soon thereafter.

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required for journalism seniors to graduate.

Graphic by Hermin Utomo / Graphic River

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t n e m t r a p e D A g in y if D ive rs

By Chelsea Vera Ocampo Dr. Ana de la Serna, an Assistant Professor of Communications at CSUDH, is making sure that the school knows what it means to be diverse, as she chairs the Diversity Committee within the Communications Department. Diversity is very important to society and future generations. Awareness of different cultures and genders is very important as a communicator.

People can get misrepresented in the media. In order to avoid this issue it is important that they do not feed into stereotypes or misconceptions. Stories and news headlines need to be inclusive of everyone, that way the facts are not misleading. Dr. Ana de la Serna envisions students being prepared for these types of situations, as they teach them more about diversity.

Two years ago, when she was offered the position of tenure-track Assistant Professor, her only condition was that she was able to teach about culture and inclusion. She had a vision of teaching students about culture so they can be ready for the real world and learn how to craft messages that are going to be inclusive.

The first step in her vision was to create a Diversity Committee in the department. This committee now includes Internship Coordinator Lisa Mastramico, Assistant Professor Toddy Eames and Dr. de la Serna.

Based on their work, the Communications Department decided that they wanted to implement the school’s diversity guidelines to its fullest. The guidelines include making sure that professors include a diversity statement on their course syllabi, promote diversity events, and hire a more diverse faculty.

“This campus particularly is very, very committed to diversity and inclusion to make sure all students have the same academic opportunity,“ Dr. de la Serna said.

The effort she has put into the COM Diversity Committee shows as students are more aware of the changes around the school. These changes are not only happening in the Communications department but in the whole school as well.

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Dr. Ana de la Serna

The new science building is set to open by the end of the year. Last year the LGBTQ center was moved inside the LSU building. The school is also re-modeling the library, the third floor is now where all the student assistant programs are.

These actions are also part of this diversity strategy in order to have all students feel welcome and included in the campus. The goal of the university is to have the most diverse campus and Dr. de la Serna has been persistent and hopeful to make sure it happens.

The student body has been the primary partner because they are the ones who host a lot of school events. Their efforts to have different cultural school events be more inclusive has been effortless. This is because Dr. de La Serna has been leading the committee and assuring everything gets done.

There are also several classes being offered through the Communications Department that focus on cultural competency, diversity, and inclusivity. This includes Cross-Cultural Journalism, which focuses on analyzing news from around the world and how to write for them. This class is aimed at helping journalism students shape their cultural skills and learn how to write with different cultural audiences in mind.

These cultural classes have been around for a couple of years and taught by Dr. Burkey and Dr. de la Serna, which further helps put her diversity strategy into place.

Students can also take Gender, Culture and Strategic Communication as an elective. It focuses on creating strategic communications campaigns targeting different cultural audiences. Different campaigns are analyzed as to why they failed or had success. The mission is to create campaigns that are going to be inclusive of everyone and not disrespect marginalized groups.

“I think the culture classes in the COM Department are really helpful and serve well in our field, because we need to learn about different types of conversations and personalities,” Jax, a PR/Advertising student, said.

There have been a lot of changes in the department overall to make sure that what is being taught about diversity and inclusivity carries on to the real world. “Students are going to go into the world and they need to know how to interact with people of color. If they are open to cultures they are going to have a richer experience,” Dr. de la Serna said.

Dr. de la Serna has made an impression in the department and across all Communications majors. She has taught multiple classes throughout her time at CSUDH and been in charge of a lot of projects. She also collaborates with Dr. Nancy Cheever when it comes to hiring a faculty member.

“The university is all about diversity, and one of the pillars of the university is that it is a Hispanic serving institution,” she said.

One of the reasons Dr. de la Serna came to CSUDH is because the school is very diverse. “The school has been very receptive and supportive of this curriculum and started to let the department teach more classes focusing on culture,” she said. The Communications Department just needed a strategy on how to target students.

Another goal of the program is to have a diverse faculty. Dr. Miriam Hernandez joined the faculty in Fall 2019. She heads the PR department with the help of Dr. de la Serna. She studied in Mexico and taught in China for eight years. Dr. Hernandez aids the PR/Advertising faculty by teaching some of the classes and advising the PR student organization.

The students are adapting to the changes very well. They are participating in class and making connections with their classmates. They are also making sure that they help each other out in understanding all of these concepts. “They need to listen to people and what they have to say,” Dr. de La Serna said. This is the type of behavior that pushes her to keep working on this committee. Diversity is becoming more in demand in the communications industry, as companies start hiring more people with different cultural backgrounds to help them target those specific audiences.

CSUDH has grasped the idea of what it means to be diverse. These past few years, the student body has grown and the diversity of its students, as well. Dr. de la Serna has executed her strategy well and with the help of the university it has become a success in the Communications Department. In a couple of years the goal is to have more classes that teach more about culture and the media.

So far it has been a great success, the only thing left to do is keep being persistent and attentive.

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Dr. de la Serna once worked for the Ex-President of Mexico, Vicente Fox.

Dr. de la Serna covering a political event as a photojournalist.

Bulletin For The Win!

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By Sarai Henriquez

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California State University Dominguez Hills has made history in its Communications Department when several journalism students won in the 2020 Excellence in Student Media Competition sponsored by the California College Media Association award.

The awards went to last year’s 2019 alumni Alex Graf and Kelsey Reichmann and current Journalism majors, seniors Jordan Darling and Destiny Torres.

The California College Media Association first originated in 2003 when a group of journalism faculty and advisers saw a need for more statewide support for college communications and media programs in California.

California has a large number of journalism programs compared to most other states in the United States but no statewide organization. The founders hoped to create an organization to support college journalism students and those who worked them.

Each year, the CCMA holds annual training workshops for media students on a variety of topics and hosts a competition honoring excellence in college journalism.

With more than 15, 000 student enrollment, CSUDH’s The Bulletin won three firstplace awards and one second-place award going up

against tough competition, such as UCLA’s The Daily Bruin, USC’s Daily Trojan, and CSU Fullerton’s Daily Titan.

“It is always good to be honored or just noticed and recognized by people outside your immediate circle,” Bulletin

advisor Joel Beers said. “This is the first time that I know of in the last ten years that we have entered any competition, and to get four awards, including four first-place awards, is gratifying for me personally because of the hard work the students put into it.”

The current Editor-in-Chief of The Bulletin, Jordan Darling, won first place for Best Newspaper Column for her

three columns: “For Jami,” “People Just Want to Live,” and “Left on the Dock: Veteran’s Day Links Generations in this family.” She has been the only student at CSUDH to be Editor-in-Chief for two semesters for The Bulletin.

“It is satisfying, it is a really validating moment as a journalist because, especially in your senior year, you think about if you made a mistake in choosing the right degree for you,” Darling said. “Knowing that my writing is good enough that I was recognized at a statewide level against colleges like UC Berkeley and USC, it is extremely validating.”

The moment that she found out that she won the award was when The Bulletin advisor Beers video chatted to congratulate her on her accomplishment with the whole Bulletin staff.

“It was a really good moment and I 100 percent cried when I found out that I won,” Darling said.

During Christmas break, Beers and Jordan went through old issues and picked what they believed were the best stories The Bulletin had to offer. One of the stories was written by senior and arts and lifestyle editor, Destiny Torres.

“We submitted about ten stories to the competition,” Beers said.

Photo courtesy of Nova Blanco-Rico

“We had best sports story, best investigation story, and best photography, and we won four awards.”

Torres, who’s been part of the Bulletin for two-semesters, is also serving as an editor in her final semester. She won first place for her Best Arts and Entertainment story, “Putting the Corrido in its Proper Perspective.”

“I have at least one existential crisis a week, where I am like do I really want to be a journalist?” Torres said.

“Do I have the ability to be a writer? So this was insurance for me that I am on the right path.” The news was given to her through email and she was in disbelief.

“This is my first time visiting San Francisco and I am getting an award for my work,” Torres said about receiving the recognition. “I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Beers and Darling also submitted the work of Spring 2019 Editor-in-Chief Kelsey Reichmann, who took second place for Best News Series for her three-part series on tenure, tenure-track, and adjunct faculty. Also, the work of Alex Graf, who was the Managing Editor of Spring 2019, won first place for Best Headline Portfolio.

The 2020 CCMA Contest is broken into three divisions and categories. Division A is the publications at fouryear colleges or universities with enrollments of 15,000 students or more, Division B includes publications at fouryear colleges or universities with enrollments under 15,000 students, and finally Division C for publications at community colleges.

Some of the categories of the winners include Best News Series, Best Breaking

News Story, Best Feature Story, Best Editorial, Best Newspaper Column, Best Arts & Entertainment Story, Best Sports Story.

Best News Photograph, Best Sports Photograph, Best Features Photograph, Best Headline Portfolio, Best Series, Best Overall Newspaper Design, Best Newspaper Front Page Design, Best Newspaper Inside Page/Spread Design, Best Infographic, Best Illustration, Best Editorial Cartoon.

The award winners were honored at the CCMA Awards Banquet on Feb. 29, 2020, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco, Calif.

The Bulletin would not be what it is if it wasn’t for their students, and it will continue to produce stories that matter. Hopefully, it doesn’t take another ten years for our students to get recognized again.

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Seniors Destiny Torres and Jordan Darling accepting their California College Media Association awards

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Internships Are All About the Experience

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by Julissa Casillas

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Many Communication students at California State University, Dominguez Hills, stress out when they hear the word “internship.” We should remember though that good things come to those who work hard, or wait? However that saying goes, we can get through it when looking for an internship.

Internships are starting points for careers and this is why most seniors freak out because they don’t even know where to start. The majority of students don’t know the process of getting at an internship and how to get the ball rolling. Being aware of the resources that CSUDH provides can give students the answers they are looking for.

As a major in the Communications Department, most students are required to take the internship course their last semester, which can be a lot on a student’s plate.

Many students question internships because they are doing a job for free and wonder how this would benefit them.

“We know that an internship will increase students’ marketability after graduation,” said Internship Coordinator Lisa Mastramico. “It’s an important bridge between students’ academic work and

the career paths that they will pursue after graduation.”

Some perks of this graduation requirement are that it could be a paid internship and, and at the very least, students can get real-world experience for what they want to be doing in the future. Not all internships may be paid but the overall experience will often prepare students for their future careers. Students can also receive a great recommendation from the internship that could help land them the dream job. The on-the-job experience can also differentiate graduates from the competition when they are competing for jobs in their prospective industries.

Mastramico, who guides graduating COM students through the internship process, finds the program helps students to be ready to take on the “real world.”

Not only does Mastramico teach the COM 496 Internship class, she also works closely with students to assist them throughout the entire internship process.

To start, students must attend two workshops that provide information about how to write a resume and a cover letter for the internship. Once students have this step done, it’s the struggle of having to find and obtain one on their own. Mastramico said that searching for internships should

be easier with the database model.

“We are moving to a database model for internship placements,” said Mastramico.

“That will mean that most opportunities that we know will be in one searchable place, which will make the process more efficient and user-friendly. Students can also look at Handshake from the Career Center, websites like Indeed and meeting with their faculty and advisors. Overall, internships can come from a variety of sources, as long as they match the student’s major.”

But for many students, securing an internship can still be challenging, from knowing where to look to getting their timing right. Some students wait until the last minute in the hopes of finding the perfect internship but Mastramico encourages students to get a head start because waiting until the last minute on something this important is not the answer either.

“For internships, the earlier the better,” said Mastramico.

“Ideally, students would come in for advising the semester before they plan to do their internship so we can talk about the process and they can begin their searches.”

Students who wait until the last minute may end up with whatever internship is left avail-

Above: Graduating senior Julissa Casillas preparing for a broadcast as a news anchor on Bulletin TV know that they are interested.

Once the students secure an applicable internship, they then have to complete 120 hours to meet their graduation requirements. Communication students have done internships from companies as big as CNN to even smaller, local media outlets and organizations.

“The internship that I’m at right now is helping [me] figure out if this is what I want to do,” said Journalism major Salvador Oceguera, “and, as of right now, I can see myself being a writer.”

Great results can also happen if the students also put in the effort.

“I would also say that

some of the best internships come from our alumni when they begin their careers and reach back to recruit their fellow Toros for internships,” said Mastramico. “An example would be Doriam Romero, class of 2019, who secured a position shortly after graduation at Allied Global Marketing and almost immediately reached out to me to hire interns. This will be her second semester of being an internship supervisor to her fellow Toros.

A great success story all around.”

There is proof that internship do benefit us and students having connections can lead them to what could be their dream job.

Even if we get stressed or have to put in that free work, the end game is going to be worth it.

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able, which they might not be happy with, so Mastramico recommends that students prioritize the process so they have options to choose from and can pick the internship that is right for them.

“For me, it was stressful because it was all new to me,” said Journalism major Velia Salazar. “I wanted to get the best internship but I didn’t know where to start. I was panicking for a while but it all ended up working out and found a local newspaper.”

After students have sent their resume and cover letter, it’s the waiting game for the interview. While students are waiting for a response, they can follow up with the company and let them

A New Era of Journalism

By Malena Lopez

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Stepping into an entirely new era of journalism is terrifying as an aspiring journalist.

This is the era in which the digital media landscape has not only changed the methods of delivery for journalism but the way journalistic reporting is viewed.

Journalism is still expected to be accurate, credible and ethical; however, in this new era of journalism, facts and stories are now up for debate. For many, which social media platform they are using is now what counts as a form of credibility.

Over the years, journalism has needed to adapt to this new landscape. At one point in time, journalistic reporting revolved around going out in search of a breaking news story. Now, media companies are expected to make stories from content communities are sharing across their social media feeds. At the same time, so-called “citizen journalists” are emerging now more than ever, which is also having a negative effect on news consumers because journalistic standards and practices are no longer being followed.

What is so crucial is the fact that a citizen journalist implies that anyone with a phone can become a journalist, so long as they have a platform. However, the difference is, an ordinary person will not go out of their way to investigate the information, apply the rigor of newsgathering prac19 tices, and rigorously fact check

what they are sending out to the public, whereas a journalist would. It will take ethical and credible journalists to pick up the pieces from these citizen journalists and create a more factual account.

The discussion of whether or not something is factual has also become problematic due to these online social media platforms that are allowing just about anything to be said. In this digital Wild West, journalists must learn to adapt.

This digital era in journalism is also expected to provide 24/7 breaking news updates, which brings the constant anticipation and need to be first in the publication world. However, this expedience only makes it more challenging for journalists to be accurate.

“The rush to be first is much more important than being accurate,” said Joel Beers, advisor for The Bulletin, the California State University, Dominguez Hills student newspaper.

Fake news is also drowning out accurate and ethically reported information, which is becoming both a distraction and even more difficult for journalists to cut through the noise with the actual facts.

Truly, even the meaning of the word “newspaper” has taken an entirely different form, as news outlets must now supply a constant flow of digital content.

This also means the exposure of readers to a variety of other stories in the publication is also being diffused as they can now pick and

choose what to read by setting their news feeds to their interests.

“Nowadays, we are curators of our own content where we can pick and choose,” Beers said. “You are going to be exposed to stories that you never would have been exposed to otherwise and that is what a newspaper did.”

According to Beers, the thought of aspiring journalists not getting enough broad-based experience with different kinds of news is also worrisome, as they increasingly become more niche news providers.

“I’m finding that a lot of students are just not that well rounded with things unless they care about them,” Beers said. “Which it’s great to care about something but they just don’t know of what else is going on out there.”

Journalism is an entirely different industry than what it was in the 1970s and there’s a lot more expected of upcoming journalists than what journalism used to be. Simply knowing how to write and report is not meeting all of the expectations in today’s journalism field, which now requires skills in photography, podcasting, blogging and video broadcasting.

Journalists are no longer only publishing through a printed newspaper, so they must also be versed in creative software, such as Adobe Photoshop, to get a digital version to the media. Podcasting has recently had a major impact in not only the industry, but in entertainment overall. For many, podcasts have become a primary source of information, where they get their

news on the go, so journalist have to think about how to adapt some of their stories to these new formats.

Journalists must also interact with their audience 24/7 through social media and know how to leverage their social media platforms. In all these ways, journalists are having to adapt with these constant changes in order to stay relevant.

“You need to be realistic about the journalistic future and not fatalistic,� Beers said.

CSUDH is encouraging this new generation of journalists by providing courses to help their students become well rounded within the industry, including Digital Toolkit, Digital Media Production, Digital Journalism, Digital Magazine

Production, Broadcast Journalism, Multimedia Interviewing, Photojournalism, and even the Senior Project course.

Combined, the Communications Department is preparing Journalism majors with experience in writing, video production, podcasts, blogging, broadcasting, editing programs, digital portfolios, as well as social media platforms, so they are familarized with the tools of this digital era before they graduate.

All of this is essential because journalism has never been as threatened or as important as right now, which puts more pressure than ever on Journalism majors to be prepared for their careers in a transforming field.

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Creating A New Medium

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By Ulises Rodriguez

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The evolution of media is constantly evolving to cater to different needs and wants of society. As old mediums die, new ones are born. Newspapers evolved into magazines and radio evolved into podcasts. At Dominguez Hills, professors and students are always looking beyond the traditional outlets to create something unique or different that will leave a lasting impression.

That is definitely the case with the new COM 388/389 Digital Magazine Production courses, which were first offered in Spring 2020 as part of the updated Journalism major curriculum. The purpose of this new class and co-lab is to produce content for the COM alumni publication, Compendium, and create a new digital publication, Medium Magazine, which focuses more broadly on issues where media and culture overlap. The courses also provide Journalism majors with a new outlet for developing their feature writing and design skills, while creating professional-caliber work that can be used for their digital portfolios.

When you imagine a course such as a campus newspaper or the magazine class, one would assume it has a heavy influence from the professor or the advisor. The reality is, it’s all created from students for students past, present, and future.

Walking into the magazine production class, the inspiring words of Dr. Burkey can be heard as he relates to his students in a way that makes them feel determined they can do anything with the right thought process. From constant

advice to tips on how to improve the lede and hook the readers in with descriptive stories, Dr. Burkey is determined to inspire his students to create a magazine that is far different than other publications on campus. Even with the fast-paced deadlines throughout the semester, he pushes his students to create a compelling publication while also preparing them for their future careers.

The beauty of the class is that if offers journalism majors the opportunity to write for more than just the school newspaper, The Bulletin, and it allows them to explore issues that go beyond the campus of CSUDH. As feature writers, they also have the opportunity to develop their writing styles beyond the news AP style of newspapers and learn other aspects of magazine production, including photography, design, and layout.

“I’ve been wanting to teach this class ever since I came to the school as a professor because it creates new opportunities for journalism majors to explore their journalistic talents,” Dr. Burkey said.

“Prior to this, you could only work for the Bulletin. The Bulletin obviously is a great experience but it also is a very specific type of journalism when you’re working for a newspaper. What we’re hoping to be able to develop over time is that as a journalism major, you’ll not only have the opportunity to work for the Bulletin, you’ll also be able to work for a digital magazine, which will give you more feature writing and magazine experience.”

M

As part of the course, students will be producing articles for Compendium Magazine to inform past alumni about what is going on in the Communications Department, including information about new courses, clubs, faculty, and other developments within the program.

Students will also be creating the new Medium Magazine, which will focus less on the CSUDH community and more on media literacy and the ways in which media influence and shape culture.

“I think there’s a lot of opportunities to explore beyond our department or campus, the kinds of things that you’d find either in the alumni publication or even the Bulletin, to look at bigger social issues because, as a communications media-based program, I think it would be interesting to look at the ways media impacts society,” Dr. Burkey said. “We can kind of explore all these different ideas from a very critical lens but be able to put out a really interesting, informative, compelling, visually stunning, feature magazine that we’ll be able to explore issues related to media and culture.”

With the ability for students to create an article that is both visually stunning and well written, they now have that extra option of adding more work to their portfolio. The magazine course isn’t just limited to journalist students, it is open to any Communications student on campus.

“I do believe that this class is important for all communications majors, because of the writing. In communications, whether we like it or not, writing is required. I am a PR/AD major

and our jobs consist of writing press releases, outlines, briefs, media alerts, etc. In order to do this, we need to research the topic we are writing about, interview people and then write the final product,” said Chelsea Vera Ocampo.

“All of these things apply to the other majors as well. This class pushes you to be more confident about writing.”

Students are limited to only a small number of choices on media content creating.

The new Medium Magazine explores what students part of the Communications Department really want to research, interview, and write about. Especially, if it means creating something entirely new that can benefit them in the future.

“The importance of making a magazine for the school is to help the students. This magazine is going to highlight the writing work students have done. It will also be helpful for the department to see the progress they have made since the first time it started,” said Chelsea.

“This is also going to help those students that love to write a lot regardless of the major. It is also going to highlight the department and the changes it has made for the better.”

In a way, this new magazine will be a payoff to all current students enrolled. But, even 20 years from now, the hope is that this publication will continue to flourish so that each new generation of Communications students will have the opportunity to add their ideas to Medium Magazine, to highlight the evolution of culture and media through their own eyes and words.

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edium agazine

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FINDING THEIR VOICE

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by Angelica Mozol

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Finding your own creative style is something program, there is Creative Producing, which helps that isn’t just limited to art majors. Communications teach students how to understand the fundamentals students are also in that same boat as they go through of storytelling and introduces them to script develthe struggle of trying to find their own style and voicopment. es in their work. Advertising and PR, Journalism, and

The latest addition of classes in the Journalism Film, Television, and Media majors all understand program, such as Feature Writing and Digital Magthat there is that uniqueness that needs to be promiazine Production, also help students hone in on their nent in their work that makes it their own and stands own style by providing them with the opportunity to out from others. try out different styles of writing while incorporating

Each program features an array of different their own. courses that help undergraduates develop the founda “Being able to write for The Bulletin was the tion of their future careers. These classes that are inmost beneficial to finding my voice,” Journalism cluded in the first level coursmajor Jasmine Nguyen said. es include Media and Society, because we were given “...we were given various oppor- “It’s Introduction to Digital Media various opportunities to write Production, Writing for the tunities to write on different top- on different topics which in Media, Law of the Mass Meturn made me practice using dia, and Media Industries. ics, which in turn made me prac- my own voice and helped me

These core classes are develop my own voice.” just the start. They introduce tice using my own voice helped The Bulletin was just all Communication students one of the many classes that me develop my own voice.” allowed students to take on the to the basics of writing in AP Style and provide them with role of the voice for the camthe necessary skills such as pus. This provided students editing in many different programs while also providwith a basic understanding of how a news publication ing the different sets of regulations they would deal is run and allowed them to learn how a newsroom is with while working in the field. run with deadlines and writing under a word count

The programs provide students the opportunity too. to critically evaluate their work and open their minds

Some students have been caught in the strugto new topics and ideas they would’ve never thought gle of finding their voice throughout the course of of before. They are also able to get a feel of what it their time at Dominguez Hills while others are barely would be like to work with their peers and be open to figuring their own out in their last semester. criticism.

“Figuring out your own style and voice is such

There are several classes that help students a rewarding thing,” Adam Rodriguez, AD/PR major, learn hands-on about all the different types of work said. “Once you find it, it’s something that’s a lot of they’d work on, such as for AD/PR majors in Adverfun to work on and through these different classes tising Strategy and Copywriting, where they would I’ve taken get to find new things to add onto it.” plan, create and prepare certain advertisements for

Finding your voice through these classes is just print and different platforms. When in the Journalism a stepping stone to get students prepared for the real major, students would hone in their writing skills by world. It’s just a small taste of what the actual jobs writing for the school paper, The Bulletin, where students will be faced with such as writing on deadstudents could also have the opportunity to take line, being news literate and aware of what constileadership positions as editors. Then in the media tutes news, and many other skills.

USING THEIR VOICE

By Destiny Torres

Bria Overs

Bria Overs is a recent

Alex Graf

Right after graduation in Spring 2019, Alex Graf took an internship through the DC Scholars program at The Globe Post in Virginia, where he was later hired as a full-time staff writer.

Graf writes on the political side of things but is passionate about immigration and environmental issues like climate change.

tor-in-Chief of The Bulletin and won the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) scholarship award in 2018, becoming the second Bulletin Editor-in-Chief to do so in two consecutive years.

“Being at [CSU] Dominguez Hills taught me that life is whatever you make it out to be,” Overs said.

You can stay updated on what Overs is up to by following her on Instagram, @BriaOvers.

He originally planned to be a video game developer but switched to journalism when he realized how much math was needed for game development.

In his last two semesters at CSUDH, Graf served as the News Editor and was then promoted to Managing Editor of The Bulletin.

“Working on The Bulletin and getting a feel for day-to-day compilations of the student newspaper is probably one of the most relevant experiences I got out of college,” Graf said.

Graf also won a first-place award for “Best Headline Portfolio” in the 2020 Excellence in Student Media competition, sponsored by the California College Media Association. To keep up with what he is up to check out his Twitter, @mjcabooseman or https://mjcabooseman.wixsite. com/alexstewartgraf.

Kelsey Reichmann is another Toro who went to Washington, D.C., to pursue a journalism internship through the DC Scholars program.

There, she was hired as a general assignment editorial fellow by the Sightline Media Group, a news organization that covers military, defense, public sector, federal technology, C4ISR and cyber defense.

Reichmann wrote for a few different publications, including Defense News, Federal Times, C4ISRNET and Fifth Domain.

Reichmann is very proud to be a CSUDH alumna and to have served as Editor-in-Chief (EIC) for The Bulletin, where she was known for her hard-hitting, investigative stories.

“It was one of the most valuable things I could have done at [CSU] Dominguez Hills,” Reichmann said.

“It really shaped me as the writer I am today.”

She also won second place for “Best News Series” in the CCMA 2020 Excellence in Student Media competition. The news series was about tenure and non-tenure faculty at CSUDH. She said it felt really validating to be recognized for that series.

“Journalism is about being a forever learner,” Reichmann said.

Check out her portfolio at: kelseyreichmann1.wixsite.com/blog.

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graduate from CSUDH who packed her bags and took a chance on a fellowship in New York City that turned into more.

After graduating from CSUDH, Overs pursued various temporary jobs at companies like The Visionary Group, Girl Scouts, and at The Los Angeles Wave, a newspaper based in LA. But then Overs earned a fellowship with Business Insider in New York City, where she was recently promoted to full-time Editorial Assistant in Special Projects.

“I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished my year out of college,” Overs said. “Moving to New York is my biggest accomplishment.”

During her time at CSUDH, she served as Edi-

Kelsey Reichmann

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Agency vs.

Agency

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By Jennifer Olguin

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Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock. It’s Wednesday afternoon, 4:30 p.m. and you’re adding the finishing touches to your presentation, running to class, and getting the last talking points sorted out with your agency. Then it’s 5 o’clock and it’s showtime! Agency vs. Agency. Who will take the win?

In Fall of 2019, Full-Time Lecturer Chris Russo expressed to his Monday/Wednesday COM 467 Integrated Communications Management class that they would compete with each other and present their ideas to win their first client. The class would be divided in half to create two different agencies. They would each be presenting to their client, Morgan Kirk, the Basic Needs Coordinator, and potentially have their ideas come to life for the Basic Needs Program. Kirk was asking the agencies to rebrand the Basic Needs Program and their resources that include CalFresh, Toro Food Pantry, and Emergency Housing. Kirk also asked the students to come up with ways to increase awareness on campus of these resources and expose the accessibility to students.

The Integrated Communications Management course is part of the Public Relations/Advertising major in California State University, Dominguez Hills, and taught by Russo.

In the official CSUDH course catalog, it states, “Analysis and development of strategies for planning/implementing integrated communications campaigns and preventing/solving integrated communications problems.

Emphasis is placed on both individual and team case studies, incorporating strategic planning and writing techniques previously learned.”

in Kirk, who was looking to “hire an agency” to help promote CalFresh, Emergency Housing and Toro Food Pantry. Both agencies heard the needs of the presentation and were quick to ask questions right after. (A common courtesy of presenting yourself with questions in an agency is to acknowledge your presenter, say your name, what agency you are with and your question). Russo gave them their assignments and breakdown of what was needed. Both agencies began brainstorming.

“He’s preparing us for what lies ahead,” Zuniga said. “He’s been in our seats, before, during and after CSUDH. He knows what it takes to survive out there after CSUDH. He’s made this class to help us not become lost or scared like he once was.”

The agencies had to provide research, logos, and new ideas for events to gain attention and foot traffic. They also needed to create flyers for those events, outreach, and a healthy aesthetic for the brand. This unifies what Public Relations/Advertising students have learned in other AD/PR courses.

BEYOND and SPYCE both go head to head to present their agencies to see whose ideas win. Each agency had ideas that were different yet provided the needs of the client. Their client was surprised at what both agencies presented and had to make a difficult decision. Who was going to win?

The students had to wait until the following week to find out who was the winner.

So what does this teach us? This course implements the aspects of real life from applying to a job, working in a group, sending everything on time, the importance of deadlines and the patiences that comes when you have to wait for a response. This course teaches students about life.

“It’s important because it’s creating a teamwork environment and helping us work on our communication more,” Zuniga said. “A lot of this practice will come into play in the real world. It’s one of the best classes to take for a last semester because it reminds you that you’re not alone and there are others with you. Especially Russo because he’s walked the path we’re going to walk. He’s done the ‘two and through,’ CSUDH, and off to the real world. Now he’s giving back to help us learn what he had to learn on his own so that we don’t feel lost out there.”

And for your curiosity, SPYCE was the winning agency.

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So let’s break this down. This course provides insight into the roles that agencies have, what it takes to come up with a pitch, as well as present that pitch to a professional client. Russo teaches this course with the emphasis of providing the “real- life” experience and the hard work it takes to succeed.

Frank Zuniga is in his last year of school as an undergraduate. He communicates why this class is beneficial to take. “I chose his class for a reason and we were able to enroll in this class for a reason,” Zuniga said. “Fate guided us in his direction to help us. We all learn something from our teachers, it may not be educational wise for some teachers but this teacher is helping us set up our careers for life.”

Russo guides students on this journey because he knows how it is out there. He’s worked in the industry for more than 10 years. “Russo is setting us up for success but also making it feel true like by resembling how it will be when we go out in the real world,” Zuniga said, expressing his appreciation for the realism of this class.

After breaking down the roles of the agency and what they do, Russo asks for students to apply for three different agency roles that catch their attention or what they feel will be good at. He lets his students absorb what role fits best for them. He then individually asks students to fill out a form of what their strengths and weaknesses are and submit a resume. This will help him determine what role is best for each student. He practices this because this implements the real-life aspect of actually applying for a job. This begins to cause some nervousness from students, as we all do when applying for a job.

The lights are off, the screen is bright. The class is getting settled and curious. There is an empty Excel sheet. The class is introduced to their fate of their roles in the divided agencies. Russo goes down the list. Role by role. One by one, slowly presenting the students their new agency and their role. Some students feel like they got the part they deserved or wanted and others expressed that they had too many roles. Once the two agencies were established and roles were filled, their first task, as an agency, was to come up with a name. It may sound easy but it definitely wasn’t. After using the class meeting to establish the names for the two different agencies, they welcomed, ‘Beyond’ and ‘Spyce.’

The agencies got to work fast. Russo brought

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Behind the Scenes

Founded by former communications student Kalie Calder, who paved the way for students that were interested in expanding their on-air camera communications skills, “Bulletin TV” launched its first episode in September 2017.

This would be the beginning of adding a digital component to the newspaper by offering a television news broadcast covering some of the same stories as The Bulletin newspaper. The format was to upload new 10- to 15-minute episodes every two weeks on its YouTube channel. But, after just three seasons, “Bulletin TV” went on an indefinite hiatus.

However, the Communications Department is hoping that will change and has been interviewing potential faculty candidates to integrate more broadcast journalism into their curriculum.

Currently, the Journalism major program offers various course options like sports journalism, multimedia interviewing, digital media production, digital magazine production, entertainment and lifestyle reporting, but there are plans to continue diversifying course offerings to include a broader range of journalism classes. This includes broadcast journalism, as well as adding a Spanish-Language Journalism certificate, under the guidance of Assistant Professor Dr. Ana de la Serna and with the help of the brand-new faculty member, Dr. Fernando Severino.

This campus, which resides in South Bay Los Angeles, is in the epicenter of the entertainment industry and it would be beneficial for Journalism majors to get experience with a broad array of news media. That is why continuing to offer Bulletin TV would be so beneficial for our journalism program.

According to American Student Search, “Broadcasting degrees are without exception strongly in demand by employers these days, and graduates of these programs almost always have several job opportunities ready for them when they enter the job market.”

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Malena Lopez, a Journalism major, was on the staff at the college newspaper in Rio Hondo Community College for three semesters.

She gained experience there in a short amount of time there by being versatile and familiarizing herself with podcasting, broadcasting, and the newspaper. She hopes that Bulletin TV could be offered here again so Journalism majors get more of these types of experiences.

“I got the experience with the newspaper, now I want to get experience with broadcasting,” Lopez said. “I want to get experience with podcasting, and in today’s generation of journalism, you kind of need to be well rounded.”

Journalism students interested in broadcasting need to have strong writing, analytical, and storytelling skills, while also being able to improvise and navigate those skills on-air in front of the camera.

Former Bulletin TV anchor and journalism senior Julissa Casillas thought having the Bulletin TV was particularly beneficial. She says it created new opportunities for students to be more well rounded and found it crucial to have on-air experience. But after only one semester in the class, Bulletin TV went off air and she wishes it could have continued.

“Every other Cal State has a broadcast program so we should too, and it doesn’t help us out that we don’t have one,” said Casillas.

“I came in as a transfer student from Cypress College and they had a broadcasting program.

So, I think it’s just sad that a four-year university doesn’t have someone to be running it. I won’t be graduating with the stuff that I wanted to learn. Yes, the writing is important, but having on-air experience is as important as writing.”

According to Joel Beers, the advisor who oversees the student-run newspaper on campus, The Bulletin, getting Bulletin TV back on air should be a priority.

“I believe the Bulletin TV is very [significant],” said Beers. “Students, especially in this day and age, are drawn to visual much more than they are to written words, so if there is a need for it, [we] should offer it.”

Dr. Nancy Cheever, the Chair of the Communications Department and Journalism

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Program Coordinator, hopes to do just that. She played a crucial role in helping former Communications student Kalie Calder establish Bulletin TV when it was launched in September 2017. Though it is currently on hiatus, her plans are to bring it back under the guidance of new faculty.

“We are going to be offering a Broadcast Journalism course in the fall and it’s going to be taught by our brand-new faculty member Dr. Fernando Severino,” said Dr. Cheever. “I hope that in the future we can expand our broadcast offerings and, maybe with our new faculty member, he would be able to find a student or maybe he could even take on being the director of the Bulletin TV program. We just have not been able to get it going because of the lack of interest, believe it or not. So, we need students to come together and approach Mr. Beers and [I] and let us know that you’re interested.”

She’s confident in the direction that the Journalism program is transitioning to and hopes to have students continue to get more involved in programs as they restructure the Journalism curriculum.

“In the fall, we are offering some exciting new electives, along with our excellent curriculum, and we also have the accreditation team coming to evaluate our program for accreditation by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications,” said Dr. Cheever. “That’s our immediate future and, of course, we would love to expand Bulletin TV and also get some more student-run products out of the Journalism program, and then, of course, we [always want] to expand are number of majors.”

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How Would a “School of the Arts” Shape CAH?

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By Dayzsha Lino

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From fine arts to graphic design to creative writing, CSUDH’s College of Arts and Humanities (CAH) is an integral part of the university, which is why the CAH ad hoc committee is putting together a proposal for a new “School of the Arts.”

If passed, the School of the Arts proposal would support the College of Arts and Humanities by providing grant funding to certain programs within several CAH departments, support events and activities, as well as create an inclusive space for all fields and disciplines in the arts.

There are currently 19 departments within the College of Art and Humanities, including Art and Design, the Department of Music, Theatre Arts, Dance, Digital Media Arts, and Communications. Whether students are majoring in these subjects or taking courses from these departments to earn elective credit, the arts and humanities have always been a huge part of student success.

While the demand for more arts and humanities programs and departments are very high, they are often overlooked because of the poor job prospects. This issue doesn’t only affect CSUDH students. Many college students around the country are having a hard time finding jobs in the arts and humanities field.

According to the 2016 US Census Bureau American Community Survey, 9.1 percent of fine arts graduates are unemployed, while the graduates of fine arts who do find employment only make an average of $40,855.

Fine art students aren’t the only ones who struggle to find a job in their field. Amongst the list of 20 worst college majors for finding a job on Money Inc., more than half of them listed are in the arts and humanities category, with music and history being listed as the top two.

ects, collaborations, and fundraisers. Most importantly, they would be able to connect with other students in the College of Art and Humanities who are also trying to find their way into the bustling world of the arts and entertainment industry after graduation.

The School of the Arts proposal is conducted by 11 faculty members from different departments of the College of Art and Humanities, including Music, Dance, Communications, and Theatre.

Doris Ressl, the Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance here at CSUDH, is also a member of the School of the Arts ad hoc committee. She believes that the School of the Arts proposal would bring more focus to the “arts” part of the arts and humanities.

“The visual and performing arts always have different needs than the rest of humanities,” Ressl said. “It would be a central location to put together a performance calendar to direct fundraising toward the arts to have a better management of the arts departments.”

Dr. John Vanderhoef, Assistant Professor of Communications, is also part of the ad hoc committee organizing the School of the Arts. He thinks that the proposal could be a “clearinghouse” for all of the CAH events.

“It could potentially bring in a lot of outside funding to the College of Art and Humanities,” Vanderhoef said.

There’s no telling when the School of the Arts proposal will be voted on, but until then we can look forward to an exciting new chapter in CSUDH’s history and imagine the possibilities of what a School of the Arts might bring.

“...it seems that the College of Art and Humanities needs a School of the Arts more than ever.”

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In Forbes Magazine’s list of least valuable college majors, anthropology, film, video, photographic arts, and fine arts are amongst the top three.

In an article from The Atlantic in 2018, Jeffery Selingo mentions that a survey conducted over a fifty year period (19662015) found that before the recession in 2008 the No.1 reason for college students going to school was to gain knowledge that they haven’t had before. After the recession, students said that the No.1 reason for going to school was to get a better job.

As jobs in STEM continue to skyrocket, an increasing number of college students have started to seek occupations in science, math, and technology as a more viable option. According to Joshua Wright of the website, Economic Modeling, the number of STEM majors has been increasing since the Great Recession of 2008, going from 16 percent in 2009 to 43 percent in 2015. This puts arts and humanities departments in an awkward position as they continue to push for more arts recognition and funding.

Due to the current state of the arts at our public universities, it seems that the CSUDH College of Art and Humanities needs a School of the Arts more than ever. One of the rationales stated in the proposal is that the School of the Arts will support CSUDH students in any field of the arts by “preparing them to be at the forefront of an increasingly culturally diverse and inclusive arts and entertainment industry.”

Students in programs like DMA, Studio Art, Dance and Theatre will be able to support each other through various proj-

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By Julian Guerrero Photos by Justin D. Barnette

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In recent years, California State University, Dominguez Hills has waved bye-bye to the 30-page senior papers and welcomed a new generation. It has been common tradition for college seniors to have a final class that required a massive paper from them before their time there is over. With the substitution of a senior project class, Communications students can enhance their chances of landing a job by creating a digital portfolio. One Toro in particular, Justin D. Barnette, turned his project into a professional production.

Originally a business major, his collegiate career started at community college.

He founded a brand known as Twenty-Four Carat. With the success of his new company, Justin just did not have enough time to continue school. A couple years passed by and he decided to go back to his community college and earn two Associates Degrees in marketing. Once that was completed, he then transferred to Dominguez Hills to finish out his bachelor’s.

“I was looking for an affordable university with an advertising major, and CSUDH perfectly fit,” said Barnette.

Barnette graduated in 2019 with his Bachelor’s degree in Communications with a focus in Advertising and Public Relations and currently works in strategic planning at RPA. As a student heavily interested in the creative process behind advertising, Barnette felt as if the research students conducted on

COM alumi Justine Barnette their future professions just was not enough.

“I was eager to learn everything I could about advertising agencies and how they operated,’’ said Barnette.

Which in turn, led him to come up with the idea to create a podcast known as Adcademics.

The senior project has multiple stages; the creation of an online portfolio, two professional interviews, and a strategic plan followed by a project.

Barnette’s podcast satisfied a majority of the senior project class, while also revolutionizing the educational landscape of advertising. It was such an influential course to him and it was no surprise what his favorite course was during his time at Dominguez Hills.

“If I had to choose one course, it would be the senior project course because I was able to make a resume and portfolio that I still use today,” said Barnette.

he would not have been qualified for the state-wide competition at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Rosemarie Sanchez is currently a part-time professor here at Dominguez while also working for PhD Media. She teaches an Advertising Media Analysis class and is also the Director of Media Strategy at PhD Media which manages some massive clients.

Barnette (left) interviewing Dhanushka Kumasaringhe (right) for ADcademics.

Her biggest client is Audi, which says a lot about her expertise on the subject. Most recently, she played a major role in the development of Audi’s Superbowl commercial here in the United States.

Barnette’s interviews go in-depth with the responsibilities expected from their journey through the advertising and public relations field.

Experience his show for yourself and make sure to keep up to date with his upcoming episodes by following the podcast on SoundCloud @ADcademics.

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After applying for internships at several advertising agencies, Barnette successfully secured his internship at RPA. RPA is one of the largest advertising agencies in the Greater Los Angeles area and his creativity was one of the largest determining factors.

With this image of a modern advertising agency, they pride themselves on being a “collective of specialists, with deep benches of talent in nearly every discipline a modern marketer needs today,” according the website. RPA also stresses the importance of the culture they have created.

They attribute their hashtag #PeopleFirst as the reason their team is the best of the best. Barnette cultivated some of the brightest professionals in the advertising field in established brands and other professionals in smaller organizations in order to start ADcademics.

Wieden+Kennedy, Google, Deutsch, BBH, Omnicom, Saatchi & Saatchi, 72andSunny, Ogilvy, PhD, and RPA are just a few of the professional agencies interviewed by Justin. The podcast provides an overview of the basic questions about the tons of positions in advertising, while also providing a platform for his interviewees.

ADcademics is now in its second season and has a number of interviews from different agencies, even alumni such as Dhanushka Kumarasinghe and Rosemarie Sanchez.

Kumarasinghe is the Advertising Operations Planner at Saatchi & Saatchi and has been integral in several Toyota campaigns within the past two years. In 2017, Dhanushka took part in the CSU Research Competition as well as the CSUDH Student Research Day. He was not even supposed to present at the CSUDH competition due to a family emergency, but still presented and was not able to stay for his first place prize. If he hadn’t presented that day,

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COM ALUM TURNS MAGICAL INTERNSHIP INTO REAL CAREER

By Jenny Regla In the midst of preparing for graduation, the CSUDH Communications Department requires students to complete an internship during their last semester in order to graduate.

Finding an internship hasn’t always been an easy task, but landing a job at the end of it isn’t something students are always fortunate with. Marisol Alvarez has been the exception to this.

She has been working at The Magic Castle where she has interned for about three years now.

Alvarez graduated from Cal State Dominguez Hills Communications Department in 2017. During her last semester, just like other students, she was looking for an internship.

Through personal connections, she was able to get ahold of the event coordination department manager and find out if they accepted interns, let alone interns that needed college credit. For those who don’t know, The Magic Castle is an exclusive “members only” magic club. It brings in magicians, magic enthusiasts, and is the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts. The Magic Castle is known as the most unusual private club in the world.

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COM Alumna Marisol Alvarez had internship opportunities, let alone give anyone the chance to work under them for college credits,” Alvarez explained. “So this was new to them and had to be run by their general manager.”

Within a week, she received a call back and was asked to come in for an interview. Alvarez talked about hitting it off with the general manager and was offered an internship through The Magic Castle two weeks later.

From the beginning, Alvarez’s goal was to land a job with The Magic Castle.

“Ever since I could remember, I wanted to be involved in

party planning and event coordination,” said Alvarez. “Interning there reassured me that this was something I ultimately wanted to do as my career.”

Her internship experience at The Magic Castle gave her the tools she needed to put together events and handle the ins and outs of party planning and event coordination. Juggling school, work, and an internship isn’t always an easy task for students, but Alvarez was able to handle it.

She would intern at The Magic Castle three days a week, while attending school at Cal State Dominguez four days a week. Her route to The Magic Castle and Dominguez wasn’t an easy one either. The Magic Castle is located in the Hollywood while CSU Dominguez Hills is located in Carson, which meant she was doing a lot of commuting. Throughout it all, Alvarez’s work and school ethic never went unnoticed. Her perseverance to get done what she needed to has led her to where she is today.

After finishing her internship at The Magic Castle, she wasn’t offered a permanent position because the department she was interning at was a three-person department. At first, she felt upset that she wasn’t offered a

Alvarez (right) manages bookings and events at famous private club, The Magic Castle, in Hollywood, Calif.

Castle as the Seance Manager and Events Assistant.

As a Seance Manager she takes care of the bookings for those interested in partaking in an experience where customers are able to enjoy a four-course dinner, along with meeting with a medium. As Events Assistant, she also takes care of all aspects of event planning.

“I couldn’t be happier because it is true when the saying goes love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life,” Alvarez said.

She talks about the shift there from being an intern to now working there in an official capacity, which she says is definitely a change.

“When you’re interning, you are shadowing and assisting in the matters that the head of the department wants you to do,” Alvarez said. “They keep a close eye on you because you’re just an intern and not an actual employee.”

Her permanent position means she now has her own department sub-section that she manages on her own. This allows her to be more independent, creating her own schedule and tasks that need to get done under her.

As an alumni from Cal State Dominguez Hills, Alvarez has shown that whatever you do, temporary or not, you have to put in your full effort. Showcasing alums like her from our own department allows the current CSUDH students to know that anything is possible.

Interning, even while juggling other things, prepares them for the future outside of school.

Alvarez took an opportunity and ran with it until it got her to where she wanted to be. That is something anyone can implement in their lives. An internship is an incredible learning experience that we can take and showcase when applying for actual jobs. “When you are doing something you love, it never feels like work,” Alvarez said. 34

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position right away since she had enjoyed interning at The Magic Castle. But then she received an email in August 2017, offering her a proposal for a temporary position for three months at The Magic Castle.

They wanted her to come back as a temp because she already knew the ropes of the position, instead of hiring and training a new person. Alvarez saw this as an opportunity and she accepted the position as a temp for The Magic Castle for three months. When the three months were up, her manager asked her if she wanted to extend her contract for another six months during their busy season.

“I agreed as I wouldn’t want to be working anywhere else,” Alvarez said. During her nine months there it was inevitable she wanted this to be her permanent job and, just after her six month extension, she was offered a permanent position at The Magic

Kelsey Reichmann (Class of 2019)

ON LIVING LOUD

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A photo essay of these historic times by two COM Alumni

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“I think a lot about why I wanted to be a journalist these days. Publications are laying off a third of their staff. Reporters are being tear-gassed and shot at, losing eyes and being arrested. The barriers to entry can be high and the pay can be less than adequate. The public has adopted a sense of mistrust and disdain for journalists who risk their lives and sanity to tell the stories of others.

Eleven weeks ago I was furloughed from a job that I hoped would be a stepping stone in my career. Now, as I sit here unemployed, it feels more like a waste of time. But I also look around me as I sit in my apartment in Washington DC in the middle of a pandemic and mass protests and all I see are stories that need to be told.

The answer to my question about why I wanted to be a journalist came this week. I watched as my city was turned into a war zone. Tear gas and rubber bullets shot at peaceful protesters for a photo. Active duty military guarding monuments that are usually covered with tourists. Thousands of people from every race, religion, age, and background banding together to fight injustices that have persisted for far too long. I couldn’t sit in my apartment anymore applying for jobs telling people who I wanted to be, I needed to go out and be that person.

Bearing witness is a privilege. Watching history unfold in front of your eyes is exhilarating.

It outweighs the risks. I originally wanted to be a war correspondent. I wanted to be on the front lines telling the stories of oppressed people. What I’m realizing now is that those people are in my backyard.

There’s a difference between passion and a job. Hopefully, I will soon be employed again and maybe it will be as a journalist and maybe it won’t.

Either way, it won’t change how I feel about documenting the stories around me.

A year after graduation I’m not exactly where I hoped to be but I’m still who I wanted to be.

I’m still fighting every day for the dream that I had when I graduated. I’m still finding ways to do what I love. That’s where passion comes in. The path isn’t always linear, but this is just the beginning.”

Glenn Marshall (Class of 2019)

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“Since graduating I’ve been freelancing by taking on every opportunity given. Being able to tell a story of this historic movement through my lens has been a rewarding experience. Because this is not just American history, this is Black History.”

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS COLLEGE OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES 1000 East Victoria Street • Carson, CA 90747 (310) 243-3313 / (310) 243-3683 • Fax (310) 516-3779 ©2017 All Rights Reserved