Pulse 2015

PULSE Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication A publication of the JayMac Alumni Group | 2015

FOOTE PRINT

Dean for a decade, Joe Foote left his mark on Gaylord College

8

Tom Brokaw speaks in Molly Shi Boren Ballroom at Oklahoma Memorial Union at the largest luncheon in OU history.

Photo: Hugh Scott Spread: Robert H. Taylor

2

PULSE

OU President Boren introduces Gaylord Prize recipient Tom Brokaw.

Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication A Publication of the JayMac Alumni Group

2015

8 A Nation’s Anchor

Broadcasting icon Tom Brokaw visits OU to accept the Gaylord Prize 12 Foote Print

Q&A: Dean Joe Foote steps down — and back into the classroom 14 Continuing Tradition

Live On celebrates the university’s 125-year anniversary 18 Sowing Seeds

Katerina Tsetsura is passionate about growing the Graduate program 20 Twin Billing

Q&A: Erik and Karl Macias share the spotlight as award-winning CMP majors 22 Mr. Fix-It

Former OU wrestler Roger Frizzell pins down problems with tact and guile 24 I.T. Brain Trust

Q&A: Buddy Wiedemann and Michael Acker team up to keep Gaylord College on the cutting edge of technology

27 Classroom to Courtside

OU’s sports journalism opportunities continue to expand 28 A Sharper Image

The Creative Media Production program thrives following an HD upgrade 30 The New Influencers

Professionals and students from abroad ascend to new heights through their experience with Gaylord College

DEPARTMENTS

24

4 5 34 38 39 40 41 42 44 46

From the Interim Dean Gaylord Briefs Alumni Notes Faculty Updates Student Services H. H. Herbert Society JayMac Alumni Association Board of Visitors Celebrating Lives Final Thoughts

COVER Joe Foote, former dean of Gaylord College Photo: Shevaun Williams

3

From the Interim Dean

Gaylord Transition

D

EAR friends, welcome to the 2015 edition of Pulse, the alumni magazine of Gaylord College. As in past years, you will find updates on the creative — and award-winning — achievements of our students and the hardworking faculty who guide them.

Many of you do equally interesting work, and we chronicle some of your stories, too.

The year wasn’t without heartbreak, as we saw the passing of notable alums as well as a beloved professor, Owen Kulemeka, whose passion for Gaylord students — and the infectious, vibrant personality that accompanied it — won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

The tenure of outgoing dean Joe Foote gets top billing in Pulse this year, and for good reason. His decade as dean was filled with many accomplishments, as he helped guide the college through growth, oversaw a multimillion-dollar expansion of Gaylord Hall and headed up a celebration on the centennial of journalism at OU, among many other ventures.

The beneficiaries of Joe’s vision are the students — past, present and future. And his relentless focus on them and their

PHOTO: MASON DRUMM

The beneficiaries of Joe’s vision are the students — past, present and future.

MANAGING EDITOR/DESIGN Dwight Normile Adjunct professor of journalism STUDENT WRITERS Samantha Bechtold, William Gallagher, Mikaela McGhee, Kristen Smith, Emma Stoneham, Tess Thomson, Christina Wilson, Katie Wingfield

needs earned him a well deserved reputation as a student-first dean. Fortunately for us, Joe will return to the classroom as a Gaylord professor in January after a sabbatical this fall.

As you can imagine, following Joe is no easy task. He and I have about the same shoe size, but filling his are as tough as I imagined they would be. After a long career in the news industry, I was named interim dean in July by President Boren. I’ve spent the following weeks and months trying to learn as much as I can — and as quickly as possible — about overseeing a college with more than 1,000 students across five majors that plays such a prominent role, in a beautiful setting, on the Norman campus of the state’s flagship university.

The transition from the private sector to academia is as challenging as I envisioned. But the opportunity to work with outstanding faculty, a committed staff to support them, in a building full of some of the brightest and energetic young people journalism at OU has ever seen, is an incredibly rewarding experience.

I will work hard to continue the tradition that Joe Foote and others have upheld to make Gaylord College a topnotch program, one that helps shape the future leaders in media and related fields early in the 21st century.

—Ed Kelley Interim Dean

PHOTOGRAPHERS Hugh Scott, Robert H. Taylor, Shevaun Williams, Mason Drumm JAYMAC BOARD MEMBERS Daryle Voss/President James Tyree/Past President Members at Large David Joplin, Bill Moore, Linda Lake Young

Pulse is the annual magazine published by the JayMac alumni association of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University at the University of Oklahoma. Students in the spring 2015 class of the JMC 3011 Magazine Practicum provided the majority of the stories. OU Printing Services printed 10,000 copies of this issue at no cost to taxpayers of the state of Oklahoma. The Gaylord College distributes Pulse to alumni and friends of the journalism and mass communication program.

KEEP US UPDATED!

Let us know where you are and what you have been doing since you left OU. Send your updates to: Alumni Update gaylordalumni@ou.edu

Gaylord College 395 W. Lindsey St., Room 3000 Norman, OK 73019-4201 Changes of address may be made in the alumni directory at www.ou.edu/alumni or by calling the Alumni Records department at (405) 325-1700.

The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to: admissions, employment, financial aid and educational services.

Inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies may be directed to: Bobby J. Mason, University Equal Opportunity Officer and Title IX Coordinator, (405) 325-3546, bjm@ou.edu, or visit www.ou.edu/eoo.

Briefs STEYN VISITS WHITE HOUSE

E BILLUPS JOINS STUDENT SERVICES

D

ORION Billips (2013, BA in Journalism; 2015, MA in Adult & Higher Education) has been named to serve Gaylord College as the new Coordinator of Community Inclusivity. He joined the Gaylord College student services team in the Paul D. Massad Student Services Center.

Diversity and inclusiveness long have been important to the Gaylord College and valued in the journalism and mass communication fields. The Gaylord College leadership team has identified these areas that needed to be addressed at the academic unit level as well as the campus level.

Under former Dean Joe Foote’s leadership, scarce funds were identified and designated to create this key position, making Gaylord College one of the first units on campus to directly address these issues.

“I am looking forward to creating a greater sense of unity throughout the college by working with the deans, faculty, staff, unity groups and international students to highlight all of the wonderful communities within Gaylord College,” Billups said.

Billups brings to the position knowledge of student programming and a keen understanding of the value of community from working with OU Camp Crimson and the Graduation office. He also is very familiar with Gaylord College and its five majors after serving as a Gaylord Ambassador as an undergraduate.

LANIE Steyn, associate professor in the Gaylord College, and a delegation of five business leaders from Myanmar in the U.S. under a State Department grant administered by the University of Oklahoma, joined 70 other emerging leaders from Southeast Asia to meet with President Barack Obama last spring during the President’s Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative event at the White House.

YSEALI is the President’s signature initiative to strengthen leadership development across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), deepen engagement with young leaders on key regional and global challenges, and strengthen people-to-people ties between the United States and Southeast Asia, according to the White House press release. ASEAN comprises of Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar.

“One of the most powerful statements that President Obama made during the event was that the success of a country can be ‘measured by how it empowers its women and girls,’” Steyn said. “This is why the grant programs we do at Gaylord College are so important. The majority of our participants are women, and through our programs we have seen them grow as leaders, which in turn promotes democracy in their countries.”

The White House event corresponded with the end of the delegation’s month-long visit to Oklahoma, where they had professional placements with Oklahoma business leaders and entrepreneurs from technology and marketing companies, as well as the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

Steyn, along with former Gaylord College Dean Joe Foote and Jeff Moore, director of OU’s Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth, are co-investigators for a U.S. State Department exchange program between the University of Oklahoma and Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar.

Elanie Steyn (center) with five Burmese delegates at the White House event with YSEALI

5

Gaylord Briefs G

TOP 10 J-SCHOOLS

S

TEPHANIE Frederic, a 1982 Radio/TV/Film graduate, delivered an inspiring speech to our spring graduating class, encouraging them to be open to different pathways in life because occasionally you need to “pivot” from the direction you are going in order to seize an opportunity.

Gaylord College graduated 213 undergraduates and 25 graduate students, including one Ph.D., at the spring convocation on May 9.

Frederic is owner of FGW, a film production company in Los Angeles. She was named a JayMac Distinguished Alumni in 2015.

1).............. University of Missouri 2)................University of Georgia 3).......... Northwestern University 4t).................Syracuse University 4t)................ Columbia University 5t)........... University of Oklahoma 5t)..........Arizona State University 6t).........................Troy University 6t)...............Lyndon State College 7).....................Indiana University 8)..................... Boston University 9)................. New York University 10)................. University of Florida

I

N the annual News-Pro-RTDNA Top Journalism Schools poll of news professionals in December 2014, Gaylord College ranked in the top five.

Said one of the 673 respondents of Gaylord College: “The University of Oklahoma is an often-overlooked leader in journalism education.

The faculty set is a balanced mix of researchers and practitioners, giving students a healthy mix of cutting-edge research and on-the-job application. The Gaylord College houses an integrated advertising agency within its halls as well as a state-of-the-art broadcasting facility.

It’s a playground for future storytellers that should be commended on its rise in recent years.”

Gibbs Robinson Honored by College Media Association

J

UDY Gibbs Robinson, assistant director of Student Media and editorial adviser for The Oklahoma Daily, was honored in October 2015 in Austin, Texas, by the College Media Association, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to recognizing collegiate media advisers.

Gibbs Robinson was one of three to receive the Distinguished Newspaper Adviser Award at a four-year College or University. The other two were Hillary Warren (Otterbein University, Westerville, Ohio) and Chris Poore (University of Kentucky, Lexington).

Robinson also teaches JMC 2033 — Writing for the Mass Media, the college’s gateway journalism class.

Gibbs Robinson earned her master’s degree in journalism from OU in 2001, and was a broadcast editor for the Associated Press for 10 years and a senior reporter for The Oklahoman for four years following completion of her graduate work.

Gibbs Robinson also was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2015 (story in Alumni Notes).

6

Gaylord Briefs

TOP JOBS: A real-life connection E

ARLIER this year, I attended Lindsey+Asp’s Top Jobs for the first time. Representatives from both public relations and advertising agencies came to speak about their firms and meet with students individually.

The recruiting forum began with each agency giving a short presentation in the Gaylord auditorium. Most of them featured a creative video and overview of each agency, including clients and their workplace atmosphere. Afterward, attendees were able to sign up for “breakout sessions.”

Breakout sessions allowed small groups of students to sit down with agency representatives on a more personal level. I met with three agencies, and the first was MediaVest, a media group headquartered in Los Angeles. I was able to hear firsthand what it’s like living in L.A., and received great advice, such as finding an apartment or getting around town. I also learned a lot about modern-day media buying.

Next I met with a representative from the Dallas office of Ketchum. I learned a great deal about possible internships as well as firsthand accounts of their agency’s intern expectations.

The last agency I met with was Publicis Kaplan Thaler, from New York, and it was exceptional.

As the representative and I began talking, we realized that she had graduated with my dad and had known him since kindergarten! As we came to terms with how crazy a coincidence that was, we exchanged information.

Top Jobs not only introduced me to a wide range of agencies, but it also exposed me to the people who work in the industry. I think the biggest advantage of Top Jobs was getting to make a real-life connection with the people who will be hiring when we graduate. I loved my experience and highly recommend it to anyone pursuing a career in advertising or public relations.

—Ryan Barrett Senior Advertising major

Splash Media of Dallas takes a giant selfie with Gaylord students.

Dean Emeritus Joe Foote Wins Otis Sullivant Award

A

national leader in journalism and education, Joe Foote — former dean and Edward L. Gaylord Chair in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication — has been named the 2015 recipient of the $20,000 Otis Sullivant Award for Perceptivity at the University of Oklahoma.

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the selection committee, which is composed of faculty and staff members, students and alumni, makes the selection.

“Joe Foote is exactly the right person to receive this award,” said OU First Lady Molly Shi Boren, who chairs the selection committee. “He represents the best values of our university, and as a leader in our community with great perception, has put those values into action.”

“When Edith Gaylord established this award, she hoped it would recognize a member of the University of Oklahoma community who shared the same forward thinking and acute attention to detail as her dear friend Otis Sullivant,” said Bob Ross, president and CEO of Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. “Dean Foote exemplifies the perceptivity Edith was hoping to acknowledge.”

MOBILE VIDEO PROJECT

G

AYLORD College students and staff at nonprofit news organization Oklahoma Watch launched a mobile-video project entitled, “Talk With Us: Poverty in Oklahoma City Neighborhoods,” at www.TalkWithUs.net.

Gaylord College students and Oklahoma Watch reporters recorded short videos using mobile devices in northeast, south and west Oklahoma City, asking low-income residents to describe pressing concerns in their neighborhoods and lives. The videos are then shown to government officials or community leaders and their responses are videotaped.

The project is made possible by a grant from the Online News Association Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education. The grant is one of 12 awarded nationwide.

“We are excited about the opportunity for Gaylord College students to participate in a project that engages them with real-world issues that matter to Oklahoma City residents,” said David Craig, the college’s associate dean. “Doing these videos is exposing them to a broader, more diverse community than they find on campus.”

7

A Nation’s

ANCHOR

Broadcasting icon Tom Brokaw visits OU to accept the Gaylord Prize B Y K AT I E W I N G F I E L D

As crowds of people exited Oklahoma Memorial

Union in buzzing droves on a frigid February afternoon, one elderly man chatted animatedly into his phone.

“It was huge,” he exclaimed to a listener on the other end of the line. “It was huge!”

After he hung up, his female companion chimed in, “Wasn’t that good?”

“I knew it would be,” he replied.

They were raving about broadcast news icon Tom Brokaw and his inspiring speech as recipient of the 2015 Gaylord Prize. It is an honor reserved for nationally recognized media professionals with “a lengthy and distinguished career symbolized by high standards of excellence and immeasurable talent,” according to the award’s official description.

8

HUGH SCOTT

“

Today we have the privilege of honoring one of those people who built American journalism…

—OU President David Boren

Brokaw began his career with NBC in Los Angeles in 1966, covering milestones such as Ronald Reagan’s first run for office, the rise of 1960s counterculture, and the assassination of Robert Kennedy. After six years as host of The Today Show, he became anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News for more than two decades, an anchor who “we listened to and welcomed into our families and our living rooms,” said Boren.

This reputation was evident as Brokaw’s acceptance event was the largest luncheon in OU history, with attendees overflowing out of the Molly Shi Boren Ballroom and watching live streams from the Beaird Lounge and a number of rooms within the Oklahoma Memorial Union. All ROBERT H. TAYLOR

Brokaw certainly lived up to this standard after spending more than 50 years in the broadcast industry, publishing seven books, and accepting a plethora of national honors for his lifetime of work in the field. Just days before arriving at OU, he and Tom Hanks accepted the American Spirit Award in New York City for their faithfulness to preserving the history of World War II through their work with the World War II Museum in New Orleans. His previously scheduled visit to accept the Gaylord Prize in 2014 was postponed as he was invited to Washington, D.C., to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

“We think of some of those people who became icons to us because we trusted what they had to say,” said President David Boren in his opening remarks. “We trusted their integrity. We trusted their character. We trusted their devotion to the country. Today we have the privilege of honoring one of those people who built American journalism, built its credibility and maintained its credibility in very difficult times.”

in attendance were eager to hear words of wisdom from an iconic storyteller.

“There was a time in my life and in our profession when the money equation really changed to a lot more zeroes than any of us could ever have expected,” Brokaw said. “Suddenly I was being offered salaries that were beyond my ability to fully comprehend, and it began to get some attention in the press.”

Brokaw recalled his father calling him after reading the “excruciating” details in TIME magazine and wanting to know if the numbers were correct. When Brokaw asked why he was so insistent about discussing his salary, his father responded, “As long as your mother and I have known you, you’ve always run a little short at the end of the year. We need to know how much to put aside this year.”

Brokaw also remembered how his father would always phone to tell him how radio personality Paul Harvey had handled a news item that he had just covered. This running joke continued throughout Brokaw’s career, until his father died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 69, just a week before Brokaw was to begin at NBC Nightly News.

Following his father’s burial on a “bitterly cold, snow swept day in South Dakota,” one of Brokaw’s friends informed him that on the drive back from the cemetery, he had heard Paul Harvey on the radio. His closing news item had been, “In Yankton, South Dakota, today, they’re burying Anthony ‘Red’ Brokaw, construction foreman genius, father of Tom Brokaw, anchor of NBC Nightly News. How proud his father must have been, growing up on the northern prairie of South Dakota, that his son could arise to these heights in broadcast. So let us all remember Anthony ‘Red’ Brokaw on this day.”

This story embodied Brokaw’s belief in remembering “from whence you came,” a value that echoed throughout the room as President Boren presented Brokaw with the Stubbeman Glass eagle, a symbol of journalistic excellence.

It was the final eagle to be produced by the original Stubbeman Glass company, which is no longer in business. He told Brokaw, who holds an honorary degree from the University of Oklahoma, that he hoped it would be “a memory of this day and of the love and affection from all of us.”

Along with the eagle, Brokaw was presented with $25,000 donated by the Gaylord family, which he announced he would donate a large portion of to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization he helped found. The committee provides assistance to freelance journalists and those working for small publications who have little access to legal protection for high risk assignments.

OU President David Boren and wife Molly Shi Boren with Gaylord Prize recipient Tom Brokaw

10

After his acceptance speech in Memorial Union, Brokaw went to Gaylord Hall for a Q&A session with students.

“This is a terrible time for journalism because of what’s happening to journalists in the Middle East,” Brokaw explained. “It sickens me. I get very emotional when I think about these brave men and women, who are dedicated journalists, who are out there, get captured, and then get beheaded … I want you all to think about that, because they’re representing our right to know what’s going on, not just in our name, but in our culture as well.”

Brokaw also spoke of the changing landscape of journalism in the digital age.

“I believe in this new environment we have more and better sources than we’ve ever had in journalism before,” he said. “But you have to be proactive.”

Brokaw ended his speech by stating that this was his first visit back to the university since “I was roundly booed” at the OU-Nebraska football game in 2004, when President Boren brought him onto the field to be recognized. He knew it would happen, since Oklahoma, a red state, saw him as an East Coast liberal. He laughed at one blogger’s account of the event at the time: “Got tickets, my two children and me … the U. of Oklahoma-Nebraska football game, $150; three boxes of popcorn, $15; four banners, $60; chance to boo Tom Brokaw, priceless.”

The anecdote struck the right chord with the gathered guests. Eleven years after getting booed at Owen Field, Brokaw left Memorial Union to a standing ovation.

Katie Wingfield, who is from California, graduated in May in creative media production. She plans to one day turn her Internet addiction into a career.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

A

S the Gaylord Prize event drew to a close, Brokaw was joined on stage by journalism professor Mike Boettcher, a former NBC foreign correspondent who was present with Brokaw when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Since Brokaw would be on camera covering the historic event, he asked Boettcher if he could borrow his new blazer. Boettcher obliged and accepted Brokaw’s black leather jacket in return.

“After all these years, with it sitting in my closet,” Boettcher began as he placed the coat on Brokaw’s shoulders, “I couldn’t shake the feeling that it looked better on you.”

11

FOOTE PRINT DEAN FOR A DECADE, JOE FOOTE LEFT HIS INDELIBLE MARK ON GAYLORD COLLEGE

BY EMMA STONEHAM

JOE FOOTE’s decade of leadership as dean of Gaylord College was the result of many past experiences. A native of Durant, Oklahoma, he was the director of the journalism school at Arizona State, the first dean of the Mass Communication and Media Arts College at Southern Illinois, and he also taught at Cornell. Other roles, past and present, include press secretary, broadcaster, journalist, author, board member, husband and father. In spring 2015, Foote announced that he would step down as dean to work on his sabbatical. He also plans to return to the classroom as an instructor at Gaylord College.

Why did you decide to retire as dean?

You never know when the right time is … read a lot of articles about that [laughs], all good advice. Usually advice after the fact, because I don’t know that you do know, because you’re so involved, so captivated by what you do and love it so much that there is no natural stepping-off point. And yet, you look at it from a broader perspective and you know it’s something you should do and then trying to find the pathway to do it.

So it’s a difficult choice if you’re not burnt out. If you just don’t want to do the job anymore, that will make it a lot easier. But if you’re loving everything you do but you’re on the eve of retirement in three or four years and you want to do other things, [I realized] I better get going or there won’t be time to do these things.

12

What are your plans for your sabbatical?

We have several national projects we have in full swing, so [I’ll be] working on those, and then trying to immerse myself in the technology of education, trying to find new ways to deliver classes, better ways to present information to students.

What will you miss most as dean?

The connection with the students. In a way … I’ll still have a connection with students, probably more, so I’m really excited about that, but it’s not the same. Just having a key role in this college, [where] there’s been so much progress, so much change here over the past 15 years or so since journalism and mass communication became a college, it’s just intoxicating. The feeling you get from seeing that much progress right before your eyes … not being in the middle of that will be an adjustment, for sure, but we’ve got a great group

here. I know David Boren will select an outstanding leader, so I’ll just have to refocus myself to how I can make a contribution in another role.

What kind of impression do you think you’ve left on the Gaylord College?

[Laughs] I don’t think I can answer that. I’m sure it depends on who you talk to. My dog’s the only one who could give you for certainty the kind of impression I make.

What was your favorite part about being dean at Gaylord?

[Being] immersed in all the activities of students.

I’ve tried to be a student-centered dean and really trying to create new opportunities for students outside the classroom and to see student groups active, to see students win awards, and do well.

There are a lot of frustrations with being a middle-level university administrator just running a college, but the students are such an antidote to whatever down moments there are, because they’re so full of enthusiasm and talent and all of that. So the closer you can get to the students, the happier you’re going to be as a dean, because it always reminds you of why you’re here and what really builds you up.

And that’s one of the things that separates it from a normal administrative job in an office somewhere. You have a lot of frustrations but you don’t necessarily have that interaction with great, young minds and people who are going somewhere in their career and their future just unfolding before them. So just being in that atmosphere

is just terrific, and it easily washes away all of the administrative headaches that happen.

What has been your biggest challenge as dean?

I think the biggest challenge is balancing the practical, the professional side of the journalism and mass communications program with the more academic side, including graduate education. We have everything here from the B.A. with incoming freshmen to Ph.D.s going out the other end, and those students have very different demands and very different needs. And the faculty who work with those students have different orientations, whether they’re dealing with underclassmen or with the elite level of graduate students.

Where resources are placed, how decisions affect either one of those, so there’s an inherent tension at both of those poles for more resources, more attention and more primacy. And as dean you have to figure out how to balance that and to be fair through all of that as well as to be fair across five different majors.

What have you learned about yourself in the past decade?

Let me think about that a second [pauses for about 15 seconds]. I really am thinking [laughs and pauses again]. Well, it’s a tough job to please everyone … and probably what I’ve learned about myself the most is how introverted I am. I think, to do this job, it really helps if you’re more of an extrovert. And I love people and all that, but I’m just not the kind of person who takes a lot of initiative interpersonally a lot of times, so I think I would’ve been a lot better dean if I had that personality, which I don’t.

I didn’t realize I was as introverted until I was dean and seeing how you have to force yourself to get out and about, because I’m very content just to be in this office doing all the petty things. But that’s the best answer I can give you.

What do you hope to achieve next?

I’m very much a change advocate — that’s just who I am, probably to the extreme. But I always want to be moving forward, I always want to be looking at the next edge of technology, the next edge of higher education and teaching. I hope I’m out there proposing good ideas, activating good ideas right to the end.

Higher education is going through quite a disruption now. During the entire 20th century we were a static institution, we set the rules, students showed up, we told them what they needed to do and they did it. Now there are so many competitors in higher education, there’s so many ways to access this information, and we can’t be sitting on our hands. We have to change even when it isn’t a comfortable change, and if I can be one person out there … looking at new ideas, that’s probably the best role I can play.

“

I’m proud that any student who comes to Gaylord College has had the very best tools of the trade in technology to tell their stories and realize their dreams as well as anyone in the world.

I think some of us in the majority need to try extra hard to make sure people feel welcome here at Gaylord College and that the under-represented students don’t feel that much of an otherness in this building. If I help better that way in making them feel a part of things we have here, that would give me a lot of gratification.

How do you promote journalism as a viable major to parents of new students?

There’s a disconnect right now between 18-yearolds coming into this field and their parents.

If you spend time in Gaylord Hall, you’re just automatically impressed with the positive attitude people have going into this. My generation’s hang-up is with legacy media and whether it’s going to die or not is not shared by people your

age. You’re looking to the future and you don’t really care if newspapers go away … you want to find a way to communicate and express yourself, tell stories the best way you can, and you’re optimistic that there’s going to be a future out there and it makes a very exciting world.

But you know that, you believe that, you have that zeal to do it. But people who are my age … it’s very easy for them to see it as a dead-end field … so I understand that … but students have made a believer out of me that that’s not what’s happening. There is a very bright future on the other end and you have the opportunity to write that future. My generation just fit in a slot and got out of school.

Now that’s talking about journalism mainly, but in public relations it’s a different story where that field is bursting at the seams … every company and organization is hiring people who know how to tell stories, who know how to communicate in various visual forms, who know how to strategically help an organization achieve its goals. All those fit under that general rubric of strategic communication, so that’s happening positively anyway without disruption. Journalism is going to have to go through a severe disruption and come out the other side stronger. But I think our students are buckled up and they’re in there ready to take that.

What are you most proud of during your tenure as dean?

First of all, that we have created so many co-curricular student activities for students. There are three dimensions that we live in: there’s the academic world and getting a degree; there’s the professional world that students go to for their careers; but in journalism and mass communication we have this very robust middle ground of making that transition from academic to professional. And it involves a lot of student media opportunities like we have in Gaylord College, and it involves a lot of organizations, meaning internships, externships, all the things inn Lindsey + Asp and Sports Pad, OU Nightly, Routes TV. I don’t know how we could’ve done a better job in that area, so whatever small contribution I made to that, I’m very proud of. I’m also proud of our facilities, our technology, and that’s not our most important thing, [which is] our creativity.

And I’m proud that any student who comes to Gaylord College has had the very best tools of the trade in technology to tell their stories and realize their dreams as well as anyone in the world.

Emma Stoneham is a senior online journalism major from Pittsburgh who plans on moving to New York City after graduation, hoping to live like Carrie Bradshaw. In the summer of 2015 she interned at Town & Country magazine in New York.

13

Aerial view of campus

Continuing Tradition Live On celebrates the university’s 125-year anniversary

BY WILLIAM GALLAGHER

I

N 1889, the lands of Oklahoma were rolled over by schooners with settlers searching for new life. A year later, the University of Oklahoma was established by

the Oklahoma Territorial Legislature, and it continues as a leading university 125 years later.

“Live On, University” is a common echo off the walls of Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on select Saturdays in the fall. The same phrase has now become the title for a new fundraising campaign at the University of Oklahoma, commemorating its 125-year anniversary. The

David Ross Boyd, first OU President

14

exciting, new fundraising campaign has been underway since September 2014 and will last two years.

“Each college … and numerous programs of study are celebrating in numerous ways OU’s 125th anniversary,” said Tripp Hall, vice president of development. “There are special events scheduled: lectures, teaching seminars, special studies, musical tributes, etc. Each of these will involve students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends.”

“Live On” involves several ambitious projects throughout the upcoming years. With questions looming about financial support for the new football stadium renovations, one would think that the university has its hands full with raising money already.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The university and Board of Regents have split the two campaigns and are focusing on separate groups for funding. Although lower oil prices have presented the state with economic worries and problems, board members are optimistic about reaching their goal.

So, how much is needed when it comes to the “Live On University” campaign? The university is asking for around $500 million over the course of the campaign. The price might seem steep, but definitely not insurmountable.

So what does this campaign mean for the university and specifically for Gaylord College?

Each individual college has its own fundraising goals, but there are major, university-wide initiatives that are being implemented as well.

These include the sought-after residential colleges that have long been in the works at the university. The main purpose is to strengthen OU’s position as a residential university by creating a place of living and learning for students after the freshman year. Other projects include expanding scholarships and fellowships to extend access to higher education for qualified students across all majors. Along with the arrival of more scholarships across the campus, Gaylord College will benefit directly from the “Live On” campaign by receiving even more scholarship funding.

“Since we launched the campaign in September 2014, we have seen a tremendous response from young alumni, donors, corporations and friends of the university,” said Kaneisha Lloyd, former director of development for Gaylord College.

Hall said that Live On will bring more than just student scholarships.

“

Live On, University is a common echo off the walls of Gaylord Memorial Stadium…. The same phrase has now become the title for a new fundraising campaign at the University of Oklahoma.

Class of 1905

First OU student, Marion Donahew

Prentice Gautt, first black football player, 1956 PHOTOS: WESTERN HISTORY COLLECTIONS

15

South Oval

Memorial Union in 1946

“Professorships and endowed chairs for faculty, updating classroom and research facilities, improvements to athletics venues, endowing top programs of study on all three campuses are just a few examples,” he said.

Many alumni and recent graduates have been helping Gaylord continue its tradition of excellence and molding students into successful workers with private donations.

“Everyone is excited to be involved in this milestone celebration of all that OU has become and all that it will become,” Lloyd said.

Over a century ago, OU’s first president, David Ross Boyd, planted roots for this university in Norman, and today they have spread not only throughout the state, but also around the world.

With the arrival of President David Boren in 1994, study-abroad programs moved to the forefront of the OU experience. Opportunities to study in other parts of the world have grown tremendously through campus-sponsored colleges outside of the United States.

Today, study-abroad programs are a great

North end of the football field

experience through Gaylord College and offer awesome incentives.

Through the “Live On” campaign, more money will be focused on sending students from Gaylord College to locations all over the globe to experience how journalism and mass communications are working internationally.

With general scholarships and study abroad as the two main projects, the third entry point is improving curricular development.

Hester Hall in 1946

“We have money for helping faculty developing their research, but we don’t have a fund for helping faculty to innovate in new forms of learning that will really make a difference in the classroom,” said former Gaylord College Dean Joe Foote.

Foote, who stepped down as dean in August and will soon return to his original role as an instructor, explained that teachers need the resources available to help students to create groundbreaking projects.

Scholarships, study abroad and curricular development are all major areas of Gaylord College that will be expand through the “Live On, University” campaign.

OU has come a long way since its early years.

The venerable Holmberg Hall was completed in 1916, and in 1925, William Bizzell took over the university’s presidency. The football team won its first championship in 1950, and in 1971, the beautiful Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum was completed.

Most importantly to journalism students, the first phase of the amazing Gaylord Hall was finished in 2004.

The past decade at Gaylord has been an exciting time. In this, the early part of the 21st century, there is a new feel to the university that rivals any other college on campus.

With its state-of-the-art building and latest technology, along with some of OU’s brightest students, Gaylord College is thriving.

The tradition of excellence at the University of Oklahoma is essential to its students’ success.

Through the “Live On, University” campaign, Gaylord can ensure that the students of tomorrow will have an even better experience as a Sooner.

William Gallagher is a junior creative media production major from Yukon, Okla. He enjoys good music and plans to pursue a career in audio production.

16

Original faculty members William N. Rice, David Ross Boyd, French S. E. Amos and Edwin C. DeBarr

The Sequoyah Club, 1928

Black Heritage Week, 1978

Jacobson Hall

The first band, 1904

Sooner Magazine, first published in 1928 with Joe Brandt as editor

17

Sowing Seeds Katerina Tsetsura is passionate about growing the Graduate Studies program

BY EMMA STONEHAM

K

ATERINA Tsetsura has talked a lot. She has communicated in Russia during college. She has been a keynote speaker in Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico and the U.K. for international conferences. She has lectured at the University of Oklahoma with her own Dream Course. The question now for the strategic communications and public relations professor: How will she perform as the new director of Graduate Studies?

Upon meeting Tsetsura, you immediately hear a pronounced accent. Her warm tone is like a cliffhanger of a really good book; you want to hear more. Her inviting smile and lively personality are welcoming. And while she loves to speak about her numerous experiences, she remains humble.

But Tsetsura has definitely paid her dues.

She started her journey in her native Russia at Voronezh State University for her undergraduate degree. That’s where a professor promoted a new area for students: public relations. Tsetsura jumped at the opportunity, 18

which later sparked her interest in communications.

After teaching at the university, Tsetsura wanted to learn more about communications and public relations.

Since there were no post-graduate degrees in public relations there, Tsetsura headed west to the United States. She received her master’s degree from Fort Hays State and her doctoral degree at Purdue, both in communications.

“Once you get the bug of the graduate school and how exciting it is to do research, it’s hard to leave,” she says.

Tsetsura’s area of research interest over the years has been media transparency, international and global strategic communication, and global media and public relations ethics.

Her interest in media transparency was sparked when she was approached by people in public relations who said a PR agency in Moscow was having problems with bribery of news releases. The agency created an experiment with a news release about a fake store opening, and sent it out to several newspapers. Some of the newspapers called back to state the cost of publishing the news release. The agency sent out a message that this issue of not checking facts and articles around Russia and other countries needs to be addressed. Tsetsura wanted to know more and was invited to join the very first media transparency team.

After receiving her education, Tsetsura set out to teach around the world about communication and to gain perspective. During her sabbatical at OU, she was able to do her re-

search assignment in Hong Kong. There, she learned about the Asian practices of public relations and spent time at the City University of Hong Kong. Tsetsura immersed herself into the multicultural city, a mix of western and traditional cultures. As she talked about Hong Kong, her eyes lit up and her voice conveyed excitement and appreciation for the city’s culture.

“There are lots of amazing contrasts,” she says. “On one hand, there’s this very westernized banking system, and then you turn around three or four blocks and you can end up in a very small area of a local fish market.”

When traveling to a new country, Tsetsura starts walking the streets, without looking at the map, to get lost and discover the country on her own.

“In order to find yourself, you have to get lost,” she says. “If you get lost somewhere abroad to find yourself, that’s the best opportunity to learn from your travels.”

Along with lecturing around the world, she is the chair of the PRSA Global Affairs Committee. She also chaired the PR Division of the National Communication Association in order to speak on global media and communication throughout the world. Tsetsura stands behind OU President David Boren in wanting every student to experience traveling abroad and live in another culture.

“I very much appreciate the fact that every culture is really different from where you come from, and it’s really sometimes impossible to understand what people experience,” she says. “We need to try to let our guard down and try to understand why the life elsewhere is not the same as the life here.”

After teaching and lecturing around the world, Tsetsura succeeded Meta Carstarphen as the new director of Graduate Studies for Gaylord College in 2014. The Gaylord graduate program has many students from around the world, and through her own travels, Tsetsura hopes to bring different ideas to the table in her new position.

“

With the right soil, with the right tools, with the right people, and with the right plants, I was able to grow incredible tomatoes. And I plan on doing the same thing with the graduate program.

“I’d like to think that the fact I have been traveling and I have been exposed to different circumstances in life, I can understand really what students are struggling with and what students are going through,” she says.

Tsetsura will be working on a plan to strengthen the master’s program by adding leadership positions, a welcoming community among the graduate students, a mentor program with graduate alumni, and creating opportunities for Gaylord alumni to pursue their master’s degrees. She spoke about how important conversations with graduate students are strengthening the graduate programs.

Former Gaylord College Dean Joe Foote thinks Tsetsura is already doing an impeccable job in her new post.

“The excitement and experience she brings to this position will really help,” he says with pride. “She’s making progress and setting up tangible things already.”

Tsetsura believes that the student conversations outside school — where they come from, what they want, where they see themselves — are important in building a better program. After all, aren’t the graduate programs about the students?

When asked about her greatest accomplishment, Tsetsura thought long and hard before giving an answer.

“My mom has a list of things of what she thinks my greatest accomplishments are, but mine is quite different from my mom’s,” she says with a laugh.

After reflecting on everything she has done in her life, Tsetsura wisely decided that her greatest accomplishment has not occurred yet. She knows it is somewhere out there. However, she does have a greatest accomplishment in the state of Oklahoma: growing tomatoes. Yes, the director of Graduate Programs says she and her family have had little success growing tomatoes in Oklahoma — until this year. Now she has tomatoes in her back yard. After learning how to grow tomatoes in Oklahoma, Tsetsura believes she can do anything.

“With the right soil, with the right tools, with the right people, and with the right plants, I was able to grow incredible tomatoes,” she says. “And I plan on doing the same thing with the graduate program.”

Emma Stoneham is a senior online journalism major from Pittsburgh who plans on moving to New York City after graduation, hoping to live like Carrie Bradshaw. In the summer of 2015 she interned at Town & Country magazine in New York.

19

T win Billing Erik and Karl Macias have shared the spotlight as

award-winning Creative Media Production majors

BY CHRISTINA WILSON

F

OR Erik and Karl Macias, twin creative media production graduating seniors, success has become a habit. On April 23, 2015, they won second place in the magazine format category of the College Television Awards, otherwise known as the College Emmys, for their film Hell in the Heartland. It centers on the deadly Moore tornadoes of 2013.

Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, the Macias twins quickly made Norman their home. They also made it their goal to put Gaylord College on the map. With support from both their family and instructors at Gaylord, Erik and Karl started their own business, called Twinflux, in 2013. Unassumingly funny, humble and incredibly well spoken, they’re salt-of-the-earth people. And yes, they do finish each other’s sentences.

I’ve found that filmmakers are storytellers at their core. Where did your love of story come from?

Karl: Interesting question. I don’t know, I think it’s cool helping people tell their stories, you know, and I feel like every single person has something to share. A lot of the stories we’ve done have been people who have gone through hardship and kind of turned their life around afterwards. So I think it’s cool to share those kinds of messages with people.

Erik: We enjoy just really helping people out, like a lot of our stories have been about the Moore tornado and we found this guy who was a struggling drug addict. We … just like giving these people a second chance to express themselves. Honestly, it just feels good when we can take a subject that’s kind of dark but … put a positive twist on it, and really show that there’s more to the devastation or drugs than just that act. We can really show something that’s good that comes out of it, rather than just the Moore tornado—all this destruction and that’s it. It’s all about showcasing their talent.

Karl: I feel like it’s almost sort of giving back, using our skills and our major to give back to the community or whoever needs the help. Whether it’s a business or a certain person who is struggling, I feel like it’s a good way to use our skills and showcase their talent or their story.

Do you both have more of a documentary style than a creative fiction angle?

Erik: Yeah, we go for more documentary. That’s what we enjoy doing, just mainly interview-based with b-roll edit in to make it more visually interesting.

20

Karl: And I’d say that whenever we do shoot b-roll or other segments, we try to put a little bit more creative twist on it, rather than just having a more news-style package. We like to add more cinematic or creative elements to it, I would say.

And I feel like that’s really helped us a lot in our college career.

Is there a favorite documentary that you’ve seen? Or movie?

Karl: Don’t really have a favorite, but I’d say some top movies are Forrest Gump, Slumdog Millionaire. But if we’re trying to go more documentary … we enjoy watching ESPN sports documentaries. Those are pretty good. Maybe my favorite documentary was Craigslist Joe. I thought that was pretty interesting, just for me.

Erik: You kind of covered all the favorite movies.

I found [Craigslist Joe] interesting too. It was this guy living off Craigslist for a month. That was cool how they shot it.

Karl: I mean, Pumping Iron — but that’s not like our favorite.

Erik: I say we watch more … reality TV documentary stuff — like Catfish and stuff like that.

We kind of pick up a lot of techniques or elements from MTV reality/documentary work.

Are they someone you’d like to work for one day?

Erik: I don’t know if it would be necessarily working for them, but some projects along those lines would be great. I think that’s kind of the route we want to do.

How long have you been creating your content?

Erik: We started when we were 14. Our grandparents bought us this little Handycam with the minidisks in it. We used to set that up and … make fake music videos. Ever since then it went through a transition period.

Karl: We went to the New York Film Academy music video camp [the summer before] we were going to be freshmen in high school. And that really kind of laid a foundation as far as some multi-camera work and music videos. …From there, we started shooting some projects for class—English class was definitely one where we put a lot of video projects in there because we went to a private school. They were pretty lenient as far as what you could do. Then, … we had a film internship with the executive producer, an actor out of Dallas. His name was Johnathan Brownlee.

When was this?

Karl: It was our senior year of high school. He was basically a mentor — it wasn’t a kind of go-grab-coffee sort of internship. He would look over old projects and help us out and give us suggestions on edits and stuff like that. He really took us under his wing, and really gave us some good advice before we entered college. After that, we started taking Gaylord classes. Everything we’ve worked on, we’ve done trial-and-error up until now. I feel like our success has been attributed to starting at such a young age, and just going through mistakes.

Erik: When we came here, we had already touched cameras and used editing software, and a lot of the students we were in classes with … that was the first time they had ever used an editing software. …I feel like just coming in with a foundation … of just some prior knowledge … really helped us out. When we first started in some of these early practicums, we were producing some work that our teacher said was a little more crisp and polished.

Karl: They noticed that we had some previous experience, and they just were like building us up to where we are now. They said, ‘We want you guys to focus on fine tuning these skills.’ It just took off from there.

Do you feel like directors have to do it all these days?

Erik: I think directors that are already in the in-

“

We started when we were 14. Our grandparents bought us this little Handycam with the minidisks in it. We used to just set that up and mess around with our friends and make fake music videos.

—Erik Macias

KARL

dustry have less responsibility. I think people our age, you know, in this new technology era, with DSLR cameras, have learned more aspects of the production process. Most of the time we shoot, we edit, we produce. Everything, just us two. So we have to take on more responsibility for videos we do. Some other times we’ll have a crew … but a lot of the time the work we do is just a two-man team.

Karl: I think it depends on what you want. Some people are just going to focus on directing, like with all this new technology you need to have a pretty good idea about multiple different aspects of the industry, rather than just directing. … If a director doesn’t know technical things about the production, or doesn’t know about the post-production process, then maybe it’s going to be more difficult for them to make it in the industry. That’s just my personal view on it.

Do you work on everything together?

Karl: I’d say since we were 14 we’ve both been involved in every production we’ve done.

Erik: There have been a few class projects here and there that we’ve done on our own, but we always listen to each other’s suggestions. I’ll be like, ‘Hey, take a look at this, what do you think?’

Karl: Yeah, we just enjoy working. It’s tough to find another person, honestly, that is going to be on the same page as you and have that same creative vision and drive. Not saying that we can’t work [with others], it’s just the way it’s been going. It’s been a blessing to be able to take these classes together. Yes, some teachers want us to separate a little bit, but I think this equation is working.

Tell us about some of your awards?

Karl: Well, last year, we won a few OBEA

ERIK

(Oklahoma Broadcast Education) awards for our episode of The Set that we directed. We also each produced a feature story that did well in that competition. From there, those same stories went on to the Society of Professional Journalists and we each got a Region 8 Mark of Excellence award for our work — Erik did a sports television feature reporting story….

Erik: And with the same Set episode, we won a BEA award, which is a national award. So that was the biggest achievement we received last year. And then we just found out … this year that we did well in the OBEAs again with Routes TV, the show that we executive produce. We got first place for …?

Karl: Entertainment/Talkshow. We were selected by (former) Dean Foote and Gaylord College to enter a piece into the Hearst Awards for the feature category, and we placed sixth there, which is the highest that any Gaylord student has ever placed. That’s a more traditional news competition, and I feel like our story was, as we said, creative and entertainment-based. So had we gone more “behind the desk” about it we would have placed higher. The newest and I think most important news we’ve received is that we are nominated for a College Television Award, which is the student Emmy, or College Emmy Award.

(They earned second place.)

Erik: And that’s for Routes TV, some of our producing work.

How does it feel to have so much success?

Karl: I mean, it’s truly been a blessing to have been given all these opportunities here at the University of Oklahoma, especially in Gaylord College. We’ve won 12 awards together now, including some state, some regional, and some

nationally now. So we’re trying to just keep building upon that while we can, before we graduate.

Without these practicums and really the mentorship from two professors in particular, Kathleen Johnson and Mike Boettcher, they’ve … really given us so many opportunities to just grow as students.

Erik: It’s nice, too, that we’ve been given all these opportunities, but also to kind of put Gaylord College out there. We take a lot of pride in the success we have, and it’s nice to give Gaylord College a good name in these competitions, especially something like the College Television Awards. It’s a really cool opportunity for us to put them on the map, and say, ‘Hey, this college can be taken seriously in video production and journalism.’

Karl: Basically, bring some entertainment to Oklahoma that you wouldn’t normally think of.

When you think of Oklahoma, you don’t think it’s going to be … a big dog in the media industry.

Erik: Because a lot of the competition we’ve been against has been California … USC, Berkeley, Florida, NYU, BYU, things like that. So it’s cool to put Oklahoma up with them.

Where do you see yourselves in five years?

Erik: We’re really hoping that this College Television Award event on April 23 (2015) is going to give us more answers. We’re going to get a chance to network and meet industry professionals. So hopefully, they can direct or guide us in the right path. As far as location, we’ve always talked about Texas or California.

Karl: I would like to run our company with Erik and actually compete and have a big name out there. Obviously, you have to start somewhere and we realize that our future, as in us staying together, is uncertain for now. Hopefully, in five years, with enough experience at the jobs we get, maybe we can partner back up or join forces again.

Erik: Well, we try to stay humble about it. We really don’t want to be narcissists. But it is great to get these achievements. We just don’t want to come off as knowing it all or being too entitled or too good. We want to stay true to our roots, and realize that without these opportunities here, we wouldn’t be where we are now.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Karl: I’d just like to say to prospective students or other students here, it’s just really important to utilize the opportunities with these practicums and classes and professors while you can.

Because we’re all here trying to fight to get a job or just improve our well-being. And I think if you can utilize all the resources here at Gaylord College, from the professors to the practicums, you can really make something of yourself.

Christina Wilson is a senior professional writing major from Fort Worth, Texas. She hopes to move to Austin after she graduates and work for a magazine.

21

MR. FIX-IT

Former OU wrestler Roger Frizzell pins down problems with tact and guile

BY MIKAELA MCGHEE

W

HETHER on the mat or in the conference room, Roger Frizzell has faced every challenge with hard work and determination.

This type of fortitude and willpower led to his reputation as Mr. Fix-It in the crisis communication world. Frizzell handles major issues that could severely damage a company’s reputation and brand, negatively impact financial results and stock price, and harm its relationships with customers and other key stakeholders.

“I never was the fastest or the strongest athlete, so I had to rely on technique and strategies to win, almost like a chess match,” says Frizzell, an All-American wrestler and an Academic All-American who graduated in 1982 from OU with a degree in public relations. “That same

approach serves me well in the job I do today, and it makes it a lot of fun!”

Frizzell gravitated to this line of work because he liked the challenge it provides. The atmosphere granted him a place where his craft was sorely needed and greatly appreciated.

Frizzell started his career at AT&T, and quickly learned that crisis communications would become part of his future. He dealt with one of the biggest break-ups in history when the Bell System divided AT&T by separating it from each of the seven regional Bell Telephone companies, including as BellSouth, Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell, Mountain Bell and Bell Atlantic.

Frizzell credits an encouraging boss who supported him to take chances and think outside the box. A key to being successful in crisis communication is to have a plan in place and execute it well before the trouble ever hits.

Some of the crises that have earned Frizzell his nickname include product recalls, plane crashes, gas-line explosions, nuclear issues, ship incidents, employment strikes and company boycotts.

“One of the more difficult days I can recall at American Airlines was when I came into the office to learn that our entire MD-80 fleet was in the process of being grounded by the FAA,” Frizzell says.

To address the situation, Frizzell and his team first dealt with the crisis of being grounded (for consumers) without warning.

Then they needed to showcase that the grounding was unnecessary based on the facts and, instead, was based on the political situation between the FAA and Congress.

A four-time All-American at OU, Frizzell was an alternate to the 1980 U.S. Olympic wrestling team.

22

Fixing problems such as these is what Frizzell believes people in his field are paid to do and that’s why they hire them in the first place.

“I think many companies do pretty well in the initial crisis, but fall short by not implementing a longer-term crisis plan to help the brand recover from the damage,” says Frizzell, who has been with Carnival Corp. since June 2013 as its chief communications officer and vice president of corporate communications.

He believes crisis communication follows a basic formula. The company or corporation should apologize, make sure the business is doing the right things to fix the problem and over-communicate to broadly share what the company is doing to resolve the crisis.

Frizzell also believes in planting seeds of goodwill with stakeholders well before a crisis ever happens. This type of strategy has worked with every company Frizzell has been hired by to solve a crisis.

“No single crisis is quite the same, but there are a lot of similarities in each one of them,” he says. “There is a tendency for companies to go dark — and that’s the worst thing that you can do.

I have found that the basic formula works pretty well across industries, but it requires a calm, steady approach, a good plan, outside voices of support and enough resources to help handle the crisis. You also need a good partnership with [the] legal team to make sure you are doing the right thing versus doing what might be best to prevent longer-term legal action.”

Frizzell grows a little after every crisis. The work also challenges him in ways he never expected and tapped a reserve within himself he never even knew he had.

“Personally, I love moving to different industries and facing new challenges,” he says. “It is one of the reasons I love what I do for a living … it’s never boring, that’s for certain!”

Reg Rowe has worked with Frizzell for 20 years as a consultant and public relations agency executive. He also believes his colleague is the best at what he does.

“While Roger has fixed problems he has encountered in his career, I would liken him more to Bob the Builder. He even looks like Bob,” Rowe says. “Roger’s genius is in being able to take an

Frizzell has excelled in corporate crisis management at companies such as AT&T, Carnival Corp., American Airlines and Pacific Gas & Electric. Part of his strategies resulted from nightly phone calls with his father.

existing team, discover each member’s particular talent and skills, and then trusting them implicitly to perform. He also is able to bring together the best talent to ensure he is providing his company with the very best insight, strategy and tactics.”

Rowe believes Frizzell belongs in the world of crisis communication because it isn’t just the top brass’s response in full view of the public. It starts long before the CEO steps up to the microphones and stares into the camera lenses. It begins with the development of a crisis communications plan that provides a detailed road map of how the organization will respond to a variety of scenarios.

It also doesn’t hurt that Frizzell is a nice guy.

“Not only is Roger one of the best public relations professionals on the planet, he is one of the very best people on the planet,” Rowe says. “I don’t know of anyone who does not like Roger.

He is unpretentious, down to earth and respectful of everyone he meets.”

Frizzell’s dedication to the public relations profession and his laser focus on the job can be attributed to his wrestling background. A three-time state champion at Midwest City High School, he

“

Personally, I love moving to different industries and facing new challenges.

It is one of the reasons I love what I do for a living … it’s never boring, that’s for certain!

became a four-time All-American at OU in what many call the Golden Era of Wrestling.

“Wrestling is the most difficult sport in the world,” Rowe says. “To excel at a world-class level takes more dedication and focus that 99.99 percent of people could ever understand.

Roger Frizzell performed at a world-class level for four consecutive years while at OU, earning All-American honors from 1980-1983. J. Carl Guymon, one of the finest wrestling writers of any generation, said that Roger was the best wrestler never to have won a national championship. The reason was two Hall of Fame wrestlers, Nate Carr of Iowa State and Kenny Monday of Oklahoma State, were in Roger’s weight class.

Frizzell, a member of Gaylord’s Board of Visitors, has been able to combine his two loves of wrestling and crisis communication, and they came in handy when the International Olympic Committee voted in 2013 to drop wrestling from the Olympics. With Frizzell on the committee formed to save the sport, wrestling was reinstated.

Another crisis averted.

“I absolutely loved the opportunity to help put the sport of wrestling back in the Olympic Games — something that may never have happened without my broad crisis background,” Frizzell says.

Frizzell uses his competitive nature to pull a reversal at the height of a crisis.

“I’ve seen him do it time and time again, in five Fortune 100 companies and with a global sports organization — usually when the stakes were highest,” said former co-worker Rick Wilbins, president of Forté Group, Inc. “Roger’s genius — and it is truly genius — is figuring out what

unprecedented, seemingly risky play is going to reverse the order of things — to make the unwinnable winnable.”

Frizzell obtained this strategy from nightly calls with his father, who would help him arrive at solutions. Frizzell learned everything he knows from personal experience, not from self-help books that teach leaders to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Wilbins attributes Frizzell’s passion and desire to succeed in the board room to his days wrestling at the Olympic level. During this time, he learned not to be afraid of punishment, which is what you get when someone defies rules in the corporate world.

“Always with remarkable grace under fire, Roger taps into his incredible insights about human behavior and convinces the powers-thatbe to make moves and take risks no one could otherwise imagine taking,” Wilbins says.

All in all, the man is a living superhero without the cape. Every day, Frizzell taps into his insights (powers), wears his suit (costume) and drives (flies) to work. He goes to the office and does what some might say is impossible.

“It is a journey that never ends in my view … but a big part of the fun is the journey itself,” he says.

Frizzell may have been an Olympic alternate in wrestling, but he’s a team leader in the business world.

Mikaela McGhee is a senior online journalism major from Byers, Texas. After graduation, she plans to venture into sports journalism with aspirations of being a reporter for ESPN.

23

I.T. Brain Trust Buddy Wiedemann and Michael Acker team up to keep Gaylord College on the cutting edge of technology

Buddy Wiedemann is a man of many talents. A native of El Reno,

Oklahoma, he graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in music/piano performance, and from 1992-97 he earned degrees in computer science and journalism/advertising, also at OU. He wasn’t finished, however. After earning a master’s degree in journalism/electronic media and new technology in 2003, Wiedemann joined the staff of Gaylord College as director of Information Technology.

“Buddy is close to the indispensable staff member in Gaylord College,” says former dean Joe Foote. “The incredible progress in technology that we have made as a college during the past decade can be traced to Buddy’s talent, dedication and perseverance. …What we all take for granted on a daily basis, the finest technology system on the OU campus, would not be here if it weren’t for Buddy.”

Let’s meet the man who keeps Gaylord College wired, and all with a perpetual smile.

BUDDY WIEDEMANN

24

You graduated with a degree in music/piano performance. Why did you go back to school?

Originally, I entered the graduate program in piano, but felt burned out after being in school most of my life and decided to move to Tulsa and take a position with AT&T. I quickly realized I needed to be back in school and returned to Norman.

I started out as a professional writing major, then began taking news-writing courses. I worked briefly as a graduate teaching assistant for the English department, teaching freshman composition.

Then I took a position in the business world for about five years before returning to OU to pursue a master’s degree in computer science. That required me to take a lot of math courses, which I did. After completing all the requirements to enter the program, I had a change of heart and came back to journalism, where I completed a second bachelor’s degree and then an M.A. in journalism.

Why do you like your position?

This job requires me to think on my feet. It’s a lot more fun for me to solve a new problem every day than it is to just perform a task. Technology is an exciting field, and I think I’m mature enough now to realize when technology is just dazzling and when it’s actually useful.

What daily challenges do you face?

The IT department in Gaylord must act as a liaison between people and machines. Machines are constantly changing, and there seems to be a tendency for people to resist change as they grow older. Convincing faculty and staff that adapting to change is beneficial can be a challenge. That’s why it’s important for us to discern when a new technology is actually useful and when it’s just a really cool idea.

Have you always been technological?

I was a musician for the first third of my life. When I first graduated from OU, there were no personal computers. I typed papers for my senior classes and some graduate classes on a Smith Corona Selectra typewriter. When I was teaching freshman composition, most students handed in handwritten papers. The word processor as a

“

Never take technology for granted. Always test it. Test it again. If you think technology will never let you down, well, you need to get a puppy.

Puppies won’t let you down.

consumer item was just in its infancy. I first encountered a desktop computer when I worked for AT&T. They also used computers for self-paced training, and I still remember how efficient and effective that training was. That’s a really good use of technology.

Is there anybody you admire in Gaylord?

I admire many people here at Gaylord. I wouldn’t single out any one faculty member because several of them have been highly influential in my education and career. I even attended school with some of them! But I very much admire the leadership at Gaylord College and at OU. We have true visionaries in leadership positions, and without that, no technology can be useful.

Do you work mostly by yourself?

I worked alone in this position from 2003 until June of 2012, when Michael Acker was hired as

IT software specialist. He’s been an irreplaceable addition to the college in providing technical and software support in addition to assisting with all the routine tasks of keeping the labs and faculty machines running properly.

Of course, we have student workers who staff the open labs, and Michael also has a student IT assistant to help us make sure all the printers in the college have toner and paper and to assist us in moving equipment around as needed. We’re very fortunate to have so many great people assisting with IT here at Gaylord College.

Where do you see Gaylord in 10 years?

I have many skills, but I’m not Nostradamus. Mobile is here to stay. Gaylord College will continue to be on the cutting edge of technology, whatever that is.

Has there ever been a total technological crash in Gaylord that you’ve had to deal with?

That sounds so apocalyptic! If the power or network fails, those who manage the infrastructure jump into action and resolve the problem.

We have been very fortunate to have a reliable environment, and we have redundant power on critical items. Gaylord Hall is still a very new building. Most of our efforts are devoted to designing and implementing educational technology, but when the lights go out, we work to communicate with those who are able to get them back on.

What is something Gaylord’s faculty or students take for granted?

We all take technology for granted.

We expect our vehicles to power up when we need them. When we need a machine to operate, we assume it will. But technology is often unpredictable. We do our best to have a maintenance plan, to test in advance and to have a plan B. But even then, sometimes technology fails. That’s one of the fundamental reasons we have an IT staff. If we’re doing our job, most of the time everything functions properly and we’re invisible.

Our goal is to be invisible.

Finally, is there anything you’d like to add about yourself or your job?

Never take technology for granted. Always test it before you need it. Test it again. These are machines. So many factors come into play. If you think technology will never let you down, well, you need to get a puppy. Puppies won’t let you down.

—Mikaela McGhee Mikaela McGhee is a junior online journalism major from Byers, Texas. After graduation, she plans to venture into sports journalism with aspirations of being a reporter for ESPN.

—Buddy Wiedemann 25

I.T. Brain Trust

MICHAEL ACKER

so when one goes down we have an extra one already waiting. We have occasionally had the network go down, but we don’t have control on that.

Where did your interest in becoming an IT software specialist come from?

I have worked with computers since I was very young. I was an active member in computer club in high school and worked for the high school as a computer repair student worker. I worked in the Gaylord computer labs as a student and then applied for this job.

S

“

INCE graduating with a journalism degree in 2012, IT software specialist Michael Acker comes to work every day, sitting in his neat and tidy office decorated with posters from Game of Thrones and Batman. He was born in Dallas but grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma, where he began working with computers at an early age. Let’s learn more about Acker, the assistant of IT director Buddy Wiedemann.

What exactly do you do as an IT software specialist?

I support faculty and staff at Gaylord College with any software needs and training. I help facilitate the use of Lynda.ou.edu to find tutorials that are a good fit for the classroom.

What is your favorite part of the job?

I enjoying learning about new technology and find what would work best for our students. I love a job where you can have the opportunity to learn new skills every day.

What is it like working for Buddy Wiedemann?

I have worked for Buddy for about five years as an undergrad and after graduation. Buddy is great about continuing the message of Gaylord College and meeting the needs of the college. He understands new technology and how to best apply it to meet the needs of students.

How do you and Buddy work as a team?

We work together on pretty much all the issues.

We try to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other. We usually don’t do anything independent26

How have your job responsibilities changed since you started this position?

In any job I think you adapt to what is needed by the organization. My duties have expanded as the college needs [have]. I help run the Stream Team that streams live events across campus. We use a small amount of equipment and a student worker to better show live events that are going on at OU.

We strive to keep things up to date so when students use software at home they can sync it with the software here at Gaylord.

—Michael Acker

ly without telling the other person, because it’s easier to know what the other is doing. As far as decisions on lab equipment, we always try to get together and talk about what we think would be best in what area. We don’t do much independently, which is nice to have someone to back you up on what you’re thinking about.

Can you tell me about Pacesetter?

Pacesetter.ou.edu is a website that helps Gaylord College students find software training on Lynda. ou.edu that can help them in the classroom. They can take courses on Lynda that will help them learn software outside of class to help their learning. Pacesetter also has links to help faculty and staff get information about Gaylord College.

Computers crash at times. Has the whole system in Gaylord ever crashed before?

No, we have luckily never had any crashes in Gaylord. Of course, we do a lot of redundancy; we have more than one server for each thing. Like for the log-in server, we have five that back it up, so if one goes down we have another that can take its place. Our storage, same thing. It’s redundant,

What new programs would you like to see added?

I was really happy when we got all the Adobe products in the latest deal that OU brought to us. That was really my big one, so now we have every single Adobe application, which is really cool. But usually with software, we just see what the need is. A professor might say that they need it for their class and we’ll see if we can get it on the computers and stuff like that. We really don’t choose the software; it’s really just based on necessity. The Adobe I really think was a necessity.

We had a lot of people who wanted it, but we just couldn’t afford to pay for 450 computer licenses, so it worked out great that OU helped us with that.

How have the resources in Gaylord made your job easier?

We have great technology and that makes working on the machine easier. We strive to keep things up to date so when students use software at home they can sync it with the software here at Gaylord. Having the newest versions of software helps students be able to use it at home and here at Gaylord seamlessly.

Where do you see yourself in the future?

I will always be in information technology. I enjoy working in higher education and hope to be in this environment for a long while.

—Tess Thomson Tess Thomson of Rockville, Md., graduated in May. In her free time, she tastes wines and writes about them in her wine blog.

Classroom to

COURTSIDE

OU’s sports journalism opportunities continue to expand B Y K R I S T E N S M I T H

I

TS graduates have landed jobs all over the country. Former OU sports journalism students have been seen anywhere from ESPN to NBC Sports and locally in Oklahoma City. So what is it about this program that makes it so popular and successful? According to students and faculty, numerous factors play a part.

Journalism major Matt McCullock has been extremely involved with all aspects of the Gaylord program since the moment he walked on OU’s campus. He said he attributes the majority of its success to the real-life experience opportunities that the college provides.

“We are the only school in the country that has a student-run sports program that runs on a major sports network,” McCullock says. “Being able to say your show is seen by such a large audience is such a great accomplishment and is the real life experience Gaylord provides that college students crave.”

The program McCullock raves about is known as Sooner Sports Pad. The show has been live for three years and has quickly emerged to a nationally run, respected broadcast. It includes two student hosts, with a full-time reporter leading the way. Aired every Monday at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Southwest and FS Oklahoma, the show features student-athletes and a live studio audience. The idea behind the show is to highlight Sooner sports while also giving students the opportunity to interact with the athletes via fun activities. Whether it be trivia or Pictionary, the games are sure to keep audiences laughing.

A major plus is that participants have the opportunity to produce content that gets airtime.

McCullock says that without Sooner Sports Pad his presence on television wouldn’t be as evident and such a widespread audience wouldn’t view his stories.

Not only does the sports journalism program have great shows, students who run them are also allowed unprecedented access to resources that come with having one of the top athletic programs in the country. OU sports are constantly victorious at the highest level of competition. Whether it be football not missing a bowl game throughout the entire Stoops era, or the men’s gymnastics team being crowned national champions in April 2015, there is always something exciting going on. Being able to cover such big events doesn’t just fuel the adrenaline for the job. It also allows students to network with the pros.

“During the football and basketball season, OU is the center of the college sports landscape,” McCullock says. “And with the biggest networks coming to town to cover the games, we have the opportunity to meet and network with a lot of the biggest guys in the business.”

Having ample resources and shows to expose them are fantastic. However, the two wouldn’t blend together if it weren’t for the Gaylord faculty, the brains behind these programs. The countless hours they devote to ensure everything runs smoothly doesn’t go unnoticed. Kenny Mossman, the university’s assistant athletic director who also teaches Sports PR, says the dedication and potential the staff sees in the program make it what it is.

“It’s no question what Dean Foote has done over there (Gaylord),” Mossman says. “With what he’s done it brings in better faculty and better students. I think that’s why they’ve been so successful.”

In addition to the sports-only Sooner Sports Pad, Gaylord’s OU Nightly, another student-run newscast, includes a sports segment. This show is yet another opportunity for aspiring sportscasters to sharpen their skills. It’s a real newscast that is produced and run just like a primetime show, providing real life-like experience for those who plan on testing the news-station waters.

Prior to that, students can hone their skills

through various internships. And the types that the sports journalism program at OU has access to are endless. (I was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of this for three years. The skills I learned throughout being a part of the program landed me an internship within the OU Athletics Communications department. What I had learned through my sports journalism classes and my internship led to the opportunity to be the sports information director for the men’s tennis team.

This was the ultimate real life test, as I was in charge of all their publicity.)

“Gaylord offers so many amazing opportunities for any student,” McCullock says. “From shows to internships, whoever wants to get involved and get real hands-on experience, can.”

For those who are sports oriented but don’t have the desire to be on-air or involved in television, the OU Daily enables students to cover the same stories via the written word. The Daily recruits beat writers for every sport, a responsibility that continues all season. Being a part of the OU Daily team is the perfect chance for aspiring newspaper writers.

The sports journalism program in Gaylord College has evolved in so many ways through the years. What it provides for its participants on all levels is unparalleled. It is the perfect place for those who want to be a part of a competitive program and excel in the real playing field once their four years come to a close.

“No other university has a sports journalism program like ours does,” says Joe Foote, former dean of Gaylord College. “They don’t have the impact that things like Sooner Sports Pad has.

Now that we have all the pieces, we just have to continue to put it together and sell it. We want to continue to build a sports program that can match the competitiveness of things like our athletics program.”

Journalism major Kristen Smith is from Austin, Texas. After graduating in May, she plans to test the waters in New York City.

OU quarterback Baker Mayfield appears on Sooner Sports Pad on Sept. 21 after the Tulsa game.

27

A Sharper Image

The Creative Media Production program thrives following a $1.4 million HD upgrade B Y K AT I E W I N G F I E L D

G

AYLORD’s broadcast program is in the midst of a major upgrade. The facilities have been rewired, the shelves restocked with shiny Nikon cameras and the broadcast and electronic media major given a new name, creative media production.

A $1.4 million upgrade is taking effect in programs across the board, from news to narrative to client production and everything in between.

The upgrade, combined with rising standards within the curriculum, led the program to its most successful awards year yet, earning the college its ranking as the Broadcast Education Association’s No. 1 program in the country.

Though talks of updating Gaylord’s broadcast facilities had been circulating for years, they came true in summer 2014 when a grant provided the financial opportunity to bring about major improvements. Broadcast engineer David Candy, hired in November 2013, worked with John Hockett, former assistant dean for student affairs and administration, on a grant proposal presented to the Board of Regents the following May. The grant was supported by the Board of Regents’ technology fund, and allowed Candy to rewire the building with HD technology, acquire new and improved broadcast equipment and upgrade the facilities to support top-notch student work.

“Technology is improved and becoming less of a burden,” says instructor Ken Fischer. “It’s allowing for better career preparation because the focus is on content and not on technology. Although technology is a big part of it, we’re trying to find ways to lessen the burden of students getting bogged down in technology that gets in the way of them creating the product that’s at the heart of why they’re here.”

This upgrade has echoed across multiple focuses within the broadcast program. Student newscast “OU Nightly” benefited from newly installed switchboards that now function similarly in both the news center in studio B and the control room in studio A. In past years, the studios had different switchboards, creating issues that led to hiccups in the workflow of the newscast. Now, functional communication is boosted by a new intercom system, camera monitors and the ability to integrate remote live shots from miles away with less than four seconds of delay. The newscast took second place at the 36th annual College Television Awards in April.

Students interested in narrative work are striving to develop a more collaborative culture of “students helping students,” in the words of instructor Kyle Bergersen. His single-camera practicum, now in its fourth year, offers students the opportunity to do just that, working on large crews for both Bergersen’s personal projects and productions for classes that occur later in the track sequence. In addition to fostering more interaction between students of all grades and levels of experience, the practicum gives students the chance to work on productions that closely resemble large professional shoots.

This large production setting allows students to try their hand at a wide variety of crew positions and discover which roles fit them best for potential future careers, along with learning to keep up with the quick pace of professional productions.

“There’s a certain pace that’s hard to teach,” Bergersen says. “I can always tell in the fall which students have worked professionally over the summer because they work so much quicker….”

The newest opportunity for students seeking such real world experience is Bergersen’s OU in L.A. summer program, which took 10 students to Los Angeles earlier this year to serve internships in a variety of career fields, from advertising to music production to film and television development.

“The scare factor is, ‘How do I take that first step into that big, bad city where I don’t know anything about it?’” Bergersen says. “I had that same fear when I graduated. Hopefully, this program will open doors and take a little bit of the scare factor out of it.”

Bergersen hopes to take advantage of the growing network of alumni living in Los Angeles and eventually turn the program into a semester-long study abroad.

Corporate and commercial production is also thriving, with Gaylord Hall Productions, Gaylord’s contract production unit, gaining a reputation across campus as a go-to for promotional video needs. The unit has produced videos for different colleges within the university, instructional videos, commercials and a piece representing work done by Gaylord students that was played at Tom Brokaw’s Gaylord Prize

“

The ($1.4 million) upgrade, combined with rising standards within the curriculum, led the program to its most successful awards year yet, earning the college its ranking as the Broadcast Education Association’s No. 1 program in the country.

28

Gaylord College Leads Nation and State in Broadcast Education Awards G

acceptance luncheon. (See story in this issue.)

The key to the unit’s success, according to instructor Scott Hodgson, is teaching students the process of creating a product and working with a client from beginning to end.

“They’re learning how to combine content with creativity,” Hodgson says. “You can either have a really creative message that doesn’t communicate anything, or you can have a lot of good content that is just boring as all get out. The goal is to have that mix between the two, something that is both effective and enticing, gripping and engaging.”

Gaylord Hall Productions demonstrated its promotional prowess at the 60th annual Broadcast Education Association awards in Las Vegas in April, winning more awards than any other university. (See awards on opposite page.)

“We decided to raise the standard,” Hodgson says. “We have to have higher expectations for our students. We’re setting really high goals for them. The neat thing is, they’re reaching those goals.”

While Gaylord’s technology upgrade has been a key component to students’ success within the college, it was ultimately an investment in their futures, coupled with the dedication of passionate professors and administrators who are continuously working to raise the standard of the college’s success.

Hodgson recalled meeting with a student at his last teaching job and gazing behind him at his shelves full of tapes he’d created over the years, gathering dust.

“I had invested hours and hours and hours working on those productions, and there they were, sitting on a shelf,” Hodgson says. “Then I looked over at the student who was across the desk, and I thought, ‘Now that’s something I would rather invest in.’”

Katie Wingfield graduated in May in creative media production.

A resident of California, she plans to one day turn her Internet addiction into a career.

AYLORD students and faculty won 19 awards, more than any university in the nation, at the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts in Las Vegas, April 13. The Festival of Media Arts is the largest awards competition in the video and broadcast education fields, with 1,300 entries from more than 150 colleges and universities.

OU students also won both of the Best of Festival awards in the video category, denoting the top productions of all of the video entries. Two broadcast programs, OU Nightly, a daily newscast, and Sooner Sports Pad, a weekly sports program broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest, finished among the top three in the nation.

In the faculty category, Professor Scott Hodgson won the Best of Competition Award for his video, It’s the Music, and Professor Kyle Bergersen received two Awards of Excellence for his projects, Red State Blues and Welcome to My World of Compromise.

STUDENT VIDEO Best of Festival, (Animation/Experimental): Katie Wingfield and Lindsay Webster, Why I Love Teenage Girls Best of Festival, (Spots Category): Jason Gwynn, Unilever 1st, Instructional/Educational: Sara Groover & Nick Szabo, Sooner Flight Academy 1st, Promotional: Spencer Wehde, Garrett Fox, Brooke Adcock & Pablo Fernandez, Rowing 2nd, Promotional: Gaylord Hall Productions Team, More Than Just a Student 2nd, Music Video: Paige Powell, With You Now 3rd, Promotional: Janelle Barrick, Max Bevan, Lindsay Webster & Miguel McCallum, OU Men’s Golf 3rd, Spots: Gaylord Hall Broadcast Advertising Team, Mary Kay Honorable Mention, Spots: Janelle Barrick and Tripp Lopez, No More Excuses

SPORTS 2nd place, TV Sports Talent: Taylor Newcomb, Taylor Newcomb Sports Talent 3rd Place (tie), TV Sports News Program: Heather Healy, Olivia McKennon and Taylor Newcomb, Sooner Sports Pad Honorable Mention, TV Sports Story/Feature: Nick Jules, Racing for the Cure Honorable Mention, TV Sports Talent: Mason Prince, Mason Prince Sports Talent NEWS 3rd, TV Newscast (4 or 5 days): Lauren King, Madeline Stebbins and Olivia McKennon, OU Nightly Honorable Mention, Radio Hard News Reporting: Molly Evans, A New Kind of Classroom DOCUMENTARY 4th, Short Form: Hunter Brothers and Kristin Kohlmeyer, Thirty

FACULTY Best of Competition, Mixed Video: Scott Hodgson and Janelle Barrick, It’s the Music Award of Excellence, Short Subject/TV Half Hour: Kyle Bergersen, Red State Blues Award of Excellence, Narrative Video: Kyle Bergersen, Welcome to My World of Compromise

G

AYLORD College students received 27 awards at the Oklahoma Broadcast Education Association competition on March 26. The OBEA Student Media Competition is the most active state competition in the country with 260 entries from 13 Oklahoma schools. This marks nearly 10 years where Gaylord College students have received the most awards of any college or university in the state.

Sooner Sports Pad, a sports magazine show broadcast live each week on FOX Sports Oklahoma, was named the best sports show in the state.

Of the 18 television categories, Gaylord College students received first or second place in 10 categories. Professor Ken Fischer also was recognized for his year of leadership as president of the OBEA. RADIO 1st, Long-Form Journalism: Sarah Hurd, Young Oklahomans Return To Their Farming Roots 2nd, Long-Form Journalism: Molly Evans, Painting To Your Own Beat 3rd, Long-Form Journalism: Hayley Thornton, Germany’s Fascination With Native American Culture 3rd, Narrative - Short: Nikki Willis, The Cell Phone 1st, Narrative - Long: Tripp Lopez, Mom It’s Annie 2nd, Narrative - Long: Grant Johnson, Respect

TELEVISION 1st, Commercial: Max Bevan, Norman Stamp & Seal 3rd, Commercial: Jason Gwynn, Unilever 3rd, Commercial: Hayley Struck, Hayley Jamil, Katie Barry, Coke Commercial 1st, PSA: Elysabeth Casiano, Ashley Morgan, Macy Muirhead, Human Trafficking 2nd, Newscast: Lauren King and Olivia McKennon, OU Nightly 1st, Sports Story: Matthew McCullock, Buddy Hield Summer of Love 3rd, Sports Story: Mason Prince, Samaje Perine Runs Hard 3rd, Documentary/Series: Erik Macias and Karl Macias, Routes TV-Hell in the Heartland 1st, Entertainment/Talk Program: Erik Macias and Karl Macias, Routes TV-Art Wars 1st, Sports Magazine/Talk: Heather Healy and Olivia McKennon, Sooner Sports Pad 3rd, Sports Magazine/Talk: Malik Carter and Drew Farley, GamedayU Bedlam 1st, Narrative - Short: Tripp Lopez, Ringbearer 1st, Narrative - Short: Jeff Black, Ralph Craig and Matt Percival, Last Midnight 3rd, Narrative - Short: Jason Gwynn, Gopher 2nd, Music Video: Paige Powell, With You Now 1st, Informational Video: Lindsay Webster and Kathryn Wingfield, Why I Love Teenage Girls 2nd, Informational Video: Sara Groover and Nick Szabo, Sooner Flight Academy 3rd, Informational Video: Brooke Adcock, Pablo Fernandez, Garrett Fox, Spencer Wehde, Jon Hoover, Rowing 1st, Personality Aircheck: Mason Prince, Mason Prince Sports Talent 3rd, Personality Aircheck: Vanessa Prado, Vanessa Prado News Talent SCRIPTWRITING 1st, Scriptwriting: Ashley Leisten, Just Being Honest 29

CHINA INDIA

The New Influencers

Professionals and students from abroad ascend to new heights through their experience with Gaylord College

BY SAMANTHA BECHTOLD

I

N 2010, in a rooftop restaurant in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 100 women celebrated their participation in a successful three-year program designed to develop them personally and professionally. It was a reunion that represented growth and success. And it was an experience that changed their lives because it helped them realize their potential.

“It was one of the mountain top experiences of my life, to be there that night,” says former Gaylord College dean Joe Foote.

Fast forward to the present, and Gaylord College reflects on how in the past 10 years it has created opportunity to thrive for several hundred men and women in six countries in south Asia. By acquiring the skill sets, as well as creating individual networks, needed to expand both their personal and professional lives within their own countries, these individuals have reached new levels of success.

Gaylord College prides itself on opening those doors for students and young professionals. But in recent years, Foote has shaped a program that created opportunity not just for women, but also for students and young professionals in south Asia.

It all started a decade ago when Foote, then the dean at Arizona State University’s journalism school, received a grant from the U.S. State Department for a program to train Bangladeshi women in journalism. It was the beginning of something new, a program that worked to help women be leaders in journalism and to gain more respect in their families, communities and countries.

The program ended a successful three-year term, and it called for celebration. There was the reunion, which Foote describes as “a culminating moment” for all who experienced the nostalgic event.

“Female journalists felt isolated,” says Foote, who helped build the grants programs when he came to Gaylord College — first as a professor, then as dean. “It was difficult, just the lifestyle, and then you had almost universally a male-dominated leadership hierarchy that wasn’t recognizing the full potential of women.”

Strategically addressing this was the mindset behind the original State Department program.

“We had brought them together, more than just in terms of training,” Foote says. “We had caused them to know each other The first Professional Fellows Exchange participants from Bangladesh (2012).

30

ABOVE (l-r): Kathryn Jenson White, Sultana Rahman, Joe Foote and Meta Carstarphen at a farewell dinner at Himalayas restaurant in Norman (2007).

TOP: Foote teaches the Bangladeshis the “Boomer Sooner” cheer.

RIGHT: Horseback riding at Lake Thunderbird is always a popular getaway (2007).

CENTER RIGHT: Gaylord’s Scott Hodgson films in Bangladesh in 2009.

31

Bangladesh and to believe in themselves so they could use the momentum of their collective experience to support each other, to move themselves forward as a group as well as individually.”

With the success of the Bangladeshi women journalism-training program, Foote decided to continue applying for more work programs through the State Department. As the process continued, Elanie Steyn, a Gaylord professor, became involved in the program with Foote when she moved from South Africa to teach at OU in 2007. She slowly became more engrossed, and in 2011 she began writing grant proposals and running grant programs with Foote.

These programs blossomed and focused on four specific groups: students, small-business owners and operators, media professionals and the aforementioned program for women. The State Department entrusted Gaylord College to develop work exchange programs with Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Myanmar; another program with Pakistan; and student programs with India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.

And the results? They’re impressive. Since 2006 Gaylord has teamed with the State Department for 10 grants totaling nearly $6 million, with close to 300 participants from the six countries.

“The power of these State Department grants is that we’ve been able to establish a network of people in south Asia who wouldn’t normally be in touch with each other or support each other,” Steyn says. And those networks aren’t limited to participants in the six countries, but extend to the United States — particularly Oklahoma.

The close interaction on exchange programs means there are more than a few examples of Oklahomans being positively affected by exposure to cultures “they know little about …

It has made a huge difference in the mindset of people in the state,” Steyn says.

Both Foote and Steyn agree the training went far beyond its initial goal. It was a process of self-discovery.

“In a sense, it’s a form of empowerment because participants discover who they are and what they can do. They also discover what best practices and skills they can offer people in the U.S. and beyond,” Steyn says. “It’s not just them learning from us. It is definitely also a case of us learning from them.”

The programs developed into creating relationships between professionals and students.

To learn from each other is an important element of the programs that grant participants and administrators encouraged throughout the process and well beyond the life of the specific grants.

“In my mind, I think the most important thing with these programs is to show people what is

“

It’s not just them learning from us. It is definitely also a case of us learning from them.

—Elanie Steyn

possible, not only in their communities and their own countries, but also in terms of their own skills and who they are as people. As leaders in their different spheres of influence,” Steyn says.

“Before leaving their countries and participating in the grants, many participants believe that they have some potential to make a difference. However, they only realize the magnitude of that potential when they spend time in a different culture and outside their comfort zones.”

For Steyn, these programs have become purpose-driven projects from which she receives more than she could ever have imagined. The biggest joy is the change she sees in participants themselves. She smiles when describing the transformation she has seen with her own eyes and the relationships she has made with the people she met through the programs.

“The most rewarding thing is if I remember the person who sat in front of me when we did the interview for the program and I see the person now,” Steyn says. “The amount of personal and professional growth is unbelievable.”

Gaylord College currently is affecting the lives of seven Bangladeshi graduate students. Of these seven, four were directly associated with the programs.

Imran Hasnat is working on his second master’s degree at Gaylord College.

“I’ve completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international affairs before coming to Gaylord College,” he says. “I wanted to do a Ph.D. on media’s role in conflict resolution and peace-building, so I needed an advanced degree in the field of media.

Gaylord College has provided me with that opportunity. The diverse range of faculty and their expertise is helping me shape my academic career as I wanted it to be.”

Steyn, as area head for the journalism sequence at Gaylord College, is part of that faculty, of course.

“I have high hopes,” she says, “that these programs will continue for many years to come and that we will be able to show many more people what is possible — for themselves, their communities and their countries.”

Samantha Bechtold is a junior journalism student born and raised in Germany. After graduation, she aspires to work in a creative environment.

32

RIGHT: Studies of the U.S. Institutes 2011 participants with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs program officer and Gaylord College program staff outside the U.S. Department of State building after receiving their certificates upon completion of the SUSI New Media and Leadership Program.

BELOW: Gaylord professor Elanie Steyn (center, red striped shirt) accompanies Bangladeshi journalists to Science Museum Oklahoma in 2013.

ABOVE: Bangladeshi journalists visit KFOR-TV in 2007.

LEFT: U.S. host organizations and Bangladeshi entrepreneurs in Dkaka meeting with Muhammad Yunus (center, in gray and tan). He won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for founding Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance.

33

Alumni Notes

Ross, Hancock Inducted Into Oklahoma Hall of Fame

William Ross

O

KLAHOMA City native William J. “Bill” Ross forged a diverse career.

A graduate of Classen High School and the University of Oklahoma, he served as an Oklahoma City assistant municipal counselor until joining the law firm Rainey, Flynn, Green and Anderson in 1960.

In 1975 he became senior partner.

Ross is chairman of Inasmuch Foundation and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, founded by Edith Kinney Gaylord and which have provided strong financial support for Gaylord College. Ross served as attorney for Ms. Gaylord as well as her father, E.K. Gaylord, and her brother, Edward L. Gaylord.

Ross was a director of United Energy Resources, PetroUnited Terminals, Hadson Petroleum, Clinton and Oklahoma Western Railroad and First Interstate Bank of Oklahoma.

Honors: OU Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, OKCPS Wall of Fame, co-chairman of the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Bill Hancock

B

ILL Hancock’s life and career have revolved around sports. A 1972 OU journalism, he began as an assistant sports information director in the OU Athletic Department. In 1974 he returned to his hometown of Hobart, Oklahoma, to take over the family newspaper his father had published.

The world of collegiate sports called next. Hancock, who has run 15 marathons, was the first full-time director of the NCAA Final Four, the first executive director of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and is the first executive director of the College Football Playoff.

Family tragedy hit hard in 2001, however, when his son Will died in the airplane that crashed with members of the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team aboard. Like his dad, Will had worked in sports information. Devastated by his loss, Hancock retired for three years and biked across the country. The trip inspired him to write Riding With the Blue Moth, a top-selling sports book.

Hancock currently is a member of the Board of Visitors for Gaylord College.

The Oklahoma Hall of Fame banquet: Nov. 19, Tulsa, Oklahoma Other 2015 inductees: Kevin Durant, Jim Halsey, Mike Larsen, Sharen Jester Turney, Steadman Upham, Francis Theodore Tuttle 34

CLASS NOTES… Holly Bailey, journalism, 1993-96, published her first book, The Mercy

of the Sky, detailing the May 2013 tornado, which hit Moore, Oklahoma.

Much of the book is devoted to local television meteorologists and heroic educators, including teachers and the principal from Plaza Towers elementary school. Bailey is a national correspondent for Yahoo! News based in New York and writes about news, politics and culture. She previously worked for Newsweek and was named the JayMac Young Professional in 2009.

Jake Basden, public relations, 2006, was named vice president of publicity and corporate communications for BIG MACHINE LABEL GROUP in Nashville, Tennessee. Basden was name the JayMac Young Professional in 2011.

Carol Robinson Burr, professional writing, 1959, received an hon-

orary degree from OU in May and was honored at the Ring Ceremony and as grand marshal of the homecoming parade. Burr chronicled the life of OU for decades as the editor of Sooner Magazine and co-author of several history books about OU, providing a rich historic archive of the people and events that shaped the institution.

Liz Caldwell, journalism, 2009, was named environmental coordinator

by the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board. Caldwell previously served as communications specialist for the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma and will help OERB’s environmental director identify potential oil-field sites for restoration and determine surface ownership.

Owen Canfield, journalism, 1981, was named Opinion editor for The Oklahoman. Canfield previously was chief editorial writer. He joined The Oklahoman in 2003. He began his career at The Duncan Banner and then worked 19 years for the Oklahoma City bureau of the Associated Press.

Sharon Thetford Ervin, journalism, 1963, was nominated as a

finalist in the 2015 Oklahoma Book Awards for her novel, Jingo Street. Ervin has written nearly a dozen novels and was the first woman sports editor of The Oklahoma Daily.

Lateef Ipaye, who holds a degree in broadcast journalism from OU,

has joined the Omega Delta Phi National Executive Board as vice president of operations to further develop the growing expansion, recruitment and intake of operational needs. “I am excited for another opportunity to give back to our brotherhood, especially in the areas I am passionate about,” he said. Omega Delta Phi is a multicultural service/social fraternity that aims at graduating its members while giving back to the community. The fraternity has established itself on over 60 campuses and continues to grow. Although founded mainly by Latinos, the fraternity has always been open to men of different backgrounds, as demonstrated through its philosophy of “One Culture, Any Race.”

Debra Kerr, 1980, was appointed as the executive director of the Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.

Alesha Leemaster, public relations, 2003, was named as director of

communications and community relations for Norman Public Schools.

Leemaster previously worked at Devon Energy as supervisor of community relations and also served on the company’s media relations team.

Christina Leonard, journalism, 1990, a reporter and editor at The

Arizona Republic for the past 17 years, is leading the Cronkite School’s Reynolds Business Bureau, an immersive professional program in which students produce daily coverage of business and economics for regional and national media outlets.

Alumni Notes

Jessica Martinez-Brooks, journalism, 1999, received the 2015

Public Service Award from the United Nations of Greater Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City Community College. In her position as director of community outreach and education, Martinez-Brooks has secured and administered grants totaling more than $1 million. She also has partnered with approximately 30 schools, technology centers, nonprofits and local businesses to provide free adult basic education. As a direct result of her efforts, more than 3,000 students each year take English as a Second Language and GED classes in 23 different off-site locations. She was recognized for her work in racial and social justice by the FBI in 2014, was named Volunteer of the Year by the Latino Community Development Agency in 2006 and named to the “Forty Under 40” and “Achievers Under 40” lists by OKC Business and The Journal Record. In 2007, she was named to the Oklahoma City Community College Alumni Hall of Fame and in 2014 received the Robert P. Todd Leadership Award for her work at OCCC. She currently serves on a number of boards and organizations in the metro area: the Southwest Center for Human Relation Studies at OU, Regional Food Bank, Teach for America, Historic Capitol Hill, American Association of University Women-South Oklahoma City Branch, South Oklahoma City Rotary and Leadership Oklahoma City.

Olivia Munn, Former Gaylord College journalism student and Okla-

homa native Olivia Munn has been cast as Psylocke in the upcoming film X-Men. Munn, who graduated from Putnam City North High School, spoke to LOOK@OKC about taking advantage of opportunities. “This business can be so arbitrary and success is so hard to attain and can be fleeting,” said Munn, who starred on HBO’s The Newsroom. “When you’re out here and you see how hard it is to get these opportunities … you just want to put [in] all the effort … and not say no to anything.”

Abigail Ogle, journalism, 2010, anchors the Oklahoma City KOCO 5

News weekday mornings. Ogle previously served as a contributing reporter weekday mornings, breaking a number of major stories. She began her career as a sports reporter at the Moore Monthly.

Bird Runningwater, journalism, 1994, was named an Oklahoma Film

ICON by the deadCENTER Film Festival. The Oklahoma Film ICON awards recognize Oklahomans who make a significant impact in the film industry.

Runningwater is the associate director of Native American and Indigenous Programs for the Sundance Institute. In this capacity, he scouts worldwide and across the United States for indigenous artists with projects that can be supported through the Institute’s Feature Film Program, Documentary Program, Theatre Program, the Independent Producers Conference and Sundance Film Festival. He has identified for support numerous award-winning film projects. He also oversees the Sundance Institute-Ford Foundation Film Fellowship established for emerging Native American filmmakers.

Before joining the Sundance Institute, Runningwater was based in New York City and served as executive director of the Fund of the Four Directions, the private philanthropy of a Rockefeller family member. The fund focused on supporting the revitalization of the languages and lifeways of North America’s indigenous peoples. Prior to joining the fund, Runningwater served as program associate in the Ford Foundation’s Media, Arts and Culture Program, where he built and managed domestic and global funding initiatives. A recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s National Fellowship in Public Policy and International Affairs, Runningwater also is an alumnus of Americans for Indian Opportunity’s Ambassadors Program and the Kellogg Fellows Program. He was the Gaylord College’s 2008 JayMac Young Professional Award recipient.

Gibbs Robinson, Trammell Inducted Into Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame

Judy Gibbs Robinson (center) with four of her editors from The Oklahoma Daily (from left): Page Jones, Blayklee Buchanan, Paighten Harkins and Dana Branham

J

UDY Gibbs Robinson, assistant director of Student Media and editorial adviser for The Oklahoma Daily, was inducted into the 2015 Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame last April. In addition to her work with the OU Daily, Gibbs Robinson also teaches JMC 2033 – Writing for the Mass Media, the college’s gateway journalism class. Like Louise Beard Moore and Jack Willis before her, she is known as being tough as nails on the rules of AP Style, but is equally known to be a student-centered mentor.

“I was amazed,” Gibbs Robinson said of her induction into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. “The only way I am qualified to be in that august body is my age. Sadly, after so many newsroom purges and buyouts, there are no longer very many working journalists in their 50s and 60s. At the induction ceremony in April, I dedicated my award to all of those more worthy than I who were not considered because they’ve left the profession.”

Robinson graduated from the University of Missouri’s journalism school in 1977 and received her master’s degree in journalism from OU in 2001. She was a broadcast editor for the Associated Press for 10 years and a senior reporter for The Oklahoman for four years following completion of her graduate work.

R

OBBY Trammell, news director for The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com, he has received numerous reporting awards and civic honors during his 45-year career. He started in journalism as a senior in high school in Seminole. He was a reporter and editor at The Seminole Producer for 15 years. He joined The Oklahoman in 1987 and was chief of its Tulsa Bureau until 1990, when he became a full-time investigative reporter for the paper. He was named assistant managing editor in 2002 and news director in 2007.

With The Oklahoman’s investigative team, he exposed wrongdoing in the 1990 campaign of an Oklahoma governor. The team’s scoop — “Governor Secretly Indicted” — was heralded as the biggest political story in the paper’s history. He also was one of the key reporters involved in investigating individuals responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Trammell’s investigation of bid-rigging by Seminole County commissioners in the mid-1970s was a forerunner to a federal inquiry statewide that turned out to be one of the largest cases of public corruption in American history. Some 240 county commissioners and suppliers were convicted or pleaded guilty to kickback-related charges.

Trammell, 63, holds a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma.

He teaches Media Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma and serves as president of the Oklahoma Press Association.

35

Alumni Notes

2015 REGENTS’ ALUMNI AWARD

J

FROM LEFT: OU President David Boren, Julia Chew, Chairman of the Regents Jon Stuart, Dr. Floyd Simon, president of the Alumni Association

ULIA Chew, a Norman insurance professional and a 1986 Radio/TV/Film graduate, was one of eight exceptional OU alumni and friends who received the 2015 Regents’ Alumni Award in May. Chew has been a loyal and fervent supporter of her alma mater since graduation. She has more than 28 years of experience with State Farm, and held several management positions in Dallas and Texas before becoming an agent in Norman.

Since 2002, she has owned her own insurance agency, which provides a full range of insurance and financial products and services. Chew’s Norman insurance agency regularly achieves the Chairman’s Circle Award, given to the top agents in the country, and in 2012, the agency was designated as a President’s Club, a designation given only to the top 50 agents (out of 19,000) by State Farm. Her agency has consistently been named as “Best Insurance Agency in Norman” by readers of The Norman Transcript.

While a student at OU, Chew was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, for which she currently serves as an advisory board member.

An active OU alumna, her involvement includes speaking at and moderating conferences and mentoring student-athletes, journalism students and members of her sorority.

BOOKS BY SOONERS

E

DGAR L. Frost’s acclaimed book, Port Robertson: Behind the Scenes of Sooner Sports, was published in 2014 by Oklahoma Heritage Association and was a finalist in nonfiction at the 2015 Oklahoma Book Awards. Frost, who earned a journalism degree from OU in 1961, was named the 2014 Oklahoma Sports Historian of the Year.

While at OU, Frost was the sports editor of The Oklahoma Daily, and after serving in the military, he earned a master’s degree in Russian at OU (1967).

In 1973 he earned a doctorate in Russian Literature at the University of Illinois. From 1974-2000, he taught Russian language and literature at the University of Alabama. After he retired from Alabama, he moved to Norman in 2001, and taught Russian night classes at OU for six years. Prior to writing Port Robertson, he authored approximately 30 sports articles for Sooner Spectator Magazine.

Frost currently is a freelance sportswriter and working on a second OU sports book. He and his wife, Lena, who graduated from OU in 1964 with a degree in Spanish, reside in Norman.

36

S

OONER legend Spencer Tillman has written Scoring in the Red Zone, a metaphor about leadership and how to succeed outside one’s comfort areas. The former running back and MVP of the 1986 national championship team earned a journalism degree in 1986 and communications degree in 1988.

In 2015 he received the U.S. Congressional Commendation for leadership and the University of Oklahoma College of Education Award of Distinction.

Says Tillman: “It’s much easier to operate in our comfort zones, when we have options, or when there is little or no competition. But what happens when we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory? The reality is, the overwhelming majority of us are not prepared to score in these types of scenarios.”

Scoring in the Red Zone expands on the leadership skills Tillman, a native of Tulsa, has developed as a captain of the Super Bowl champion 49ers, successful businessperson, father of four, community leader and husband of 28 years. His leadership experiences both on and off the field have taught him the need for ethically sound personal leadership skills to help him navigate through, what Tillman calls, life’s “Red Zones.”

Alumni Notes Dean Blevins, 2014

Blevins (journalism, 1978) lettered in football and basketball at OU, and as a quarterback he played on national championship teams in 1974 and ’75. A three-sport athlete at Norman High (football, basketball, track), Blevins was the Oklahoma High School Athlete of the year in 1974. In 1975 he won the Jay Meyer Award as the top scholar-athlete at OU. Since 2001 he has been NEWS 9 sports director and has won two Emmy Awards.

Stephanie Frederic, 2014

2014 Distinguished Alumni (from left): Daryle Voss, JayMac president; Mary Livermore Bush and Ed Livermore Jr.; former Gaylord College dean Joe Foote; Stephanie Frederic; and Dean Blevins

JayMac Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni

Frederic (radio/TV/film-journalism, 1982) lives in Los Angeles, where she is executive producer and owner of FGW Productions & Transmedia. The National Association of Black Journalists honored her seven times with its Salute to Excellence Award. Her company produced BET’s Journeys in Black and movie specials for Universal Pictures, FOX Searchlight and New Line Cinema. Frederic also worked for King World Productions and a host of other local stations around the country.

Ed Livermore, 2014

Livermore (journalism, 1940), who passed away in 2014 at age 95, loved newspapers. He began at the Anadarko Daily News, which led to a position at the Claremore Daily Progress. After 12 years in Claremore, he and his wife, Melba, bought the Sapulpa Daily Herald, and later, other community papers. Livermore also served in World War II in the U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Corps. Said Livermore, “A community without a newspaper is like a man in the cold without a top coat.” Melba passed away in 2013 at age 93.

Bob Barry Jr., 2015

A native of Norman, Oklahoma, Barry earned a radio/TV/film-journalism degree from OU in 1980. Since 1998 he was the sports director at NBC affiliate KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City. He died in a car accident on June 20, 2015. (For more on Barry, see obituary on page 45.)

Don Davis, 2015

As an OU student, Davis (journalism, 1965; Juris Doctor, College of Law, 1969) was sports editor of The Oklahoma Daily and wrote for the Oklahoma Journal, Tulsa Tribune and UPI. He was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 1970 and served through 1980, the year he became president of Cameron University.

From 2002-10 he was special counsel to Gov. Brad Henry. In 2010 he was appointed by Gov. Henry to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. An Ardmore native, Davis is a 2013 inductee into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame.

BOB BARRY JR.

DON DAVIS

Dick Pryor, 2015

Norman native Pryor (radio/TV, journalism, 1978; Juris Doctor, College of Law, 1993) began his career as a student sports announcer for KGOU Radio. After graduation, he was sports director at KNOR Radio in Norman and KFDX-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas.

He also worked in Tulsa as sportscaster at KRMG Radio and sports anchor/reporter for KFDX-TV, and in Oklahoma City as news anchor for OETA-The Oklahoma Network. He received regional Emmy Awards for OETA’s World War II and Dust Bowl projects. A 2009 inductee into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, Pryor currently is director of client services for Oklahoma City-based Candor, a public relations and business consulting firm.

Kathy Taylor, 2015

DICK PRYOR

KATHY TAYLOR

An Oklahoma City native, Taylor (broadcasting, journalism, 1978; Juris Doctor, College of Law, 1981) became the second female mayor of Tulsa in 2006. Her leadership revitalized the downtown area with the award-winning BOK Center and construction of ONEOK Field. She served as secretary of Commerce and Tourism during Gov. Brad Henry’s administration from 2003-06. She helped bring thousands of jobs to Oklahoma via the Dell facility. In 2012 she served as a resident fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, teaching “Pathways to Public Service.”

37

SCRIPT SUCCESS

Faculty Updates

M

JULIE JONES HONORED

J

ULIE Jones, an associate professor of journalism in the Gaylord College, received the Joseph Costa Award from

the National Press Photographers Association during the annual News Video Workshop held on campus March 15-20.

The award, named after NPPA’s founder, is given for outstanding initiative, leadership and service in advancing NPPA’s goals in Costa’s tradition. Jones is the national chairperson of the News Video Workshop.

A former television photojournalist and producer, Jones was

one of 10 professors nationwide named as Kappa Alpha Theta’s Outstanding Faculty in 2012.

Her doctoral degree is from the University of Minnesota, and she holds a master’s degree from Arizona State University. She assumed the chair of the News Video Workshop in 2013. The NPPA workshop has been hosted on OU’s Norman campus since film professor Ned Hockman brought it there in 1964.

Mary Anna Evans

JAIME LOKE CHAIRS CSW

J

Assistant Professor, Professional Writing

M

ARY Anna Evans joined the professional writing faculty in the fall of 2015, but her background includes degrees in physics and engineering. After the birth of her third child, she weaved her knowledge of engineering into her fiction.

Evans, who earned an MFA from Rutgers, is a recipient of the Mississippi Library Association’s Mississippi Author Award and her novels have received recognitions including a spot on Voice of Young America’s (VOYA) list of “Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal.” She is a recipient of a writer’s residency from The Studios of Key West, and she has won the Benjamin Franklin Award, the Florida Historical Society’s Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, and three Florida Book Awards bronze medals.

Evans’ series character, Faye Longchamp, is involved in at growing list of adventures. Published by Poisoned Pen Press, they are available from all major outlets in hardcover, trade paper, ebook, large-print, and audio editions.

Her other fiction includes Wounded Earth, a suspense novel featuring environmental scientist Larabeth McLeod, and Jewel Box, a collection of short fiction and essays. Your Novel, Day by Day: A Fiction Writers Companion is a guide intended to take the aspiring novelist from blank page to finished book and it is, like Wounded Earth and Jewel Box, published by Joyeuse Press.

ELANIE Wilderman, assistant professor of journalism, wrote a script in 2013 entitled Uterus Chat, which won best short script at the DeadCenter Film Festival in summer 2013. And her husband, Ted Satterfield, an OU alum of the professional writing master’s program, turned it into a short film, and it won Best Short Comedy at the 2015 Austin Revolution Film Festival in September.

Also, a stage play written by the couple and Ted will have its second stint in Oklahoma in December. The holiday comedy Alcoholidays, which premiered in November 2013 at The Boom theater in Oklahoma City, has been picked up in its expanded version for a run at the Oklahoma City Civic Center, produced this time by Oklahoma City Theater Company. Details about show times and tickets: okctheatrecompany.org/?page_id=479

AIME Loke, assistant professor of journalism, is the new chair of the Commission of the Sta-

tus of Women for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The organization is a nonprofit composed of educators, students and media professionals.

Loke will work with the executive board to help with the programming of AEJMC in Minne-

sota. The Commission on the Status of Women hosts an annual luncheon for members where a keynote speaker addresses the current issues that affect women in the media, academia or both. For the past few years, CSW has been a cosponsor of the Lilian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Mass Communications. This selective workshop empowers junior faculty and provides a safe space for them to voice their concerns and get feedback from more seasoned scholars.

There also will be a panel of keynote speakers who will share their experiences in academia.

“As CSW moves forward, one of my goals for the commission will be to include growing our membership and having more visibility in AEJMC through partnerships with other divisions,” Loke said. “CSW is planning to host a off-site social with the Critical and Cultural Studies Division and the Magazine Division at our 2016 Minnesota conference.”

38

Student Services

Gaylord College Academic Advisers

KATHY SAWYER

MONICA RASEKH

LYNDSAY TABOR

LARRY LANEER

Public Relations

Advertising, Professional Writing

Journalism, Creative Media Production

Graduate Adviser

From: Lexington, Oklahoma; lived in Savannah, Georgia, for seven years while husband was serving in the military.

From: Colorado Springs, Colorado; grew up in Heidelberg, Germany (military brat).

From: Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and raised in Muldrow, Oklahoma.

From: Wetumka, Oklahoma; has lived in Norman more than 30 years.

What interested you about academic advising?

When I attended graduate school for Adult and Higher Education at OU, I had the opportunity to take a few classes about academic advising, and it seemed like a field that would be a great starting point for my career in higher education.

What do you do with the graduate students here at Gaylord?

I advise students in our master of arts and master of professional writing programs and assist with the doctor of philosophy program. I work with about 60 master’s students and 18 Ph.D.s.

Why did you choose to be an academic adviser?

The position actually chose me. I was working in the Dean’s Office in Gaylord College and an opportunity arose in the advising office. At that time, the school of JMC only had one academic adviser, MaryAnne Hempe.

Once we received the $22 million from the Gaylord family, our growth within the school doubled overnight.

I love advising. Each day is a new day. It is very rewarding to see students accomplish their goal of graduating from OU. Sometimes this can be very difficult, but we all celebrate with the student who walks across the stage at graduation. The other joy is being introduced to the students’ parents and being told that I made a difference in their experience at OU. What are some common questions students ask?

When does my enrollment window open? How do I locate an internship and receive credit for the internship?

When will I graduate?

Why do you love OU? The students are excited to be here and I enjoy helping them reach their goals. I’ve been able to meet people who I would not normally meet in a regular job. For example, Michael Boettcher, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, and local celebrities: Al Eschbach, Linda Cavanaugh, Ed Kelley, Jari Askins, Spencer Tillman, Dean Blevins, Bart Conner, Mick Cornett, J.C. Watts. Plus, it’s a rich environment for learning and meeting students, faculty and staff from different cultures.

—Kristen Smith

What’s the biggest piece of advice you give to students?

Browse around for majors. Don’t go by what others tell you to major in; explore on your own. Most students don’t come into college knowing exactly what they want to do or what profession they want to pursue when they graduate. So take advantage of those first couple of semesters and see what’s out there for you! That being said, you also want to listen to advice from those who have been in your shoes. They’re not making anything up; they’re speaking from experience! And, last but not least, study abroad. You may never have the opportunity to do so again, so why not take advantage of it?

What’s a typical workday like for you?

It depends on what part of the semester it is, but [near the end] it is hectic!

We’re in the midst of advising students, lifting holds for students to enroll, problem-shooting with students whose schedules conflict, continuously answering emails from various parties, organizing events, attending meetings, etc. I also meet with and tour prospective students around the college throughout the weekdays.

What’s the weirdest question you’ve ever been asked at work?

Do I believe in UFOs? It was an ice-breaker question during my interview for the position I have now, which I thought was quite funny and, in a way, a good one!

—K.S.

How do you like it so far?

I love it! My students are amazing, my co-workers are so much fun, and I feel like I am learning so much valuable information with each passing day at Gaylord College!

What is the most challenging part of being an adviser?

The most challenging part of advising is having to deliver to or hear bad news from a student, whether it is a GPA issue or a class keeping them from graduating on time or hearing about something tragic happening in their life, like losing a parent or a close family member. That is never an easy conversation.

What is the most enjoyable part?

The most enjoyable part of advising is getting the opportunity to see students succeed. Recently we have been advising students who are graduating this year, and it truly has been a joy getting to see their smiling faces while we talk about the next steps in their lives!

—Dwight Normile

What’s your favorite part of advising?

My favorite part of advising is helping students realize their aspirations.

How is graduate advising different from undergraduate?

I haven’t advised undergraduates much. My job at the Law Center was with a certificate program, and while the classes were technically undergraduate courses, most students had degrees already.

But advising graduate students is far more complicated. The Graduate College has a lot of policies, forms and deadlines that, as far as I know, undergraduates do not have. But graduate students are great to work with, especially in Gaylord College. A lot of them have extensive professional experience. For example, one of our students has his own show on radio station KRXO. Also, we have a lot of international students, who are always interesting to work with.

—K.S. Journalism major Kristen Smith is from Austin, Texas. After graduating in May 2015, she plans to test the waters in New York City.

39

Centennial Circle 1913-2013

I

N the year 1913, the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved the University of Oklahoma’s School of Journalism. First classes in the school were held in the fall semester of 1913, offering two courses to a total of 28 students. In 1961, the school was officially named the H.H. Herbert School of Journalism and Mass Communication, in honor of Professor Herbert, director of the program from 1917-45. In recognition of the beloved J-School director, memberships are available for a special giving society — the Centennial Circle — which ensures the bridge between our past connects us firmly to our future. The H.H. Herbert Society recognizes a gift of $5,000, and the Centennial Sustainers recognizes a gift of $2,500. Both contributions may be funded annually over five years.

H.H. Herbert Society Maj. Gen. John Admire, 1964 Alex Adwan, 1950 Jari Askins, 1975 Ann Brewer Basinger, 1961 Kim Koontz Bayliss, 1981 Robert A. Bernstein, 1960 Ben Blackstock, 1951 Rob Boswell, 1980 Paul Brothers, 1987 Gracelyn Brown, 1975 Shane Boyd, 1986 Bob Burke, 1970 Carol Robinson Burr, 1959 John C. Campbell, 1958 Pamela S. Carter, 1973 Philip R. Caudill, 1969 Linda Cavanaugh, 1973 Julia Chew, 1986 Bart Conner, 1984 Don C. Davis, 1965 Gail Privett Davis, 1979 James P. Dolan, 1971 David B. Donchin, 1982 Mary Ellen Hipp Doyle, 1956 Al Eschbach, 1968 Joe Foote, 1971 Judi Freyer, 1964 Roger Frizzell, 1982 Marti Pate Gallardo, 1978 Bill Hancock, 1972 Don Harral, 1972 David Haspel, 1971 Jim Helberg, 1983 Robert Hess, 1986 Amb. James R. Jones, 1961 Ed Kelley, 1975

40

Michael Limon, 1976 E.K. Livermore, Sr., 1940* Melba Livermore, 1940* Kenneth W. Luce Doug Martin, 1989 Paul D. Massad, 1960 Col. William Massad, 1955 Joe McBride, 1951 John McClymonds, 1971 William Moakley, III, 1987 J.P. Moery, 1987 Pattye L. Moore, 1979 Terye J. Myers, 1981 R. Stephen Neumann, 1979 Steve Pickett, 1983 Howard F. Price, 1971 Karen Renfrow, 1981 Paul Renfrow, 1979 Andy Rieger, 1980 Karen S. Rieger, 1980 Gregory Rubenstein, 1972 Connie Burke Ruggles, 1962 Barbara Winn Sessions, 1968 Harry Sherman, 1976 C. Renzi Stone, 2000 Lee Anne Young Stone, 2002 Suzie McClendon Symcox, 1985 Steve Trolinger, 1973 Karina Van Veen, 1994 Kristin Van Veen, 1994 Kari Ferguson Watkins, 1986 Weldon Watson, 1970 Marilyn Weber, 1974 Keith White, 1974 Doug Williams, 1965 Debbie Sherry Yount, 1974

TAX-deductible contributions to the Centennial Circle benefit faculty resources, technology advancements, student programmatic support and other critical operating needs of the college. Benefits of membership in the Herbert Society include a copy of the Centennial coffee-table book and recognition on a permanent display housed in Gaylord Hall and on the college’s website. Centennial Sustainers members will be recognized on the permanent display in Gaylord Hall, in publications and on the college website.

Centennial Sustainers John Boydston, 1983 Karen Waltz Browne, 1977 Aran Coleman, 2011 John Cox, 1986 Mickey Edwards, 1958 Houda Elyazgi, 2007 Doug Feaver, 1961 Joi Gordon, 1989 Pauline Hale, 1974 Jim “Tripp” Hall, III, 1986 Jill Quintana Hughes, 1995 Linda Johnson, 1967* Evan Katz, 1986 Kristen Lazalier, 1987 Bill Moore, 1979 Lee Reynolds, 1977 Bill Shirk, 1978 Kathy Taylor, 1978 Janet Evans Webb, 1985 Linda Lake Young, 1972

*Deceased

JayMac Alumni Association

T

HE Friends and Alumni Association of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, nicknamed

JayMac, was organized in 1983 with a mission to promote pride for the college and its faculty, students and alumni and to encourage the pursuit of excellence within the college and among the practitioners in the profession.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

PROGRAMS

• Develop a continuing interest in the college from its graduates and former students • Encourage students through incentive programs such as awards and scholarships • Promote an interest in the college among high school students • Create an awareness of financial needs of the college

Each year JayMac honors alumni with the Distinguished Alumni award and a Young Professional every other year. The organization also partially underwrites the printing of this issue of Pulse, and email newsletter supplements throughout the year.

JayMac Life Members Maj. Gen. John Admire

Roy Kelsey, Jr.

Terri Angier

E.K. Livermore, Sr.*

Jari Askins

Paul D. Massad

Ben Blackstock

Gary McCalla*

James T. Bratton

Tom McCurdy, II

Bob Burke

Jeffrey McEvoy

Carol Burr

Charles McWilliams, II*

Phil Caudill

William Moakley, III

Fred L. Cook*

Max. J. Nichols

Jean Duke

Howard F. Price

Charles Engleman*

Elizabeth Ray*

Joe Foote

John Rector, Jr.*

Judith Garson

Vicki Redick

Joi Gordon

Greg Rubenstein

Jim “Tripp” Hall, III

Ralph Sewell*

Mike Hammer*

Arlen Southern*

David Haspel

Chris Steves

Carol Hebert

Kathy Taylor

C. Joe Holland*

Preston Trimble

James K. Howard

Steve Trolinger

John Johnson*

Larry Wade*

Eric M. Joiner

Marilyn Weber

Amb. James R. Jones

Linda Lake Young

Jill Kelsey

COST: Annual dues for JayMac Membership: $50 per person. A Lifetime Membership is available for a one-time gift of $1,000.

JayMac Members (as of Oct. 12, 2015) Ann Adams Jake Basden Rick Drisko William Edwards Randy Gibson Page Grossman J. Mark Hyde Naomi Kaminsky* Steven Kizziar Chris Krug Kirsten Krug Gail Kushner E.K. Livermore, Sr.* Beverly Perkins Dick Pryor, Jr. Jolly Brown Pugh Carla Luna Smith Kasey Steffen Debra Fulmer Sullivan Sam Thomas Janelle Valouch Fred Vint Daryle Voss Jon White Buddy Wiedemann *Deceased

JayMac Board Members

Daryle Voss, President Members at Large: David Joplin, Bill Moore, Linda Lake Young, James Tyree

41

CHAIR

Board of Visitors 2015 Members

Shane Boyd

Devon Energy, Oklahoma City

Kim Bayliss

Grayling Washington, D.C.

Roger Frizzell

Carnival Corporation Miami

Kathy Leonard

Marti Gallardo

The Wall Street Journal New York City

Michael Lim贸n

Bob Burke

Bob Burke Law Oklahoma City

Joi Gordon

Dress for Success Worldwide, New York City

Erik Logan

Freeman + Leonard Advertising, Dallas

Loyola University Chicago

Oprah Winfrey Network Los Angeles

Howard Price

Lee Reynolds

Harry Sherman

Multi-Net Marketing, Inc. Colorado Springs

42

Rob Boswell

Moroch Partners Dallas

CT Challenge Monroe, Conn.

Sherman Media Chicago

Pam Carter

Synergy Marketing Assoc.

Tulsa

Bill Hancock

College Football Playoffs Kansas City/Dallas

Ken Luce

LDWW Group Dallas

Suzie Symcox

First Fidelity Bank Oklahoma City

Linda Cavanaugh KFOR-TV / NBC Oklahoma City

David Haspel

Haspel Communications Nashville

Doug Martin

Moroch Partners Dallas

Kari Watkins

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

EMERITUS MEMBERS Ann Adams Alex Adwan Gracelyn Brown Forrest Cameron Phil Caudill Don Cogman

Gail Privett Davis GDA Speakers Dallas

Jim Helberg

Starcom MediaVest Los Angeles

Pattye Moore

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc., OKC

Genevieve Haldeman Joanne Orr Roy Page David Stringer Steve Trolinger

What is the Board of Visitors?

T

HE Board of Visitors is an advisory council comprising alumni and peer professionals who provide guidance and a sounding board to the leadership of the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Jim Dolan

Cherry Tree Companies Minneapolis

Robert Hess Signal Chicago

Steve Pickett KTVT / CBS Dallas

The mission of the Board is to provide advice and counsel to the leadership of the college as it strives to improve its academic and research quality, advance the professional programs within the college, and increase its stature in both academic and professional spheres.

Members of the Board are selected from those individuals whose professional careers have earned recognition for sound judgment, decisive action and integrity. Additionally, members shall have a knowledge of and interest in journalism education in general, and a particular interest and concern for the development, advancement and recognition of the University of Oklahoma as an outstanding institution of higher learning.

Members must be available to attend meetings and devote the time necessary to serve the Board and the university effectively. Meetings are typically in April and October.

Board Initiatives/Projects • OU Journalism Centennial (2013) • Gaylord College Branding Campaign (2013-14) • Mock interviews with and Mentors for the Gaylord Ambassadors • Business Journalism curriculum advisory group

Weldon Watson

Okla. House Representative & ONEOK (Retired), Tulsa

Doug Williams

Omni Broadcasting Woodward, Okla.

43

Celebrating Lives C

Owen Kulemeka

O

WEN Dekhani Kulemeka, an assistant professor in the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma, died in his Norman, Oklahoma, home on June 27. He was 38.

Kulemeka’s academic specialty was public relations and crisis communication. In just four years at OU, he had become one of the most popular and admired professors on campus. In his first year, he won Gaylord College’s JayMac Outstanding Teacher award, the only new professor to have ever been selected for the college’s highest teaching honor. The following year, the Oklahoma Student-Athlete Advisory Committee selected him for the Most Inspiring Faculty award. In 2015 he was selected as one of the four inaugural Paul Risser Innovative Teaching Fellows, a program designed to help a select group of outstanding teachers on campus develop an innovative course.

Kulemeka pursued scholarship in crisis management and was published in a variety of journals in that field. In 2009 he was selected as the first recipient of the James & Larissa Grunig Research Fellowship, awarded by the Institute for Public Relations, that provided him an opportunity to lecture and do research all over the world. He was active in international communication

44

and had worked most recently with the University of Gujrat in Pakistan as part of a grant from the U.S. Department of State to upgrade the mass communication department at that university.

Kulemeka was born April 13, 1977, in Malosa, Malawi, to Andrew Tilimbe Kulemeka and Sheila Dube (deceased). He immigrated to the United States in 1989 to join his father, who was a doctoral student at Indiana University in Bloomington. Kulemeka received his bachelor of arts and master of arts from the University of Maryland at College Park and his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. As a student, he interned at a variety of non-governmental organizations, including UNICEF Indonesia, Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. Before pursuing his doctorate, Kulemeka worked as a research analyst for Kearney and Company, a public affairs writer for the American Insurance Association and a research analyst for Cassidy Government Relations, a subsidiary of Weber Shandwick Government Relations, all in Washington, D.C. Owen is survived by his parents Drs. Andrew Kulemeka and Mary Ellen Scullen, sisters Moyenda and Chikondi, all of College Park, Maryland, and numerous relatives in the United States and Malawi. Kulemeka also considered his students and colleagues at the university as his extended family.

The Owen Kulemeka Memorial Scholarship fund has been established in Gaylord College at OU. Checks should be made payable to the University of Oklahoma Foundation, P.O. Box 258856, Oklahoma City, OK 73125-8856. Comments can be posted at the “Remembering Owen Kulemeka” public Facebook page.

In just four years at OU, Kulemeka had become one of the most popular and admired professors on campus.

Celebrating Lives

Robert Barry Jr.

B

OB Barry Jr., revered for his work as a sports reporter for News Channel 4, died in a motorcycle accident in Oklahoma City on June 20. He was 58.

Robert Bonnin Barry was born in Norman, Oklahoma, on Dec. 21, 1956. He had one older brother, Frank. Barry loved sports and played basketball at Norman High. He attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated with a journalism degree in 1980.

After graduation, he worked at KAUZ-TV in Wichita Falls, Texas. In 1982, he joined his father, Bob Sr., at KTVY in Oklahoma. Father and son shared a passion for sports and a deep love for one another.

Barry was a people person who never flaunted his celebrity.

He had a gift for entertaining, which led to speaking engagements at numerous banquets and award ceremonies.

Humble and professional in his work, he was recognized six times as Sportscaster of the Year for Oklahoma.

Whether interviewing a superstar athlete or working with an intern, Barry was always the same person. “The J School was a small community in 1980, and everyone knew each other regardless of one’s selected curriculum track,” said Brenda Jones Barwick. “Bob never met a stranger, and he always remembered you the next time when you would meet him.”

Gaylord alumnus Chinh Doan tweeted, “Bob Barry Jr. touched countless lives and mentored, helped young journalists. Oklahoma will miss his storytelling and contagious smile.”

In 2002, Barry married to Gina France, who had one child, Tanner. He and his first wife, Julianne Fudge, had three children: Evan, Matthew and Grace. He was a loving father who managed to attend plenty of his kids’ activities while handling his responsibilities at the news station and on WWLS radio.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Gina, and children Evan, Matt (and his wife, Emily), Gracie and Tanner; his brother Frank (and his wife, Bonnie) and their children Amanda, Ellen, John, Kate and Korey; and his Uncle Jack and cousins John, Sally and Eddie.

Humble and professional in his work, Barry was recognized six times as Sportscaster of the Year for Oklahoma.

Listed below with their graduation year are alumni who passed away since July 1, 2014.

Attempts were made to include all names, but if one is missing, please contact gaylordalumni@ou.edu.

Gary Preston Baker, 1997

Jim Monroe, 1952

Wade Franklin Childers, 1987

Paul William Nishimuta, 1950

Richard Eugene Downs, 1989

Jim Sims, 1959

Naomi U. Kaminsky, 1958

LaNita Sue Sirmons, 1970

James E. McClendon, 1979

Steve Snider, 1951 45

Final Thoughts Editor’s Note: The students in the Magazine Practicum were challenged to write an opinion piece on journalism in the digital age. Below is one column and excerpts from each student.

Internet Journalism A double-edged sword

BY CHRISTINA WILSON

T

HE invention of the Internet was a beautiful, mysterious thing. Its creators most likely had no idea that it would become such an integral part of the world, especially when it comes to how we consume news and media. Now, instead of having only a few information sources, any person with a Twitter account can share news. Last year, when the University of Oklahoma experienced a shooting scare, reputable news sources took student quotes and pictures straight from the Internet.

Print news sources are slowly and surely becoming a thing of the past as well. When I tell someone that I am getting a bachelor’s in journalism, they are quick to tell me the field will soon be obsolete. What they don’t understand, however, is that each of these popular print newspapers have an online counterpart. Just because we are changing how news is distributed, it still needs to be produced. If anything, the Internet has made news sharing a 24hour job opportunity.

So what does this continuous live news cycle mean for society? I believe that it raises many ethical issues for both journalists and the public. We are in such a race to post the latest story THE WORLD that facts can get messy. People on Twitter can literally up anything they want, which is its own bucket of IS GROWING make worms. A lot of “news” on the Internet is simply not true.

SMALLER, NOT However, many people are not savvy enough to recogthat you have to look at any piece of information on IN SIZE, BUT IN nize the Internet with a critical eye.

Since people can consume news from around the HOW WE ARE world, they are becoming desensitized to it. It has little CONNECTED. effect on us. I believe we are losing a piece of what makes us human. One positive, however, is that it makes us more aware as citizens. We can see what is happening around the globe and have an effect on it. The world is constantly growing smaller, not in size, but in how we are connected.

Because of the excess of voices on the Internet sharing experiences, the messages are becoming more and more sensational. Nothing is personal anymore. Everything is shared at such a rapid pace that people rarely think before they post. The Internet also changes how we respond to others who express their opinions. Negativity is virulent, and people are extremely rude. There are so many opinions and views, people exaggerate their own ideals so that their voice can be heard.

While there are many positives that result from constant media presence in our society, it can also be a double-edged sword. It’s up to the consumer to decide what to believe.

Christina Wilson is a senior professional writing major from Fort Worth, Texas. She hopes to move to Austin after she graduates and work for a magazine.

46

I

believe as journalism evolves, so will the type of journalism that is bought and read by the public. Fewer and fewer full-length articles will be available as society becomes more dependent on “one-click” and “one look” viewing. People want to get to the point quickly and bluntly with no strings attached. I think more opinion pieces will eventually die as people will focus more on their own opinions than ever before.

—William Gallagher

E

ven a diehard fan of print journalism such as myself can see that there are more advantages to online journalism than print journalism. We might as well face the inevitable and jump on the technology bandwagon. If we don’t get along with the technological times then we will surely be left behind.

—Mikaela McGhee

T

he state of the journalism profession has become so wishy-washy. The pressures we have now to establish ourselves and compete with people who claim to be journalists through social media is higher than ever before. Ten years from now I can see journalism completely surrendering to the ways of “anyone can be a journalist,” or I can see the journalism society grabbing the reins and getting back to basics.

—Kristen Smith

I

often find myself scrolling through Facebook clicking on an article that has a title that grabs my attention, that sounds interesting, but then I am suddenly disappointed as I discover the content does not match the misleading title. This is it. This is modern news on the Internet. It is about catching someone’s attention, despite the disappointment it may lead to. The journalism involved in this genre of news has lost its sense of truth, and because of that it has lost its purpose.

—Samantha Bechtold

By checking the home page of USA Today or our Twitter feed, we can be updated quickly on thousands of news stories from anywhere in the world, which is incredible.

—Emma Stoneham

A

s journalists, we know awareness is an amazing thing. Ignorance is far from bliss.

With more people being more aware of more things going on in the world, we’re all more likely to be more active and more involved in making things better. If the intent of journalism is to tell important, complex stories to a wide audience, then it’s a great thing that we’re telling more stories now to a bigger audience than ever.

That’s the point. When the range and reach of stories are magnified, every good intention behind journalism will be magnified. The world will become more connected than it’s ever been, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.

W

hy are we so concerned that Justin Bieber dyed his hair blond or that Miley Cyrus posted yet another naked picture on Instagram?

Because it’s on the Internet. Don’t get me wrong, though. Everything that’s on the Internet is not pointless, and much of it does have a lot of value. You just have to make sure that you understand what’s true, what matters and what’s only out there because it’s funny and will probably get more retweets than the next guy.

—Tess Thomson

O

n a wider scale, a person can constantly know any news story in their state, country and world. We have the ability to be updated on our troops in Afghanistan, presidential elections, natural disasters and discoveries all over. By just checking the home page of USA Today or our Twitter feed, we can be updated quickly on thousands of news stories from anywhere in the world, which is incredible.

—Emma Stoneham

—Katie Wingfield

47

Nonprofit ORG. US POSTAGE PAID Univ. of Oklahoma

395 W. Lindsey St., Room 300 Norman, OK 73019-4201 Parents: If this issue is addressed to a son or daughter who no longer maintains an address at your home, please send the correct address to Alumni Relations at the address above, or email gaylordalumni@ou.edu

Get Connected with Gaylord College www.ou.edu/gaylord