Diana Martinelli, SOJ associate dean and Widmeyer Professor in Public Relations, was selected to be one of 17 participants in the sixth Scripps Howard Academic Leadership Academy, sponsored by the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University and the Scripps Howard Foundation. The Academy brings together academics and professionals within the mass communications and journalism fields to provide the opportunity to learn about the challenges and rewards of leading an academic program.

“This immersive, supportive environment will help me better understand common administrative and pedagogical issues in the rapidly evolving communications field,” Martinelli said.

The participants represent a diverse combination of institutions of higher education and the professional mass communication sector. During her time in the Academy, Martinelli will meet with seasoned administrators to learn about management, discuss the future of media education and consider issues critical to those in leadership roles.

The WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism held it’s 2013 Commencement on Saturday, May 18. Nearly 250 Master’s candidates and undergraduates crossed the stage at the WVU Creative Arts to Center to signify their accomplishments. Richard Gingras, Senior Director of News and Social Products at Google, was the keynote speaker.

Dean Maryanne Reed recognized undergraduate top scholars during the ceremony. Rachelle Purych received the Top Overall Scholar award and the Top Scholar in Advertising award, Evan Bonnstetter received the Top Scholar in Public Relations award and Frances Silva was named Top Scholar in Journalism. The awards were determined based on overall GPA.

WVU celebrated it’s 144th year of Commencement ceremonies this year. If you would like to watch a video of the SOJ’s graduation, visit http://journalism.wvu.edu/events/may-commencement-2013.

As the school year ends, many WVU students will head back to their hometowns to find a summer job. But several School of Journalism students are packing their bags instead for prestigious, large-market internships, where they will gain invaluable professional experience.

Bryan Bumgardner, a Mt. Clare, W.Va. native, and Lauren Nickle of Elkton, Md., will spend their summers in New York City.

Bumgardner, a print journalism senior, will work as an editorial intern at Scientific American magazine, where he will report, proofread and fact-check articles and assist editors.

He says that while he was turned down for several internships, the position at Scientific American is a “perfect position.”

“Doing science journalism for a magazine is a dream come true,” said Bumgardner. “I’m so excited to live in a new city and learn from the best writers, editors and designers in the business.”

Nickle, an advertising junior, will be the integrated marketing intern at Major League Baseball Advanced Media. She is looking forward to learning more about integrated marketing, leadership and the use of varied media in the advertising industry.

“This is a great opportunity to get real-world experience working with professionals at one of the top sports media entities in the country,” Nickle said.

While Nickle and Bumgardner are in New York, two more School of Journalism students will spend their summers in the nation’s capital.

Television journalism senior Diane Jeanty will intern at the national desk of NPR in Washington, D.C., not far from her home in Frederick, Md. Jeanty will assist reporters with research and shadow producers in the field. She will also attend editorial meetings and pitch story ideas.

Like Nickle, Jeanty is also excited about getting hands-on experience in her field.

“I love working with producers,” said Jeanty. “I can’t wait to learn about what goes into producing a story for a major news network.”

Charleston, W.Va., native Samantha Runyon will spend her summer in Senator Rockefeller’s press office.

After holding internships at a public relations firm, a newspaper and a non-profit organization, the public relations senior is excited to expand her knowledge of governmental communications.

“It’s a fast-paced setting, and I’m excited to learn from such an experienced staff,” Runyon said.

High-level internships like these help students get good jobs when they graduate, and they help raise the profile of the School of Journalism, says Dean Maryanne Reed.

“We are so proud of these students for landing great internships, and we know they’ll be excellent ambassadors for the school,” said Reed. “Our students are fully capable of working at the national level. They just need to opportunities to prove themselves.”

To that end, the School of Journalism has hired former broadcaster Eric Minor (BSJ, 1995) as the School’s first Director of Student Careers and Opportunities. Minor will be tasked with developing new internship opportunities and identifying and preparing students for internships and jobs.

The ceremony will be on Saturday, May 18, 2013, at 9:30 a.m. in the Creative Arts Center (CAC) on WVU’s Evansdale Campus. Gradautes must arrive by 8:30 a.m. for line-up. Graduates will report to the Davis Theater for check-in and instructions. Please leave your personal belongings with a family member or friend, as the Davis Theater will not be locked during the ceremony.

The doors to the main theater will open approximately 45 minutes before the ceremony. Please remember that all guest seats are assigned by ticket number. Guests will need to have their printed tickets to enter the theater. Should a guest forget the ticket, printers will be available at the CAC.

For those guests without tickets, there will be overflow seating available in the CAC lobby with monitors for viewing the ceremony in real-time. The event will also be webcast live at http://graduation.wvu.edu/commencement/webcasts.

When you check in, you will receive a Photo/Name Card to complete. You must complete BOTH sides of this card and KEEP IT until you cross the stage during the ceremony. This card has several important purposes: 1) Your name will be read from this card when you cross the stage. 2) The photo company, GradIMAGES, will email you with proofs of your graduation photos so you can order them online. A current email must be on the card. 3) The SOJ will also use the contact information on the card to send you your first SOJ alumni magazine later in the summer.

The ceremony is expected to last approximately 90 minutes and will be followed by light refreshments in the main lobby of the Creative Arts Center.

Additional Details

Parking: Parking will be available in the Creative Arts Center parking lots. Officials will be present to direct traffic.

Diplomas: In 2012, the University made a change in protocol as to how diplomas are distributed. In the recent past, diplomas were presented to students as they walked across the stage. Beginning in 2012, diplomas are mailed to graduates within three weeks of the graduation ceremony. Graduates will, however, receive a commemorative diploma cover, featuring the seal of the University, as they cross the stage.

If you have further questions, please contact Christa Vincent at (304) 293-7016 or check the SOJ Commencement website (http://journalism.wvu.edu/events/may-commencement-2013).

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) recently announced its 2012 Mark of Excellence national winners and finalists, including a multimedia reporting project by the West Virginia University P.I. Reed School of Journalism.

After earning first place in the regional competition, West Virginia Uncovered was named a national finalist and was one of three projects recognized nationwide as Best Independent Online Student Publication for a large university.

Launched in 2008, West Virginia Uncovered is a multimedia web project that provides training and content to newspapers throughout the state and region. Created by the School of Journalism, “West Virginia Uncovered” aims to help small rural newspapers transition to the digital space by providing multimedia news-features for their websites and provide hands-on training to their journalists. Launched in Fall 2008, the project is funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, McCormick Foundation, and Benedum Foundation.

The project has earned numerous awards including three first- and second-place honors for online feature reporting the SPJ Region 4 Mark of Excellence Awards program, a MarCom award for student publication, and a feature reporting award at the Broadcast Education Association’s 2012 Festival of Media Arts.

SPJ’s annual Mark of Excellence Awards recognizes collegiate work published or broadcasted during the previous year. This year, student journalists submitted more than 4,600 entries. The awards honor the best in student journalism. Judges were directed to choose only those entries which they felt were outstanding work worthy of a national honor. National Mark of Excellence Award judges can choose up to one national winner in each category and two national finalists (runners-up).

Winners and finalists were previously recognized by receiving first place in one of the SPJ’s 12 regional competitions. Each first-place regional winner advanced to the national competition.

The School of Journalism participates in Region 4, which comprises Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and parts of western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh. School divisions are based on student enrollment, including both graduate and undergraduate enrollment.

Learn more about West Virginia Uncovered online and read about other winners on the SPJ website.

The WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism is the winner of two 2013 Telly Awards. The awards were announced in early April. There are two award levels – Silver and Bronze.

A Tribute to George Esper, ‘The Heart and Soul of WU won a Bronze award in the History/Biography category, and See What You Can Be – Logan Venderlic won a Bronze award in the Recruitment category.

“A Tribute to George Esper” was produced last spring in honor of the late George Esper, a legendary Vietnam reporter and professor at School for nearly 12 years. The video profile on recent graduate Logan Venderlic is part of a recruitment series called “See What You Can Be” that highlights the success stories of School of Journalism alumni. Both pieces were produced by School of Journalism communications team members.

A prestigious panel of over 500 accomplished industry professionals judged the competition. Entries do not compete against each other but are judged against a high standard of merit. Judges score entries on a performance scale, and winning entries are recognized and awarded as Silver or Bronze Winners based on the combined scoring of the judges who evaluate each entry.

The winning videos were selected out of 12,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents. Dean Maryanne Reed says it is a tremendous honor to be included among this year’s winners.

The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 and is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs; the finest video and film productions; and online commercials, video and films. Winners represent the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators and corporate video departments in the world.

This is the 34th season for the Telly awards. Visit www.tellyawards.com to learn more.

SOJ Assistant Professor Dr. Elizabeth Oppe is the recipient of this year’s WVU Faculty Excellence in Civic Engagement Award. The awards, which were created in 2009, are dedicated to recognizing the most active and civically engaged at WVU. For 2013, the award categories included student excellence, faculty excellence and community partner excellence. Each recipient has to have shown a strong commitment to civic engagement and service throughout the 2012-13 academic year.

Oppe has taught one of the service-learning courses most popular with Center for Civic Engagement community partners for several semesters, PR 324 Public Relations Writing and Application. The students and community members learn together through the foundation of reflection and understanding Dr. Oppe provides in the classroom. Her contagious excitement for her field and the pedagogy of service learning had made her a top advocate on campus.

Recipients were recognized on April 25, during the Center for Civic Engagement’s annual Engagement Celebration. The award presentation took place as part of the eighth-annual Week of Engagement.

To read the official release and learn about the other winner visit WVU Today.

The future is media is now. That’s the message graduates from the WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism can expect to hear at this year’s May commencement ceremony.

Richard Gingras, Senior Director of News and Social Products at Google, will deliver the keynote address at the School’s 2013 Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 18 at 9:30 a.m. at the WVU Creative Arts Center.

For 30 years, Gingras has led highly regarded efforts in the development of online services, software and new media – pioneering uses of satellite networking for television and Web-based online services and, more recently, transforming the news business.

He has watched the media landscape undergo complete transformation and has been at the helm of much of that change. And while Gingras claims “the process of change is far from over,” he looks forward to a promising future.

“These are extraordinary times. These are exciting times. In my view, the future of journalism can and will be better than its past,” said Gingras, in a speech at the “TechRaking 2012” conference sponsored by Google and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

In his current role, Gingras oversees Google News, which connects more than a billion unique readers each week to articles from journalists in 72 countries and 45 languages. He also oversees areas of product development relating to Google’s social products (Google+).

“We are extremely fortunate to have Richard Gingras as our commencement speaker,” said School of Journalism Dean Maryanne Reed. “A top-level executive at Google, Gingras is at the forefront of the changing technology and media industries. He is a visionary leader who will inspire our graduates to be active participants in the evolution of journalism and media.”

Last fall, Gingras was recognized with the Manship Prize for contributions to the evolution of digital media, an honor awarded by the Manship School of Mass Communications at Louisiana State University. Until July 2011, Gingras was CEO of Salon Media Group which operates the popular and acclaimed news site Salon.com (the first web-only publication), the blogging community OpenSalon.com, and the pioneering virtual community The Well.

During 2007 and 2008, Gingras also served as a strategic advisor to the executive team at
Google focusing on strategies relating to the evolution of news and television and has long
guided the development of new products, new technologies, and new companies, often as an active board member and strategic advisor with early-stage ventures.

He was founder and CEO of Goodmail Systems, a founding VP of broadband provider @Home Network and Senior Vice President of Excite@Home from 1996 to 2001. He led the product development of Apple’s online service eWorld in the early 1990s and served as CEO of MediaWorks, an early developer of news-agenting technology. In 1979, he was the creator of the first interactive online news magazine done in partnership with CBS, NBC, and PBS and delivered to several hundred test households using interactive TV set-top box technology known as broadcast teletext.

The Commencement ceremony is reserved for graduates and their guests but will be webcast live on the School’s website.

WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism (SOJ) students and faculty continue to earn national and international recognition for their outstanding work.

Earlier this month, Assistant Professor Dana Coester earned the Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) highest honor at the 2013 Festival of Media Arts. She was presented the “Best of Festival” award in the Faculty Interactive Multimedia Competition for the “Mobile Main Street” project, an initiative to engage small-community organizations, businesses and media in mobile app development and marketing to help fuel economic development in local communities.

Two students also were recognized at the competition. Krista Baker received third place in the Television News Anchor category of the Student News Competition for her work on “WVU News,” and Jamie McCracken tied for third place in the TV Sports Feature category of the Student Sports Competition.

The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student works and is sponsored by the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation, Avid and Sony.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) also announced its 2012 Region 4 Mark of Excellence Awards winners this month, including the work of six SOJ students.

Michael Carvelli earned first place in Sports Column Writing (Large); Omar Ghabra won first place for Photo Illustration (Large); Jamie McCracken earned first place and Erik Roberts earned third place in Television Sports Reporting; Chelsi Baker won first place and Evan Moore won second place in the Online Feature Reporting (Large) category; and “WVU News – Special Edition, Election” won third place in Best All-Around Television Newscast.

In addition, the School’s “West Virginia Uncovered” project won first place as Best Independent Online Student Publication for a large university. Launched in 2008, “West Virginia Uncovered” is a multimedia web project that provides training and content to newspapers throughout the state and region.

SPJ’s Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best in student journalism. Region 4 comprises Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and parts of western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh. Honorees received award certificates April 6 at the Region 4 Spring Conference in Dayton, Ohio. School divisions are based on student enrollment, which includes both graduate and undergraduate enrollment.

First-place winners will move on to the national Mark of Excellence competition among category winners from the 12 SPJ regions. National winners will be notified in the late spring and will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism 2013 conference in southern California in late August.

Students in West Virginia University’s School of Journalism are taking their talents beyond the classroom.

Four public relations students – Kelsey Bignell, Shanin Buchowski, Lindsey Doebler and Megan Higgins, have lent their know-how to the Wyoming County Economic Development Authority (EDA) in Southern West Virginia.

The students, who are also members of WVU’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America, are tasked with branding and marketing a new and developing Barker’s Creek Industrial Park in Wyoming County.

The students have been working with the Wyoming County EDA since January 2013 and are making a positive impression.

“The participation and contributions by the professional experts in the Redevelopment Collaborative was expected, but the amazing part has been the significant contributions made by the WVU students,” said Ken Ellison, Director of Division of Land Restoration with the Department of Environmental Protection. “They have energized the Wyoming County project with tremendous skills, resourcefulness and enthusiasm.”

Led by WVU professor Dr. Elizabeth Oppe, the students are responsible for strategically marketing and branding the property to prospective buyers. They have been attending weekly conference calls with the EDA and creating materials to share with the media.

The students also have been collaborating with the Wyoming County Career and Technical Center to host a logo competition that kicked-off on Friday, April 12, 2013, and will be close on Friday, May 3, 2013. The winning logo will be integrated into all of the industrial park’s branding materials. The creator of the winning logo will receive $500 as a scholarship or to go to the purchase of design software.

For further information or questions regarding the Barker’s Creek Industrial Park, contact the Wyoming County Economic Development Authority at (304) 732-6707 or by fax at (304) 732-6963.