School of Communications Advisory Board meets April 11, 12

Elon communications alumnus and Olympic athlete Patrick Singleton ('96) will meet with students, faculty and the School of Communications Advisory Board April 11 to discuss his participation in the Winter Olympics. When he's not competing as a world-class athlete, Singleton works in Asia for Bloomberg Television International.

Anne McGrath, special projects editor for education at U.S. News & World Report - the woman who oversees the annual guides "America's Best Colleges" and "Best Graduate Schools" - will also speak at the board's spring meeting.

Four new members will be welcomed at the April 11-12 session: Angel Hawthorne of Home and Garden Television (HGTV), Ravi Khanna of Voice of America, Carlos Jimenez of Leslie Advertising and Jill Neff Watson of CNN.

Board members will spend the bulk of their time at Elon talking with students and faculty members about the status of the communications program. Students will discuss their internships and research experiences. Advisory board members will also act as an audience for a taping of the new Elon student television program "Studio-E," a musical show produced by communications fellow Katrina Taylor. Board members will also conduct mock interviews with Elon students. The interviews are intended to give students experience prior to making the leap to real-world job hunting.

On April 12, board members will be joined by Jon Witherspoon, the publisher of the Winston-Salem Journal, in a panel discussion titled "Local News in a Changing Media Landscape." Representatives of area media outlets will be welcomed to this breakfast meeting. ABC 45 in Greensboro, N.C., recently suspended local news operations, and Time-Warner is establishing new local news operations throughout the state.