Welcome to spring semester 2017!
We’re ready to hit the ground running with a great semester.
- The Public Relations seniors have been working all year with their capstone client, the Young Women’s Resource Center, a local nonprofit that supports young women and girls.
- The Advertising seniors have also begun their capstone campaign for the National Pork Board, which will include flying students to Arizona in April to present their work to the organization’s board of directors.
- The digital media, news and magazine seniors will soon dive into another edition of the multimedia website, Urban Plains.
Good luck to all our hard-working seniors!
Notes from SJMC student services
Be sure to attend the first class session of your courses this semester for enrollment validation.
The last day to add a class is Friday, Jan. 27, and the last day to drop a class without a “W” is Friday, Feb. 3. There is a new drop add-form available from dean’s assistant Mallory Quinn in Mer. 119 or it is available online here.
Accreditation team to visit Feb. 12-15
You’ll be hearing more about this in the weeks to come, but the SJMC’s accreditation “site visit” team will be on campus, visiting classes and talking to faculty and students, Feb. 12-15. Some key things you need to know:
- SJMC is accredited by ACEJMC (the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication), an independent accrediting body. There are about 111 accredited JMC programs worldwide; only 15 are in private institutions, so Drake SJMC is in a select group.
- Our program has been accredited continually since 1972. Accreditation is yet another assessment of the quality of our program.
- We conducted an exhaustive “self study” last year and mailed it to ACEJMC in November. We examined our program using the nine ACEJMC standards, such as curriculum and assessment, student and public services, faculty and facilities.
- A five-person team of media professionals and professors will come to campus next month to conduct an in-person review.
- Team members will be dropping into classes on Feb. 13-14. They will be holding an open meeting with all SJMC students and also sessions with individual majors.
Stay tuned for more information and when the student sessions are!
Spring workshops planned
Professor Chris Snider will be teaching three digital media workshops this spring that are free to Drake students. They include:
- 2017 Social Media Strategy workshop – Saturday, Feb. 11 — 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- Smartphone Video + Premiere Workshop – Saturday, March 4 — 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
- 360-Degree Photography and Video Workshop – Wednesday, April 5 — 6-9 p.m.
Get more details on the digital media workshops.
University career fair set for Feb. 9
Get out your interview outfit and polish up your resume: The Drake University Career Fair is scheduled for Feb. 9 in the Olmsted Center. The 3-30:30 p.m. timeslot is reserved for seniors only; the event will be open to all students from 3:30-6 p.m. Access the Career Fair guidebook mobile app at: https://guidebook.com/g/drakecareerfair2017/ Tap the “download” button to get the free Guidebook app. Open the Guidebook and look for the guide: Drake University Career Fair 2017.
Project Vote Smart seeks interns
Project Vote Smart, a nonpartisan resource of political data to help voters make informed decisions, is relocating to Drake and is looking for interns. Interns are required to commit about 10 hours a week during the semester and will conduct research, and will collect, analyze and disseminate political data. For more information, contact Vote Smart’s Drake internship coordinator, professor Jennifer Glover Konfrst (jennifer.gloverkonfrst@drake.edu) and see the Vote Smart post on Drake Media Gigs.
Media Now summer camp returning to Drake
Know a high school student interested in a career in communications, in Drake SJMC and in polishing his or her media skills? Media Now Drake summer camp will return to campus July 9-12 with classes in multimedia, photography, editing, leadership, writing and more. For more information, see the Media Now website.
2017 Upper Midwest Emmy Scholarship available
The Upper Midwest Emmy Chapter offers scholarships to college students who have completed at least two years of school and are majoring in electronic media. The grants will be used for tuition and fees. See the Emmy website for more information and the scholarship application, which is due Feb. 6.