Congratulations, you just received your acceptance into the School of Communication Studies! Now what? Many SCOM students might be unsure of what to concentrate in once they begin their SCOM courses. Let’s hear from Dr. Toni Whitfield, coordinator for the concentration and a few organizational concentration students about what the concentration has to offer and if it is the right one for you.
You may have already glanced over the organizational communication summary on the SCOM website and have an idea of what courses are offered, but an insider’s view is always essential in decision making.
“I have had many students gain exciting jobs practicing many of the concepts we cover and that is always rewarding,” shared Whitfield. She also said that one of the many positions students go into after graduating is recruiting. According to Whitfield, many pursue student affairs positions and graduate school to work in higher education, such as counseling or in freshman orientation-type programs. Among just a few, students work as event coordinators, communication coordinators and marketing assistants.
This semester marks the end of Dr. Mazzarella’s term as director of the SCOM department. As her last few weeks wrap up, she graciously agreed to meet with me for an interview. My journey to the SCOM main office was a good experience as usual and it must be great to work for Dr. Mazzarella because everyone in the office is always smiling. Our meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, but during that time we had some good laughs and she shared some insightful information with me.
The following introductions of both the Debate Team and Speech Team are from short interviews with the directors of both teams: Professor Michael Davis and Professor Lee Mayfield. Both teams are open to anyone who is interested in joining! Both directors would love to be contacted for any students interested in either of the organizations.
Contact information for both teams are provided below. Anyone interested is strongly encouraged to contact both directors.
It has been quite the busy two weeks here in Harrison. Read on to see what has been going on. If you have anything else to add please comment below.
Speech Team
Speech team members at the Cedar Crest competition last week.
The JMU Speech Team continued their impressive competitive season this past weekend in Allentown, PA on the campus of Cedar Crest College. The team, including 4 first year competitors, finished in third place for the weekend against schools including; Cedar Crest College, Cornell University, Lafayette College, Liberty University, George Mason University, Saint Joseph’s University, Seton Hall University, West Chester University, and Wilkes University.
Individual results are as follows.
Day One
Shelby Akins, SR SCOM, 5th Informative Speaking, 5th After Dinner Speaking
Virginia Bonds, FR SCOM, 6th Program Oral Interpretation
Jessie Bur, Soph SMAD, 6th Poetry Interpretation
Abby Fiege, FR MATH, 4th After Dinner Speaking
Katie Lese, SR SCOM, 4th Dramatic Interpretation, 2nd Communication Analysis
Day Two
Shelby Akins, SR SCOM, 5th After Dinner Speaking
Virginia Bonds, FR SCOM, 5th Program Oral Interpretation, 2nd Novice Prose Interpretation
Katie Lese, SR SCOM, 2nd Dramatic Interpretation, 2nd Communication Analysis
Nathan Selove, FR THEA, 1st Prose Interpretation.
Speech team members at the Cedar Crest competition last week.
The team, coached by Lee Mayfield and Alyssa Reid, will have a weekend off before facing their largest competition of the semester in Peoria, IL on the campus of Bradley University.
IABC Meeting
Students at the IABC meeting
Last week on Thursday, October17th IABC held another meeting before their elections. If you have any questions please contact Dr. Janell Bauer (bauerjc@jmu.edu) or Dr. Heather Carmack (carmachj@jmu.edu) for more information.
We are all very excited to see what our newest organization accomplishes in their first year!
PRSSA President Ryan Thomas traveled to accept a grant awarded by the Blue Ridge PRSA President Heidi Ketler.
On Friday, Oct. 11, @JMUPRSSA visited 8 PR firms and organizations to learn more about best practices, industry trends and future opportunities. They took a bus up Friday morning with more than 30 members, toured different agencies, then wrapped the day up with an alumni networking event.This was the first agency visit of the semester and PRSSA is planning for more agency trips in the Spring.
PRSSA students with professionals at the Adfero and fleishman-Hillard.
Next week officially starts Homecoming Week here at JMU. Students are excited for the Bleed Purple day next Monday. While, we are excited to see our SCOM Alumni! Check out the Homecoming Week Twitter or Facebook for updates. Also, keep checking with JMU SCOM, we may have something exciting planned for our alumni!
Alumni Award Nomination
The deadline to apply for the Alumni Award is February 15th, for all you amazing alumni you will not want to miss this deadline!
The award is given annually to an alum who manifests the following criteria:
a. Outstanding contributions to the discipline/profession
b. Outstanding service to the department, university, community, region, nation
c. SCOM major, minor, co-curricular and extracurricular programs alumni are eligible
You can nominate yourself, too!!
The award is presented at the year-end SCOM Celebration event in the Spring semester. More information on the award and the procedure/deadlines for submitting a nomination packet can be found by clicking on this link.
Don’t forget, our poll for the new SCOM Blog name is still going on! Vote on your favorite or make a suggestion!
Gretchen Hansen is one of the Program Support Technicians for The School of Communication Studies. She grew up and went to school in Luray, VA (home of the Luray Caverns), and still currently resides there. She began working at SCOM in February 2003, and just had her 10 year anniversary. It was a great opportunity to sit down with her and ask her for some tips and advice for our SCOM students. To contact Ms. Hansen, please email hansenga@jmu.edu or call (540) 568-6775.
Deadlines
Graduation Application– Due to your adviser October 15th. Make an appointment with your adviser in advance to go over the application.
Well, family weekend hasn’t started yet, but, SCOM had another good week.
SCOM Speech Team
The JMU Speech Team completed their second weekend of competition at Liberty University. The team competed against a number of Virginia schools including George Mason University, Liberty University, Radford University, Lynchburg College and Virginia University of Lynchburg as well as out-of-state schools including Seton Hall University (NJ), Cedar Crest College (PA), Lafayette College (PA) and Bowling Green State University (OH). Overall the team finished in 2nd place with 7 members on our team to George Mason University with 28 members on their team.
Individual results are as follows:
Day 1:
Shelby Akins (Sr, SCOM) 1st Communication Analysis
Zach Healy 2nd Prose Interpretation, 3rd Poetry Interpretation, 3rd Duo Interpretation with Lese, 5th Informative Speaking, 2nd Overall Top Speaker
Katie Lese 3rd Prose Interpretation, 3rd Duo Interpretation with Healy
Nathan Selove 2nd After Dinner Speaking, 5th Duo Interpretation with Smith
Kendrick Smith 1st Program Oral Interpretation, 7th Poetry Interpretation, 5th Dramatic Interpretation, 5th Duo Interpretation, 4th Overall Top Speaker.
Next weekend the team travels to George Mason University. The team is coached by Lee Mayfield and Alyssa Reid.
Congratulations!!
Field Trip
Professor Isaac Woo’s Sports Public Relations class (SCOM 313: Topics in Communication Studies) visited the Washington Capital’s game last Friday.
Students at the press box.View from the press box.Students with Mr. Brian Kiefer, PR Assistant, after the game.
Upcoming Events
Debate Team
James Madison University is hosting a debate exploring the ethical issues of animal based research. The debate is part of a larger series of over 20 universities and the JMU is the only university in the United States that has been invited to participate. The debate will be at 7:30 in Miller 1101 on October 14th.
JMU PRSSA will have their first agency visit of the year to D.C. on October 11th, Friday.
Places they are visiting are
The Adfero Group
APCO Worldwide
Fleishman Hillard
Burson Marsteller
AARP
Fannie Mae
Weber Shandwick
Ketchum
Family Weekend
Family weekend is here! From the football game, to picnics, to a 5K race, Family Weekend is shaping up to be a lot of fun! For a more detailed schedule click here. Comment below if your parents are coming up!
If you have any events or activities of SCOM to share, please send information to Dr. Isaac Woo (woocw@jmu.edu) or Chelsea Legendre (legendcj@dukes.jmu.edu) or Tweet us @JMUSCOM.
This week, people in SCOM hosted and participated in many events. Here is the week in review:
SCOM Speech Team
The senior members of the JMU Speech Team traveled to San Marcos, TX to compete in the Hill Country Swing hosted by The University of Texas at Austin and Texas State University. Both days of competition found the team competing against 13 teams from across 5 states including; Rice University, Texas A&M, Doane College, Colorado College, LSU, among others. With only ten events in the tournament the first day’s competition found 7 of the 10 events from JMU in the final rounds of competition and 6 events in finals the second day of competition. The individual results are as follows:
Day 1 (September 21)
Shelby Akins (Sr, SCOM) 6th place Informative Speaking, 4th place Communication Analysis
Zach Healy (Sr, SCOM/SMAD) 3rd place Informative Speaking, 3rd place Poetry Interpretation
Katie Lese (Sr, SCOM) 2nd place Informative Speaking, Champion Prose Interpretation, 4th place Dramatic Interpretation, 2nd Overall Top Speaker
The team finished 2nd Overall Top Team to UT-Austin (a team of 33 members)
Day 2 (September 22)
Shelby Akins Champion Communication Analysis
Zach Healy Champion Prose Interpretation, 3rd place Duo Interpretation
Katie Lese 2nd place Informative Speaking, 3rd place Duo Interpretation, 3rd Dramatic Interpretation
The team finished 4th overall on day two
For the weekend, JMU was recognized as the 2nd Top Team and Katie Lese was recognized as the 2nd Overall Top Speaker, Zach Healy was recognized as the 3rd Top Speaker, and Shelby Akins was recognized as the 10th Top Speaker out of over 130 competitors. If you have any of these amazing students in your classes please thank them for the job they have done representing our program and JMU.
The team next travels to Lynchburg University this weekend to compete in the Liberty University/SNAFU Swing Tournament.
Alumni Visit to Campus
Brian Hrubick (’11, Fleishman-Hillard) and Kara Frank (’12. Adfero Group) speaks at PRSSA meeting on Monday.
After teaching digital strategies in PR writing at Dr. Bauer’s class, Brian and Kara gave job advice and shared their work experiences as young public relations professionals at the PRSSA meeting.
We always appreciate our alumni coming back to the campus and support SCOM students. Thank you, Brian and Kara!!
On Tuesday September 24, 2013 the Office of International Programs and Madison Debate Society sponsored a public debate on the topic: Resolved: U.S. warrantless wiretapping has done more harm than good for society.
Last, but not least, Professor Shook is another new addition to the SCOM faculty, who is also here to help with the debate team. As a debater in her undergrad career, she definitely has the passion and knowledge to coach our student teams.
1. What stands out the most about JMU students so far?
The students here are all “really excited about actual learning and ideas…instead of just answers only,” replies Professor Shook.
2. What are you looking forward to here at JMU?
As the assistant debate team coach, Professor Shook is looking forward to traveling with the debate team—especially this weekend is their first competition in Atlanta. JMU is also traveling with the most teams in the country (or at least one of the larger teams)! Additionally, she’s excited to get to know Harrisonburg and JMU better. If you have any suggestions for her, comment below!
Working on her dissertation, while instructing here at JMU, Professor Shook feels the faculty here is very friendly, and she feels comfortable asking them for help or advice.
3. Do you have any advice to freshman students?
“Talk in class,” replied Professor Shook. Most students do not speak up and could miss out on gaining clarity on a certain topic.
This is for you students, make sure to speak up in Professor Shook’s class! Leave a comment with how you feel talking in class helps your learning process.
