Erik was nominated for this award by the doctoral faculty in the Department of Communications Media based on his outstanding academic record as an undergraduate and master’s degree student and his potential as a future communications researcher and scholar.

Prior to the start of the Fall 2013 semester, Erik will complete an international a teaching experience at Karl C. Parrish School in Barranquilla, Columbia, where he teaches seventh grade World History and eighth grade U.S. History. As part of his work in Columbia, Erik designed and implemented a Middle School Social Studies curriculum to align with Pennsylvania State Standards.

The 2013 Filcik Fellowship is awarded competitively to only two students enrolled in doctoral programs at IUP and is made possible by an endowment established by Shirley U. Filcik and her family in memory of her husband, Julius Filcik, IUP class of 1953.

Ruscher graduated from IUP in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications Media. While at IUP, he worked various jobs and played for the hockey team. During this same time period, he developed a real passion for video production and landed an internship immediately following graduation. The internship allowed Ruscher to get hands-on experience as an associate producer and camera operator. After finishing the internship, he leveraged these experiences as a freelancer and gained valuable knowledge while working alongside a number of industry professionals.

Ruscher currently works full-time at 522 Productions as the digital marketing strategist. Along with this position, he also manages the camera department and develops web content for 522 Digital. He welcomes anyone with questions to contact him via twitter @RobRuscher or on his e-mail at rruscher@522productions.com.

Wade graduated from IUP in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications Media. During his time at IUP, he was a part of a wide variety of organizations, including the National Broadcast Society and the Public Relations Student Society of America, and he was a member of Phi Sigma Pi National Honors Fraternity. He also worked for WIUP-FM and IUP-TV. These organizations helped him develop his passion for media that grows every day.

Wade says the Communications Media program at IUP was very beneficial to him as it put an emphasis on getting an internship as well as job search skills. He started his career at WBOC-TV in Salisbury, Maryland, as a news producer. He currently has the same title at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh. He realizes that any help is good when trying to advance your career.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact him via Twitter @TheRealBWade42 or on his e-mail at iupbwade10@gmail.com.

Elizabeth “Jennie” Carter Adams was the first African-American graduate of California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U), and the university honors her birthday each October 9 by celebrating “Carter Day.” The Jennie Carter Leadership Award, in its fifth year of existance, is given annually to one recipient.

Brian was nominated for this award by LaMont Coleman, associate dean of Multicultural Programs at Cal U. Coleman, a committee of students, and a representative of the Carter family selected Brian as the award recipient for his outstanding record of university involvement as student at Cal U, his current professional work as a writer and educator, and his involvement in the local community.

At the awards ceremony on October 9, 2012, Brian had the opportunity to meet Bill Carter, Jennie's great-grandson. Bill told Brian that he and his great-grandmother were definitely kindred spirits in their commitment to academic excellence and social justice and diversity.

Brian is currently a full-time student in the CMIT Ph.D program, a faculty member in the Department of Developmental Instruction at Bloomsburg University, and director of Bloomsburg’s Frederick Douglass Institute for Academic Excellence. Brian is a film reviewer for Christian Spotlight on Entertainment, and also serves as a youth pastor at Revival Tabernacle in Watsontown, Pa. If you would like to know more about Brian, check out his website.

Department of Communications Media

The faculty also recognized Jennifer’s commitment to assisting adult learners through her volunteer work at the Indiana County Jail, teaching job-related skills to female inmates. She developed a curriculum for this program and teaches a 10 week-course designed to help these women prepare for the GED with math, reading, and essay writing skills.

Jennifer is an incoming student in the Communications Media and Instructional Technology Ph.D. program and is a full-time graduate assistant in the department.

The 2012 Filcik Fellowship is awarded competitively to only two students enrolled in doctoral programs at IUP and is made possible by an endowment established by Shirley U. Filcik and her family in memory of her husband, Julius Filcik, IUP class of 1953.

The 2012 LHCC will be held at Kovalchick Complex on November 1–2, 2012.

We encourage submissions involving new media, mass media, instructional technologies, communication theory, and related areas. All proposal submissions are due by October 1.

For more information, please visit the LHCC website.

Sam Clutter, director of Public Safety, Lieutenant Mel Cornell, Patrol Division, and Sergeant Doug Campbell, Criminal Investigations, organized the event with several officers from the IUP Campus Police, State Police, Sheriff's Office, and K-9 Unit. IUP Campus Police created a storyline and brought it to the Communications Media Department for production of a video.

Production was coordinated by Mark Piwinsky (department chair), Jay Start, Lacey Fulton, and Brittany Pavolik. The team organized a camera crew of 10 to catch all of the action. Brian Jones, chair of the Theater Department, and six theater students portrayed the main characters, including the “shooter” and the “injured student.” An additional group of 12 IUP students and alumni volunteered to be a part of the video, as well. Adding to the real-life feel of the event was the appearance of local EMTs.

Weeks of planning and preparation resulted in an event that was a huge success. Running through the exercise two times allowed two different groups of officers a chance to test their abilities in handling a situation like this, should it occur on campus. After the “shooter” was contained and claimed to have planted a bomb in the building, the K-9 unit went into action and discovered an object covered in accelerant.

By taking the exercise very seriously, each officer demonstrated their dedication and loyalty to the safety of our campus, the students, and the Indiana community as a whole. A crowd of spectators gathered, including IUP President Mike Discoll, who supported the department by wearing a sapphire-blue Communications Media “Production Crew” shirt.

The Communications Media Department is glad to have had the opportunity to work with these different groups, and hopes to partner with other groups in the future.

In the Collegiate Students category, entries compete against other student productions from Division I and Division II schools. This process showcases the caliber of work accomplished by IUP students in competition with students from very large Division I universities.

“I am very proud of what our students have accomplished with the resources available to them. We operate from a 29-year-old production truck with 10-year-old standard definition equipment, ” Chris Barber, chief engineeer for IUP-TV, said. “The competition from the big Division I’s and Division II’s have new trucks with the latest high-def gear. This is a testimony to the quality of students we have here at IUP.”

David Lind, supervisor/executive producer for IUP-TV Sports, said, “In 2006, Chris and I developed a unique model for the students involved in the crew. Students are recruited as freshmen and stay onboard for their four years at IUP. They are mentored by upper classmen in equipment operation and production quality. In this manner, as seniors graduate, we have a consistent group from year-to-year to continue on for the next season. This past year, we covered nine football games and 32 men’s and women’s basketball games. All games can be viewed live online at NMTV Sports and live away games on IUP-TV, channel 20 on Comcast and campus cable.”

Department of Communications Media

The breakout workshop was entitled “Generation Next: Student to Professional—How to Make the Leap.” The panel discussion involved helping sports production student’s dreams of working in the professional industry come true. Other panelists were from Michigan State, Florida State, and Seton Hall universities. Panelists were chosen because of the caliber of students produced in their sports production programs.

Lind has been invited to participate in several panel discussions in the past because of his broad areas of expertise in sports production.

The Videographer Award is one of the most coveted awards in the video industry. Over the past fifteen years, thousands of production and communication professionals have entered their best and most creative work. The goal of the Videographer Awards is to identify and recognize the video artisans who excel in the scope of their own environment. Winners range from network news operations to local cable access, from large production companies to freelancers, from international advertising agencies to student producers.

Winners were selected from 166 categories under the headings of television productions, video productions, and new media. The Award of Excellence was awarded to those projects that the judges deemed were written, produced, shot, and/or edited in an exceptional manner. Approximately 14 percent of the entries won this award. The Award of Distinction was awarded for projects that exceeded industry standards. Excellence and Distinction winners are listed on the Videographer Awards website.

The Videographer Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. This international organization consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, media production, and freelance professionals who have entered AMCP programs. The advisory board oversees awards and recognition programs, provides judges, and sets standards of excellence.

Members from the first three Ph.D. cohorts at IUP were represented at the conference.

Cohort 1 member Mark King, Cohort 2 member Chris Carnahan and Cohort 3 members Susan McManimon, Karen Barone, Patricia Cseh, Lacey Fulton, and Laura Wilson represented the university.

Dr. Gail Wilson, CMIT program coordinator, said that she was pleased to see IUP represented at the conference.

“We encourage our students to share their research,” she said. “The SITE conference provides an opportunity to showcase some of the impressive things our Ph.D. students have been studying within our program.”

The SITE conference explored the use of technology in teacher education and provided scholarly insight into the use of information technology in multiple educational genres.

King’s presentation focused on the use of blogging in the classroom.

“Individuals who blog do so to receive different gratifications that in some cases traditional writing doesn’t supply, including publicity, interactivity, self-expression, networking, information sharing, and catharsis,” King said. “My presentation sought to make the connection between Uses and Gratifications theory and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in order to create a new model for blogger gratifications.”

King stated that his model is intended to better prepare educators when implementing blogging technologies in their classroom.

Carnahan and Fulton presented a poster that explored cyber-charter schools and special-needs children.

“This poster examined the issue of students with learning disabilities in K-12 cyberschools in the state of Pennsylvania,” Carnahan explained. “This seldom-discussed group makes up over 25 percent of the student population in some cyberschools. These learners face additional sets of challenges when learning through online methods.”

Fulton added that in the 2008–2009 school year, there were nearly 2,700 students classified with a learning disability in Pennsylvania cyberschools, yet little previous research or literature has discussed them.

Barone presented on the use of virtual worlds as a learning environment.

“I explored the necessary changes that must take place in teacher/student roles in order to effectively utilize virtual worlds as a learning environment,” Barone said. “Traditional “teacher-centered” models of instruction are not effective in immersive learning environments such as virtual worlds. The teacher must adapt to a more “learner-centered” model by incorporating a constructivist learning approach. This approach narrows the gap between teacher and student by employing roles that are far less hierarchical and more akin to master and apprentice.”

Barone added that the constructivist approach lends itself perfectly to a virtual world application.

Immersive Learning Systems (ILS) were also explored and discussed by Laura Wilson. During her roundtable discussion, she shared that ILS, like Second Life, should be used as a reinforcement activity that allows for transfer of knowledge and building upon existing skills.

“Second Life allows the marriage of education and gaming to create an environment where students find learning fun. The learners are so immersed in the ILS that they lose the ‘reality’ that it is, in fact, just a game,” she said. “It is a game that has taught them some value, forced them to analyze, interpret, and apply their knowledge to situations they may never encounter in the real world.”

Laura added that “as technology in the twenty-first century changes, educators, researchers, and learners must also change and adapt to the new methodologies and learning styles of the students of all ages.”

Both Cseh and McManimon examined elements of instructional design in their SITE presentations.

Cseh studied the development of the utilization of three-dimensional simulations for use in educational curriculums.

“Simulations have been successfully implemented in medical and military training environments, but the trend is slowly emerging in mainstream educational processes,” Cseh said. “I presented some of the history of simulations and their evaluation techniques and discussed a four-dimensional framework developed by Sarah de Freitas and her colleagues.”

Cseh also examined and reviewed the pedagogical frameworks and models for e-learning as a means of providing further insight into the design and evaluation of games and immersive simulations in learning.

McManimon explained to participants during her roundtable presentation that “a constructivist model posits that learners create an active role in learning as they connect with previous knowledge and construct new knowledge opposed to merely absorbing information.”

“There is an increasing body of research that supports that constructivist principles are fundamental components of learning in a virtual learning environment (VRLE),” McManimon said. “My presentation focused on constructivist theories as a foundation for five learning strategies proposed for an instructional designer to analyze how this approach can be employed in developing VRLE instruction.”

The students indicated that the conference, which included more than 1,100 participants, was an excellent opportunity.

“In addition to having a chance to build new relationships with my colleagues, I had a chance to be exposed to some exciting new research on simulation and gaming,” Barone said.

“The barbecue wasn’t bad either,” she added.

“It’s conferences like this one that allow you to see what others in education are doing with technology in their own classrooms,” Carnahan said. “You can literally leave a better educator because of some of the new things being shared.”

The CMIT program at IUP prepares individuals to produce new media, impact culture in a positive way, and generate research driven by existing theory and scholarship within the field of communications media and instructional technology.

For more information about the CMIT program or how to apply, visit the Ph.D. in Communications Media and Instructional Technology website or call 724- 357-2492. You can also follow the CMIT program on Twitter at and on Facebook.

This educational simulation allows students to step into the history books. Through the power of Second Life, they will be immersed and experience the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, the Road to Selma, and the Freedom School Movement.

The students have also created a video overview of the project, available on YouTube.

Carrie West, a doctoral candidate in Communications Media and Instructional Technology at IUP and pharmaceutical sales executive, has developed a program that introduces collegiate coaches to sales techniques that have been perfected by large sales organizations.

This program was piloted at Wheeling Jesuit University earlier this month.

“Coaches and admission counselors are often relied upon to deliver new students to campus,” West said. “However, many times, these individuals who are taxed with assisting with the ‘bottom line’ of the university have little or no sales training.”

West takes a model developed by the pharmaceutical industry and has adapted it for coaches and admission counselors.

“There really is an unmet need,” West said. “This program allows those most responsible for recruiting students an opportunity to gain and refine skills that will significantly enhance their ability to ask and answer questions, effectively manage objections as well as to develop a fluid continuum through the recruitment process.”

Wheeling Jesuit Athletic Director Dan Sancomb said he was pleased with the half-day seminar.

“Our coaches took something away from that program that will immediately impact their recruiting efforts,” Sancomb said.

West and her partners offer half-day, full-day, and multi-day training retreats.

As director of Media Services at Moravian Academy, Walker provided Internet safety training to middle school students, including information on how to prevent and deal with cyberbullying. That concern led to Walker’s research “An Exploratory Study of Cyberbullying with Undergraduate University Students” (in press, TechTrends), a survey-based study of 120 undergraduate students.

Walker will be presenting the results at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Conference in California on October 27. In addition, Walker presented an article, “Cyberbullying: Gender, Culture, and the Role of Adults,” at the Laurel Highlands Communication Conference in September 2010.

Walker said that cyberbullying is an increasing trend that needs to be curtailed.

“The deaths of teens and young adults caused by cyberbullying is heartbreaking,” Walker said. “It is so important that we, as adults, understand and work to stop it before more individuals are harmed.”

For more information about cyberbullying or Walker’s ongoing research, contact her at C.M.Walker4@iup.edu. To learn more about the Communications Media and Instructional Technology doctoral program at IUP, contact coordinator Dr. Gail Wilson at bgwilson@iup.edu.

Cseh was selected by the Filcik family and the School of Graduate Studies and Research to receive this award.

This competitive award is made possible by an endowment established by Shirley U. Filcik and her family in memory of her husband, Julius Filcik. The $5,000 award is presented annually to only one incoming student from all of IUP’s doctoral programs.

Department of Communications Media

U.K.-based Capsian Learning, creator of the 3D authoring tool Thinking Worlds, announced the students’ game to be the winner of it’s Serious Games Challenge. The company challenged Thinking Worlds users to ceate the most innovative serious game in just thirty days.

The team of IUP students, led by Ryan L. Sittler, included Chad Sherman and David P. Keppel as the other lead designers (handling the majority of game production) and Dana Covitz Hackley, Chrissy Schaeffer, and Laurie Grosik assisting with preproduction and documenting the process for a potential future publication.

The game, which is currently in a beta release, follows the story of a student who uncovers the secret of a group of aliens, disguised as academics, at his university campus. The aliens have prophesied the end of the world, due to a student’s excessive plagiarism, and it’s up to the hero to put the pieces of this puzzle together in order to prevent disaster. While working through the challenges, players learn about what is and what is not plagiarism, including ways to avoid it. The game is targeted at the college and university level, but has application for high school students. The final version of the game will be released in the fall.

Read the full press release regarding the winning game and Caspian Learning.

Play the game on line.

The Videographer Awards is an international competition designed to recognize excellence in video productions, TV commercials, news programs, and new media. Entries are judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals, an organization that consists of several thousand marketing, communication, and video professionals.

This year, over 1,800 entries were judged in all categories, and Dr. Lauber’s video, Internet Safety, won top honors in the Educational category. Sharing in the honor was animation student Erica Knox, who assisted with all aspects of the production. The video was made at the request of Dr. Jill Earman, curriculum director of the Indiana Area School District, and is now being used extensively in the district’s kindergarden through third grade classrooms. It features a live-action Dr. Lauber and three animated characters interacting in a cartoon world similar to the popular Blues Clues television program targeting the same age group.

Second-place honors in the On-Air Talent category was garnered by the fourth season of the Teach A Man To Cook television show regularly appearing on IUP-TV (channel 6 in the local Comcast market). Shot, directed, and edited by the students in Dr. Lauber’s Advanced Television class at IUP, the shows feature local male guests teaching Dr. Lauber how to cook various meals. They are shot in the basement kitchen of St. Thomas More University Parish, right next door to the IUP campus.

This is the fourth award for the show, which has won some kind of national video award each of its four seasons. Fourteen students from this year’s class are also sharing credit for the award.

The students were chosen from more than twenty-five competitive applicants to join six continuing scholars from 2009. This academically high-caliber group represents a diverse sampling of disciplines at IUP. Students were chosen from the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, the College of Education and Educational Technology, the College of health and Human Services, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Nasia Flood, Daniel Shearer, and Ainyae Stratton are the three exemplary students chosen from the Communications Media Department.

The scholars will all partake in a summer research program where they will receive a stipend and room and board while they take a course on research methods and develop their research project under direction from a faculty mentor. On June 24 and 25, the scholars will have an opportunity to present their research proposal in a local symposium sponsored by the McNair Scholars program.

By Zachary Salopek

This recognition of her outstanding service to the community is due, in large part, to the practicum students who have worked with her in the past. Each semester, Tourtellotte’s practicum students do a great deal of work for the Indiana County Humane Society in the fields of marketing and public relations. Her students this semester made informational packets and even hosted a Dance-A-Thon at IUP in order to raise money for the organization.

The Communications Department is extremely proud of the contributions Tourtellotte has made to the community.

By Zachary Salopek 

Chad Sherman, Christine Schaeffer, David Tucker, and Bradley Wiggins will present a session called “Utilizing Games and Simulations to Support Learning.” In this session, they will discuss how to implement games and simulations in the classroom in an effort to support academic learning. They will compare the uses of Second Life, a 3D platform any teacher can download for free, with Thinking Worlds, an expensive interactive game building program. Along with realistic examples of how to use these games in the classroom, the presenters will show how to develop a curriculum around them in order to teach students valuable lessons.

Other topics the presenters will cover include current research on gaming and simulations, game theory, and the time commitment for each style of game they are demonstrating.

Come and support our IUP representatives at the Hotel Hershey on Monday, February 22, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

Content by Zachary Salopek

Past projects that have been funded with the grant money are the Employer’s Corner Video Series, a Gaming and Interactive Entertainment brochure, an Information Assurance brochure highlighting high-need occupations in the region, and a universitywide partnership brochure to help promote internships between IUP and state organizations or companies.

The Communications Department and the Career Development Center will use the money from this year’s grant to assist in the continuation of the Employer’s Corner Series, to complete a third brochure for high-need occupations, and to greatly expand resources for faculty and students.

Content by Zachary Salopek

His presentation is based on his study from last Fall in which he studied virtual collaboration using Facebook and the paper he wrote on it, “The Structure of Collaboration: Exploring Social Interaction in Virtual Teams.”

Brad took eight doctoral students and split them into two groups; one group had four members from the first cohort; the other group had only one member from the first cohort and three from the second cohort. The task was to create a fifteen-question assessment of the doctoral program using only a specific Facebook page to interact with each other. The goal was to see if exposure to a shared context made any difference in how well either group was able to complete the task. Brad found that the members of the first cohort (who had been in the doctoral program a year longer) were able to accomplish their task successfully. He hopes to be able to use his experience with this study for his dissertation, which will be closely related.

Brad is also presenting another paper in Albuquerque on February 20 at the Society for Cross Cultural Research. The paper is entitled “A Place for Synthetic Cultures: Toward a Model of Intercultural Literacy for Simulations.” He hopes the presentation will bring the topic of simulations that promote intercultural literacy into the discussion and debate. Brad does not consider himself an expert on the topic; he just wants to promote discussion of the topic.

He received partial funding from the School of Graduate Studies and Research and from the Communications Media Department for both presentations and is grateful for it.

Content by Zachary John Salopek.

The center was established in 1999 after a successful five-year endeavor of research and utilization of videoconferencing for the College of Education and Educational Technology. In 1997, IUP was awarded the Best Distance Education Program in Higher Education by the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

The center is housed in Room 255 of Stouffer Hall and provides videoconferencing services to all university departments and administrative offices. The center can provide point-to-point or multipoint videoconferencing. The facility can incorporate PowerPoint presentations, Internet sites, DVDs, and other peripherals according to your needs. The center can also record your videoconference.

Over the years, the center has provided videoconferencing for the delivery of undergraduate and doctoral courses, doctorial dissertations, bringing experts into the classroom, continuing-education training courses, collaborations with other PASSHE universities, administrative meetings, and training seminars for non-academic departments.

Videoconferencing projects have also been done with universities across the U.S and in China, India, Germany, Canada, France, and England. The center provides its services at no charge unless it is a grant-funded project.

Please contact the center’s director, David Lind, at 724-357-7517, drlind@iup.edu, or the center’s systems technician, Chris Barber, at 724-357-2491, cbarber@iup.edu, to inquire about scheduling the center’s facilities or a demonstration of the center’s facilities on how videoconferencing can be utilized to meet your objectives.

—Zachary Salopek 

Recently, two Communications Media students were recognized for films they produced in the Digital Media Institute. Brandon Roudebush and Erika Knox were honored as the first-ever IUP finalists in the College Broadcasters National Awards for television production at the October 30, 2009, National College Media Convention in Austin, Texas.

Roudebush, a senior Communications Media major from Kittanning, Pa., was one of four finalists in the Best Special Broadcast category for his Roadtrip IUP production shot in spring 2009. A joint production of the IUP Career Development Center and the Digital Media Institute, the one-hour documentary featured interviews with IUP alumni conducted by current IUP students. Also this year, the film has wona national Hermes Creative Award and an I.V.A.M.P. award.

Erika Knox, from Indiana, Pa., was one of four finalists in the Best Technical Production category for her work on Somewhere Near, an animated children’s show about making healthy choices and having confidence in oneself.

The production was jointly produced by the Indiana Area School District and the Digital Media Institute last fall and spring. Both productions were selected from among 450 finalists and were awarded trophies at the fall convention.

“To have two students win trophies with Digital Media Institute productions on our first-ever submissions is just simply amazing,” said Dr. Erick Lauber, director of the institute. “I told the students ahead of time that we would be going up against the best college media productions in the company and not to expect too high a ranking, so we were all really excited when we found out both had made the top four in their respective categories.”

Content by Zachary John Salopek

Just recently, Sara has been published on the Communications Media Department website for her article on the humanitarian award given to IUP professor Dr. Charles Kanyarusoke for his work in implementing educational programs in Southern Sudan. She also thoroughly researched the Tuscarora Indian School in New York, creating a student teaching recruitment brochure and informational video along with several CDs of photos and video footage of other documented Native American events. Her last project before her graduation in December 2009 is to produce an hour-long film featuring Cliff Pembleton, member of the Tuscarora Tribe and IUP employee, by sifting through hours of footage and thousands of photos. Sara will also be published in the spring 2010 issue of the Journal of Communications Media Studies for her work as copywriter and photo editor in the photo essay, “We have Survived.” It will feature photos from the twelfth annual Native American Pow Wow in Tipton, Pa., in July 2009.

Sara has been hired by the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce as well as the Indiana branch of H&R Block and will begin there after graduation, working from January to June. Her next goal is to get into Americorps. If accepted, she will ship out in September 2010, working for nonprofit organizations around the United States for ten months. After life settles back down, Sara wants to attend graduate school back home in Philadelphia and hopefully end with a job in the public relations field.

Content by Zachary Salopek

Traumatic brain injury is often called the signature wound of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the most common combat-related injury of our time, typically the result of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), and it is often accompanied by severe multiple trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder. In past wars, TBI was a non-issue, because soldiers did not survive bombing or terror attacks—they were either killed in the blast, or died later in the emergency room. Today, however, due to improved medical technology and better armor and protection, more U.S. servicemembers are surviving serious attacks. Later, though, many begin to experience symptoms that may include difficulty with concentration, memory and recall, irritabilty, headaches, dizziness, and balance disturbances. As these symptoms may not occur for months or even years following an attack, many do not recognize that they are a result of the initial brain injury. Yet their impact on work, study, and family life may be extremely detrimental.

If you are a veteran, or know a veteran of Iraq or Afghanistan, don't miss this IUP-TV special report. It will be televised according to the schedule below:

• Monday, November 9, 5:00 to 5:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, November 10, 5:00 to 5:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 11, 7:30 to 8:00 p.m.
• Thursday, November 12, 7:30 to 8:00 p.m.
• Friday, November 13, 7:30 to 8:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 15, 7:30 to 8:00 p.m.

"Wounded Warriors: Traumatic Brain Injury" was produced by Kathleen Manion in cooperation with the IUP-TV staff.

The series began as a method of getting current IUP internship or career agency partners’ reflections on personal marketing strategies.

Mark Anthony of the Career Development Center said that the Employer’s Corner series is “an opportunity for students to become more aware of career opportunities that are available to them with the variety of employers that are interested in IUP students.” He went on, saying that the students are given information from the employer’s perspective on how to prepare for job searches and interviews. Anthony feels it is very beneficial to hear directly from the employer as opposed to hearing from just the Career Development Center staff or faculty members.

The series consists of four half-hour-long interview sessions with professionals Jamie Timms, the recruiting supervisor for Enterprise Rent-A-Car; Denise Rosenberger, the manager of Human Resources and Labor Relations for North Side Foods Corporation; Sheana Malyszka, the recruitment specialist for the Summit Academy; and Davie Huddleston, the vice president and director of Strategic College Recruiting for PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.

Content by Zachary Salopek.

The purpose of the conference is to promote the sharing of scholarly research and to increase scholarship both within the Department of Communications Media at IUP and among the colleges and universities in the region. Dr. Elzar Camper of East Stroudsburg University presented the keynote luncheon address, “The Importance of Public Policy: Technology, Brain Fitness, and Neuroplasticity.” The general session keynote address was given by Mr. Michael Young, vice president and general manager of CBS Radio, on “The Resilience and Relevance of Radio.” A majority of the seventeen sessions during the day were run by IUP faculty members and students, with other sessions presented by individuals from Robert Morris University and Edinboro University. Dr. Kurt Dudt, Dr. Mary-Beth Leidman, Bradley Wiggins, Jennifer Forrest, Christine Schaeffer, and Matthew McKeague all assisted in planning the LHCC. Attendance totaled more than 150 people.

Content by Zachary Salopek.

After Ryan received his Master of Science in Library Science from Clarion University and his Master of Science in Instructional Technology from Bloomsburg University, he realized that while he knew a lot about his field, he was never properly taught how to teach what he knew to others. This predicament lead to the creation of the cookbook, with ideas that are easily adaptable to many different subjects. The unique style and layout of the cookbook sets it apart from other educational material. Compared to the first book that Sittler and Cook wrote together, the Library Instruction Cookbook seems to be making record sales. Their first publication, entitled Practical Pedagogy for Library Instructions: 17 Innovative Strategies to Improve Student Learning, sold about 1,000 copies in eighteen months. The Library Instruction Cookbook already sold over 500 copies during the months from June to August.

While writing the cookbook, the authors wanted at least fifty submissions of different activities. They ended up with hundreds of them. Finally publishing the best ninety-seven ideas, they include what the activity is, how long it normally takes, the ACRL standards that they meet, the type of activity, the preparation that needs to take place, and the “Allergy warnings,” or anything that could go wrong with the plan. The great part about the cookbook is that only a skeletal outline is provided, so all of the activities are able to be changed and adapted to fit the curriculum of other subjects.

Ryan was born in Reading, Pa., and grew up just fifteen minutes from there. He is currently an instructional technology/information literacy librarian and an assistant professor at California University of Pennsylvania. His future goals are unclear after realizing the great opportunities that a Communications Media degree from IUP can create.

For more information, you can visit their blog, and you can also purchase the Cookbook.

Content by Zachary Salopek.

This is the first year that IUP-TV and the IUP Athletic Department are able to provide free webcasts of IUP home football games and selected away games.

Last week’s game was a live IUP-TV webcast from Slippery Rock University that had 623 viewers. To tune in this Saturday, go to Penn Atlantic and select the game.

Department of Communications Media

This high-risk sport is captured using more than forty different views of some of the world’s best pilots racing through a low-level aerial track over land and water.

Goodling began as a segment producer for the 230-mph sport in March 2007 and traveled to places such as Istanbul, Abu Dhabi, and Perth, Australia, working on the series. For the 2008 season he was working in the field as a story producer, traveling the globe once again. Part of Goodling’s responsibilities were producing the personal interviews with the pilots immediately after the race and writing the “host wraps” as stories came together on the ground. After a few days of shooting in the field, he would fly back to Los Angeles to help supervise the edit of the program. To wrap it all together, Goodling would produce UFC announcer Mike Goldberg, who would provide race calls from a voiceover booth. Some final sound design and motion graphics completed their award-winning package.

Here is a special intro completed for last season’s finale in Perth.

Goodling recently left GRACE Entertainment (the company that produced the Red Bull Air Race World Series), taking on a new role as a producer at Spike TV. He produces GameTrailers with Geoff Keighley.

Despite the Emmy award, Goodling says that his most rewarding accomplishment thus far is being credited as a full show producer less than five years removed from IUP. While at IUP, Goodling produced a number of shows for WIUP-TV.

By Zachary Salopek

Putt enjoys her radio work, but writing is her passion. She is currently building her resume as a writer and has already gained recognition through several publications in the Tribune- Review’s Focus section, as well an on-line column for the Indiana Gazette. She also is a contributor to Examiner.com. She has extensive experience writing in varied genres, including news stories, editorials, short stories, press releases, and more.

As Putt’s career progresses, she plans on networking with other writers and becoming published on a wider scale, eventually hoping to turn it into a way of earning a living. She also plans on continuing radio broadcasting and wants to help to continue expanding live, local radio in her community.

Putt’s work is available at Examiner.com, and also at the Indiana Gazette.

By Zachary Salopek

Pattnaik graduated from IUP in the summer of 1996 with a degree in Elementary Education and a specialization in Early Childhood Education. By 2004 she had received tenure and promotion to full professor at California State University, Long Beach.

Her scholarly interests include multicultural and global education, education of indigenous children in India, early childhood education, global child advocacy, father/male involvement, cross-cultural research, children’s relationships with animals, and integration of technology in higher education. She is also actively involved with educational organizations such as the Association for Childhood Education International, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Research Council, the American Educational Research Association, the Association of Teacher Educators, and the National Council for the Social Studies.

She has authored or coauthored more than twenty-five publications and served as the guest editor for the 2005 International focus issue Education of Indigenous/Aboriginal Children: Global Perspectives and Practices for the journal Childhood Education, a peer-reviewed journal published by the Association for Childhood Education International. She is also the guest coeditor for the 2010 international focus issue of Childhood Education.

In all of Patnaik’s various roles, she demonstrates an unwavering commitment to children, families, students, colleagues, and her profession and has been recognized as an educator and a scholar who is making a major contribution to her field in teaching, service, and research.

by Zachary Salopek

The media awards were presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Sports Video Group during the College Sports Video Summit in Atlanta, Ga. WIUP-TV’s production was selected as one of the six final nominees.

David Lind of the Communications Media Department was one of the judges for the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Global Media Sports Awards entries for media companies, including network and regional broadcasters/content providers for Live Game or Live Event Production, Special Feature, Outstanding Highlight Package, Outstanding Promotional Video, Outstanding Promotional Video, and the College Sports Video of the Year.

Wednesday and Thursday

6:54 p.m.

4:00 p.m. Classic Arts Showcase

6:00 p.m. “Education Today” Armstrong School District

6:30 p.m. “Teach A Man To Cook” — Guest Chef: Ellen Ruddock (repeat)

6:54 p.m. “Humans 101”

7:00 p.m. “Let’s Talk” — Area citizens discuss state and local issues

7:30 p.m. “Best of the Best” — Segments from the Communication Media Department’s “Alumni Perspectives”

8:00 p.m. “High School Game of the Week” — Bedford vs. Richland (tape delay)

10:09 p.m. “The Big Hit” — IUP-TV student produce sports talk show

10:39 p.m. “Classic Arts Showcase”

Friday through Sunday

4:00 p.m. Classic Arts Show case

6:00 p.m. “Education Today” — Armstrong School District

6:30 p.m. “Teach A Man To Cook” — Guest Chef: Ellen Ruddock (repeat)

6:54 p.m. “Humans 101”

7:00 p.m. “Let’s Talk” — Area citizens discuss state and local issues.

7:30 p.m. “Best of the Best” — Segments from Communication Media Department’s “Alumni Perspectives”

8:00 p.m. “Capitol Connection” —Topic: Economic Stimulus Impact on Pennsylvania

8:30 p.m. “Behind the Headlines” — Susquehanna Valley Center for Public Policy

9:00 p.m. “Education Today” — Armstrong School District

9:30 p.m. “Teach A Man To Cook” — Guest Chef: Ellen Ruddock (repeat)

9:54 p.m. “Humans 101”

10:00 p.m. “Let’s Talk” — Area citizens discuss state and local issues

10:30 p.m. “Best of the Best” — Segments from Communication Media Department’s “Alumni Perspectives”

11:00 p.m. Classic Arts Showcase

Dr. Kanyarusoke was honored in August 2009 for his ongoing work as the senior technical advisor to the Department of Education, Government of Southern Sudan. The Southern Sudan Technical Assistance Program is funded and run by the United States Agency for International Development, the humanitarian arm of the United States government. Dr. Kanyarusoke’s responsibilities include designing a teacher education program, building and rehabilitating schools, and training senior education officials, among many others. The sixty-one-year-old professor left IUP for Sudan in September 2005 and continues to pursue his calling while flying home to Indiana now and then to spend time with his wife and two children.

Dr. Kanyarusoke, formerly of Uganda, began teaching at IUP in 1987 as a professor of several courses: audio production, technology for learning and instruction, and international communications. He completed his undergraduate studies in graphic design at the University of Nairobi in Kenya; earned his post-graduate education diploma at Makerere University in Uganda and his technical certificate in production of educational texts at the International Training Center in Sydney, Australia; and earned his Master of Education and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pittsburgh in educational communications and technology.

Sudan, the tenth-largest country in the world and the largest country in Africa, is still recovering from the twenty-two-year civil war that claimed 1.9 million lives and displaced 4 million people, forcing them to move to neighboring countries. The war ended in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and since then, the new government of Southern Sudan’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has made steady headway in implementing an educational system with the assistance of such international agencies as USAID.

Limited resources such as insufficient budget and the lack of leadership and management experience have lead to Southern Sudan’s low overall enrollment rate for primary education—25 percent, one of the world’s lowest. The GoSS-MoEST strives to increase enrollment to 55 percent by 2011 while improving the quality of education.

By: Sara B. Lamberson
Special Projects Assistant
Department of Communications Media

The theme for this year’s conference is Communications Media and Instructional Technology in Economically Changing Times. We are thrilled to have Mr. Michael Young, vice president of KDKA Radio, present on “The Resiliency and Relevance of Radio” as our general session keynote address. Dr. Elzar Camper, of East Stroudsburg University, will speak on “The Importance of Public Policy: Technology, Brain Fitness, and Neuroplasticity” at the inaugural keynote luncheon address.

Both specials feature Dr. Kevin Bailey, an IUP alumnus and associate vice president of Student Affairs for Tulane University, and are hosted by Dr. Richard Lamberski, professor of Communications Media.

The first special, “The Tulane University Experience with Katrina: Crisis Management and Leadership,” captures Dr. Bailey’s thoughts before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. The second special, “Universities at Risk: Caught in Nature’s Path,” focuses on Katrina’s impact to Tulane University’s crisis management plan. He discusses how to maintain preparedness and awareness before disasters and the actions that take place before, during, and after the event.

The specials will air Wednesday, September 2 through Sunday, September 6, 2009. The first airs at 8 p.m. and the second at 8:30 p.m.

“Universities at Risk: Caught in Nature’s Path” may also be viewed on on IUP's YouTube channel at any time.

Contact:

David Lind
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Department of Communications Media
Davis Hall, Room B-36
570 S. 11th St.
Indiana, Pa. 15705-1058
724-357-7517

WIUP-FM, IUP's volunteer-operated, community/university radio station has openings this summer for DJs and managers. No experience is necessary. Training will be provided by experienced WIUP-FM staff.

Membership in the station is open to all academic majors as well as faculty, staff, and community members.

WIUP-FM broadcasts at 90.1 on the FM dial with 1600 watts of power. Our signal reaches portions of five Western Pennsylvania counties, with a potential audience of more than 300,000 people. In addition, our broadcasts are streamed worldwide on the Internet.

If you are interested in summer membership in WIUP-FM, come to our informational meeting on Wednesday, June 3, at 6:00 p.m. in Room B-23 Davis Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend, learn more about the station, and submit an application for membership. This is a great opportunity to host a music program, present public affairs programming, or gain experience in station operations in one of our management positions.

For more information, contact Dr. Jay Start, faculty advisor, WIUP-FM, at jstart@iup.edu or 724-845-2030.

Mary Beth Leidman, Jeff Fratangeli, Matthew McKeague, David Porter, Sarah Tourtellotte, and Bradley Wiggins presented “Different Approaches to Developing Critical Thinking Skills and Research Skills in Undergraduate Education,” focusing on how to develop higher level critical thinking and research skills in both high school and early college levels. Each of the members of the team presented on a specific component of the topic related to their area of expertise or interest.

Governor Ed Rendell and the Pennsylvania Department of Education welcomed higher education leaders from across the Commonwealth, including IUP President Tony Atwater, to discuss critical policy issues in regard to college access and student success. The Governor’s Conference on Higher Education: Pathways to College Success was held on March 17 and 18 at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel in State College, Pennsylvania. The conference is generally for college and university presidents and their leadership teams to come together with teams from other areas in order to discuss the administrative issues within higher education.

Workshop presentations also were given by groups that represented the policy-making and executive level administrative segment of institutions of higher education. Groups present included the U.S. House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, the Educational Testing Service, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Presentations focused on topics such as the current economic situation, the impact that it will have on higher education, and what preparations need to be made to address these issues.

(Content by Zachary Salopek.)

Since she adjusted to the differences of America, specifically IUP, she explained some of the things that bothered her about the changes in her lifestyle. Aside from missing home-cooked meals and her friends, Emebet had to adapt to her new educational surroundings as well. She said that there was much more hand-on interaction between the students and professors in America than she had experienced at home. Emebet said that, academically, American colleges covered similar material as high schools in the Netherlands.

Socially, things are different here as well. She said that colleges in Holland are not made up of campuses; rather, friends live together in the city and travel to school from there. The basic grading scale in Holland differs from the American scale because they do not use letters. Holland’s scale uses numbers between 1 and 10, 1 being a failing grade and 10 being the best a student can do. Anything above a 5.5 is considered passing. The basic student social group is relatively similar in both countries.

Her favorite thing about America is having the ability to learn about another culture by travelling around the country. She misses the food from home the most. Her biggest annoyance in America is the drinking age, because in Holland the drinking age is sixteen.

(Content provided by Zachary Salopek.)

“The program’s budget was determined by predicting the number of students that would be involved and the number of credits that would be taken,” Lenze said. “Both of those numbers have already been surpassed, proof that the Ph.D. is developing quite well. The estimates for the number of students to be recruited for next year have also been exceeded.

“We have really appreciated that the students, in particular, recognize that we are working hard to keep the lines of communication open in all possible ways,” Lenze said. For example, Karl Roeper, a student of the current doctoral cohort, stated that good communication between faculty and students makes the work much more manageable because the schedule is more accommodating to nontraditional students who have to work full time and treat their education as a second job. They must juggle these commitments to their degree with their family lives, and the doctoral professors make this task as simple as they can.

“There is no question that the addition of the doctoral program to the Department of Communications Media is going to change the culture of the department in some ways,” Lenze said. “The department already has a clear focus on good teaching and production skills, but with the addition of the doctoral program, faculty members will be stretched to do more research, but this can only add to the quality of our program for undergraduates as well as our doctoral students.”

As the enrollments grow and develop, the degree will continue to improve in quality as well as quantity, Lenze said. After five years, Dr. Lenze expects to have established a pattern for bringing students into the doctoral program with a stable enrollment of between seventy and eighty students. By then, the first wave of students will have already graduated with their Ph.D.s and the new doctoral students will have more interaction with the undergraduate program. Lenze also hopes to see a longer list of electives offered and every member of the faculty involved and engaged in the degree program in some way.

(Content by Zachary Salopek)

This article, accepted in the Midwest Journal for Educational Communications and Technology, focuses more on the United States than countries overseas, and specifically on the problems that distance education programs have because of their institutional and national boundaries. Konetes explained in detail his feelings after having his articles published:

”I had never thought that I would have two articles published at this point as a first-year Ph.D. student and teaching associate. In fact, I didn’t think I would have two articles published by the time I graduated. In short, it feels very good, but I need to thank and give credit to the entire Communications Media Department for giving me the opportunity and support to be able to do this.”

Even after having two articles published, Konetes is not finished making submissions. He is currently working on two more articles; one about the efficiency between distance education and face to face education, and the other about how the economic instability is effecting distance education.

(Content by Zachary Salopek)

IUP doctoral student and professor Karl Roeper enjoys motorcycle riding, especially when it’s for a great cause.

Roeper has been active with the Fallen Marine Memorial Run, a charity motorcycle event, since it started in 2006. He assisted Joseph Wadlow and Gerald Vanasdale, two former marines, with their idea of honoring marines who were killed or disabled in action and helping their families by holding a motorcycle run to raise money.

Wadlow and Vanasdale came up with the idea after seeing a photo of two-year-old Tyler Miles wearing Marine dress blues and pointing at the flag-covered casket of his father, Marine Sergeant Sean H. Miles, who was killed in Iraq. The photo sparked the first run, but Wadlow and Vanasdale did not want to stop there. They have continued their efforts and have raised money for the families of Lance Corporal Patrick Kenny and Staff Sergeant Jimmy Arroyave, who also died in action while in the Middle East.

The fundraiser starts with motorcyclists registering for a fifty- to sixty-mile ride, making three or four stops along the way, in order to establish a scholarship fund for each child of the deceased. At the end of the ride there is a benefit concert.

Roeper designed the flyer advertisements for the first memorial run and has taken part in all three of the rides to date. He plans to continue with the fourth annual Fallen Marine Memorial Run on September 19.

(Content by Zachary Salopek)

David Lind, WIUP-TV operations manager, has been appointed to the national Sports Video Group’s advisory board for their Sports Video Group University (SVGU) organization. Lind is also WIUP-TV operations manager and the director for the Center for videoconferencing and executive producer for IUP sports broadcasting.

The Sports Video Group (SVG) was formed in 2006 to support the professional community that relies on video, audio and broadband technologies to produce and distribute sports content. Leagues, owners, teams, players, broadcasters, webcasters, and consumer technology providers have joined the SVG to learn from each other, turn vision into reality, and implement innovations while sharing experiences that will lead to advances in the sports-production/distribution process and the overall consumer sports experience. SVG is the producer of the annual Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.

Lind has been a contributing writer for SVGU’s weekly newsletter, and chronicled the WIUP-TV student sports crew’s production experiences of producing ten IUP football games. Lind was also a participant on a panel discussion for the organization’s College Sports Video’s Digital Summit in New York City on November 16, 2008. The topic of the panel was “Low Cost Productions for Web Streaming.”

Panel members included representatives from ESPN, New York Giants, Horizon League, Major League Baseball, and CBS sports. Lind has also been appointed to the College Sports Video University’s Summit Advisory Board. The 2009 summit is slated for June in Atlanta. Lind will be a member of a panel discussion and part of two workshops.

Lind has been accepted as a member to the Silver Telly Council. The Telly Awards honor the very best in local, regional and cable television programs and segments, on-line videos, films, and commercials. The Silver Telly Council is a membership-based division of the Telly Awards. Members are top advertising and production professionals who have won a Silver Telly in the past, have applied for membership to the council, and have been accepted. The judging panel for the Telly Awards will be chosen from our Council Members.

Lind—along with members of the college’s faculty, staff, and students—has received five Telly Awards over the past six years.

(Content written by Zachary Salopek.)

Chiarelli currently is on-air talent at WRDW-Wired 96.5 radio in Philadelphia. He had worked for the promotions and programming departments at the radio station during an internship, and then was hired after graduation as a board operator and street team member. He worked his way into his current position, eventually taking over the full-time overnight shift with his show “Late Night with JC.”

Chiarelli hopes to move into the afternoon slot and eventually become a music or program director for a contemporary hit radio station.

(Content written by Zachary Salopek.)

Konetes noted in his publication that several controversial issues affect how distance education is implemented. For example, some people rate distance education on how well it compares to traditional education, instead of how much it could benefit those in need. Konetes suggests in his article that we learn to judge the effectiveness of distance education by the standards of the nation we are trying to help, and not by our own. The increased education stimulates the growth of human capital (intelligence) in the developing nation, which can lead to economic improvement and self-sufficiency, he points out.

While there are financial concerns and technological constraints to placing a proper distance education system in a developing nation, it brings about many positive changes and benefits that are worth the effort, his article suggests. Konetes concludes his article by noting that countries in need are not looking for handouts for their educational system, but giving them a small jump-start could go a long way in raising the overall education and economic levels of developing nations.

(Content written by Zachary Salopek.)

Two Communications Media professors and a Communications Media student presented research on commonalities of female politicians at the 2008 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Women’s Consortium Conference.

Professors Mary Beth Leidman and Sarah Tourtellotte and student Jaclyn Emershaw did research on thirty female governors and thirty-five female senators. They studied physical characteristics, including hairstyle, modes of dress, age, body type, marital status, political affiliation, and method of taking office (appointed, elected, or successor to a seat).

Based on their research, they concluded there was no formula for the perfect female politician, noting that among all the women studied, there was no discernable pattern that the women shared.

The presentation drew a great number of comments and discussion, according to Tourtellotte. “It was supposed to be a thirty-minute presentation, but the participants were so interested in the subject that it turned into an almost two-hour discussion, including much debate over why Hilary was not chosen to run for president.”

(Content written by Zachary Salopek.)

Because of Lamberski’s strong values and commitment to education, high standards of performance, and continued scholarly and service work, he was nominated and selected for this award as an individual with an extraordinary record of accomplishment.

Lamberski completed his Bachelor of Science in Government, History, and Social Science at Duquesne University in 1971. He obtained his master’s degree in Instructional Media in 1972 and his doctorate in Instructional Systems in 1980, both at Penn State.

Since 1981, Lamberski has been a professor, advisor, mentor, and researcher at IUP. He has distinguished himself as an educator whose main focus has been the design and implementation of effective and efficient learning systems. Over his career at IUP, Boston University, and Penn State, he has designed and/or taught over thirty different courses. He was among the first at IUP to use the Web for hybrid teaching and the first to develop and maintain a virtual advisor that has become the model for other units at IUP and nationwide. 

Lamberski is also known for his outstanding reputation as a teacher and mentor to his students. Advising is one of his passions. He has developed resources to help students choose a professional position, market themselves, and possibly consider graduate studies. Students—who consider him the “go-to” professor for advising—know that he will take the extra time, care, and patience to help them both personally and professionally.

In 1992, Lamberski was awarded the PSU College of Education Alumni Society Outstanding Teaching Award. In April 2008 he received IUP’s highest award for teaching. This award recognizes IUP professors who have achieved distinction through sustained performance in their fields and have provided outstanding service to IUP.

In his twenty-seven years at IUP, he has made a significant impact on the lives of the students he teaches and mentors. He has developed his own unique style of teaching by sharing, storytelling, and empowering.

In addition to his work at IUP, Lamberski’s significant research work for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the Link-to-Learn project resulted in millions of dollars for Western Pennsylvania schools (K-12) and higher education institutions.

Dr. Lamberski’s most important priority as a professor is to motivate and inspire his students. He strives to instill values that will encourage students to achieve success in their daily lives.

“Richard is highly sought after as an advisor. Faculty members regard him as an esteemed colleague and a mentor who is consistently available for wisdom and guidance. Richard is without peer,” said Kurt Dudt, chair and professor of Communications Media at IUP.

The Alumni Society Awards Banquet will take place on Friday, October 24, at the Nittany Lion Inn, University Park.

Both programs involved intensive, three-day work sessions with industry professionals and executives, including tours on sets and roundtable discussions with television show producers from shows such as Lost, Brothers and Sisters, and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The IUP Communications Media Department will offer a Ph.D. in Communications Media and Instructional Technology beginning in fall 2008 or 2009.

Communications Media is part of the College of Education and Educational Technology. The department currently offers both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the major.

“The program will stress rigorous academics so that graduates of this program are sought out by other universities looking for communications faculty and business and industry searching for leaders in the communications field,” explained Dr. Mary Ann Rafoth, dean of the College of Education and Educational Technology. “It will expand partnerships by adding a new level of professional to the department’s successful relationships with media companies and outlets and enable the department to pursue institutional advancement opportunities through grants only available to programs with a doctoral mission and doctoral students."

The development of the program followed a comprehensive marketing study in which both individuals and businesses indicated a significant need for doctoral programs in the communications media field.