Communication Department Newsletter #2 - Winter 2024

Newsletter / Issue #2 / Winter 2024

News Alumni Corner Faculty Focus Senior Spotlight Clubs & Activities

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SOUND BITES Department of Communication

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Communication Studies Professors Lead Student Trip to Japan Fall-Winter 2024 program now accepting applications

Plenty of people study abroad during their undergraduate careers, but how many end up on national television while there? That’s exactly what happened to Communication Studies Professors Josh Nelson-Ichido and Nicholas Temple and their group of 14 Central students traveling in Japan last summer.

“We were just coming back from visiting Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto and came across a camera crew filming the crowd,” Nelson-Ichido explains. “It turned out they were doing a story on the record number of foreigners visiting Kyoto that summer, and we were spotted in the background when the show aired by some of the Asia University students we had met earlier on our trip.” Their new friends even made a meme of the CWU contingent on the news (see bottom right).

That wasn’t the only highlight of the trip, which lasted 15 days and spanned three major Japanese cities – Tokyo, Hiroshima and Kyoto. “It was a bit nervewracking being somewhere so different,” recalls Sydney Ziegler, a senior studying Public Relations and Communication Studies. “But going to Japan was the best trip I have been on in my life. The culture was beautiful, and I would absolutely recommend it to any student. It really is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience.”

The trip is structured with excursions to partner universities and local cultural sites each morning, while free time in the afternoons and evenings allows students to explore and engage in intercultural interactions. Nelson-Ichido, who lived and studied in Japan, says he was inspired to launch the program based on his own experience studying abroad as an undergraduate at CWU. “Students get to apply what they’re learning in the classroom in an actual intercultural setting.”

A visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum turned out to be especially “transformative,” according to Nelson-Ichido. “It showed them how Japanese culture views the bombing, and it’s completely different than they expected (in a good way).” Charis Jones, a senior Media & Journalism major who went on the trip, concurs. “The quietude of the city spoke volumes of a painful history, one that once carried so much agony However, the remnants of these previous battles tell tales of peace and shared humanity. It was truly eye-opening to walk through the remains of such a tragic and impactful period, and it is a perspective I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”

“The relationships I gained on this trip are irreplaceable and so are the memories we all made together,” Jones says. This year, the class (Com 302 Intercultural Communication) will be taught in Fall 2024. The trip to Japan will take place at the start of Winter Break.

Interested in joining the Japan trip next fall/winter?

Deadline to apply will be in late March/early April.

The trip and general education course are open to any student; no Japanese language necessary.

Contact Joshua.Nelson-Ichido @cwu.edu.

Pete O’Cain, news editor for The Wenatchee World, cut his teeth as a reporter on both The Observer and PULSE magazine while working towards his degree in Journalism, which he received in 2014.

ALUMNI CORNER PETE O’CAIN Class of 2014

That training, he notes now, “was crucial. Not only did it help me land my first job after graduating, but it gave me a foundation to hit the ground running.”

What’s more, he notes, “Writing articles and telling stories for The Observer and PULSE magazine will always be my favorite memories from Central.”

“What stands out the most is one of the first stories I wrote for The Observer. An Ellensburg mobile home park was raided by immigration agents, and with a little hustle and a lot of work I tracked down a CWU student who lived at the park and was related to several people who were arrested.”

AT A GLANCE

Favorite class: Magazine writing. To this day, my favorite stories are long-form narratives. This class laid the groundwork for me and taught me how to weave creativity with hard news.

Piece of advice: Speaking of. Get good at the fundamentals. As newsrooms shrink, editors will have less time to coach you. So having a solid understanding of how to report and how to structure your reporting in writing will help you stand out from your peers.

In her current role as Marketing Communications Manager for the University of Central Florida’s School of Performing Arts, McKenzie Lakey has a chance to put her CWU studies to daily use.

McKENZIE LAKEY Class of 2017

“My degree in journalism helped lay the foundation for every aspect of my career,” she says. “You learn so many necessary skills that can be applied across every job sector, and everything I do in my career today can be traced back to the knowledge I learned in my degree program.”

More than just writing, she notes, a journalism degree teaches you “how to capture stories through words, audio, video, photos, and how to share those stories as broadly as possible through traditional and digital strategies.”

“At the end of the day, we’re all just trying to connect with each other and share our stories with the world.”

“Central will always be like home to me, and I am forever indebted to the faculty and staff who brought me up in that department and supported me,” Lakey says. That small college town changed my life.”

AT A GLANCE Favorite class: My favorite class was The Observer—but really it was being in the newsroom most nights with the best staff of student reporters around. I loved my fellow reporters, editors and photographers, and we bonded so deeply through shared experiences, traveling to conferences, competing (and winning!) at national levels. It was challenging work, but the growth we had as journalists, and more importantly as young adults finding our way in the world, was an experience I could never put a price on.

Piece of advice: My advice for undergrads would be to find your people—the ones who will support you, encourage you, love you, but also keep you grounded. Luckily, journalism students get the chance to interact with a variety of departments, but often students get caught up in the routine of staying in the same buildings, taking the same path to class every day, and never exploring other parts of campus or the community.

FACULTY FOCUS Dr. Seokhoon Ahn

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Incheon, South Korea, which is a satellite city outside Seoul. I moved to the US at the age of 26.

Where did you go to school?

I got my BA in Mass Communication and Journalism at Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea. During my college years, I also learned Mandarin in Yunnan University in Kunming, China for one year and partook in an exchange program at Peking University in Beijing, China for another year. Then, I went to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for both my MA and PhD. What do you do outside of work?

I love cooking, working out, traveling, and mostly playing with my lovely puppy, Dohdi. Dohdi is three years old with lots of puppy energy, so it is fun to play with him!

What’s your favorite part about teaching at CWU? I love the student-oriented campus environment. The faculty members have great passion about helping students achieve their learning goals and seeing their success. Mostly importantly, CWU students are also very hard-working and genuine!

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Major: Public Relations Minor: Communication Studies

Senior Spotlights compiled by Abu Agyeman

SENIOR SPOTLIGHT

Dr. Ahn teaches Communication Studies and serves as a joint faculty member in Asian Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. He joined CWU in 2019.

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Lambdi Pi Eta Meetings: Wednesdays Faculty Adviser: Joshua.Nelson-Ichido@cwu.edu The Observer Published every Thursday Faculty Adviser: Francesco.Somaini@cwu.edu

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PULSE magazine Published once per quarter Faculty Adviser: Jennifer.Green@cwu.edu Central Communication Agency Faculty Adviser: Jennifer.Green@cwu.edu

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