TMU 5(32) -- December 9, 2008

Voices against violence
PRSSA partners with YWCA

School of Communication public relations students promoted a Dec. 4 event targeted at telling the truth about dating violence. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) UNO chapter succeeded in attracting an overflow crowd to the Milo Bail Student Center Ballroom.

Students gather for lunch and information

Jennifer Estep headed a team of students planning, promoting and executing a very professional event. YWCA co-sponsored the event.

The event was captured in this YouTube video

UNO Forensics national finalist Lauren Ackerman performed her dramatic presentation of “The Yellow Dress,” a one-woman show about a victim of partner violence.

Team members staff the event entrance.

“Voices Against Violence: Dare to Speak for Those who Don’t” educated UNO students on the dangers of date rape. Douglas County Assistant Attorney Julie Medina, a date rape survivor, spoke to the audience.


Chance of a lifetime
Graduate student writes about Mr. Buffett

School of Communication Graduate student Nicole Lindquist, a public affairs specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, published “Tutition assistance = the opportunity of a lifetime” in UNMC Today. The article focused on a visit to see billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Buffett allowed multiple photos with each student on Oct. 17. “Some students opted for more humorous photos, such as the girl who asked Buffett if she could kiss him on the cheek,” Lindquist wrote. “He obliged and also pretended to fight over a girl's purse and whisper a stock tip in another student's ear: I opted for this boring, but classic pose.”

The story offered a first person account of the event.

Lindquist and Buffett pose for a photo

“Like the MasterCard saying goes, some things are just priceless,” Lindquist said. “Such as the opportunity I was given on Oct. 17 to meet the richest man in the world, the Oracle of Omaha, the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Mr. Warren Buffett.”

“On the first Thursday night of my Electronic Media Management class, my professor, Jeremy Lipschultz, Ph.D., informed us that we would have the chance of a lifetime, not only to meet Warren Buffett, but to eat lunch with him, snap a picture with him and even get an autograph,” Lindquist wrote. “Along with our class and the Investment Club at UNO, business students from universities including Florida State, Tulane, St. Louis (University), Missouri and Iowa, would join us.”

Lindquist mailed the story to Buffett with a thank you card: “he sent me back a hand-written note on his personal stationary that has his picture on it… pretty cool,” Lindquist said.

Alumna publishes in top journal
Rill succeeds in Missouri doctoral program

School of Communication graduate program alumna and doctoral student Leslie A. Rill is the lead author in a major article for Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. “Testing The Second Level Of Agenda Setting: Effects of News Frames on Reader-Assigned Attributes Of Hezbollah and Israel in the 2006 War in Lebanon,” was published by Rill and Corey B. Davis In Journalism &Mass Communication Quarterly 85(3), 611-626 (Autumn 2008). Rill and Davis are graduate students in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri. Here is the article abstract: An experiment involving 485 participants provided evidence for second- level agenda-setting effects of manipulated print media stories about the 2006 war in Lebanon. Investigators (1) measured readers’ perceptions of the war’s involved parties, Israel and Hezbollah, and (2) compared specific attributes that readers in each condition assigned to Israel and Hezbollah. Results demonstrated significant differences in attributes and perceptions of Israel and Hezbollah among five conditions. Computer content analysis of open-ended responses demonstrated a relationship between the version of the news story read by participants and the attributes that the participants assigned to Israel and Hezbollah.

CPM program graduates first class
School faculty collaborate

UNO’s Nebraska Certified Public Manager Program (CPM) graduated 12 students in the program’s first commencement ceremony Dec. 5.

Terry Hynes assists with the ceremony

Senior Vice Chancellor Terry Hynes spoke to the graduating class, which featured managers at non-profits, churches, as well as state and local governments. The School of Public Administration is operating the program, and three School of Communication professors – Karen Dwyer, Dave Ogden and Jeremy Lipschultz – teach speech communication, media relations and new media.

Lipschultz is a CPM working group member, along with Communication alumna and professional storyteller Rita Paskowitz. They helped develop the curriculum for the Nebraska program, which is designed to increase the level of professionalism among public managers in the state.

College of Public Affairs and Community Service (CPACS) Dean B.J. Reed said that he had been interested in CPM since the early 1980s, but the development of the program did not begin to take shape until four years ago.

Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy joined Hynes and CPM Director Mary Hamilton in awarding certificates.


Of note

Excellence in action

Ana Cruz recently received praise from UNO’s Lifelong Learning Initiative Program. She helped edit corrections for a program brochure and introductory letter. “I want to thank you again for your assistance in developing our materials for the Lifelong Learning Initiative,” Director Patty Adams said. “I truly appreciate people who step forward to help us out in our efforts to launch this wonderful new program.”

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Hugh Reilly and Kevin Warneke are featured in a Dec. 5 article in The Catholic Voice about their new book, Father Flanagan and Boys Town: A Man of Vision. The pair was photographed Nov. 24 at the Boys Town Hall of History.

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The Omaha News completed another successful season on The Knowledge Network (TKN Cox 17/Qwest 74) with a great broadcast on Dec. 3 that was highlighted by a moving interview with one of the Von Maur shooting survivors a year after the tragedy. “I thought it was an outstanding program,” Executive Producer Chris Allen said. “I'm very happy for the students – they turned in an excellent effort.” Visit The Omaha News website!

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Teresa Trumbly Lamsam traveled to Louisville last week for the first of her academic leadership training sessions. The program, sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), selects promising young scholars with potential for careers in academic administration.

Did you know?
People in the news

Alumna Michelle Perone, director of Career Exploration and Outreach at UNO, recently coordinated career related activities with the School of Communication. “It’s been a great semester full of mock interviewing and classroom presentations,” she said. “We value our partnership with the School of Communication and look forward to continuing to provide further career development assistance!”

The Omaha World-Herald and the Associated Press published recent articles about the value of internships. Perone’s office, which is about to be renamed the UNO Career Center, received mention.

Mock interviews
By Mary Ana Kidd

Experience solidifies learning. Recently, 104 UNO Communication students were able to solidify their interviewing skills in real-life simulations.

Students from Sherrie Wilson’s Internship and Mary Anna Kidd’s Interviewing classes participated in mock job interviews. With the help of UNO’s Career Exploration and Outreach office, 44 community volunteer were recruited to conduct the interviews. Several of the volunteers returned for 2 or more sessions.

Students arrived in professional attire with resumes in hand to meet with these potential employers. While the format varied a little between the two courses, students participated in 20-30 minute interviews. The volunteers provided feedback for each student. In addition, the students evaluated themselves, the interviewers, and each other.

The students reported that it was a valuable experience. It gave them insight into what happens during the interview process for larger organizations. For some students, it was their first experience with a formal employment interview. It provided extra benefit for one internship student who was asked to formally apply for an internship at the volunteer’s company. At least two interviewing students received job leads as well.

The organizations represented included: Alegent Health, Aureus Group, BrightMix LLC, Celebrity Staffing, Cintas, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Farm Bureau Financial Services, First National Bank, GBT Children’s Academy, Harrah’s Entertainment, Info USA, Kraft Foods, Metropolitan Utilities District, MRI Contract Staffing, Nebraska Public Power District, Omaha World Herald, Renaissance Financial, Securities America, TEKSystems, Wells Fargo Financial and UNO. Several organizations sent more than one representative.

We are very grateful to all those who volunteered their time to make the interviews a success.

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Lynnette Leonard’s Persuasion students presented their work at the Persuasion Poster Session, Dec. 8 in the Milo Bail Student Center. Students displayed posters of critical analysis of persuasion.

Footnotes
Evidence of excellence

1. Alumnus Josh Bashara published a review in The Reader on the Nine Inch Nails concert at the Mid America Center in Council Bluffs: “Although it was the night before Thanksgiving, turnout was surprisingly high,” Bashara wrote. “A moderately clean-cut and spartanly dressed Reznor took the stage, kicking off the show with the foreboding ‘999,999/1,000,000.’ Feverous as they were, the audience chose to ignore Reznor’s seemingly distracted — or fatigued — composure as the set rolled into full swing.”

The week in photos
Images from around the school

World-Herald Square construction continues

Jack Newton (left) and Dave Hamer (right) at the OPC

Dean Gail F. Baker at the CFAM faculty meeting

Ethan Deas completes his graduate degree

Marlina Davidson and Karen Dwyer visited the San Diego Zoo

Jeremy Lipschultz's class recently used Adobe Connect

Deb Smith-Howell and Gail F. Baker were recognized with a Step Up award

Visit the School of Communication website!

Dates & times
Mark calendars for interesting events

December

10 – School of Communication Holiday Party, Arts and Sciences Hall 140, 11:30 a.m.

18 – Construction management students unveil initial plans for a Communication Building, PKI, 10:30 a.m.


2009
January
15 - High School Journalism Dinner, 6-9 p.m. at the MBSC Chancellor’s Room.

February
12 - Thursday, Feb. 12 Valentine's Day Bake Sale first floor ASH 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

26 - Thursday, Feb. 26, MBSC Nebraska Room Bateman team campaign event for National Banking Association College Program 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

March
12 - Thursday, March 12, MBSC Nebraska Room One-Five-0 and in Control Alcohol Awareness event 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

31 - Thursday, March 31, MBSC Dodge Room Communication Career Development Workshop 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

April
23 - High School Journalism Workshop, 12 p.m. at the MBSC Ballroom.
28 - PRSSA Presentations, 4 p.m. at the MBSC Chancellor’s Room.
30 - 10 a.m. Scholarship Breakfast at the MBSC Chancellor’s Room; 5th Annual Alumni Panel at 1 p.m. at the MBSC Dodge Rooms); 54th Annual Awards Banquet, 6 p.m. at the Thompson Alumni Center.

May
8 - Friday, May 8, at the MBSC Ballroom School of Communication Graduation Breakfast 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.