Alissa Walker (’98) walked away from a “failed career in advertising” to create a career she loves. In addition to blogging and freelance writing, she’s the associate producer of the public radio show “DnA: Design and Architecture” and writes a design column for GOOD magazine, where she’s heading up an initiative called GOOD Design, which asks designers to develop and publicly present solutions to city problems. Walker is also writing a walking tour of L.A. for Chronicle Books, which recently published her guide, City Walks Architecture: New York.
The Advertising Sequence hosted its annual showcase of the best student work, Monday, Dec. 7, at the Dairy Center in Boulder. The work pictured above is an advertisement for Netflix, which rents movies by mail. It shows one of Dorothy’s ruby slippers jammed into a mail slot.
January 2010
Bylines Briefly
After more than five months of research, dozens of committee meetings and countless hours of negotiating and editing, the SJMC faculty approved a new undergraduate curriculum last month. Thanks to the leadership of our Curriculum Committee chairwoman, Professor Polly McLean, the new curriculum will enable our undergraduates to “thrive in a rapidly evolving media environment” yet still give them strong foundations in ethics, social justice and global awareness. (And the reason I’m greeting you today instead of Polly, is that she has begun a well-deserved sabbatical; I’m chairing the Curriculum Committee this spring.)
One of the most significant changes is that the five sequences have been collapsed into two (Journalism & Media Studies and Advertising & Media Design). The new curriculum will take effect in Fall 2011, but already this spring the faculty is at work designing the new courses and infusing existing courses with aspects of digital media and culture.
Associate Professor Brett Robbs
2010 Innovators Series
Monday, February 8, at 7 p.m. in the Atlas Black Box Theater, Bruce Mau will speak at the SJMC’s third annual Innovators Series. Mau is Chief Creative Officer of Bruce Mau Design. His studio has gained international recognition for its expertise and innovation in identity articulation, research and conceptual programming, print design and production, environmental signage and wayfinding systems, and exhibition and product design. In the last five years his studio output has extended to dance performances, video installations and ventures into the fields of architecture, urban planning, landscape design and education, with the founding of The Institute without Boundaries at George Brown College in Ontario, Canada.
Test Kitchen is Cooking
The Digital Media Test Kitchen debuted this month, thanks to a generous gift by University of Colorado alumnus Howard Schultz. The initiative brings together journalists, computer scientists and business experts to tackle the considerable business, technology and content challenges facing the news industry in adapting to the digital age.
The grant is being used to fund the first two research projects by the Digital Media Test Kitchen: how to design in-depth news for smartphones and how best to persuade readers to pay for online news.
L.A. Alumni Reception
Nonie Lann (’48), center, and Dean Paul Voakes with SJMC students Jenna Peters, Kathryn Miller, Isabelle Azadmanesh, Mary Maher, Lauren Halley and Brittany Moore in L.A. at the SJMC’s Jan. 6 alumni reception at The Palm in West Hollywood.
Dean Paul Voakes with Sara Fischer (’78), Shelly Williams (’97), Kate Maddox (’83), Kristin Kirby (’07) and SJMC Senior Development Officer Julia Karbula.
Lynette Romero (’89) chats with eight SJMC Women in Communications students who visited Los Angeles on a networking trip in January.
Alumni Update
Talking Tiger Cameron Morfit (’92), a senior writer for GOLF Magazine, wrote an insightful piece about golfer Tiger Woods’ front page affairs that were exposed following his one-car accident last November. Morfit was also interviewed for a People magazine article about how Woods’ wife, Elin, is handling the situation.
Triangle of Death Matt Nager (’05) will start filming his first documentary this summer. “Campania In-Felix (Unhappy Country)” explores the connections between ecomafia, toxic waste dumping and health in Campania, the southern part of Italy where Naples is located. The affected area has come to be called the Triangle of Death.
Nepal in the News
Lisa Marshall (’94), wrote and photographed a great series about about the work of Colorado nonprofits in Nepal that ran in the Boulder Daily Camera in December.
Voices from the Podium
John Winsor, of the new advertising agency Victors & Spoils and a former vice president and executive director for strategy and product innovation at the Boulder advertising giant Crispin Porter + Bogusky, delivered the fall 2009 commencement address, Thursday, Dec. 17, in Macky Auditorium:
“So, here we are in the winter of 2009. While many people have been calling our age the Great Recession, I agree more with Thomas Friedman, who has begun calling this time the Great Inflection. It is a time of unprecedented change, innovation and opportunity. You in this room have the opportunity to redefine journalism and mass communications on your own terms, once again revolutionizing the industry.”
“As you walk out the door today I have only one piece of advice: Dare to fail. Seems odd, doesn’t it? Almost scary. Nobody really wants to fail. We’re here to celebrate success today.”
“Today, what defines the most innovative, and the most successful, people is their willingness to fail.”
News & Events
Vote for Climate Change Communicator of the Year Associate Professor Tom Yulsman has been nominated to be the Climate Change Communicator of the Year. His recent creation of a comprehensive climate change course for Poynter and his intelligent blogging on the subject for CEJournal are just two reasons he deserves this award, sponsored by George Mason University. Cast your vote today!
Yulsman spent five months developing the online course “Covering Climate Change,” which recently made an extremely successful debut at NewsU, the online training center for journalists (and project of the Poynter Institute). It’s an interactive course on climate change that ranges from soup to nuts, climate science, climate policy and communicating about climate change. Curious? Go to NewsU.org. You can find “Covering Climate Change” in “Just Released” under the “Courses” tab.
O’Brien Inducted into Hall of Fame
The late Sue O’Brien, former associate dean of the SJMC, will be inducted into the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame on March 18. Peggy McKay, former adjunct editing instructor, spearheaded the nomination process. O’Brien was also posthumously inducted into the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame in 2003.
Get Linked
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Pay it Forward
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John Winsor, of the new advertising agency Victors & Spoils and a former vice president and executive director for strategy and product innovation at the Boulder advertising giant Crispin Porter + Bogusky, delivered the fall 2009 