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Over the past year we have been working to improve the School’s curriculum, and the experience we provide our students. We think you will be pleased with the changes we have made and that we will continue to make throughout the coming year. These changes include:
New faculty hires
The School has made some fantastic hires this year in the areas of strategic communication, mass communication, journalism, organizational communication, new technology and advertising. We have just received approval to hire 5 additional tenure-track faculty and the search for these faculty will begin this autumn.
New staff hires
We have made a number of new staff hires particularly for The Lantern including a new sales manager and a new web/technical support staff member. Importantly, we hired a Director of News and Operations for The Lantern – Tom O’Hara. Tom was formerly the Managing Editor for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He also taught journalism courses at Kent State University. Tom has many ideas for improving The Lantern and he will be actively involved with The Lantern editors and reporters as he moves forward with implementation. Tom is very open to any suggestions students may have on how to improve The Lantern. In addition to working with our majors, Tom would like to involve students from other disciplines as reporters, photographers, or designers: He is particularly eager to get talented and enthusiastic freshmen and sophomores involved with the student newspaper. We also hired Dr. Natalie Guinsler, formerly a senior marketing strategist for e-Business, at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Ohio. Natalie will be teching some of our strategic communication courses including Public Communication Campaigns and Creative Message Design.
New faculty oversight for PRSSA and SPJ
Dr. Lance Holbert will be assuming the role as the faculty adviser for the Ohio State chapter of Public Relations Society of America. Lance has extensive PR experience, including work on Capitol Hill and conducting press relations for multiple political campaigns. One of our journalism lecturers, Janessa Castle, will be the new adviser for the Society of Professional Journalists and will be working with our journalism majors and interested students to build this student group.
Space renovation and new equipment for The Lantern
The School continues to renovate space including instructional rooms and lab facilities. This year the Lantern’s facilities will be the primary focus of our renovations. As many of you know, our journalism program (as well as the industry in general!) has been going through dramatic changes. These changes not only are affecting the way people receive news but also the way that we teach all of you who are interested in this profession. In order to meet these changing needs, we have designed a new podcasting studio next to the Lantern newsroom. We also designed a multiplatform lab (convergence lab) that will enable our students to be taught how to present news in the Lantern and on the web using audio, video and computer platforms.
These facilities will be renovated during the coming year. We also have provided the Lantern newsroom with much needed computer hardware and software.
Gaming and new technology instructional and research rooms
We currently are designing new space for our communication technology courses that will include rooms where students will learn about communication and gaming as well as rooms where our students will learn how to conduct research on mass communication and new technologies. These rooms will include innovative gaming stations, a viewing theater and state of the art equipment.
New courses
We are constantly adding new courses to our curriculum and this year is no exception. New courses include: “Business and Professional Speaking,” “Stereotypes in Advertising,” and a new communication technology course on “Video Games and the Individual.” We also will be expanding the offerings in our journalism workshops. In addition to our quarterly workshop on “Gateway to the Lantern,” we also will have a workshop on internet journalism and one on “previews and reviews” (arts and entertainment).
Expanding internship and co-op program
We have been expanding our internship and co-op programs, strengthening the academic as well as the professional experience. We continue to work with donors and industry to create new internship and co-op experiences. Please feel free to meet with our internship coordinator, Ronda Baldwin (baldwin.185@osu.edu or 292.4275), and she can fill you in on some of the latest opportunities.
This is just a snapshot of things going on in the School. We will keep you updated periodically on new developments. We hope you will become involved in our School, our professional organizations and in helping us make our programs even better.
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