Student Media - why we're leaders

When I meet prospective students and their families, I always emphasize the importance of our student media -- it's through ICTV, the Ithacan, magazines such as Buzzsaw, our radio stations, and other student clubs that our students put concepts into practice. It's where they show their initiative, their creativity -- and how they demonstrate how we stack up against the competition.

In just the last week, here are some wonderful examples:

The Ithacan has been named a Gold Medalist for both the Fall
2009 and Spring 2010 semesters in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s
annual college newspaper critique.

Each year the CSPA evaluates member papers on overall
content, news, depth reporting, features, opinion/editorial, sports,
arts/entertainment, editing/headline writing, and design/graphics based on more
than 150 specific criteria. This year the paper’s scores on the critique’s
1,000-point scale were 981 for fall and 985 for spring. The CSPA consistently
ranks the Ithacan as a Gold Medalist, it’s highest category.

Among the judge’s comments, “Everything about this paper is
well done. I can’t say enough about your strong ‘watchdog’ role, your
outstanding coverage and your excellent design.”

Another example: our students quickly responded to the Trevor Project and the
It Gets Better campaign aimed at LGBT youth -- and in particular the recent tragic
suicides of young people who were bullied because of their sexual preference. Our
students put together a compelling video featuring scores of students, faculty, staff,
and administrators at the college -- including President Rochon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dat9bEHqGos

Our students have the skills -- but more importantly, they have a conscience.

That's why we are nurturing the people who will lead the communications profession.

Alumni VP's lead Winning Top Tech PR Firm

SHIFT Communications was named a Top Five "Large Tech Agency" by more than 800 technology reporters and bloggers, as tabulated by PRSourceCode in its annual Top Tech Communicators survey. Congratulations to Ithaca College Park graduates, Derek Lyons (TVR ’94) and Catherine Allen (Corporate Communication ’98), both serving as vice presidents for the Boston office.

As a vice president at SHIFT Communications, Catherine Allen pulls from 10+ years of communications experience providing trusted strategic PR and social media counsel to a variety of emerging and established brands. She takes existing PR programs and brings them to the next level with fierce messaging, creative pitch angles and aggressive tactics. On the flipside, she turns start-ups into overnight PR and social media sensations and these programs have won her team recognition from the Society for New Communications Research and the New England Publicity Club’s Bell Ringer Awards program. Prior to joining SHIFT in 2003, Allen was a senior account executive with Sterling Hager, Inc., one of the country’s leading independent public relations agencies.

As a vice president at SHIFT Communications, Derek Lyons serves as a primary client contact and strategic counsel lead, while driving tactical execution with an account team that services a diverse range of clients. Prior to SHIFT, Derek was at Sterling Hager, Inc., starting in May 2000 as an account executive and rising through the ranks to the level of account manager. Prior to Sterling Hager, Derek managed client relations and project management for a number of Boston-based video production companies, working with clients like Discovery Channel, ABC News, VH1 and NBA Entertainment. After graduating from IC, he earned an MBA from Bentley College.