Wright stuff
Driven to grow
Whenever there’s a trace of daylight as I leave Weimer Hall, I take a circuitous route home, driving by Lake Alice.
The lakeside drive provides a revitalizing transition from the office to the events of the evening. I also enjoy it because, in this era of rapid and ubiquitous change, the lake remains essentially as it was decades ago.
As we adapt to changes in the communication fields brought on by the digital revolution, key aspects of the College remain unchanged. One is our steadfast commitment to teaching students core skills, critical thinking, professional values and ethics. Another is that we continue to enroll extremely bright students. And our faculty members still rank among the world’s finest and most productive professional educators and researchers.
Our faculty, for instance, once again led the nation in the number of research presentations at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference. The Communication Institute for Online Scholarship’s ComVista service rated the Department of Public Relations’ research productivity in the top 10 in three specializations. Our Department of Advertising has placed among the top three nationally in research productivity.
Two AEJMC divisions named journalism faculty member Renee Martin-Kratzer this year’s “most promising professor.” And photojournalism Prof. John Kaplan earned a Fulbright Fellowship.
Across all four departments, our students continue to earn national and regional recognition for excellence. This year, John Cox, JM 2008, won the Hearst national writing contest, and photojournalism senior Tim Hussin won the inaugural Hearst Multimedia Award. Telecommunication junior Miles Doran won an Edward R. Murrow Award. Photojournalism senior Andrew Stanfill received the Florida Photo of the Year Award from the Associated Press. Students Josh Breslow and Carling Ponder at WRUF received a Society of Professional Journalists national first-place award. Documentary Institute graduates Jolene Pinder, MAMC 2007, and Sarah Zaman, MAMC 2007, won first place at the 2008 Academy of Television Arts and Sciences College Television Awards. About 15 advertising students won ADDY awards.
Our Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) membership is the second largest in the nation, having grown to 234 students. And the group’s student-run Alpha PRoductions is working with UF’s Office of University Relations to produce ads for the Gator Nation campaign. Our doctoral students continue to be among the most productive in the nation, with 20 research papers and three top paper awards in the 2008 AEJMC conference.
In this edition of the communigator, you’ll read about our Hearst winners. You’ll also learn that ABC News has selected our College as one of only five programs in the nation for an ABC Student News Bureau. This is a tribute to the accomplishments of our faculty and broadcast newsroom personnel as well as our students, past and present. This also is indicative of a major reason our College maintains its excellent reputation. We successfully combine professional education, new technology and cutting-edge research. We’ll never lose sight of this traditional strength. In fact, it positions us to move forward effectively as we take on the digital era’s challenges and opportunities.
As I wrote in the previous edition of the communigator, I have ambitious goals for the College. We are building our Center for Media Innovation and Research. We’ve started construction on the multi-platform 21st Century Newsroom. We’ve drawn plans for the advanced technology strategic communications laboratory. We’re establishing a multidisciplinary think tank for research on emerging media. And we’re pushing beyond traditional departmental and professional boundaries to enhance education and training across media platforms and the curricula.
As we establish relationships with institutions in Chile, Brazil, Korea and Dubai, we’re expediting development of distance learning models that initially will include programs in advertising, intercultural and international communication. Our programs will reach students across the nation and around the world.
Many of you are aware that the dire Florida and U.S. economic conditions have resulted in significant budget reductions at UF. This has multiplied and complicated the challenges we face. However, with faculty, students, friends and alumni working together, we will pass the tests, exceed our goals and continue providing students with a world-class education.
I will continue to drive by Lake Alice. As I do, I will continue foreseeing a future that combines the best of our tradition, hopes and promises.
This article was originally published in the Fall 2008 issue of communigator.
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