Fall 2010 - St. Cloud State University

St. Cloud State University
Department of Mass Communications
Felicia Nelson, captain of SCSU
women’s hockey team, Page 3.
Contents, Page 2.
C omments
•M A S S • • • •
Volume 7 • Fall 2010

Inside this issue of Mass Comments
Mass Comments
Volume 7 • Fall 2010
Feature: Page 3
Sports
Alumni: Page 4
Profile: Ramon Nuñez
News and Notes:
Updates From SCSU
Graduates
First Amendment Forum:
Pages 4-5
First Amendment Award:
Paul Hannah
Conflict Journalists Share
Tales
Faculty: Page 6
Vertna Bradley: Film
Gregory Martin: Symbol
Awards: Pages 7-8
UTVS
KVSC
PRSSA Awards
Department Scholarships
Student Media: Page 9
Media Convergence:
Partnership with Times
Thesis award
Undergraduate Program:
Page 10
Study Abroad: England
Faculty Artists
Graduate Program:
Pages 11
International Students:
Global Perspectives on
Media.
C omments
•M A S S • • • •
Mass Comments is produced by the
St. Cloud State University
Department
of Mass Communications
125 Stewart Hall, 720 Fourth Ave. S.
St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
voice: (320) 308-3293
fax: (320) 308-2083
e-mail:
masscommunications@stcloudstate.
edu
Website:
stcloudstate.edu/
masscommunications
Editors:
Scott Ed Holte
Bill Huntzicker
Template Designer:
Alex Chong ‘97, ‘98
Dept. of Mass Communications:
DEPARTMENT CHAIR
Mark Mills
GRADUATE STUDIES
Niaz Ahmed
Roya Majid
ADVERTISING
Mark Eden
Roger Rudolph
ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS
Marie Dick
Lisa Heinrich
BROADCAST NEWS
Mark Mills
NEWS-EDITORIAL
Bill Huntzicker
Zengjun Peng
Michael Vadnie
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Peter Przytula
Gretchen Tiberghien
TELEVISION PRODUCTION
Vertna Bradley
Gregory Martin
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•M A S S omments • • • • 2
Sponsor an intern in your field:
Send job description and contact information to
masscommunications@stcloudstate.edu
or call Professor Mark L. Mills at 320-308-3293.
St. Cloud State University values
diversity of all kinds, including but not
limited to race, religion and ethnicity
(full statement at:
bulletinStCloudState.edu/ugb/
generalinfo/nondiscrimination.html).
TTY: 1-800-627-3529
SCSU is an affirmative action/equal
opportunity educator and employer.
This material can be made available
in an alternative format. Contact the
department/agency listed above.

F e a u r e
Sports
By Scott Ed Holte
Felicia Nelson is one of the best hockey
players to skate for St. Cloud State University
in the history of women’s hockey. This
year she ended the regular season as the
leading scorer in all of Division I hockey.
She was also the first player from St. Cloud
ever to be named one of the 10 finalists
for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award,
given anually to one outstanding player in
Women’s Division I hockey.
However, Nelson sees her team’s
accomplishments, not her individual ones,
as the highlight of her athletic career. “We
just made a lot of history and accomplished
things that no team here has ever done,”
Nelson said. The St. Cloud State women’s
hockey team finished the regular season
in third place in the WCHA standings;
this made St. Cloud State the first team
other than the University of Minnesota,
the University of Minnesota–Duluth and
the University of Wisconsin, ever to finish
in the top three. They also swept a series
against Minnesota for the first time in school
history.
Nelson is one of a dozen phenomenal
athletes who are mass communications
majors. The desire to stay involved in
sports after college leads many of St. Cloud
State’s best athletes to pursue careers in
mass communication.
“I knew all along I wanted to work in the
sports industry,” said soccer player Teresa
Gazich. “Sports broadcasting seemed like
a good fit.”
Some athletes discover this fit early in life.
Scott Horvath, who was one of 10 candidates
for Minnesota’s Mr. Football Award, got
into broadcasting early in his high school
career. This experience was influential
in his life, and was part of the reason he
came to St. Cloud. “I was recruited by a
couple other schools, and they didn’t have
the [broadcasting] program that St. Cloud
State did,” explained Horvath.
Pursuing a sports career and a sports
broadcasting career simultaneously is not
an easy task. Being a student athlete
is extremely demanding, especially for
students involved in the media. Many sports
teams train throughout the school year. This
demanding schedule is a common gripe
among student athletes.
“There are so
many good
things to be
involved in,”
said Gazich. “I
already do UTVS
and Husky Mag,
and I feel like I
have no time for
anything else.”
“Yeah, for me
skiing started
on the second
day of school,”
said skier
Corinne Holmes.
“Finding the time
is hard.”
Felicia Nelson,
Captain of Woman’s Hockey Team
When athletes
find the time to
be involved in
student media, they usually find that they
cannot devote the same amount of time to
these projects as other students. “Everyone
else works on their stuff until 4,” said David
Queck, reflecting on his experience with
UTVS.
“I had to get out of there by 1:30, because I
had to go to practice,” he said.
Despite the challenges of balancing school,
and athletics with building a career, athletes
in the mass communications program would
not have it any other way, especially those
trying to break into sports broadcasting.
Baseball player Phil Imholte said simply, “I
can’t see myself doing anything else.”
The traits that drive these students to be
exceptional athletes carry over into
everything else they do. Queck explained,
“We have that drive to succeed, no matter
what we do.”
Mike Doyle, who played hockey for St.
Cloud State from 2002-2005, is now in
the graduate program. “I am driven and
competitive,” he said. “That drive translates
into my professional and academic life.”
Phil Imholte pointed out that perseverance is
another trait that carries over from athletics.
Phil Imholte on first
And track runner Kelsey King argues that
her ability to work on a team is a highly
transferable skill.
These athletes excel not only in sport, but
also in the classroom.
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•M A S S omments • • • • 3

A l u m n i
Profile
Ramon Nuñez
agency Draftfcb, where his job description
includes lead producer for the Miller Lite
campaign and working on integrated campaigns
for clients including State Farm.
“Every Miller Lite ad you hear on the radio and
see on TV I’m pretty much touching right now,”
he said. “It’s pretty cool to work with such a
great American beer brand.”
News & Notes
When you see a new Miller Lite commercial,
you’re seeing the talent of Ramon Nuñez ’00.
In September, Nuñez became senior producer at
Chicago-based global advertising and marketing
Nuñez previously worked as director of
integrated productions-senior producer at
Colle+McVoy and as a producer at Fallon. He
also is serving a three-year term on the St. Cloud
State University Alumni Board.
In addition to his advertising work, Nuñez
is directing and producing a documentary he
co-wrote, “Invisible to You,” about at-risk,
homeless kids in the United States. He and a
core team of talent have been working on it the
past four years and are hoping to finish it by the
end of 2010 and then distribute it on the festival
and independent film circuits. “Invisible to You”
marks his debut at directing a documentary.
Alumni notes compiled by Dana Drazenovich ’92 ’06. Drazenovich has worked in journalism and public
relations, taught in the Department of Mass Communications and is now an instructor at the College of St.
Benedict/St. John’s University.
Ali Tweten ’09 spent the spring as an editorial intern at Ms. Magazine in Beverly Hills, Calif. Tweten
worked on the winter and spring 2010 issues. She did fact checking, researching and writing for the
magazine and the its new blog begun in March at www.msmagazine.com/blog. Tweten had applied online
for the internship in September 2009 and worked at Ms. from January to June. “I loved it,” she said.
Kyle Fletcher, ’09 does freelance work in New
York City after completing an internship on the
Late Show with David Letterman.
Kahar Cainion ’04, ’07 is a production
assistant at ESPN, where he has worked since
2007 cutting highlights and working on shows
such as “SportsCenter,” “Outside the Lines”
and specialty shows “NFL Live” and “NBA
Fastbreak.” His duties include prompting, creating
montages, cutting bumps and voiceovers, creating
breakdown tapes and writing story ideas. He also
has had the opportunity to write for the “Outside
the Lines” home page and work on a short feature
for “NBA Fastbreak.”
Chris Werle ’91 on March 1 became vice
president of global communications for Aveda
Corporation. Werle moved to Aveda from
Weber Shandwick, where he was executive vice
president for consumer practice.
F i r s t A m e n d m e n t A w a r d
By Bill Huntzicker
Twin Cities lawyer Paul R. Hannah says that journalists
and other Americans abdicated their First Amendment
responsibilities after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001.
Hannah spoke at a ceremony when he received the 20 th
Defense of the First Amendment in Minnesota Award
from the SCSU Mass Communications Department April
16 at the First Amendment Forum.
The 9/11 terrorist attacks provided two tragedies. The
horrible attack with its destruction and loss of life,
Hannah said, was followed by a chilling effect that led
Americans to give up their basic civil rights and to allow
the govenment to become far too secretive.
instead, he said, they’ve become armed camps.
Paul R. Hannah
At the same time people are calling for more aggressive
journalism, he said, there are fewer journalists. Hannah
said the citizens with cell phone cameras and blogs may
become more important in keeping government in check.
“We face issues of ‘national security’ every day in
Minnesota. For about two years, people who were being
detained by the government were being sent to county
jails so they wouldn’t be in the Twin Cities, and they
were not being treated like other inmates so no one could
get information about them or why they were being
jailed.”
“One of the rights we have is that, if you get put into jail,
if we get arrested, then people know about it so, someone
can get us out if we shouldn’t be there,” Hannah said.
For several years, the media became less interested
in investigations and, as a result, the government has
reached beyond the control of the people.
After representing journalists at the Republican National
Convention in St. Paul in 2008, Hannah said, he fears
that American democracy may be losing ground. Both
political conventions should be celebrations of freedom;
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•M A S S omments • • • • 4
Hannah began working with the media in 1980 when he
helped John Finnegan, executive editor of the St. Paul
Pioneer Press, sue the police to release incident reports
and local governments and school boards to open their
meetings.
After 9/11, however, political leaders and reporters
feared being seen as unpatriotic. “When government gets
involved in things, even like wars, government has to be
investigated.” But criticism was attacked as unpatriotic.
“Any time the government acts in a way that lacks respect
for our own personal rights -- our rights to communicate
with each other -- the Constitution is diminished a little.”
Pa

a
First Amendment Forum
War Stories
Panel for “Protecting Journalism in the Era of Changing Newspapers and Social Networking.” (Vick, Bile, Collins, Espinoza, Hammer, Fryer)
Photo courtesy of Michael Doyle
By Michael Doyle and Bill Huntzicker
War correspondents Karl Vick of the Washington Post
and Mark Brunswick of the Star Tribune said staying
alive and protecting colleagues often trumped journalism
as their major concern in covering the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
Vick and Brunswick were among journalists who
discussed the question, “Is Journalism Safe? Lives,
Jobs, Ideals,” April 16 at the 38th annual SCSU First
Amendment Forum.
A panel with experience in crime and combat reporting
joined them for a discussion of keeping reporters safe.
In the afternoon, Vick, who has since become Time
magazine’s Jerusalem bureau chief, joined reporters
with multimedia experience to discuss news values in the
social networking era.
Karl Vick
As Baghdad bureau chief, Vick said journalism was
his third priority behind security and management of a
40-person staff in difficult situations.
Brunswick and Vick said they could endanger local
residents in Afghanistan and Iraq simply by talking
with them. “Everybody we visit is in peril because
we’re Americans and occupiers,” Vick said. “We’re
radioactive, so we have to be discreet.”
“Important stories, like whether parents felt safe sending
their children to school, were difficult to do. Schools
were often targets for bombings and terrorist attacks, but
they were a barometer of whether things were improving
since the invasion,” Brunswick said. “We felt a sense of
accomplishment just coming back.”
Iraqis helped because they could go to places that would
not welcome Americans. “Every time you sent an Iraqi
out to cover something, you worry about whether it was
worth it because they might not be coming back,” said
Brunswick, who was in Iraq in 2006 when civil war
was looming. On other tours, he was embedded with the
Minnesota National Guard.
Vick, a Little Falls native, said he became a war
correspondent because he survived his first assignments
in conflict-torn Africa. “In covering a conflict; if you
don’t die, they figure you know how to stay alive and do
the work,” said Vick. (Visit the SCSU YouTube page for
a highlight from the discussion.)
On the afternoon panel, Vick worried about the future
of war reporting. “The ability to operate effectively in
a place where it costs a lot to work, either to get there
or just to stay safe is getting harder and harder to do. That’
s a conundrum,” Vick said. “As we saw in Iran, social
media and cell phone video showed us what was happening
in the street. Then the absence of professional reporters
is not felt so acutely. In understanding what’s happening
and why it’s happening, however, trusted sources may be
harder to find.”
Minneapolis reporter Ramla Bile (pronounced be-LĀ)
encouraged students to expand their skills and knowledge.
“Diversify your skill sets as much as you can,” Bile said.
“The social media – images, video – all of them are
interconnected. Have what you’re good at and then
diversify.”
Adam Hammer, online editor at the St. Cloud Times, agreed.
“The main reason I have s job right now is my multimedia
background,” he said. “What got me the job was that I
could be a one-man army.”
He demonstrated a website he created alone on the history
of rock ‘n’ roll in February 2009 on the 50th anniversary
of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly in Mason City,
Iowa. He sent home video of a concert along with his frontpage
story for the newspaper.
Bile also emphasized news content. Become an expert
on a subject, she suggested. “I cover the immigrant and
refugee beat and it’s helpful when you become sort of an
expert in an area.”
Some small websites, like Twin Cities Daily Planet
and Mshale, allow freedom to pursue your research
and reporting interests, she said, and they have devoted
audiences. When some Somali men disappeared in
Minneapolis, she said, Hiiraan Online that carries Somali
news received as many as 750,000 hits a day. “National
media followed our lead with sources and themes,” she
said.
Bile said reporters make mistakes and build resentment
by returning to the same sources every time they report
on minority communities. East Africans represent varied
cultures and religions, even in Minneapolis. “I also wish
journalists would develop relationships within these
communities,” she said.
Minnesota Public Radio reporter Ambar Espinoza
recently used Facebook as both the subject of a story and a
reporting tool. She used Facebook to contact the students
to set up interviews on the problem of race and hatred in
St. Cloud high schools. Like other reporters on her panel,
she said she uses Facebook and Twitter only for contacts
and tips. In-person
or telephone
i n t e r v i e w s
are necessary
for reliable
information.
Ramla Bile
K A R E - 1 1
television reporter
Joe Fryer said
Twitter allowed
him to locate
people who took
all the different
forms of transit
to a Twins game
and it helped him
contact and then interview people in a St. Paul College
classroom during a lockdown after a bomb scare.
Fryer said the Internet has changed his job in other
ways. “There was a time we went to a meeting at 9 in
the morning and all we worried about was the product
that aired at 9 p.m.,” Fryer said. “Now everybody has
an iPhone or Twitter and we update stories constantly.”
At the scene of a story, he said, they send 30 seconds
of video to get something online right away. “With the
35W bridge collapse, we go a lot more video online
faster than before. I write a Web script for my television
story, perhaps throughout the day. And that’s a different
style of writing.” Social media, like Facebook, can also
provide contact information for people in the news and
they may provide pictures so reporters won’t have to
bother family members for pictures during a crisis.
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•M A S S omments • • • • 5

Faculty and Students
Unusual Films, Radio and Trivia
Professor Vertna Bradley completed a film
“Whisper Leigh” that tells the life story of
a woman who grew up, joined the Army,
married and raised a family, and began a
career as a man with difficult gender identity
issues. In her 60s, she began the process of
becoming a woman.
Bradley, an experimental filmmaker/
author and winner of two national
Accolade Awards, pushed students to do
unconventional work, including film without
cameras. Students made motion pictures
by adding sound tracks to scratches on film
and such “found images” as pictures from
magazines and plastic bags.
Bradley describes her creative work as nonlinear
celebrations of experimentation.
“Whisper Leigh,” however, is more of a
traditional documentary, telling the story of
Leigh Smythe’s life. Students who viewed
the film and then met Smythe in Bill
Huntzicker’s course on American Television
and Cultural Diversity said they were moved
by the film and delighted to meet Leigh
Smythe.
At the time the film was made, Smythe
moved back and forth between being a
woman and a man. Students asked questions
that reflected the difficulties of living with
socially constructed rigid gender roles.
The film shows Smythe’s social life as
a transgender activist and aspiring drag
performer competing against contestants less
than half her age and working at menial jobs.
The film “Whisper Leigh” can be purchased
through Amazon.com.
Like some of
her students,
Bradley makes
handmade,
cameraless
films and
works with
16mm, super
8 films, video
and broadcast
television.
Her “3600
Frames” was
shown at
Professor Vertna Bradley
UCLA and a recent “Clip of the Week” at
the Iota Center at http://iotacenter.org/index_
html/index_html/201005241/
Professor Gregory Martin completed a
three-year project when he premiered his
documentary film, “Symbol,” at SCSU in
April 2009.
Martin began his research in 2006 when
the congregation of St. Mary’s cathedral
announced plans to remove and replace the
swastika symbol disks on their building in
downtown St. Cloud.
Many SCSU television production students,
former students, and regional media
professionals contributed time, services and
talent to this production, Martin said.
“Gregory Martin’s documentary will provide
SCSU with a significant permanent record
of a significant, even profound, relationship
between the campus and community, as well
as insights into a historic symbol that remains
a dark stain on the soul of humanity,” said
Professor Joseph A. Edelheit, director of
religious and Jewish studies,
Minnesota Investing in Itself
KVSC Radio has hired two new employees, project
analyst Alex Hartman and arts and cultural heritage
producer Jeff Carmack, to enhance and promote
arts and cultural heritage programming with funds
from the Minnesota Legacy Amendment through
the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
The 2008 Clean Water, Land, and Legacy
Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution raised
the sales tax 3/8 of 1 percent. Although most
of the money goes into outdoor conservation
projects, some goes for the arts and cultural
heritage, including the Minnesota Historical
Society and regional arts boards. The Association
of Minnesota Public and Educational Radio Stations
Trivia in 3D
KVSC’s 2010 Trivia Weekend again brought together
SCSU alumni and volunteers to entertain Central
Minnesota and reach out to new audiences in Thief
River Falls and Madison, Wis. Trivia Weekend, Feb.
12-14, also broadcast through stations in Mankato
and Austin.
The theme, Trivia in 3D, gave 31st annual event
possibilities 3-D segments and theme-related
questions. On television, UTVS joined with 3-D
segments every hour and 3-D graphics scattered
throughout the 50 hours of coverage.
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•M A S S omments • • • • 6
and some AMPERS stations, including KVSC, have
received grants to increase their arts and cultural
programming.
KVSC Radio received $103,500 in the first year of the
grant, and with that funding KVSC, has hired two
part-time employees, purchased radio equipment
and hosted KVSC’s first international broadcast
from the Winnipeg Folk Festival. “Alex and I have
rather ‘yin and yang’ positions with KVSC,” Carmack
said. “Alex’s role is to develop ways in which the
KVSC listening radius can be increased in Central
Minnesota. ... Basically, Alex is wrangling with
technology every day in a fashion both admirable
and befuddling.”
Online editor Adam Hammer of the St. Cloud
Times featured Trivia Weekend in the
newspaper’s Up Next magazine and a special
page on its website with up-to-date scores, a live
stream from UTVS, photos and a feature story.
KARE-11 television ran a short feature on Trivia
Weekend and an Associated press story made it
into the Chicago Tribune.
Sixty-seven teams competed from the Midwest
with a few as far away as New York. In the end, it
was Stafan’s Dream XI: Veni Veni Veni won a repeat
victory to keep the Golden Urn traveling trophy. The
“In contrast, my role as KVSC’s arts and cultural
heritage producer is to inform communities about
artistic and cultural events and to tell the stories
that come out of the arts and cultural treasures that
we already have,” he said.
They plan to use radio to help “enhance the abstract
portions of people’s lives,” to help them find the
ways they are unique, to stimulate creative thinking,
and “to preserve and celebrate what we create.”
group Mustache took second place and Pull-Start
Diesel placed third.
The 50-hour contest concluded with the traditional
awards ceremony in Ritsche Auditorium and a party
at the Red Carpet Club with trivia parody songs from
The Shake a Hamster Band.

A w a r d s
Broadcasting
UTVS Awards for 2009
Award (*denotes national level) Place Category Production/People
*SVG - Sports Video Group 1st Live Sportscast Husky Productions
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Nomination College Production Husky Productions
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Nomination College Production AV Fuzz
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Nomination College Production Husky Mag
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences 1st College Production AV Fuzz
*CBI - College Broadcasters Inc. Finalist Best Live Sports Production Husky Productions
*CBI - College Broadcasters Inc. Finalist Best General Entertainment Program Back to the Movies
*CBI - College Broadcasters Inc. 1st Best Live Sports Production Husky Productions
*BEA - Broadcast Education Association 1st Studio Production Husky Mag
*BEA - Broadcast Education Association 2nd Studio Production Husky Productions
*BEA - Broadcast Education Association 1st Music Video The Run
SCSU 2nd Runner Up Student Worker of the Year Justin Maas
*48 Hour Film Fest Nomination Soundtrack UTVS staff
NBNA - Northwest Broadcast News Association Award of Merit General Reporting Gordy Severson
NBNA - Northwest Broadcast News Association Award of Merit Hard Feature Gordy Severson
NBNA - Northwest Broadcast News Association Award of Merit Photojournalism “Behind the Mask”
NBNA - Northwest Broadcast News Association 1st Sports Reporting Bruce Meyers
NBNA - Northwest Broadcast News Association Award of Merit Sportscast Husky Productions
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 1st Television Sports Photograghy “Behind the Mask”
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 2nd Television Sports Photograghy Gordy Severson
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 1st Television In-Depth Reporting Gordy Severson
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 3rd Television Feature Gordy Severson
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 2nd Television Sports Reporting Gordy Severson
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 3rd Television Sports Reporting Jordan Weinand
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 3rd Television News Photography Ryan Ruud
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 3rd Newscast UTVS News
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 1st Television Breaking News Ryan Ruud
SPJ - Society of Professional Journalists 3rd Television General News Reporting Kevin Hurd
By Lindsay Scherer
Eight students from St. Cloud State
University’s campus radio station, KVSC
88.1FM, received Minnesota Associated
Press Broadcaster’s Awards at the Midwest
Journalism Conference in Bloomington,
Minn. on April 16.
Students won in six news categories, swept
the Sports Reporting category and the station
received the Best Web Site award for www.
kvsc.org.
“This is very exciting for the KVSC Sports
Team,” said KVSC Sports Director Matt
Bishop. “The team put in a lot of hard work
KVSC Award Winners
for these awards, and it’s great to see that
work get recognized.”
First place awards went to Kevin Hurd for
“Fargo Volunteers” in the Spot News category,
Chris Duffy for “Wide Snow Plows” in the
Feature category, David Iverson for “Puppy
Mill” in the Documentary/Investigative
category and Caitlin Hogan for “SCSU
Women’s Hockey, Where Do We Go From
Here?” in the Sports Reporting category.
Matt Bishop, Joe Clemence and Zach Fisch
received honorable mentions for their work
on “SCSU Women’s Hockey, Wisconsin
vs. SCSU.” Matt Bishop also received two
additional honorable mentions in the sports
reporting category for “Husky Sports Friday,”
a collaboration with Pete Tomala, and “SCSU
Women’s Hockey, Mid-season Report.”
In addition to the awards received at the
Midwest Journalism Conference, the KVSC
News Team won two Society of Professional
Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards.
The two broadcasts for these awards were
“Holiday Lights Spectacular” by Zach Fisch
in the Feature Story category and “Puppy
Mill Investigation” by David Iverson in the
In-Depth Reporting Category.
KVSC-FM is an educational public radio
station licensed to St. Cloud State University.
The station is student-run and operates 365
days per year, nearly 24 hours a day, with a
listening radius of about 70 miles.
-

“Players Performance
Group is a co-curricular
student organization that
addresses social issues
through theater,” Bebo
Rebecca Bijoch, Erin Rohrer, Keegan Shoutz, and Rachel Jahr said. “The purpose of
this campaign was to
By Lisa Heinrich
address the public relations problems
of Players including a lack of student
awareness and participation and little to no
promotional material.”
Three mass communications students
won in the Public Relations Society of
America, Minnesota Classics Awards this
year. The awards were presented at the
chapter’s banquet March 25 in the Twin
Cities.
Laura Bebo, a senior from Winsted,
won for planning in the student awards
category with a project she had created for
the Players Performance Group at SCSU.
by Art Goddard
A w a r d s
Three graduate and 19 undergraduate
students won scholarships totaling more
than $15,000 at the Department of Mass
Communications spring banquet April 9 at
the Kelly Inn.
The graduate students winning scholarships
were Amy Bowen, Shuai Zhang, and Eric
Wheeler. The undergraduate students
winning scholarships were Danielle Morris,
Emily Hawkins, Megan Junkermeier,
Ashley Bueckers, Ramona Marozas, Teresa
Gazich, Nicole Lemmer, Scott Colombe,
Andrea Kay Olson, Belene Zeleke, Emily
Peterson, Melissa Maxwell, Danielle Moe,
Zack Fisch, Suzanne Butler, Kevin Hurd,
and Jun-Kai Teoh.
Senior TV journalism major from Sartell
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•M A S S omments • • • • 8
PR Students Win State PRSSA Awards
Two $500 Dr. Willard Thompson
scholarships were awarded to Rachael
Jahr, a graduate student from Austin,
and Danielle Morris, a junior from
Albany. Jahr also received the President’s
Award, which includes lunch with the
PRSA president and a one-year PRSA
membership.
University Chronicle Wins Awards
Minnesota Newspaper Association College Better Newspaper Awards received January 2010:
1st place: Editorial Page as a Whole
Scholarships
1st Place: Best website
St. Cloud State SPJ chapter was
2nd place: Multimedia special project
the Region 6 campus Chapter
2nd place: Column writing, Joey LeMay
1st place: Best editorial
of Year selected in 2009 and
1st place: Best news photography, Jacob Gilk
awarded in April 2010.
1st place: Best photographer’s portfolio, Jacob Gilk
1st place: Best advertisement, Amber Dullum
University Chronicle also took third place in general excellence among non dailies in SPJ Region 6.
22 Students Receive Department Scholarships
Kevin Hurd and professor/chairman
emeritus Richard Hill shared master of
ceremony duties.
Speaker Nancy Larson, 1988 mass
communications alumna and activist for rural
cities, contributed stories and motivational
hints in support of this year’s theme,
“Preparation Begets Accomplishment.”
Graduate director Niaz Ahmed told attendees
about the growth and accomplishments of
the master’s degree program.
The evening’s events also featured
reports from department-related student
organizations KVSC radio, Society of
Professional Journalist, Advertising
Federation, Public Relations Student
Society of America, University Chronicle
and UTVS TV. Typically advisers and
“We’re very proud our students are
competing and winning in PRSA and other
professional awards contests,” said Mark
Mills, mass communications department
chairman. “We’ve known for a long time
our students as good as any in the state. We
compete in these awards against very large
schools like the University of Minnesota
and private schools like the University of
St. Thomas, and we compete very well.”
Minnesota PRSA President Candee
Wolf said classics awards recognize PR
excellence. “We have a talented pool of
local professionals, and the bar set by
our peers is extremely high,” she said.
“This year’s winners really stand out for
their exemplary professional skill and
creativity.”
leaders announce past awards and activities,
plans for growth and incoming leadership.
“We were also pleased so many donors
and family members attended the 2010
banquet,” Vadnie noted. “This really makes
the evening especially meaningful.”
Mike Vadnie congradulates Kevin Hurd
Photo courtesy of Mike Vadnie

S t u d e n t M e d i a
Media Convergence
UTVS Joins Times Online
By Jason Tham
SCSU’s student-run television station has
partnered with the St. Cloud Times to
produce online news.
“This is not our fathers’ world anymore; this
is a huge media convergence in journalism,”
said Mark Mills, chairman of the mass
communication department and professor of
broadcast journalism.
Initially, UTVS news directors Ryan Ruud
and Raquel Hellman launched a news
website apart from the UTVS main website
(www.utvsnews.com) in a move to expand
the UTVS news audience and content.
Mills said this partnership allows students to
work with professional journalists from the
St. Cloud Times.
Every Wednesday, UTVS news directors
meet with the St. Cloud Times to sort out
ideas for news content and video.
Mills said the partnership gives students
a more diverse journalism experience in
convergence journalism, while providing the
St. Cloud Times with more online content.
UTVS student reporters are featured on the
St. Cloud Times’ website.
“I think this partnership is a win-win
for everybody,” said Gregory Martin,
UTVS adviser and professor of television
production.
“The Times is getting additional website
content,” Martin said. “UTVS is getting
more substantial journalistic assignments.
So, both of the media are getting more
exposure.”
Mike Knaak, assistant managing editor
of the St.
Cloud Times
said, “The
p a r t n e r s h i p
with UTVS has
benefited our
viewers and the
St. Cloud State
U n i v e r s i t y
j o u r n a l i s m
students. Our
viewers are
seeing more
news videos
p r o d u c e d
under the direction of Times editors. The
journalism students have the opportunity to
work in a professional newsroom covering a
wider variety of stories than they would be
producing for a campus audience.”
Mills said the partnership means more work
for the UTVS team because they have to
produce two videos, one video for UTVS
News and the other for the Web.
A second challenge is that, “they are still
students and they tend to make mistakes,”
Mills said.
“Students have to be sure to meet the
journalistic standards of the local paper. I
think it is a great motivation to reach for the
best possible standards in everything that
they do,” Martin said.
Mills said the Times has a very strict
accuracy policy and they always help with
editing the videos.
“Sometimes it is hard working with students
but we maintain a very professional level of
expectation,” Ruud said.
Ryan Ruud and Raquel Hellman
Both news directors of UTVS expressed that
they also faced some challenges because the
TV journalism approach may be different
from print.
“Putting the editing pressure on student
reporters is actually a huge benefit to them,”
Hellman said.
Initially, UTVS planned to produce only
one or two stories a week for the St. Cloud
Times, but UTVS is doing three to four
stories a day for the St. Cloud Times, Ruud
said.
Knaak, and John Bodette, executive editor
of the St. Cloud Times, have been very
helpful in training UTVS students through
this partnership, Mills said.
“I think it is something the University as a
whole should be very proud of; it shows the
innovative spirit of St. Cloud State,” Ruud
said.
“It is also an example for other student
organizations looking to partner with
community leaders and businesses,”
Hellman said.
Ximena Tejada Wins SCSU
2009 Outstanding Thesis Award
Ximena Tejada, who completed her master’s
degree in mass communications in April 2009,
won the SCSU Outstanding Thesis Award for
the year.
Her thesis, “A Study of Community Video as
a Tool in the Creation of Public Spaces for
Participatory Communications and Community
Development with Women, People of Color and
Ethnic Minorities,” described the strategies used
by community groups and analyzed them in
light of mass communication theories.
Her adviser, Professor Marie Dick, said Tejada
“has identified important descriptive elements
of current industry practices, developed positive
relationships between academia and industry
professionals, and provided a prescription for
improvement within the industry she studied.”
Tejada is continuing her research as a graduate
student at the University of Minnesota.
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•M A S S omments • • • • 9

U n d e r g r a d u a t e P r o g r a m
Study Abroad
Mass Communications Pilot Program in England, Fall 2009
four-day trip to London, an opinion article about their visit to Acklington
Prison (most chose to write about differences between British and
American prison systems), a broadcast news release about Durham,
and a newsletter about their travels over the two-week break. At the
end they compiled these into a media kit about their semester abroad.
Two days of promotional events were held for Lionheart Radio in
Alnwick marketplace in November as part of the Public Relations Cases
and Campaigns class. This gave the students hands-on experience with
a “real-life” project as well as developing a written campaign plan they
can use in their professional portfolio.
Student Dan Doherty, trainer James Boyd and student Richard Krueger.
By Lisa Heinrich
The group visited the London offices of Weber Shandwick, the world’s
largest public relations firm.
The group went to Durham University, the fifth-ranked university in
England, to hear about the university’s media relations and tour the
offices.
Sixteen students in mass communications studied abroad last fall in
SCSU’s British Studies Program in Alnwick, England. They took three
upper-level courses and a course in contemporary Britain as part of a
pilot program created and led by Dr. Lisa Heinrich. While there, they
studied British media as much as possible.
Fifteen students worked in pairs to broadcast weekly two-hour programs
for Lionheart Radio, a community station in Alnwick that is developing
a sister-station relationship with SCSU’s KVSC Radio.
The Public Relations Writing course incorporated group field trips into
writing assignments. The students wrote a news release and fact sheet
about their trip to the Lake District, a speech about Edinburgh, two
advertisements for their tour of the nearby coastal castles, a brochure
about their travels during the one-week break, a feature article about their
Faculty Arts
Two mass communications faculty are artists as well as teachers and scholars. Marie Dick, who
teaches research and theory, has displayed paintings and Mark Eden, who teaches graphic design
and advertising, has been creating and presenting sound pieces.
Eden’s recent “Ma Minute” is a 47-second composition compiled from material on nine separate
tracks on Yo Yo Ma’s Solo album. The piece has been presented at the Museum of Contemporary
Art in Chicago. It has also been presented internationally in Istanbul, Turkey. His “Scraps from a
Solo Trumpet,” synthesized from an extended session with jazz trumpeter Jon Pemberton, offers a
sonic slapstick and oblique tip of the hat to Carl Stalling and Harpo Marx. This piece was performed
in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year and was performed as a dance collaboration with Amity Perry
in New York City. It has been performed from San Francisco to Oxford, England, and 13 states in
between.
Dick, who studies media images of women and medicine, has collaborated with visual artist Keith
Fox to create a series of 21 acrylic paintings called “GynTalk: Visual Fiction” that combine design
and text with subtle three-dimensional elements like sand and Kleenex. “Art therapy is growing
in acceptance as an important tool in healing,” Dick said, citing studies of art in healing and
empowerment among people with breast cancer.
For three years, she has worked with a team on a nationwide study of crisis communicatioin. Their
most recent publication, “We tell people. It’s up to them to be prepared: Public relations practices
of local emergency managers,” appeared in the Handbook of Crisis Communication.
C
Marie Dick and Keith Fox, GynTalk, Visual Fiction No. 7
•M A S S omments • • • • 10
The group heard from a reporter/editor for the county’s Northumberland
Gazette newspaper about working for regional community publications
in the twenty-first century. Perhaps the most interesting part of the talk
was Robert Brooks’ demonstration of shorthand, which reporters in
Britain are required to learn to record quotations accurately.
The group visited BBC offices in Newcastle on Dec. 1, then the
following day heard a speaker who had worked for BBC for 40 years.
This was an excellent chance for the students to broaden their knowledge
of international media and experience the differences and similarities
firsthand while making significant progress toward their degrees. The
involvement in Alnwick activities was a bonus for the community as
well as the students and expanded the university’s ties in England.
Visual and Audio Art

G r a d u a t e P r o g r a m
International Students
Global Perspecives on Media
By Scott Ed Holte
St. Cloud State’s graduate program in mass communications includes
students from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria,
and Vietnam. These students bring a rich diversity of experience and
knowledge to their classes to share with one another and with American
students in seminars like diversity issues in mass media and international
mass communications.
Aneil Kotval, who grew up in Bombay, India, came to the United States
in 2001. Last fall Kotval researched the images of India in the United
States edition of Time Magazine. “The photographers were shooting those
images in a way so as to reinforce the stereotypes of what India is and what
people think of India,” Kotval said. “A lot of the shots were of poverty; a
lot of them were about people’s struggle or corruption.” Time Magazine
did not make any effort to portray the economic development that has
occurred in India within the last decade, Kotval explained. “When you have
lived in the U.S. for so long, but you know what the truth is in your home
country, you do after a point start seeing certain patterns in the way your
country is depicted.” The international students in the graduate program are
all too familiar with the disparity between reality and the images present
in U.S. media.
Wara Karim’s research in diversity issues in mass media focused on the
way that Islam is presented in the media. Her empirical research showed
that American media were much more likely than media in other countries
to associate Islam with terrorism. In reality, Karim says, the Qur’an teaches
non-violence. Karim believes that these portrayals of Islam are due to
American stereotypes of Muslims, as well as a misunderstanding of the
Islamic concept of Jihad.
Yohana Nevilya, a student from Indonesia, took diversity issues in mass
media, and her research focused on press coverage of AIDS in Indonesia.
“They don’t talk about it,” Nevilya said. “They don’t talk about condoms
or preventing AIDS.” In the few instances when the Indonesian press did
mention AIDS, they did not indicate that transmission can occur through
sexual activity.
Jacob Dankasa, of Nigeria, researched press freedom in Africa when he
took seminar in international mass communications. “In some places
in Africa you have good press freedom,” said Dankasa. However, this
freedom is limited in other parts of Africa. Dankasa found that in some
countries the freedom that was taken away during colonization was never
returned.
Cam Le, a student from Vietnam, reflected on the International Mass
Communications seminar. “It was very useful not only to know what other
classmates think about communicational issues in my region but also learn
about issues all around the world,” she said.
Two students from China are in the graduate program: Shuai Zhang
and Chen Wang. Both Zhang and Wang expressed an appreciation for
Wara Karim
Country of Origin:
Bangladesh
Research Interests:
Depiction of Islam and
association of Islam with
terrorism in the mainstream
media.
Student Spotlight
Academic Conference:
My paper, “Association of
Islam with Terrorism: A
Content Analysis of the 2008 Mumbai Terror Attacks in
the United States, Hong Kong and Japanese Newspapers,”
was accepted for presentation at the ACA/PCA Annual
Conference 2010.
Thesis Topic: News Sources in the Coverage of the 2008
Mumbai Terror Attacks: A Comparative study of Indian,
Chinese and American Newspapers.
Graduation Date: May 8, 2010
Future Plans: I would like to gain some professional
experience in the field of mass communications after
graduation. I believe that professional experience is always
very useful. But in the long run, I aspire to pursue a Ph.D. in
Mass Communications. I would also like to contribute to the
improvement of journalistic practices in my home country.
the opportunities available in the seminar on international mass
communications to both share about Chinese media and learn about
media in other countries. Zhang said the seminar in international
mass communications opened her eyes to the diversity of the
world. She believes the seminar format of American education is
one of its greatest strengths.
Naomi Maina, of Kenya, has similar feelings about the seminars
on international mass communications and diversity issues in mass
media. “Personally I find myself having more to say,” said Maina.
“I have something to bring to the table.” Maina researched the way
in which the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya was portrayed
in American media.
All of the students who graduate from this program leave with a
global perspective of the issues in mass media. This is one of the
greatest strengths of the graduate program.
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•M A S S omments 11
• • • •

Department of Mass Communications
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St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
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SCSU Mass Communications News
Among the graduate students receiving master’s
degrees in mass communications in Spring 2010
(pictured above left to right) are Aneil Kotval, of
Mumbai, India; Terri Johnson, Rochester, Minn.;
Judith Duhoux, St. Augusta, Minn.; Wara Karim,
Bangladesh; Jacob Dankasa, Nigeria; and Yohana
Nevilya, Jakarta, Indonesia. See Page 11.
Broadcast journalism students Kevin Hurd, a senior,
and Jennifer Austin, a junior, chaired the annual
First Amendment Forum in April. (See Pages 4
and 5). They pose (right) on the set of UTVS News,
where they anchored the broadcast on Fridays
in the fall and Thursdays during spring semester.
Other students anchored the twice-daily news
broadcast on the other four days each week. (See
award winners on Page 7.)