media and communication at muhlenberg college

Reflections on Alumni Week by Andalisa Lopez ’12

For Media Communication majors, Alumni Week is a great opportunity to network with recent graduates who are living proof that jobs are out there.  I recently had the opportunity to speak with two recent graduates, Jillian Bevacqua ’11 and Jennifer Gable ’10 about their careers in the non-profit sector.  It was certainly refreshing to hear about alums who are continuing the Media Communication’s mission of social justice in their careers, and they both graciously agreed to share advice and the possibilities beyond the red doors.

Jillian Bevacqua was interested in writing and was not anticipating working at a non-profit but through connections at Muhlenberg College and taking advantage of networking, she landed a job as the External Affairs Associate at the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness in New York City.  The Institute is a research and policy organization that not only presents nationwide data on homelessness, but through its sister organization, Homes for the Homeless, provides firsthand assistance and shelter for homeless families in New York City.  Jillian’s work includes presenting data and policies to the public in a coherent and interesting way and plans conference attendance to help distribute publications to a wider audience.  Jillian also works with advertisers and designs ads which help to showcase the Institute’s work.  While the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness focuses more on policy, they do coordinate with more hands-on organizations such as Homes for the Homeless to strengthen programming.

Jennifer Gable knew she wanted to work for non-profits, and after a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA with the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley, she is located in Washington, DC at the National Skills Coalition.  The National Skills Coalition works to fill the skills gap by organizing broad-based coalitions nationwide with the common goal of raising the skills of America’s workers across a range of industries.  They work with groups of business leaders, employers, and community organizations who can identify what skills are needed in the workforce, and advocate for policy changes that will help meet those needs and get America’s workers back on the job.  Her work as the Communications Associate includes advocacy, website management, social media, event planning, helping with press releases, media placements and media tracking.

When asked to describe the best part of her job, Jillian speaks about the “multiple hats”  she gets to try on working with a non-profit.  This gives her an opportunity to explore what she is good at and what tasks she specifically enjoys.  Jillian hopes to continue writing more within the Institute for Children, Poverty, and Homelessness and beyond.  At Muhlenberg, she served as the co-editor in chief and writing is where her passion lies and she seeks out opportunities to continue this.

For Jen, the best part of her job is it has pushed her outside of her comfort zone.  She was never particularly interested in politics, but her current position at the National Skills Coalition has pushed her to learn more about policy issues. This has awakened a new interest and she plans to remain in her current field and possible pursue a higher degree to further her career prospects in the future.

Alumni Week provides students with a unique opportunity to speak with people who recently left your shoes, and can better understand what you may be going through.  It is an important time to ask for advice; and Jillian and Jen both agree that internships are crucial experiences for students.  Jillian also advises students to seek out connections even outside of your major—you never know who you can connect you to a job or internship.  Take time to speak with professors from various departments about your interests and make sure to hold onto those connections.  Jen also adds that students should be open-minded and broaden their scope when searching for internships and jobs.  Oftentimes, students don’t believe they are qualified for certain opportunities, but the truth is we all have great experience from classes, workshops, extracurriculars, and work study jobs.  Jen and Jillian also suggest making a list of courses you’ve taken and highlighting the skills you’ve gained from each and work them into a cover letter.  You may be surprised at how much experience you do have…

Both Jillian and Jen shine as examples of successful Muhlenberg College alums who have found careers which continue the Media Communications Department mission of social justice.

Jenna Azar, Tony Dalton and Lora Taub-Pervizpour gave an invited presentation at the monthly meeting of the Philadelphia Youth Media Collaborative.  The HYPE team presented their work on digital badges for recognizing youth media learning.  The event was at PhillyCAM in Philadelphia and provided an opportunity for HYPE to explore possible connections with the vibrant youth media community in the city.

Jennifer Alecci,’14, has been selected as a recipient of a 2012 Broadcast Pioneers Scholarship. This $1,000 scholarship recognizes students who are Communication majors living or attending school in the Delaware Valley who demonstrate excellence in broadcast and communication. At their annual banquet on April 18, Jen will be one of 17 winners to receive scholarship. The department is very proud of Jen’s recognition.

On March 28, HYPE teens Gracie Santana and Garret Frey, interviewed Mayor Pawlowski at City Hall.  The teens are collaborating with students in the Youth Media course on a documentary about the Neighborhood Improvement Zone and the hockey arena.  The teens are focused especially on the impact of the project on community residents and aim to bring unheard voices to a public dialogue about the enterprise.  Jake Ramsay ’12 and Jenna Azar, HYPE co-director, joined Gracie and Garret on site, as Gracie conducted the interview and Garret shot it.  Watch for a screening in late spring!

Muhlenberg had a strong presence at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference in Boston last week.  Dr. Amy Corbin presented her paper, “Traveling through Cinema Space:  The Film Spectator as Tourist,” on a panel titled “Rethinking Space: Theory and Practice,” chaired by Stephen Monteiro of the American University of Paris.  Dr. Corbin also participated in a workshop titled: “Teaching the City: Pedagogical Issues in Urban Cinema and Media studies,” chaired by Brendan Krendall and Paula Massood.

Dr. Elizabeth Nathanson chaired and presented in a workshop titled, “Teaching Film and Media Studies at Liberal Arts Colleges.”  Dr. Paul  McEwan also participated in the workshop, joining colleagues from Carleton, Trinity, and Colby.

Dr. McEwan presented his paper, “The Birth of a Nation and the Development of Film Clubs, 1945-1975,” on a panel titled Dynamics of Film Viewing, chaired by Moya Luckett of NYU.

The Society for Cinema and Media Studies is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting a broad understanding of film, television, and related media through research and teaching grounded in the contemporary humanities tradition.

The Society’s annual conference provides a forum for scholars and teachers of film and media studies to present and hear new research; to provide a supportive environment for networking, mentoring, and collaboration among scholars otherwise separated by distance, language, or disciplinary boundaries; and to promote the field of cinema and media studies among its practitioners, to other disciplines, and to the public at large, in part through public recognition of award worthy achievements and other significant milestones within the field.

It’s been a big year for the College’s TV channel…first its name changed from MCTV Channel 21 to MBC: The Muhlenberg Broadcast Community. Now, a new blog to showcase the station and opportunities for getting involved. The name change and the blog reflect the group’s desire to enhance this campus community resource. Check out the blog, and bring your voice and vision to the next MBC meeting! http://mbc.blogs.muhlenberg.edu/

Dr. Pooley has published a chapter, ”Media and Communications,” in the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Sociology, co-authored with John Durham Peters.  Information about the book can be found here.  Congratulations, Dr. Pooley!

The department congratulates Dr. Kahlenberg on her sabbatical leave this semester and the opportunity to develop her scholarship on gender stereotypes on children’s commercial television.  Her work in this area has previously been published in the journal Sex Roles. We look forward to her return in Fall 2012!

Dr. Jennifer Horner has joined Media & Communication as a visiting assistant professor for Spring 2012.  Dr. Horner is teaching Media & Society and War and the Media. Dr. Horner was previously a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received her Ph.D. in 2006.  Please welcome Dr. Horner to Walson Hall!

ProfessorJansen has published a chapter, “Redesigning a Nature: Welcome to E-stonia, 2001-2018″ in Branding Post-Communist Nations: Marketizing National Identities in the ‘New’ Europe edited by Nadia Kaneva (Routledge).  From the publisher:

Nation branding–a set of ideas rooted in Western marketing–gained popularity in the post-communist world by promising a quick fix for the identity malaise of “transitional” societies. Since 1989, almost every country in Central and Eastern Europe has engaged in nation branding initiatives of varying scope and sophistication. For the first time, this volume collects in one place studies that examine the practices and discourses of the nation branding undertaken in these countries. In addition to documenting various rebranding initiatives, these studies raise important questions about their political and cultural implications.