News
Student Happenings
July 2008: Ryan Pelham, a summer 2008 graduate of the Journalism program, has accepted a job as a photojournalist at the New Britain, Conn., Herald, a community tabloid-format daily paper owned by the Journal Register Company. Pelham won first prize in the SPJ Mark of Excellence Region 3 competition for Breaking News Photography. He also won several awards for photojournalism in J-Day and Knight Image Awards competitions.
July 2008: Jessica Malavé (2005, Ad/PR) has joined Access Advertising/PR as a Design and Public Relations Account Executive. Prior to joining the Roanoke, Virginia, based advertising and public relations firm, she served as an Account Executive for the South Florida based advertising firm, Engelhardt & Partners.
July 2008:
The Orlando Sentinel on Thursday expanded its partnership with the Journalism Division of UCF's Nicholson School of Communication.
Starting this fall, the news company's Web site, OrlandoSentinel.com, will offer expanded coverage of UCF by publishing news produced by UCF journalism students, with supervision from their professors.
The "U-News" page and its content will be produced and managed by students in the Journalism Division's advanced reporting and editing classes. Students will report about the people, events, issues and trends shaping and affecting Florida's second-largest university and its surrounding community. The UCF student population is expected to top 50,000 this fall.
The move represents a significant change for the Sentinel and UCF's Journalism Division. For the past two years, the Sentinel has published a half-page of student-produced UCF news in the regional sections of the newspaper. The move to the Web site will greatly increase both the number of stories and the ability to tell those stories with all of the tools of the digital age: text, photos, video and audio. It also means UCF journalism students will have a much larger audience for their news stories. The Orlando Sentinel reaches 1.2 million people each week in print and online.
"Journalism is changing," said Roger Simmons, the Sentinel's Associate Managing Editor for Online and a UCF alumnus (Liberal Studies, 1997). "The Web has become such a vital part of how people receive their news and information. We hope this partnership with UCF will not only help prepare a new generation of journalists but also help our community gain greater insight and understanding of the issues and events at one of our nation's top universities."
The partnership with the Sentinel adds to the growing vitality of UCF's journalism program, which is already a designated training center for the prestigious Dow Jones Newspaper Fund copy-editing internship program.
"This is an enormous opportunity for UCF," said Rick Brunson, Journalism Division area coordinator, who will teach the U-News classes with Dr. Steve Collins. "It comes just as we are beginning to aggressively introduce multimedia storytelling skills across our curriculum. This partnership will help us better equip our students for the future and give them a digital platform on which to showcase their talents and serve their community as ethical and responsible journalists."
July 2008:
Matt McKinley, a senior in the journalism program recently received a Florida Press Association award in the 2007 Better Weekly Contest for an article he wrote while interning at the Orlando Business Journal last summer. The awards are given for the previous year's publications. The article, "County growth threatens triathlon business," came in second place for the "Sports Feature Story" category in Division B, (circulation size 7,000-15,000).
July 2008:
Melissa Patterson, a May 08 Journalism graduate, is a reporting intern this summer at the Chicago Tribune. Within a couple of days on the job as a metro reporter, Patterson made the front page for her story Hey, get out of the street.
July 2008:
Steve Mullis, class of spring 2008, has accepted a job as Associate Editor for Online News for Minnesota Public Radio. MPR is the nation's second-largest producer and distributor of national public radio programs. In this role Steve will edit radio stories for online, shoot and edit photos and video, and create new and creative ways to distribute MPRs news content online. His first major assignment will be helping MPR cover the Republican National Convention being held in Minneapolis this September.
June 2008:
Kerri Alexanderwas selected as a recipient of a $2,000 LeRoy Collins Memorial Scholarship. The award will be presented June 26 at the Florida Association of Broadcasters Luncheon 2008 in West Palm.
April 2008:
Students each receive a $1,000 award from this merit scholarship program and a plaque. The spring 2008 scholarships winners below received their awards at the meeting of the Orlando Area Chapter of the FPRA on March 26:
Leon Finkler (Ad/PR)
Catie Fry (Jou)
Jennilee Hwang (Ad/PR)
Christyn Lanza (Ad/PR)
Rex Riepe (Ad/PR
Amy Shanks (Ad/PR)
April 2008:
The following students were inducted in to the honor society, Sigma Eta Chapter of Lambda Pi Eta on April 14, 2008:
Gwendolyn A. Brunner
Daniel Byerley
Hillary Kotler
Angela Massey
Sharon Merkel
Alicia O'Connor
Elizabeth Pangborn
Brittany Rodriguez
Ashley Settl
Tara Young
April 2008:
The following NSOC students were honored for their commitment to excellence in academics, leadership and community service at the annual Founders Day Awards Ceremony on April 2, 2008:
Lauri A. Gagnon (Ad/PR)
Melissa Patterson (Jou)
April 2008:
The Journalism Division has been awarded a $3,000 Information Fluency Grant for 2008-09 from the UCF Quality Enhancement Plan Initiative Office to help teach students in reporting classes how to search for and publish information found in public records. The grant proposal, co-written by Profs. Rick Kenney and Rick Brunson, included a request to fund a workshop to be conducted by public-records expert Joe Adams for fall Journalism classes. Adams, who is an editorial writer for The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, received the national 2007 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award sponsored by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. Brunson, the incoming area coordinator for Journalism and an alumnus of the school, will oversee implementation of the information fluency project.
April 2008:
Journalism Majors Clean Up In Society of Professional Journalists Regional Mark Of Excellence Competition at the March 29, 2008 luncheon.
Melissa Patterson, first place,
Breaking News
Adam Manzor, first place,
Editorial Writing
Brian Murphy, first place,
Sports Writing
Ryan Pelham, first place,
Breaking News Photography
Abe Aboraya, second place,
Breaking News
Melissa Heyboer, second place,
General Column Writing
Bart Zino, second place,
Feature Writing
Tara Young, third place,
Feature Writing
Amanda Moore, third place,
General News Photography
The staff of the Central Florida Future, under the consecutive editorships of Aboraya and Heyboer in 2007, won third prize for Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper.
UCF student Grant Lowther won the first place prize for General Column Writing.
April 2008:
UCF senior Journalism major Melissa Patterson was named Top Scholar among four students selected in April for 2008 membership in Kappa Tau Alpha, the nations third-oldest academic honors society and the most exclusive in Communication. Joining her were Journalism majors Brandon Bielich, Stephanie de Sousa and Jessica Tuggle.
Students are selected for KTA from among print and broadcast journalism majors with exceptional academic records. Only the top 10 percent of students who have met certain criteria for credit hours and GPA are eligible each year.
April 2008:
Matt Epstein received the Best of Show Award at the March 29th ceremony. To view all other categories and their associated winners, please click here.
April 2008:
Amanda Moore, a journalism major, placed as a finalist in the 28th Annual Student Photography Contest, sponsored by Nikon, USA. Over 4,000 students from the United States, Canada and around the world participated in the contest. Her photograph will be published in the Best of College Photography Annual 2008.
April 2008:
Matt Morrison, a senior Journalism major, has been selected for a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund summer copy editing internship at the Naples Daily News. Morrison, who has held several key positions at the Central Florida Future, becomes the 10th UCF Journalism student to receive one of the 103 DJNF internships this year. UCF ranks second, to Missouri, in the number of DJNF interns for 2008.
April 2008:
Frank Muniz, a junior in the R/TV program, was offered an internship with Comedy Central at The Colbert Report in New York City for the summer semester. Muniz was one of the 20 interns selected out of nearly 1000 applicants. Last summer he completed an internship at Nickelodeon in NYC.
April 2008:
The Nicholson School of Communication's UCF Knightly News was recently named "Best College TV Newscast for 2007," by the Florida Associated Press. This was awarded from a show in Spring 2007. Additionally, one of Nicholson's Broadcast Journalist student, Diana Bosch, won 2nd place "Best Long Light Radio News Feature." Two big accomplishments for the Radio/Television Division in the Nicholson School of Communication.
March 2008:
Wendy Allen Brunner is a candidate for August graduation from the mass communication track and has been accepted into the doctoral program in Mass Communication Law at the University of Florida.
March 2008:
Melissa Emmett, a student in the master's program, plans to graduate in May from the interpersonal track. At the end of February she was accepted to Arizona State University's doctoral program. Emmett also received a telephone call from the director of the program offering her a teaching assistantship, and a recruitment grant from the university. "I am grateful that my experiences conducting research and teaching at UCF have cultivated my potential to succeed in the future" said Emmett. She plans to visit Tempe, Arizona, to meet with faculty and current Ph.D. students to discuss the potential of continuing her education at ASU.
March 2008:
The following students were Inducted to Order of Pegasus, the most prestigious student award given by the university. Stephanie Kyla Tan is a Political Science major in the College of Sciences. Tabatha L. Calabrese is a Political Science and Legal Studies double major in the colleges of Health and Public Affairs and Sciences. Megan A. Policastro is a Legal Studies major in the College of Health and Public Affairs with a minor in Political Science. Maria V. Pecoraro is a Political Science major in the College of Sciences with a minor in Spanish. Ashley E. Conyers is a Liberal Studies major with a minor in Interpersonal Communication in Undergraduate Studies. Congratulations to all!
March 2008:
Jenny Lister is a graduating senior in the Interpersonal/ Organizational Communication program. Recently she was notified that would be the volunteer services coordinator for the entertainment department of Give Kids The World in Kissimmee.
February 2008:
Aisha Roberts, an RTV-Broadcast Journalism junior, is the second runner up in Miss UCF competition and also the recipient of a scholarship.
February 2008:
Abeer Abdalla, presented Martin Luther King Jr.s speech The Drum Major Instinct at the 11th Annual Joseph C. Andrews Mentoring Breakfast on February 4, 2008. Nontombi Naomi Tutu (race and gender activist, South Africa) was the keynote speaker.
February 2008:
Kerri Alexander, an RTV-Broadcast Journalism senior, led the celebration of Lift Evry Voice and Sing at the 11th Annual Joseph C. Andrews Mentoring Breakfast on February 4, 2008. The UCF Black Faculty and Staff Association and the Student Government Association sponsored the event.
February 2008:
Audra Martin, an RTV-Broadcast Journalism senior, recently was crowned Miss UCF and awarded a scholarship. She is sponsored by Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and will go on to compete for the Miss Florida title in July.
January 2008:
Cristina Delgado is a second semester student in the masters program. Her manuscript, Plans Require Participation: Disaster Recovery Plans are Ineffective Without People was peer reviewed and published in a national journal, The Journal of Emergency Management.
January 2008:
Brittany Jo Miller graduated with a 4.0, Summa Cum Laude from the AD/PR program and was named Top Honor Graduate for the College of Sciences at the December commencement ceremony.
January 2008:
Penny Jackson, an RTV major, received "Honors in the Major" for her thesis: The Effects of the 2003 Revision of the 1996 Telecommunications Act on Media Ownership Groups and Diversity.
January 2008:
Nicole Blake, a junior journalism major, was selected in late December for a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internship for summer 2008. She will be a full-time and fully paid business reporting intern for the Orlando Sentinel after undergoing a week of intensive training by writers and editors from the Wall Street Journal and educators from DJNF at New York University in late spring.
December 2007:
Journalism Professor, Rick Brunson's Metro Reporting class created a multimedia storytelling project. The project, which includes multiple forms of media, can be viewed here.
December 2007:
A record eight UCF journalism majors have earned Dow Jones Newspaper Fund editing internships and will be headed for paid work on newspapers from Fort Lauderdale to Mankato, Minnesota, in summer 2008. The students, their news organization and their specialization: Padrick Brewer, Palm Beach Post, sports editing; Jessica Croy, Columbus, Ga., Ledger-Enquirer, news editing; Mary Knowles, The Wall Street Journal, news editing; Matthew Kuka, The Cullman, Ala., Times, online editing; Catie Fry, Florida Times-Union, news editing; Ileana Llorens, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, news editing; Zaileen Roach, The Mankato, Minn., Free Press, news editing; Megan Speer, The Buffalo News, news editing.
December 2007:
Two NSOC students have been awarded the inaugural Irene Farrell Pynn Endowed Scholarship. Seniors Jason Holic and Brittany Jo Miller, both Ad/PR majors, were selected based on their original essay on "My Role in Building UCF as an alumna or alumnae." Service to UCF and the community was also a criterion. Jason and Brittany will each receive $1,000.
December 2007:
Congratulations to the Fall 2007 Roast and Toast winners: Melissa Patterson, Jason Holic, Matthew Harper, Juliann Whitebread, Tabitha Bernabe, and Alexandra Schwartz. Melissa is a Journalism major and the other students are Ad/PR majors. Each student receives $1,000, a plaque and is added to the permanent plaques kept in the Nicholson School of Communication. There will be a call for entries in spring semester and six more awards will be given. To apply, students must be accepted into one of the four majors in the Nicholson School of Communication (Communication, Journalism, Radio/TV, Ad/PR), be a senior (90 hours), complete an application form, write a two-page essay as directed. Winners are selected by senior professionals in FPRA, the organization that raised the funds for these scholarships.
November 2007: Melissa Patterson a senior in the Journalism program, has been awarded a $1,000 grant from the Burnett Honors College Student-Mentor Academic Research Teams (SMART) research program. Her proposed textual analysis of newspapers construction of capital punishment since the Angel Diaz execution was deemed worthy in a year when, according to BHC, the quality of submissions was high and very competitive. Patterson will conduct her research as an independent study under the supervision of Dr. Rick Kenney. Patterson will write a research report and participate in UCFs Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence (SURE) in the spring semester. The Showcase will take place April 4.
November 2007: Adriana Meneses a junior, in the R/TV Broadcast Journalism track - was informed recently that she won the $2,500 Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando Scholarship.
October 2007: Journalism major Melissa Patterson,on Oct. 16, was the recipient of the first Fedler Scholarship, a $1,000 honor bestowed by the award's namesake, veteran professor and journalism division head Fred Fedler. In Washington D.C., Patterson was elected to the national board of the Society of Professional Journalists as its campus representative during SPJ's annual convention. She was selected over candidates from larger journalism schools, including the University of Florida., Melissa learned that she was the recipient of Mary A. Gardner Scholarship, a $1,000 award that goes to outstanding journalism students recognized by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. She also spent last summer on a Pulliam Fellowship, reporting at the Indianapolis Star where her stories regularly landed on the front page. She also has interned at USA Today and is currently interning at the Orlando Sentinel. She has also served as news editor of the Central Florida Future.
October 2007: Melissa Patterson, recipient of the Mary A. Gardner $1,000 scholarship. Awarded to outstanding Journalism students, recognized by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
October 2007: Jennifer Giusti is a graduating senior in the Interpersonal/Organizational Communication major. Recently she got a job working for a local internet marketing company called Localtising Inc. Giusti said "I am looking forward to using my skills in my new position as a marketing assistant."
October 2007: Melissa Patterson was elected to the national board of Society of Professional Journalists (as campus representative at national convention).
September 2007: Diana Bosch, On Saturday, September 22nd, an R/TV major, was interviewed by Julie Banderas on The Big Story Weekend on Fox News. The segment was a live question- and-answer, discussing the recent deaths of three Central Florida boys linked to amoebas.
September 2007: Penny "Star" Jackson, a broadcast journalism senior and McNair Scholar, is traveling to Baltimore, Maryland on September 21-22, 2007 to present her research on "The Effects of the FCC's 2003 Revision of the Telecom Act on Media Ownership Groups & Diversity of Voice in the Media".
September 2007: Amy Bunn, 2007-2008 Chair Alumni Chapter (September 2007)
Amy graduated in 2002 with a degree in advertising/public relations and currently works as marketing/public relations manager for Turnstile Publishing Company. In addition to serving on the NSOC executive committee, Amy is actively involved with the Florida Public Relations Association and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
September 2007: Cynthia Lambert is the recipient of this year's Bob Davis Award from the Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA. She is an Ad/PR alumna from UCF and a public relations specialist with Metroplan Orlando
July 2007: Katie McCain works at Chapman Studios as a dolly technician. (http://www.chapman-leonard.com).
June 2007: ED201 (The Magazine Club) was named the Best New Chapter of the Year by the National Organization (although the chapter is in its second year, it still qualifies as a "new chapter."
June 2007: Holly Trusiak, a journalism student, was hired as a copy editor at the North County Times, a daily news-paper that covers San Diego County, Calif. Holly was hired, according to her editor, because of her experience editing copy for the U-News page -- a joint project between the UCF Journalism Division and the Orlando Sentinel .
June 2007: Melissa Patterson earned a prestigious Pulliam Fellowship.
May 2007: Dr. Joe Hall's "Advanced Video Post-Production" class produced public service announcements for the Orange County Victim Services Center as its final project assignment for Spring. Six of the 30 second PSA's have been selected to air on local broadcast stations in the coming months. Students selected were: Jared Clemons, Randy Coole, Shanna DiNobile, Lawnette Munday, Mike Ossola, and Lisa Wax.
May 2007: Frank Stansberry/ PRSA Scholarship was awarded to Alessandra Vaughan.
May 2007: Rodrigo Campos' film "Insane Delict" and Oren Schiff's "Three Dead Mimes" were both regional finalists in the Campus Moviefest competition. "Insane Delict won the UCF viewer's choice award and was nominated for the Golden Tripod Award for "Best Soundtrack".
May 2007: Danielle Lillig - Copywriter for YPB&R.
May 2007: Lauren Marie Caspanello is a recipient of Who's Who Among Students Award.
May 2007: Tracey Juergens ( Organization Comm.) Weddings and Special Events at the Mission Inn Resort.
May 2007: Jacey Brown graduated this past May with a master's degree in Mass Communication and has accepted the job of Education Manager with Junior Achievement of Central Florida. (June 2007)
May 2007: Corrine Schuler earned the Top Scholar Award for Kappa Tau Alpha Honor Society.
April 2007: Founders Day Scholars (students must complete 75 hours and be in the top one percent of students in the College of Sciences). The following Ad/PR students received recognition:
Julie Zimmerman, Lauren Caspanello, Robert Foglia, Pamela Mackenzie, Brittany Miller and top undergraduate scholar to Ana Suarez in the School of Business but a double major in Ad/PR.
April 2007: Marquis Duncan - Massey Fellowship Winner (2006) completed 1 year term and was hired full-time by MPB Communications.
March 2007: Husseim Jebailey, (class 2000) now University Director for Knight Newspapers.
March 2007: The following students from the University of Central Florida have been selected to receive Region 3 Mark of Excellence Awards at regional conference in Gainsville, FL at the Paramount Resort and Conference Center.
Troy Hillier, General Column Writing, Column Collection : 3rd place
Melissa Patterson, Breaking News Reporting, SAE pledges found 'sobbing,' in costume: 1ST place
Matt Pollitt, General News Photography, Violence Hits : 1st place
Nada Taha, General News Reporting, Coping with grief, disbelief, 3rd place
Staff, Best All-Around Non-Daily Newspaper, Central Florida Future : 2nd place
February 2007: U-News debut - NSOC and the "Orlando Sentinel" debut a new page in the local & state section on Feb. 7th called U-News. The page features articles and photos produced and edited by journalism students at the NSOC. Steve Collins' Advanced Reporting class writes the stories and Rick Brunson's Editing 2 class edits them for publication. Appears weekly (started on Weds. was moved to Thurs. when the Sentinel added county sections.)
February 2007: Lordins Geffard, a Radio/TV Production senior was awarded the Dr. Tee Collins Scholarship. The award was presented by the Black Faculty and Staff Association at the 12th annual Joseph C. Andrews mentoring breakfast.
February 2007: Julie Zimmerman has been inducted into the Order of Pegasus. This is the most prestigious and significant student award that can be attained at the university. (Also Ana Suarez in the School of business, double major in Ad/PR.
February 2007: Gong Liu, won "Best of Show" at this year's (2007) Addy Awards sponsored by the Orlando Advertising Federation.
February 2007: Fall 2007 Roast and Toast scholarship winners: Sara Lofty, Lauren Caspanello, Drenita Shelton, Katrina Mustakas, Jessica Porta & Cara Mielke.
February 2007: Danyelle L Sutherland was selected as a ($2,000) recipient of the LeRoy Collins Memorial Scholarship by the Florida Independent College Fund.
November 2006: Suzette Farquharson-Morgan (completed Communication MA Fall 2001) recently published released a self-published book titled "Living Testimonies."
May 2006: Christine Dellert and Kim Calhoun were hired by the Orlando Sentinel immediately upon graduation. Within 90 days of Christine's hiring, she was named Sentinel employee of the Month for her front page coverage of the tragic Trenton Duckett case.
April 2006: Order of Pegasus Inductees (Ad/PR majors):
Noel Blanchet
Melissa Lanzone
Amy Schwartz
April 2006: Quotes won an Image Award in the 2006 OAC/FPRA Image competition. This was the highest award given in Category D - student entries. The award was for the best student PR campaign. It was presented at the Image Award banquet on April, 27, 2006 at the Orange County History Center.
Students were: Lauren Kern, Brittany Durcho, Courtney Austin, Kennedy Segler
February 2006: Four students from Knightly News had news stories air on WESH-TV as part of the station's coverage of Campaign 2006. One of those students, Heather Ford, introduced her story live on WESH during a newscast, the first time in that station's history that a college student aired a live report on its prime newscast.
March 2005: Susan Kaplan (completed Communication MA in Spring 2004) was selected for the College of Arts and Sciences 2005 Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching.
January 2004: The Nicholson School of Communication established a student chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. [ CFABJ Website ]
October 2003: Radio-Television Division Broadcast journalism senior Anne Deason has received a Clarion Award from the Association for Women in Communication. The national award was presented in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 2nd. Deason's television news feature, UCF Daycare won the only Clarion awarded in the student category. The report featured a UCF student's struggle as a single mother and the long waiting list for children's entry into the Creative School. The report aired on a fall 2002 edition of the WNSC Knightly News. The Clarion Awards is a renowned competition recognizing the best works from all communications fields. Entries are judged against the work of their peers in size and budget to ensure that everyone from the largest ad agency to the smallest newspaper are fairly considered. "This is just another example of why students should get involved in student chapters of professional organizations as soon as they can," said Deason. UCF's student chapter of AWC is advised by Carol Bledsoe in the Nicholson School of Communication.
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