Message from Dr. John Pollock, Faculty Advisor for “The Roar”:
Dear Alumni, Majors, and Friends of the TCNJ Dept. of Communication Studies,
I am pleased to attach to this message a copy of the fall, 2015, issue of “The Roar”, the student newsletter of the TCNJ Dept. of Communication Studies.
In it you will find an abundance of student and faculty presentations, ranging from video/documentary presentations at a leading US university (UPenn) to the state level (New York State Communication Association annual conference), the national level (National Communication Association annual conference, Las Vegas; and University Film and Video Association national conference, Washington, DC) and even international levels (Oxford University, UK; Philadelphia International Film Festival). The range and variety of our creative and scholarly contributions is rich and multi-layered, and it is a delight to behold so much energy generated by our students and faculty working together to earn so much deserved recognition.
In addition, special contributions add flavor to the mix, including: a report on Dr. D’Angelo’s first year as chair, a special blog posting from Dr. Woodward (who also had an essay published as the lead contribution in a recent issue of the “TCNJ Alumni Magazine”), and an appreciation of TCNJ alumnus Tom Hipper’s return to teach a course in “Health and Risk Communication Campaigns”. An alumna, Danielle Catona, is featured in this issue because of her many awards, in particular for her recent doctoral dissertation, and her work on “communication across the life span” or “communication and aging”.
In addition to the work of Hipper and Catona, careful readers will notice several other contributions on health and risk communication and experiences in this issue of “The Roar”, including a Brown Bag panel of TCNJ alumni returning to discuss their public health experiences at Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and a leading advertising firm. This emphasis will continue in the future, because our department has had three faculty (Pollock, Hu, Steuber Fazio) closely involved over the past few months, even years, in the creation of a new interdisciplinary TCNJ major and graduate certificate in public health, officially launched this coming fall, 2016. Many courses in the new interdisciplinary major are taught by faculty in the Dept. of Communication Studies. Indeed, “health communication” is explicitly a distinguishing feature of the new major, one that makes our new endeavor unusual compared to other undergraduate public health majors offered elsewhere in the US.
Finally, the fall, 2015, issue of “The Roar” includes tips from Prof (now “Dr.”: congratulations, Jake!) Farbman on pursuing successful careers in public relations, the announcement of WTSR’s impending 50th anniversary this spring, 2016, and experiences of a successful WTSR alumnus. Other essays are fascinating, as well, including one on a student’s volunteer experience with a health outreach organization, MEDLIFE, in Peru; and another on how alumna/now grad student, Mariagrazia Buttitta, started “#eye4acure”, a campaign to raise awareness about a rare eye disease, Cone Dystrophy.
Please send us news about your own progress, and stay in touch!
Professor, Faculty Advisor, “The Roar”
Click the image below to download and view the Fall 2015 issue of The Roar.
