ATTENTION JOURNALISM STUDENTS

Hey,

If you're a journalism student, or if you KNOW a journalism student, please note:

We're having an all-department meeting tomorrow at 12:10 in the Park Auditorium to talk about the program this year. Please pass the word -- in spite of the late notice.

Thanks!

Our very own, very special, very important tour guides....including you?

Hi everybody,

A couple of times last year, I listened to one of the college tour guides speaking to a group of students and their families; both times, the guide was trying really hard to describe our programs and facilities accurately, but with somewhat limited success.

This summer, I talked to another tour guide, a great kid who didn't hesitate for a minute to ttell me that Park is the hardest school on campus to take visitors through -- too much equipment, too many labs, too many specifics, too many programs...

It occurred to me that it might be a good idea if Park had our own tour guides, students who understand our programs and our facilities, and who feel a sense of pride and ownership in showing them off to the world.

So we've decided to start our own Dean's Host Committee, a group of Parkies that will work with Admissions to provide tours of the Park School to prospective students and their families. I've spoken to the Admissions Office; they think it's a great idea. And I'm hoping you will, too.

If you're interested -- even just to find out a little bit more about it -- please contact my assistant, Bonnie Ryan, at bryan@ithaca.edu, or call her at 4-3895 before Sept. 10. We'll set up a meeting (I'll buy food!) and we'll take it from there.

We have a lot to be proud of here in the Park School, and it would be great if we took on the task of sharing our story -- and nobody can do that better than the people who know us best: you!

Dianne

National finalists...again!

Hey,

Well, we've been back on campus for a whole week already, so it's about TIME we were nationally recognized again, don't you think? Me, too...:-)

This just in from Matt Antalek, station manager of ICTV:

Hi Dianne,

I just found out that several ICTV programs/productions have been named
finalists for the 2005 Collegiate Broadcasters, Inc. Student Production
Awards.

The finalists:
Best Student Media Website: ICTV.org
Best Comedy: "The Solarium"
Best Drama: "My Loyal Imposters #3"
Best Promo: "The Ithacan Online"
Best Documentary: "Mad Cow Crusaders"

The winners will be announced at the CBI Fall Conference, taking place
October 27-30th in New Orleans.


Congratulations to the whole ICTV team, and to Eloise Green, the station's fearless leader. Great way to start another year!

Movin' up in the world...

We know we have some of the best college radio in the country right here in the Park School, but it's really nice when the rest of the world knows it, too.

I just heard from Chris Wheatley that the Princeton Review rankings are out for 2005, and our radio stations moved up from #4 to #3 out of 361 institutions surveyed. The top five are:

5: Siena College
4: DePauw U.
3: Ithaca College
2: St. Boneventure U.
1: Emerson College

Congratulations to Chris, and to all of the students who work so hard to earn us this kind of national recognition.

Rush!

Hey,

It was a grand opening day in the Park School. We had a great meeting with all of the freshmen (somebody liked my red shoes, always a sign of good taste...), and I promised to post the times, dates and places of the student media rush nights.

Voila!:

Wednesday ICTV 7 p.m. - Emerson Suites: Want to work in television? ANY KIND of television? Show up and sign up; it'll never be easier than this.

WICB and VIC -- The best college radio, broadcast and online: Thursday 7 p.m. - Park Aud

The Ithacan, the award-winning student newspaper at IC: Thursday 8 p.m. - Park Aud

ImPrint, the new and completely student-organized and directed online magazine: NEXT Tuesday, August 30, at 7pm in Klingenstein Lounge.

Park Productions, our in-school professional production company: Park Productions' recruitment meetings are Tuesday, Aug. 30th at noon and Wednesday, Aug 31st at 5 in Park 266.



I haven't heard back yet from the folks at BuzzSaw Haircut, our amazing alternative campus publication (which won top honors as the best alternative publication in the country this year, for pubs with somewhat limited budgets...). But I'll let you know as soon as I know.

If you miss rush night and want to be involved, just email the student media advisers, who can point you in the right direction:

ICTV: Eloise Green (eloise@ithaca.edu)
WICB and VIC: Chris Wheatley (wheatley@ithaca.edu)
Ithacan: Michael Serino (serino@ithaca.edu)
Imprint: Chris Baxter, editor (cbaxter1@ithaca.edu)
BuzzSaw Haircut: Kate Sheppard, editor (ksheppa1@ithaca.edu)
Park Productions: Carol Jennings, (274-3451) or email at cjennings@ ithaca.edu
Thanks for putting it up on the blog. Glad you can come!

And if that doesn't work, email me and I'll help: dlynch@ithaca.edu.

Whatever else you do this semester, show up at one of these meetings and get involved. It's easy. It's fun. You can always quit if you decide you don't like it. But it'll never be easier than it will be this week -- and besides, doing media is what you're here for....creatively, professionally, organizationally. Now's a good time to start...

Cheers,
Dianne

We're b-a-a-a-ck....

Hey everybody,

Welcome back! Park is already a different place than it has been for the past three months; hundreds of students came back to campus last week, and the rest of you arrived this weekend. We spent the summer working on all those projects and programs we didn't have time for during the academic year, and we're ready for a great semester.

There is so much news to report, I almost don't know where to start. But let me at least bring you up to speed on the most important things:

-- The Park School IS wireless. There are two computers in Park 220 for those of you who don't have laptops, but for the rest of you, no more waiting until you get home at night to check your email.

-- The Journalism Department welcomes two distinguished visitors to its roster this fall. Doug Feaver, founding editor of the washingtonpost.com, will join us as our Park Distinguished Visitor; Feaver has worked for the Post for decades, is the former president of the national Online News Association, and is widely recognized as one of the best and most respected online journalists in the world. And Alan Wright, whom many of you know from his Independent Production mini-course in the spring, will be joining us as a full-time Visiting Scholar. Wright is among the most acclaimed documentary producers in the UK, and he comes to Park after many years as a highly successful filmmaker and broadcast news producer. Mead Loop is the department's new chair.

-- In addition, we welcome back the school's former dean, John Keshishoglou (call him Dr. Kesh), who has been living and working abroad for the past several years. Kesh will be teaching our Global Flow of Information course in TVR and helping us identify and develop global service opportunities.

-- We have several other new faculty throughout the Park School, all of whom bring unique and important talents and experience to our classrooms. They include:

Caetlin Benson-Alliott, Dale Hudson, and Monteith McCollum in C&P; Melanie Bush, Ryan Parkhurst, and Mike Scully in Journalism; Michelle Berry, Jerry Gambell, Karen Hall, James Henery, William Ressler, Karen Rodriguez and John Scott in TVR. Welcome them all to our community!

-- The Cellflix Festival is in the works; submissions will be accepted beginning in November, and winners will be announced in January. Take a look at the Web site (designed by an amazing woman in Germany) and let me know what you think:
http://www.betak-design.de/testprojects/filmfestival/filmfestival.html. We're still working on it....details to follow.

-- A group of faculty met this week to begin work on the first (annual) conference in Park honoring the works of Rod Serling; you may have noticed that we have his Emmy awards in the lobby, and we are finding new ways to acknowledge his amazing talent and historical contributions.

-- And yes, I'm still working on a food cart for the lobby -- which will be part of a larger plan to spiff up (yes, spiff is a verb) the lobby area. Watch for the new chairs in the next few weeks...they're so comfy.

-- Finally, and among the most important reminders, we have an entirely new class of first-year students with us; please take 5 seconds to say hello and make them all feel welcome.

And do stop up to the third floor; I bought 10 pounds of chocolate for the basket that sits on the table in the outer office. It's got your name all over it....

Cheers,
Dianne