Author Archives: Julia Bogdan

Mar 21 2018
Uncategorized

Newest Hire in Longwood Communication Studies

By Julia Bogdan

The newest hire in Longwood Communication studies, Dr. Isabel Fay, originally applied for a teaching position because she was looking for job stability and a place to establish herself in.

“After getting to know the [Farmville] community, I’ve been able to see myself here in the long run,” Fay said.

Longwood University is important to Dr. Fay because it allows her to accomplish the dreams and goals she’s always had for herself.

“I’m really passionate about giving back, as a professor, what I received as a student,” Fay stated.

“A lot of Longwood students come from economically disadvantaged households, and being able to insure their success and fulfillment, [by helping them] live up to their potential, [and being the] educator who allows students to reflect on their environment and society are some of the many reasons why I wanted to be a professor,” Fay said.

While realizing her dream of being a professor and mentoring students, Fay says she can feel at home in Farmville after a life of continuously moving around.

“It felt like a good fit for me,” Fay said.

Fay was originally born in Berlin, Germany, with a mother of Mexican heritage and father of German heritage. While growing up in Germany, Fay and her family would visit Mexico for about a month every year.

“I grew up between those two worlds,” Fay said.

She originally came to the states at 16 years old for an exchange student program and has been living in America ever since.

“[Being from two different heritages] has allowed me to take a broader perspective on things that many of us are unable to see,” Fay said. “How we communicate in one part of the world is not how we communicate in other parts of the world. It has allowed me to be a more analytical person and to essentially shift culture codes and I often see myself as the moderator [between cultures].”

Fay wrote her dissertation on digital media, but is a rhetorician at heart. She is interested in learning how communities develop a public consciousness, the sort of patterns people use, and different movements like #MeToo on Twitter.

“Rhetoric courses passionately insert with any subject area,” Fay said.

Since Fay has seen many different cultures, she is very excited about communication across societies, including social media use.

Make sure to stop by and congratulate Dr. Fay on her new position!

 

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Feb 26 2018
Student Work

A Day in the Life of a COMM Student

By Julia Bogdan

Like any other college student, junior COMM student Kiersten dreadfully wakes up in the morning and heads to her classes. She is out of class everyday by 11 am, but you can usually find her in French Hall for the next hour or so.

“I always have something that I need to be editing, uploading, or sending out, so that’s my golden hour to get it all done before the madness starts,” Kiersten said.

“People underestimate COMM majors, they call it the “easy” major, but it’s not that,” Kiersten said. “It’s a different type of learning than English, business, anthropology, and is not governed by textbook.”

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Everyday, Kiersten gets hands-on experiences with all different kinds of technologies in the communication field.

“No, I don’t write papers all the time, but I do spend hours in French [Hall] editing videos and writing articles that get torn up by the “Red Pen of Death” just like any other major. COMM is not an easy major, but if you’re passionate about it, it never feels like work,” Kiersten said.

After finishing up her COMM projects, she goes home to get a head start on her homework and prepares for the upcoming night. Sometimes, that includes our Student Government Association (SGA), Junior Class Council, or making a playlist for her show on the local Top 40 radio station, WFLO 95.7 FM.

Outside of the classroom, Kiersten also serves as an Assistant Director for the Big South Network (BSN), which is a position she earned through a COMM internship she did.

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“My job [as an Assistant Director for the BSN] allows me to integrate my video production experience with sports, which is really where my passion lies,” Kiersten said.

Kiersten was also involved in the school newspaper, The Rotunda, for 2.5 years, where she wrote for almost every section.

“If I know anything about COMM students, it’s that we’re over-involved. We do everything we can to practice our craft and [that includes joining] every club related to it,” Kiersten said. “I spend anywhere from two to eight hours a day on COMM related work.”

“I’m back out the door by 3 p.m., bouncing around from meetings or work. Sometimes, I’m home as early as 6 p.m., other days I’m home as late as 10 p.m.,” Kiersten said. She then proceeds to prepare for the same process the next day.

“Overall, I love being a COMM student,” Kiersten said. “They refer to us as the #COMMunity, and it really is true. Our professors are so down-to-earth and feel like family to me, I even babysit their kids! They don’t just advise us, they care for us outside the classroom and that support is invaluable in college, given the stressful lives we live.”

“Our alumni are so helpful and giving to the current students, they give advice, they help us find jobs and internships and they stay our forever friends, even when they’re away from Longwood,” Kiersten stated.

Kiersten stated, “COMM is not just a major, it’s a whole life. Be expected to get a family, not just a degree. You will love your professors and they won’t just teach you, they’ll prepare you for your future, and allow you to leave the program with enough experience and connections to find you a job that you love just as much as the people who got you there.”

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Feb 05 2018
Uncategorized

Longwood Academy for Event and Meeting Planning (LAMP)

By Julia Bogdan

The Longwood Academy for Event and Meeting Planning (LAMP), presented by Communication Studies, will debut a four-day event planning certification workshop this Spring 2018 semester.

Open to all students, alumni, and professionals outside of Longwood University, the Academy is a “new venture for the communication studies department,” remarks Dr. Alec Hosterman, Assistant Professor and coordinator of the academy.

Dr. Hosterman, Emily Pilk, and Dr. Naomi Johnson, the chair of the Communication Studies department , have been conjuring this idea since early fall of 2017.

Each year the Academy will have a short overall seminar in the fall: an event planning boot camp. Here, attendees are taught the “nuts and bolts” of what they will have to know. They will have the opportunity to work on event planning scenarios and to network with experts in the event planning field.

After that, students, alumni, or professionals in the region will have the opportunity to take the four-day certification seminars taking place in the spring.

The four-day Academy will take place over four Saturdays throughout the month of April, learning a new skill on each one.

On the first day, students will learn how to work with clients, food and beverage, and managing lodging. They will also be given budgets and learn exactly how to work with that.

The second Saturday will entail attendees learning about contract negotiations and a/v expectations.

On the third day, attendees will be touring an actual event sight and will be taught what exactly to be looking for. They will learn how to create a timeline, and how to market and brand their event.

On the fourth day, the most important day, attendees will pitch an actual idea to the experts and hear what they have to say back.

After all of this is over, attendees will receive an official event planning certification from the university along with CEUs (continuing education units).

 

“There are very few degree-granting programs out there and lots of our students want to be event planners. This broadens their experience and makes them much more marketable,” Hosterman said. “We really saw a need [for this].”

To find out more information about the Longwood Academy for Event and Meeting Planning, head to blogs.longwood.edu/eventplanningseminars.

“Our students will be walking out of here not only with a degree but a certification in event planning – they should be the hottest stuff out there,” Hosterman said.

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Nov 20 2017
Uncategorized

Event Planning Seminar Opens Eyes

By Julia Bogdan

The inaugural So, You Want to Be an Event Planner? seminar was held in early September 2017 and was a great way for students to be introduced to event planning. Participants learned from, and networked with, industry leaders and professional planners.

“[Planning the seminar] was very in-depth,” said Naomi Johnson, Associate Professor and Department Chair of the Communication Studies program. The seminar began as an idea in October 2016 and was planned all the way up until a few days before the seminar.

The seminar helped participants have a good idea of the overview of the industry while broadening their horizons and encouraging networking.

During the convention, students were given a professional opportunity to network with respected professionals at the top of the field. “Students get so much [out of this opportunity],” Johnson said.

Students from Communication Studies and Business primarily signed up for the seminar. However, in the future, the planners behind the seminar are arranging to cater to more disciplines.

Emily Neighbors, senior Communication Studies major said, “I signed up because I was trying to decide what I want to do [after graduation], and I feel like it opened up my eyes to how much more event planning is and made me want to do event planning even more.”

During the experience, students were able to ask the professionals for advice, have a professional networking session, and even just have a casual chat with them during lunch.

 

“The networking session was really exciting [because it was nice] to see students acting in such a professional manner, they really impressed me with the way they had prepared themselves, the way that they held themselves, and that they were able to [approach] an event that many people don’t get to go to until they are much older. I was really proud of our students and excited for them,” Johnson said.

According to the planners, it took a while to get just the right presenters. “I felt intimidated to call and ask [the speakers] if they wanted to come, but everyone was so nice and generous with their time and were really excited to come meet with students and to work with Longwood,” Johnson said. “I’m very grateful with how willing they were to spend time with us.”

Students were glad the professionals came because they received a good perspective on the profession, other than what they have learned in their classes.

“[In the next Event Planning Seminar,] we will give students the opportunity to plan an event and present it to the speakers at the end and get feedback, and from that they will receive a certification,” Johnson stated.

The certification program is the most exciting component because it will be an annual program open to alumni, community members, and all majors, where they hope to get a variety of people.

“We do want to keep that feeling of really wanting to be able to connect with the speakers and have close attention as they’re working through the process. We don’t want people feeling like they’re a face in a crowd,” Johnson said.

All of the speakers have agreed to continue to keep coming back to Longwood for the upcoming Event Planning Seminars, and they are in the process of offering a 3 to 4 day workshop in May of 2018.

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Oct 24 2017
Uncategorized

New Communication Courses Teach Students Civic Responsibility

Professor Isabel Fay

By Julia Bogdan

The new core curriculum will begin at Longwood University within the upcoming school year of 2018.
There are many new updates to the general education program, but the most crucial for the Communication Studies department is the addition of Citizen 110.
As the new general education curriculum will become necessary for incoming freshmen, two Communication Studies professors have been piloting courses.
“This new class fits in with our Communication department primarily because speaking and reasoning are the focus of this class,” says Dr. Kris Paal, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies.
“[In general, Citizen 110 is] an entry level for course for college freshmen, and is basically to introduce students into aspects of citizenship, but we also try to emphasize critical thinking, civil discourse, and ethical reasoning,” Paal said.
This class will be taught across different professors with different disciplines, as well. “It’s a kind of blanket course,” Paal said.
Paal has been piloting a Citizen 110 course that focuses on how to be a good citizen on social media.
The questions that Paal’s class focuses on are, “What does it mean to be a good citizen on social media?, How do we resolve the ethical dilemmas we face while using social media?”, and “What does it mean to critically engage the messages we see on social media?”
Paal wanted to teach this course because he loves working with freshmen, and Citizen 110 is a course aimed toward introducing the freshmen to an inquiry of citizenship.
Similarly, one of Longwood’s newest Communications Studies professors, Dr. Isabel Fay, is teaching Citizen 110 with a concentration in climate change.
“Part of being a civic leader is being an informed citizen,” Fay said.
Fay co-teaches Citizen 110 with Dr. Chris Labosier, a professor in the Biology and Environmental Science department.
Dr. Labosier teaches the informed, scientific material during the first part of the course while Dr. Fay comes in and teaches communication theory following.
“This course is basically a blend of rhetoric and science,” Fay said. “Essentially, this is a public

speaking class. Students are presented with problems [related to climate change] and have to come up with solutions to overcome it. They will need to be able to take scientific information and terminology and translate that for their audience, which is what a lot of journalists have to do in their research.”
The goal of citizen 110 is to be able to arrive at an informed opinion at the end of the course.
“Students can choose to believe whatever they want to believe,” Fay said. “We just hope that at the end of the class students will feel as if they’re stepping into adulthood to make their own independent opinions without feeling like they will disrespect others.”
With the addition of these two courses, students will effectively learn the ins and outs of citizen leadership.

Oct 05 2017
Uncategorized

ALUMNI PROFILE: ERIK OBST (’15)

Erik Obst, Longwood Alumni

By Julia Bogdan

Erik Obst, a 2015 Communication Studies alumnus with a public relations concentration, is living his dream job every single day as the Public Outreach Manager at Whitebarrel Winery in Christiansburg, Virginia.

Despite his title, Obst is highly involved in many different aspects of the wine industry, including a sommelier, sales and distribution representative, event planner, and even has even assisted in the entire wine making process.

“My dream was to be a corporate lawyer, before I discovered wine,” Obst said. “My career path went way different than what I was expecting. [However] I like to believe I am doing my dream job every day.”

A typical day in the life of his profession is what he refers to as “craziness.”

“There is never a day that is the same. One day, I am driving across Virginia selling wine and the next I’m knee deep in crushed grapes creating the next vintage,” Obst said.

Obst isn’t quite sure where he wants to go in the future, but he is content with that.

“At this point in my career, I am focusing on the present. Are there a ton of different places I could go and explore in the world of wine? Of course! But right now, I love where I work and who I work with. Not to mention, I’m learning more than I could have ever imagined,” Obst said.

Obst usually gets the question, “Is wine related to your degree at all?” His answer is “Yes!”

“There are thousands of moving parts in this industry that require the skills I obtained through my degree,” Obst said.

He also said that goes for anything, and that one must have dedication and discipline outside the classroom for whatever industry they are enthusiastic about.

“[My academic training at Longwood helped me with] thinking on the spot and always being prepared. In my industry, you are either prepared and know what you’re talking about, or they will call you out in a heartbeat,” Obst stated.

“[When I was in college], I don’t think I understood the lessons behind the lessons. I was more concerned about understanding theory,” Obst said, “but it was the experiences outside the classroom, like attending the PRSSA conferences and luncheons that truly made an impact. It was in those settings where I would talk to my professors and other professionals to gain real-world insight.”

Obst’s lasting advice is, “don’t be so focused on a specific field, like PR, go and find out what you care about. Research it. Dive into it. Find what you love and go for it.”

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Sep 25 2017
Student Work

Carefest 2017: Student Groups Turn Lessons into Action

By Julia Bogdan

Doggie kissing booth at Carefest 2017.

On Tuesday, Sept. 19th, the Longwood University #COMMunity, including PRSSA, WMLU, The Rotunda and Lambda Pi Eta, came together to raise $700 (and still growing) for the victims of the recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida.

Carefest 2017 had raffles, a bake sale, puppy kissing booth, and jail a friend.

“I think the #COMMunity really just united around the idea of helping other people,” Halle Parker, senior, and editor-in-chief of The Rotunda said. “The Carefest was a culmination of what we’ve learned in our communication classes and a desire to help others.”

The #COMMunity has a history of reaching out to nonprofit organizations including their annual #RealCOMM Competition, where they raise money for local organizations.

“I think this was a great way to bring the Heart of Farmville down to Texas and Florida,” Parker said.

Student groups came up with the idea of an all-communication fundraiser at a Lambda Pi Eta meeting (the communications studies honor fraternity), when the advisor, Dr. Paal, brought up the idea of trying to do something to fundraise money within the department after hearing about the recent tragedies.

“The Longwood Communication Studies department tries to build a relationship with its majors and tries to promote the idea of citizen leaders,” Parker said.

“We have always had the #COMMunity, but this shows everyone that we really are just like one big family. We will all work together and pull together when we need to,” Emily Neighbors, President of PRSSA, said.

“We tried to evolve and get as many people in campus involved, so that’s where the dining services came in, Longwood athletics started promoting it within their department, the University decided to cover it, so it really just became a student-wide effort,” Parker said. “All the money made at the food truck went toward the cause.”

Emily Neighbors and Dr. Alec Hosterman are working together to send the money down to a university in Florida and one in Texas so they can choose local nonprofits to send it to.

Neighbors and Parker hope for the Carefest to become an annual celebration where they raise money for many different non-profit causes.

Jail a friend, including Dr. Hosterman and students Halle Parker and Miriam Loya

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