PR/J Newswww.utica.edu Summer 2010

editor: Kim Landon

Assistant editor: Keith Henry

Contributors:Wesley Allen ’10

The PR/J News is published by the Office of Marketing and Communications at Utica College.© 2010 Utica College

send correspondence to: klandon@utica.edu

Program highlightsTau Mu epsilon – This year seven public relations or public relations/journalism majors qualified for induction into the Public Rela-tions academic fraternity Tau Mu Epsilon. Students must maintain a GPA of 3.0, exhibit integrity in and outside of the classroom and a strong interest in public relations. Pat Swann, associate professor of public relations, is TME’s adviser.

society for Collegiate Journal-ists – This spring, the student chapter of the Society for Collegiate Journalists formally changed its name to the Utica College John C. Behrens Chapter of SCJ. Behrens, professor emeritus of journalism, was the first journalism professor at Utica College. SCJ members along with chapter adviser Kim Landon and Tangerine adviser Patty Louise attended the SCJ conference in New York City this spring.

PRssA International Conference – The Utica College Raymond Simon Chapter of PRSSA sent nine stu-dents to the annual conference, held this year in San Diego. For the first time, it presented a chapter develop-ment workshop at the conference. It discussed ways to reach out to other campus organizations to cosponsor events and increase outreach with students in other majors.

Junior Danielle DuPree, PRSSA vice president, was elected to the PRSSA’s national executive board as the director of public relations. In this position she will be respon-sible for promoting the activities of PRSSA. In addition, DuPree won the Charles S. Smith Memorial Scholarship from the Rochester PRSA Chapter. Charles Smith was an alumnus of Utica College’s pub-lic relations program.

Rochester Institute of Technology Conference for Undergraduate Research in Communications (CURC) – This year six students from PRL 375 Public Relations Research presented their research papers at the RIT CURC. These papers were published in the con-ference proceedings book available at http://www.lulu.com; Student research included social media and hospitals, Twitter communication among celebrities, interactivity fac-tors on websites, and how colleges portray diversity on their websites.

Ray suarez discusses future of newsEditor’s note: Ray Suarez, senior cor-respondent for the The News Hour on PBS, delivered UC’s 2010 Com-mencement address. It was a sober-ing speech to the graduates amid economic turmoil reminiscent of the Great Depression. Ever the journalist, Suarez spoke the unvarnished truth about the grim realities of the nation’s fortunes and the stiff headwinds that graduates face in the journey ahead. PR/J News Assistant Editor Keith

Henry had a chance to sit down with the award-winning journalist and discuss the state of journalism, a pro-fession caught in its own maelstrom of uncertainty.

KH: Ray Suarez, welcome to Utica College. Where do you see the news business in 10 years?

Rs: Unless there’s a digital business model that creates a revenue stream

Platt to be honored at HomecomingBy Wesley Allen ’10

Editor’s note: the RSI recognizes an Outstanding Alum-nus annually at the Awards Brunch in the spring. Last fall began a new tradition of honoring a second Outstanding Alumnus each year at the college’s Homecoming in September. A nationally-esteemed journalist and author, Utica College journalism graduate Larry Platt ’85 is coming back to UC to be honored by the Raymond Simon In-stitute. Platt will be presented with the 2010 Outstand-ing Public Relations/Journalism Alumnus award Sept. 25 during Homecoming weekend. Platt has had many professional accomplishments; he was named Editor-in-Chief of Philadelphia magazine in September 2002. Since that time, the magazine has won 16 city and regional magazine awards and has also been named the nation’s third-best newsstand performer by Capell’s Circulation Report. Platt has written features on sports, politics, media and business. His writings have appeared in GQ, the New York Times Magazine, Men’s Journal, Playboy and Salon.

com. Platt has also appeared on a variety of television shows including Nightline, ESPN Outside the Lines and HBO Real Sports. In 1997, Platt wrote his first book titled Keepin’ It Real: A Turbulent Season at the Crossroads with the NBA. Temple University Press published an anthology of Platt’s work and called it New Jack Jocks: Rebels, Race and the American Athlete in 2002. He is also the author of Only the Strong Survive: The Odyssey of Allen Iverson (pub-lished October 2002). RSI Executive Director Kim Landon is impressed with Platt’s body of work. “We are very proud of Larry’s ex-tensive professional accomplishments,” Landon said. “We are grateful for his support of our program, most espe-cially through his visits to campus and his willingness to help faculty and students whenever called upon. He is a more than deserving recipient of this award.” Platt is no stranger to ceremonies at Utica College; he delivered the Convocation address to the Class of 2008.

LeBris named Outstanding alumna The Raymond Simon Institute hon-ored Salina (Goggins) Le Bris ’80 at the April awards brunch with the Outstand-ing PR/J Alumna Award. During her two-day campus visit, LeBris presented a workshop for public relations and journalism students and faculty on search engine optimization. She also met with students informally to offer career and internship advice. The founder of ComStrategist, LeBris is the former vice president of corporate communications and public relations at Reed Business Information; director of mar-keting at Streamedia.net; consultant/account manager at Herndon Associates; and director of communications and public relations at ConEd Solutions. In her career, she has also held the positions of acting general man-ager/account executive program; department manager of energy services and, director of public affairs, all at Con Edison. She was also director of marketing communica-

Prof. simon to celebrate 95th birthday Known as “The Father of Public Relations Educa-tion,” Utica College Profes-sor Emeritus and Public Relations author Raymond Simon turns 95 on Aug. 12. The College will celebrate the occasion on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. as part of Home-coming weekend.

The celebration highlights a schedule of PR/J-re-lated Homecoming events, including a PR/J alumni, faculty and student pregame tailgate picnic prior to the UC football team’s 2 p.m. kickoff against Wilkes University. See page 7 for more details.

Please see SUAREZ, page 3

Please see HONOREES, page 2

2 PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010

Bruce Manning ’76 died Aug. 19, 2009, of a heart attack in Mission Viejo, Calif. He was 55. A graduate of Utica Free Acade-my, Manning was at one time public relations director for the Mohawk Valley Comets. He left Utica to do PR for the newly formed hockey team The Long Beach Sharks. He later worked as a freelance journal-ist, television reporter, radio news anchor, financial consultant and oc-casional actor. He operated his own public relations firm, The Manning Group. A member of the Public Re-lations Society of America, Manning also served as an adjunct professor at the Dodge Film and Television School of Chapman University in Orange County, CA. He arranged several charity events and was board president of the Hillel Foundation. His PR/J classmates from the mid-1970s remember his antics on the college radio station WEDJ, as “Kenny Du It,” including once stay-ing on the air for 24 hours to raise funds for charity – and entering the Guinness Book of World Records for doing so. Manning’s survivors include his wife, Roberta, and four daugh-ters: Andrea, Jamie, Stephanie and Mychal, a graduate student at Utica

College. A memorial service took place in Costa Mesa, where his sis-ters Lori Manning Greenberg and Shari Manning Rosen gave the eu-logy. They shared memories of his years at Utica College. “We were regulars at the college radio station and pub at the tender of ages of 9 and 12,” said Greenberg. They also recalled that Manning’s photo once made it into The New York Times when he was shoved off the top of a car while trying to get an election night quotation from the city’s col-orful Mayor Ed Hanna.

His sisters referred to his still-existing Facebook page. “The posts and tributes on Facebook have been overwhelming and stunning. Bruce could not go to school, teach a class, work a job or play a game of poker without making a friend.”

More than 10 years ago, they re-called, Manning had presciently reflected upon his life in an Orange County newspaper article. “Life seems to be going by quicker. Some-times you have to go after what you want to do, despite the naysayers. Better to have at least tried some-thing and given your all than to spend your life wondering ‘what if.’ Try to have fun. This is not a dress rehearsal and the show could be over without notice.” Manning’s family and friends have created an RSI award in his memory.

It will go annually to a student who exhibits Manning-style enthusiasm for Utica College. Donations to the Bruce Manning/RSI Spirit Award can be sent to the RSI c/o Prof. Kim Landon, 1600 Burrstone Road, Uti-ca, NY 13502.

rSi award memorializes manning

continued from page 1

Honorees

The Tangerine recognized by local non-profit The Genesis Group honored The Tangerine as a top collegiate pro-gram designed to educate students. Genesis, an organization that pro-motes the Mohawk Valley region, recognized UC’s student newspaper and its adviser Patty Louise Gannon at its Fourth Annual Celebration of Education in November. In notify-ing her of the award, Louise said that the association felt that “PR/J students at Utica College have a great resource to learn their craft.”

PrSSa visit with Professor Simon After the PRSSA International Conference, students had a get-together with Ray and Lyn Simon about their trip. For most students, this was their first introduction to Prof. Simon!

tions at The MONY Group. LeBris was recognized as one of Utica College’s Alumni of Achievement at Homecoming 2007 and is a member of the college’s Board of Trustees. Junior Tamira Smith attended LeBris’s presen-tation. “During my time at Utica College, I‘ve been blessed with the opportunity to meet with several Utica College alumni, and meeting with Salina was definitely one of my most inspirational. She was extremely well spoken and confident about her knowledge of the public relations field. She was ea-ger to share information and more than happy to answer the one million questions I asked her. She seemed extremely happy with her education from Utica and reassured me that I would be more than ready for the real world after graduation.” Senior Devorne Hormeku shared Smith’s en-thusiasm. “I thought the presentation was a breath of fresh air. It was unique and innovative. It was an efficient way to show students the emerging tech-niques in PR. It stuck with me more than other presentations because I could relate to her.”

macmillan Outstanding alumnus The Raymond Simon Institute honored Tom Mac-Millan ’69 with the 2009 Outstanding PR/J Alumnus award during Homecoming last September. MacMillan, who for decades has hosted PR/J stu-dent visits to his home city of Toronto, joined fellow alumni at their 40th reunion. RSI Executive Director Kim Landon presented MacMillan with the award at a reception during the Homecoming festivities. She said the RSI selected MacMillan because of his “extreme contribution and generosity” to the public relations and journalism department. She said she first met him as a student when Professor Raymond Simon took a group of students to Toronto. MacMillan’s career spans 39 years and includes extensive experience in media, politics and the corporate world. He joined Advance Planning and

Communications as se-nior vice-president and partner in 1995, and, because of the sale of the firm, became “of coun-sel” to its successor firm Manning Selvage & Lee in 2004. He is also presi-dent of TMAC Commu-nications Inc. MacMillan spent 17 years in the newspaper business with Sun Me-dia, including five years as vice president with the Financial Post. He also served as special assis-tant to the Treasurer of Ontario and Minister of Inter-Governmental Af-fairs. His corporate communications experience included Participaction, Uniroyal and Abitibi. As a student, MacMillan was a member of the Public Relations Student Society of America del-egation that represented UC at a convention in Chicago. He was a distinguished member of Tau Mu Epsilon and Pi Delta Epsilon, national honor-ary public relations and journalism fraternities. He also worked for The Tangerine for three years and interned at the Utica College News Bureau, where he was the news director. MacMillan received the Alumni Association’s Outstanding Senior Award. During his visit to campus in September, Mac-Millan spoke to several public relations classes. He also provided media training to journalism and public relations students. Combining their reunion with MacMillan’s visit, two of his 1969 classmates, Linda Vaccaro Schmidt and Michael May, joined him in role-playing during the media training.

In his career, MacMillan has provided a full range of communications counsel and services to a wide variety of clients including: Porter Airlines, Trump International, The Toronto Port Authority, Rogers Cable, Hamilton Port Authority, Ryerson Univer-sity, CanWest, Sun Media Corp, The National Post, Maclean’s Magazine, Roy Thomson Hall, Maytag, Royal and Sun Alliance, Aviva, Enbridge, Talisman Energy, Hunt Oil, The Toronto Blue Jays, Canadian Broadcast Sales, The CN Tower, VIA Rail, Jetsgo, Canadian Pacific, The Competition Bureau, and The Board of Trade of Metropolitan Toronto. In Toronto, he has a long record of community service. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Mental Health and Addiction (CAMH), a director of Ontario Place, the United Way, the Outward Bound Wilderness School and serves on two committees of the Royal Ontario Museum.

Michael May, Tom MacMillan, Linda Vaccaro Schmit

“The posts and tributes on Facebook have been overwhelming and stun-ning. Bruce could not go to school, teach a class, work a job or play a game of poker without making a friend.”

PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010 3

uc PrJ students team up for campaign

UC PR/J students had a unique opportunity last fall to participate in a national media relations campaign with Publisher’s Clearing House. During the famous Prize Patrol blitz campaign in November, UC students helped set up media cov-erage for the Patrols’ home visits. Elliott Maldonado ’82, Publisher’s Clearing House Creative Group Head, invited the UC students to participate. “I thought of UC be-cause I have so much respect for the program. My courses and the pro-fessors prepared me so well, it was just natural to want to go back to my school and seek out the aid and tal-ent of the students and their profes-sors.” He visited campus Oct. 21 to train students. He explained how the PCH direct marketing campaign works, how they choose prizewin-ners, and how the Prize Patrols ar-range visits to the winners’ homes.

He later provided UC students with all of the winners’ media markets. The students researched the local print media in each market and sent news releases requesting coverage of the Prize Patrol visits. Each team

was also responsible for contacting their area’s Prize Patrol and track-ing the media coverage. Maldonado said he felt the pro-gram was successful. Besides de-veloping a theme for the Prize Pa-trol Blitz — called “Reality Check” — a team of 20 UC students alerted local newspapers that the Publish-ers Clearing House Prize Patrol was visiting their towns to hand-deliver

“Big Checks” worth $10,000. “Pub-lishers Clearing House got signifi-cantly more local coverage because of this PR initiative with Utica Col-lege. And I feel much was learned to make the future efforts even more

effective,” said Maldonado. “It was wonderful to see that the UC public relations program is still as vital and vigorous as I remem-ber. Publishers Clearing House may have awarded over $1,000,000 in prize checks during the three-day Blitz, but -- thanks to Utica College – Publishers Clearing House was the big winner!”

continued from page 1

Suarez

Elliot Maldonado ’82 gives a presentation to students during an October visit to Utica College.

New year, new look In honor of the legacy of journal-ism The PR/J Newsletter has an in-tentionally fundamental new look, using the classic elements of a tradi-tional newspaper. Please let us know what you think.

that allows you to pay professionals to do their work, we’re going to be in desperate shape, and a lot of the news business will have moved to the not-for-profit model in the next 10 to 20 years, held by community corporations and 501(C3) corpora-tions whose business is to operate a newspaper or operate a magazine. You’re already seeing it; Pro Publica, which is an endowed organization that does investigative reporting because the commercial news busi-ness has largely abandoned investi-gative reporting. You’re seeing it in magazines like The Nation and the New Republic moving to a less prof-it-driven status and less advertising-directed business model. You’re see-

ing it in public radio. Where public TV has not succeeded in a much more competitive universe, public radio has. And as commercial radio has gotten junkier and junkier, pub-lic radio has really prospered.

KH: So what does it mean to up and coming journalism students? What should they be doing to prepare themselves for this new and shifting paradigm?

Rs: Cross-training. When I got started in the business, you could be a radio person or a TV person or a print person and they were siloed. Nobody expected that they would work parts of their career in differ-ent media. That world is dead like it

never even existed. You have to be cross-trained to work in all media. You’re going to have to know a little TV. You’re going to have to know how to post to the web, you have to know how to freshen up the top of your story because it’s no longer a question of making two editions of the paper but the deadline is now. When’s the deadline? Now. Because news lives right now, it’s not like making a deadline in five hours. Ev-erything is sped up.

KH: Do you think that journalists today have the skills set to meet the challenge of today’s journalism?

Rs: I think you’re getting more and more cross-trained kids coming out

of journalism programs so the qual-ity of a lot of that stuff will change. Instead of an old ink-stained wretch like me, you have somebody who has grown up with all these gadgets and technology. They have grown up both consuming and contribut-ing to digital media. Once you have a generation that grew up with that as management and as the frontline troops in the news business, it will all change and the quality of cross platform products will change as well. We’re going through a learn-ing curve at the News Hour. You can read my blog, but primarily I’m a TV guy, but I do those other things, too.

alumnae awarded

When the Observer-Dispatch won nine awards in the annual Associ-ated Press contest for newspapers in New York state last fall, the honor-ees included two UC PR/J alumni. The OD’s Presentation Team Leader Muranda Hartness ’00 won two awards for Spot News Presenta-tion. She won second place for her front-page design in April 2009 of coverage of the Craigslist Killer case. She won third place for her front-page design in July 2008 of coverage of the Boilermaker Road Race. In the Business/Finance Reporting category, former OD reporter Dana Silano ’04 won honorable mention for a July 2008 article on substan-tial insurance industry donations to state Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, who at that time chaired the state Senate Insurance Committee.

Pr class works with community Students from PRL 385 Public Re-lations Campaigns class completed two campaigns for two community clients: Faxton-St. Luke’s Health Care Center’s smoking cessation program and the Dunham Pub-lic Library in Whitesboro. Adjunct Professor Aida Mariani ’99 was the faculty supervisor. Both campaign teams not only planned but imple-mented a part of their public rela-tions campaign. The Observer-Dis-patch and WKTV both ran stories as a result of the students’ efforts.

“It was wonderful to see that the UC public relations program is still as vital and vigorous as I remember.”

4 PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010

charles S. Smith scholarship awarded ScJ hosts activities The Society for Collegiate Journal-ists filled its second year with ac-tivities involving the entire campus. SCJ co-sponsored the Banned Book Read-in and the campus Haunted House that is open to the commu-nity. The group hosted its annual Internship Panel and Ice Cream So-cial featuring PRJ students report-ing on their summer internships. At the Fall Induction Ceremony, three new members joined the group. In February, the SCJ hosted “Listening to African-American History Out Loud,”  to celebrate African-Ameri-can writers who excelled in journal-ism, poetry and literature. In March, members attended the College Me-dia Convention in New York.

Danielle DuPree, a sophomore pub-lic relations-journalism major, was

awarded the first Charles S. Smith Scholarship by the Rochester Pub-lic Relations Society of America Chapter in December 2009. The $1,000 award is in honor of Smith, a 1972 Utica College public relations alumnus and former president of the Rochester Chapter. Smith, a communications direc-tor and group vice president at Eastman Kodak Company, passed away in November 2007 after bat-tling cancer. Smith was known for his dedication to young people in the public relations profession. He served as a mentor to many students and shared his knowledge at several conferences and professional devel-opment events, including classroom presentations at Utica College. His

donations allowed numerous Utica College students to attend the re-gional PRSA northeast public rela-tions conferences that students oth-erwise could not afford. Smith’s commitment to the pub-lic relations profession lives on through this scholarship fund. Per Smith’s wishes, scholarships from this fund will be awarded to mem-bers of PRSSA, enabling them to attend public relations conferences. DuPree is a member of the Utica College Raymond Simon Chapter of Public Relations Student Soci-ety of America. She has served as an executive board member for the past two years and last year was the Chapter’s national delegate to New Orleans.

The UC PR/J “family” lost sev-eral beloved members last fall: Patty Behrens, wife of Professor Jack Beh-rens; Janet Baker, widow of former UC PR Director and adjunct pro-fessor Larry Baker; and Ruth Rog-ers, longtime secretary to Professor Raymond Simon in the Division of Business Administration. Patricia Ann “Patty” Beaty Beh-rens was a native of Carroll, Ohio. She graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in hospital dietetics. She married John “Jack” Behrens June 17, 1956. The couple

had two children, Cynthia Sue Beh-rens Daugherty of North Canton, Ohio and Mark Andrew Behrens of Hopedale, Mass. Her husband, chil-dren and grandchildren, Jessica and Christopher Daugherty of North Canton, survive her. In her 30-year career, she was chief dietitian with a number of facilities, including Fax-ton Hospital in Utica. She served as clinical dietitian at St. Luke’s Hospi-tal in Utica and at Hospice of Cen-tral New York. Condolences can be sent to Professor Behrens at 57 Steb-bins Drive, Clinton, NY 13323.

Janet Baker, 79, married Law-rence James Baker of Boonville. They raised four children from coast to coast, finally returning to their beloved Adirondack Moun-tains in 1971. After her husband’s retirement from Utica College, they settled in Sharon, Conn. Following his death, she moved to Ukiah, Ca-lif. and resided there for 20 years. She worked primarily in financial services, including several banks and restaurants. She recently retired from the Blue Bird Cafes in Hopland and Ukiah, Calif. Condolences may

be sent to Cheryl Hudspeth, 610 N. Carbon St., Girard, KS 66743. Ruth Rogers, 80, a graduate of Utica College, was married to Jason D. Rogers, a UC adjunct professor who predeceased her. After leav-ing UC, she worked as director for Madison County Elder Care and later at Community Memorial Hos-pital in Hamlton as a social services caseworker. Survivors include her four children and their spouses, 13 grandchildren and 11 great-grand-children.

Pr/J family mourns passing of dear friends

rSi honors top students, alumna The annual Raymond Simon In-stitute Awards Brunch recognized 22 students in April 2010 for their accomplishments as well as their potential for success in public rela-tions or journalism. Outstanding PR/J Alumnus Salina LeBris re-ceived her award and addressed the gathering. (See page 1.) Winning the coveted Raymond Si-mon Scholarship was Devorne Hor-meku of Brooklyn. Public relations and journalism alumni established this award in the 1970s to honor Prof. Raymond Simon. The scholar-ship goes to a student with an excel-lent academic record, high quality participation in extracurricular ac-tivities associated with the PR major, and promise for success in public re-lations. Hormeku has been president of the Student Senate and the Soci-ety for Collegiate Journalists, as well as of his freshman, sophomore and senior classes. He studied in London during his junior year and held a PR internship with an agency there. The Ben and Gene Comora Scholarship, established by Owen Comora in memory of his parents, is awarded to a student who has at-tained an outstanding academic record and has demonstrated ex-emplary personal and professional qualities. Jeff Kassouf, a junior from New Paltz, more than met the award

criteria. He earned a 3.88 GPA while also playing soccer for UC and reg-ularly reporting on Women’s Profes-sional Soccer for a number of soccer websites. He also served as Tanger-ine online editor. The third major scholarship, the John C. Behrens Print Journalism Scholarship, went this year to Alexan-dra Caldas, a sophomore from Paw-tucket, RI. She has a 3.45 GPA and hopes for a career as a copy editor.

In a first for the RSI, a student this year funded an award. This year’s Tangerine editor Jonathan Monfi-letto created an award in honor of his late grandmother to recognize a staff writer enrolled in the Tan-gerine Practicum course. The first Mildred Schwartz/RSI Tangerine Award went to Gabe Kashuba of Salisbury Center. Another new award honors the late Bruce Manning ’76. Created

upon his death in 2009 by his fam-ily and friends, the Bruce Manning/RSI Spirit Award recognizes a stu-dent who, like Bruce, has immense school spirit and loves Utica Col-lege. The first recipient was senior and PRSSA President Jessica Mauer of Port Ewen. Members of the Man-ning family attended the awards brunch for the presentation.Please see RSI, page 5

PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010 5

alumna shares career path, advice Angela Grande ’04 knows a thing or two about succeeding in the broadcast news business. While still a senior at UC, Grande was the pro-ducer for the local CW 11 newscast in Utica and remembers fondly the sage advice she got from her profes-sors at UC as she finished her stud-ies while juggling classes, studying, work and her daily newscast. “I waitressed, and I was a commuter, so I didn’t do all of the “college-y” things, but I do remember the rela-tionships I had with my professors, especially Professor Landon and Professor Chanatry,” she said on a recent visit to campus to speak to PR/J students. “Even now I appreci-ate the relationship I still have with them, especially Kim and Dave. They were always so encouraging” After graduation, Grande moved to WTVH in Syracuse as a news producer and then moved to the bigger Albany market at WRGB where she produced the six o’clock news. Grande shared her journey with UC PR/J students and empha-sized the importance of writing. “I told them about my career path and about what kind of skills I use on a daily basis. I told them writing, writing, writing is so important be-cause if you’re a good writer you can do anything.” She also emphasized the impor-tance of organization and that above all, students need to have a passion for the craft. “It’s a very cutthroat business and you work overnights, you work weekends, you work holi-days, you work all these crazy hours, it really is a lifestyle and if you’re not passionate about it, you’re not going

to give 110 percent. And if you’re not going to give 110 percent then you’re not going to succeed because there are always a hundred people who want your job.” The students responded well to Grande’s observations. “They were pretty responsive, they all asked questions. They were interested,” she said. Her interactions with the students brought back memories. But those memories didn’t include the most impressive thing Grande saw on her visit back. “The studio is crazy. I love it, I love it. I’m so jeal-ous that I didn’t get to use it. It is set-up exactly the way I work,” Grande said, referring to the nearly-new Raymond Simon Convergence Me-dia Center. “When we were touring the studio, it was just exactly the way it is for me every day. The idea of all

the producers and writers writing in one room and running back and forth to the edit room, ‘And I want it this way and I want it that way.’ And the prompter and all the equipment – the whole chain, the way it’s set up, it’s exactly like a real newsroom. I think it really trains aspiring news people the way it is going to be when they get that job.” Grande is presently working at WNBC-TV in New York as a pro-ducer but she still stays in touch with her former professors. “What’s nice now is that I still have a relationship with my former professors, like Kim and Dave, I still e-mail them and keep them posted on where I am. It’s awesome, even after I graduated they’re still there to help. And you always know that they’re there for you and they are.”

tau mu epsilon inducts five

Five Utica College students were inducted into Tau Mu Epsilon aca-demic fraternity at a campus cer-emony in December 2009. Inductees are current juniors and seniors in the public relations ma-jor or public relations/journalism majors, who have maintained a 3.0 or higher grade point average, have been involved in campus extracur-

ricular activities, contributed to the vitality of the academic or campus life and are known for their integrity. Tau Mu Epsilon is the oldest pub-lic relations academic fraternity in the United States and Utica College was the second chapter established in 1952. The honorary fraternity also in-ducted Joseph Stabb ’07, who is di-

rector of emerging media for ABC Creative Group in Syracuse. The following students were in-ducted: Nicole Adamczyk, Miranda McKee, Christine Phelps, Mary-Margaret Plado-Costante, and De-vorne Hormeku. Emeritus Professor Raymond Si-mon and Associate Professor Patri-cia Swann advise Tau Mu Epsilon.

Tau Mu Epsilon 2009 inductees and officers (from left): Professor Pat Swann, Jacqueline Klotzbach (president), Miranda McKee, Nicole Adamczyk, Christine Phelps, MaryMargaret Plado-Costante and Katie Prue (vice president). Missing: Devorne Hormeku.

The George Jones/RSI Outstand-ing PR/J Student Awards this year recognized freshman Alissa Scott of Huguenot; sophomore Katie Gleits-mannn of Utica; junior Jeff Kassouf of New Paltz; and seniors Jacqueline Klotzbach of Hilton and Jonathan Monfiletto of Morristown. Among the other awards present-ed were the following: The RSI/Faculty Award recogniz-es an upperclassman with one of the top averages in the program. It went to New Hartford senior Katie Prue with 3.85 GPA. Owen Comora/RSI Tangerine Award goes to the staff members who contributed most to the success of the newspaper in the past year, that being Utica sophomore Katie Gleitsmann and Brooklyn senior Amelia Rawlins. Established in memory of David T. Santora (Class of 1988) by his friends and the Utica College Foun-dation Board, the David T. Santora Memorial Scholarship is awarded to a member of The Tangerine staff, this year to Bronx junior, Anthony J. O’Hagan The Eleanor and Matty Sokolow/RSI Writing Award, named in honor of 1953 PR alumnus Owen Como-ra’s mother-and-father-in-law, rec-ognizes students who have demon-strated excellent writing proficiency in PR/J classes. This year’s winners were senior Maria Dischiavo of Stittville, junior Miranda McKee of Glenfield, and Waterloo junior Kris-tin Smith. The Ed Matesky/RSI Award, cre-ated by Jim Greene ’54 in honor of his late classmate, honors a student who shows promise in the field of broadcasting. Gino Geruntino of Sherburne won. The Rubin R. Teitelbaum/RSI Award was established by alumna Ann Marie Teitelbaum ’92 to recog-nize a student who has maintained good academic standing while in-volved in a variety of activities and experiences at Utica College. This year’s winner was incoming Tan-gerine editor Christopher Cooper of Brooklyn.

Additional awards included:

• Gagliardi/RSI Award to NicoleAdamczyk of Sayville

• Gary and Jeanne LaBella/RSITransition Award to John Engell of Remsen

•The Flaherty/RSI CreativityAward to Jacqueline Klotzbach of Hilton

• Fred and Corinne Grates/RSIAchievement Award to Christina Soave of Hopkinton, MA.

• Joanne Reppel/RSI ResearchAward to Mary Margaret Plado Costante of Whitesboro

• RSI/StudentofPromiseAwardtoChristine Phelps of Utica

continued from page 4

rSi

6 PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010

Southern Sudan is one of the poor-est and most remote regions in the world. So when Associate Professor of Journalism David Chanatry had the chance to go, he jumped at it. Chanatry journeyed there on a re-porting trip over spring break, trav-eling to two medical clinics and visit-ing the site of a recent tribal battle. “It was a physically demanding but ultimately very rewarding trip,” said Chanatry. “We worked hard in the heat of the day, slept in tents at night, filtered all our water and pret-ty much lived on rice.” Chanatry travelled along with David Reed, a doctor who was de-livering a portable ultrasound ma-chine to a clinic started by a refugee who fled the brutal civil war in Su-dan and now lives in Syracuse, and with Syracuse University Professor of Multimedia Journalism Bruce Strong. They flew to Nairobi, Kenya, and then boarded a small plane for a flight up the Rift Valley, landing on a dirt airstrip near the village of Duk Payuel, where Chanatry said it seemed like every child there turned out to greet them. While Dr. Reed worked with the local medical staff, Chanatry and Strong chronicled the action.

Southern Sudan has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, according to the World Health Organization, and Chana-try planned to do a story about that pegged to the new ultrasound machine. He witnessed the first ul-trasound ever given in that part of the country—it confirmed a preg-nancy—and interviewed villagers and staff about the particular risks of giving birth in the bush. The story took a dramatic twist when on his last night there a young woman came in critically ill. “She represented all the risks. She had delivered six weeks earlier, on a dirt floor. She had hemorrhaged, and was severely anemic with a high fe-ver. But the clinic had just started doing blood transfusions and she got one just in time.” Chanatry said. If that clinic had not been there, he said, she may not have survived. A flight in a tiny, four-seat plane then got them to the village of Old Fangok on a tributary of the White Nile, and to a health facility run by an American doctor. But while the Lost Boys clinic had a hopeful feel to it, Chanatry said Fangok seemed more desperate. Patients and their families were all in one room in an old British colonial building, while outside well over a hundred people

waited each evening to be seen by the doctor. Many suffered from a parasitic disease known as Kala azar, or the black fever, one of the world’s biggest killers. “The doctor and staff were truly doing heroic work. But the people were so sick and she was being run ragged trying to care for them all. And, to put it mildly, this was not what we in the west would consider a safe, sterile environment.” Chanatry’s first story from the trip was broadcast in May on the Edward R. Murrow Award-winning weekly radio program The World Vision Report on public radio sta-tions. At least one more radio story is forthcoming, and he and Strong are collaborating on a multimedia project from the trip. Chanatry said the experience will be useful for his broadcasting classes at UC. “I’ve seen a lot in my reporting career, but you never stop learning. There’s no shortage of material from this trip that will provide fodder for discus-sion in my classes, from a ‘how to’ lesson in technique or storytelling, to a discussion of journalism ethics.”To listen to Chanatry’s report, go to http://www.worldvisionreport.org/Stories/Week-of-May-8-2010/Lost-Boys-Clinic.

chanatry reports from Southern Sudan

Swann named dean P a t r i c i a A. Swann, as-sociate profes-sor of public relations and d e p a r t m e n t chair, has been a p p o i n t e d dean of the

School of Business and Justice Stud-ies. Swann came to UC in 2002 with more than 20 years of experience in journalism and public relations. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Truman State University, Kirksville, Mo., and a master’s in public relations from

Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communication. A search for her teaching replace-ment is under way; several candi-dates have benn interviewed. Paul MacArthur, assistant profes-sor of public relations, will be the new department chair.

Associate Professor of Journalism David Chanatry shares a photo with children in a village in Southern Sudan.

Faculty Notes David Chanatry, associate profes-sor of journalism, traveled to the Su-dan in March to do investigative re-porting on medical clinics funded by Central New York donors. (See story.) Chanatry is developing a Center for Journalism in New York State, which will allow him to produce in-depth stories about New York for various broadcast outlets, such as National Public Radio. He has been granted a reduced load (2/2) to launch this center and seek outside funding sources. edward J. Conzola, former UC as-sistant professor of journalism, has ac-cepted a position as assistant city edi-tor at the Casper, WY Star-Tribune. Cecilia Friend, professor of jour-nalism, has been granted a mini-sabbatical to work on a new edition of her textbook titled “Contemporary Editing”. She will be on a reduced teaching load, 2/2, next year. The sec-ond edition of this text co-authored by Friend and Donald Challenger, has been published in Chinese. “New Ideas and Practices for Con-vergent Classes and Curriculum” was a teaching panel Friend proposed and then moderated at the national conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in August. Incorpo-rating multimedia storytelling into classes and programs is a challenge for most journalism programs. Some are converging their curricula en-tirely, eliminating separate tracks for print, broadcast and Web. Others are incorporating multimedia into select-ed courses or have separate courses for Web-related media. The panelists selected shared their varied struggles and successes in trying to prepare journalism students for a still-emerg-ing new media world. Kim Landon, associate professor of journalism, has announced that she plans to retire in 2012. Paul MacArthur recently had ar-ticles published by Smithsonian.com and a sports journal. He also present-ed research at the Broadcast Educators Association conference this spring. Patricia swann, dean of the School of Business and Justice Studies, is serving as the elected head of the public relations division of the Asso-ciation for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. In this position, she is responsible for orga-nizing the 2010 national conference in Denver, as well as general oversight of the division’s operations. She at-tended AEJMC’s winter meeting in Jacksonville, Fla., in December. In October, swann gave a research presentation titled “Corporate Blog-ging as Public Relations Strategy During a Crisis: An Exploratory Ex-amination of General Motor’s Fast Lane Blog” to the New York State Communication Association’s annual conference. She also served as a na-tional judge for the Institute of Public Relations’ 2009 Northwestern Mutual Best Master’s Thesis Award. Swann’s book, “Cases in Public Relations Management”, is being re-issued by Routledge

PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010 7

Keeping up with emerging media trends PodCamp Toronto is a free “Un-conference” that seeks to bring together professionals and hobby-ists to explore the cutting edge of new and social media. The two-day weekend event at Ryerson Universi-ty in Toronto, provided an opportu-nity to share ideas, discuss theories and learn lessons from an audience of experts, and was attended by Uti-ca College students for the first time in the event’s four-year history. Pio-neer Communications, Utica Col-lege’s student-run public relations firm sent their two firm directors Brenna Durr and Michael Pacuk, to PodCamp in Toronto with 2007 Uti-ca College alumnus Joseph Stabb. For the first time in its history PodCamp featured one Utica Col-lege alum as a presenter: Stabb. Stabb currently works as the Director of Emerging Media for ABC Creative Group in Syracuse and is a well re-spected young PR professional with a strong knowledge of social media. His presentation on the Business Case for Digital and Social Media discussed the challenges that many small- and medium-sized organiza-tions have when they try to establish a social media presence while taking into consideration their own time

and monetary restrictions. Saturdays’ presentations were highlighted by Dave Fleet, an Ac-count Director at ThornleyFallis Communications who educated at-tendees on the difference between earned, paid and owned types of media. Fleet pointed out that so-cial media is constantly changing, adapting, and being exchanged, and used the Molson companies’ participation at the 2010 Olympic Games as an example of how or-ganizations can engage their cus-tomers. One of the major industry leaders featured at PodCamp To-ronto was General Motors Direc-tor of Social Media Chris Barger. Barger discussed his professional experience with using social media as a part of a crisis communication plan. After his organization faced one of the worst crises in North American history, Barger explained how social media has helped Gen-eral Motors get its reputation back. Sunday’s events featured a pre-sentation by Bob Nunn of search-people.com on Social Media Return on Investment (ROI). Nunn dis-cussed the “LISTEN” method of so-cial media engagement that focuses on using social media as a two way

communication device in order to constantly work with customers and interested parties in order to improve your organization and make money. The presenta-tions were culminated with Ryan Wiseman of RJG Creative Group with Event Capture 101, which took a unique look at how everyday people can capture an event through social media to keep people engaged all year round. Wiseman explained how Twitter can be used to keep track of who is talking about the event, and Drop.io can be used to keep people engaged year round. His pre-sentation also provided listeners with a basic overview on what cost effective tools that people use if they are looking to break into the event capturing business. PodCamp Toronto 2010 provided a unique networking experience for both students and professionals. It offered an atmosphere in which

individuals can come and learn from one another’s experiences as we all try to keep up with con-stantly adapting digital media. The experience that PodCamp Toronto presented can be very beneficial to students, alumni, and faculty of the Utica College PR/J program.

Joe Stabb ’07

Pr/J Homecoming calendar

Pre-game party and BBQ saturday, 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m., $10, On the lawn

Get ready for Pioneer footbal! every-one is welcome to attend this party hosted by National Alumni Council. Beer and wine included with adult cost. Look for the PR/J table.

Raymond simon Institute Reception, saturday, 6 – 7 p.m., DePerno Hall

Honor the fall RSI Outstanding Alumnus, Larry Platt ’85, and celebrate Professor Emeritus of Public Relations Raymond Simon’s 95th birthday.

sign up online at www.utica.edu/homecoming

PRSSA members sport their new club t-shirts.

8 PR/J Newsletter, Summer 2010

Tradition. Opportunity. Transformation.®

1600 Burrstone RoadUtica, NY 13502-4892

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PAIDUtica College

PR/J NewsAlumniJim Leach ’67 was recognized by UC Pres-ident Todd Hutton for 14 years of service as a Raymond Simon Institute for Public Relations trustee. Leach was the Outstand-ing PR/J Alumnus in 2001.

Brian Russell ’79 is CEO and owner of Home Run Consultants, a management-consulting agency in Chicago. He is also the COO for Coin That Phrase, a website that lets people coin a phrase and share it with the world, on the site or through t-shirts, mugs and other merchandise.

Ginger Parker ’81 has been named the YWCA of the Mohawk Valley Outstand-ing Woman in Arts and Communication for 2010.

Joanne (Vassallo) Jamrosz ’81, of New Hartford, has published her book Skating Forward, the stories of 16 young women figure skaters. Jamrosz is a contributing writer with U.S. Figure Skating and has written for Skating Magazine and PS Mag-azine, the magazine of the Professional Skaters Association.

Larry stone ’82 has been named director of executive communications for the elec-tronics and intelligence business of BAE Systems. Stone manages communications, counsels executives, and oversees editorial output for an organization with operations across the United States and in the United Kingdom and Israel. He recently observed his 25th anniversary with BAE Systems, a global defense, security, and aerospace company. Stone and his wife, Julie, live in Johnson City, N.Y.

Nancy Kriz ’82 writes for Straus Newspa-pers, publisher of nine local weekly news-

papers in contiguous towns on the New York-New Jersey-Pennsylvania border. A former adjunct assistant professor of communications at Iona College, Kriz this winter taught a six-week course “Want to Become a Freelance Newspaper Writer” at SUNY Orange in Middletown.

Dawn (Colacchio) Chmielweski, ’83 re-porter for the Los Angeles Times, spent five days training with Jonathan Rob-erts of Dancing with the Stars, and then performed before the broadcast for the judges and studio audience. The enter-tainment reporter took the assignment on a dare, and even appeared in a costume once worn by former Spice Girl Melanie Brown. Read her article at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-dancing21-2009nov21,0,2214349.story

Dave Armon ’83 has joined Context Op-tional, Inc. as vice president of strategic accounts. The company works with  ma-jor  U.S. brands  — Target, Toyota, Kraft, PayPal, Toys “R” Us, Safeway, Johnson & Johnson, Electronic Arts, MTV, and others — and  their  agencies to bring campaigns to life on the social platforms, mostly via Facebook applications.

stacy (Beaumont) Rounds ’94 is a mar-keting analyst at The Free Lance-Star Pub-lishing Co. in Fredericksburg, Va.

Kory Michael Aversa ’96, senior develop-ment officer for the Philadelphia Senior Center, won a Ladle Award from the Phila-delphia Chapter of the Public Relations So-ciety of America for a campaign that raised more than $200,000, allowing the PSC to install a new air conditioning system.  He also won the Public Relations Society of

America - Philadelphia Chapter Pepperpot Award. The prestigious award, which is the Philadelphia region’s equivalent to the na-tion PRSA Silver Anvil Award, recognized Aversa for his creation and implementa-tion of the Philadelphia Senior Center’s 60th Anniversary Campaign.

Howard LaMunion ’96, founding partner of The ConsultUs Group, Inc. of Dallas an-nounced that they have launched a sepa-rate company, PIO Services Group Inc., to provide media relations services, media interaction training and Web-based news portal development for small and medium size police departments and sheriffs’ of-fices.

Regina (Macchia) Luttrell ’98 is a visiting professor at The College of Saint Rose and is working on a Ph.D. from the California Institute of Integral Studies with a concen-tration is in public communications.

Kelly Adams ’00 has been named assistant vice president for advancement/marketing and communications at Utica College. He oversees all aspects of the college’s internal and external marketing and public rela-tions activities.

Laurent Lawrence ’04 is a senior associ-ate in the public affairs practice at Burson Marsteller in New York. His job involves a variety of public relations activities, in-cluding third party advocacy consulting and development, media and government relations, event management and govern-ment projects management.

Jessica Lyng ’04 has been named service academy coach for The Hartford Insurance Company in New Hartford, NY.

Victor skinner ’05 lives in Kent City, MI and is a freelance reporter for the Grand Rapids Press, Michigan Outdoor News, and DiscGolfer Magazine, among others. He also covers the police beat at the Muskegon Chronicle.

Jason D. williams ’06 is the district sales manager of the Greater Pittsburgh Area for Hewlett Packard.

ABC Creative Group in Syracuse hired Joseph stabb ’07 as director of emerging media to lead the agency’s digital media strategy efforts.

Desiree Dismore ’07 is a leasing consul-tant with the Bozzuto Management Group in Centreville, VA.

alumni and Faculty Notes

James Asher ’69, chief inves-tigative editor with McClatchy News in Washington, DC, re-united with Prof. Simon at the 2009 Homecoming festivities. Asher joined his classmates in celebrating their 40th reunion. This year Homecoming recog-nizes the Classes of ’55, ’60, ’70, ’80, ’85, ’00 and ’05.