Public records are just that--public. Every citizen is entitled to view records of an arrest warrant and go to certain government meetings--and they should be allowed to do so. Protecting and celebrating these rights is what the Sunshine Center and the North Carolina Open Government Coalition does annually during its Sunshine Day events.

Travis Lusk, a 2005 Elon alumnus, and Colin Donohue, coordinator of student media in the School of Communications, presented two sessions about student media Web site development on March 15 at the College Media Advisers conference in New York.

Communications assistant professors and Elon Center for Advancement in Teaching and Learning Scholars Sang Nam and Phillip Motley presented at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons 2010 at Georgia Southern University March 9-12.

Katherine Branston '09 and Lee Bush, associate professor in the School of Communications, had a paper published in a special nonprofit issue of the international online public relations journal PRism.

Elon University's chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America hosted a successful regional PRSSA conference March 7 in the McEwen Communications building.

A short story by Ken Calhoun, assistant professor in the School of Communications, was selected by writer Amy Hempel to appear in "New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2010."

Barbara Miller, assistant professor in the School of Communications, had an article published in the winter edition of Journal of Public Relations Research.

Faculty, students and alumni from the School of Communications were honored by the Broadcast Education Association's Festival of Media Arts recently in several awards categories.

A student documentary produced in a School of Communications capstone class won the North Carolina Filmmaker award at the Carolina Film and Video Festival in Greensboro, N.C.

The Elon Phoenix Weekly, a sports magazine show that airs regionally on ESPN2 in North Carolina, is looking for students who want to gain more experience and training in high-level production in a cinematic style.

Associate Professor of Communications Jessica Gisclair received a $875 Community Partner Initiative Grant from Elon University for her COM 452: Strategic Campaign course this spring.

Elon University and the School of Communications hosted the third annual North Carolina College Media Association conference Feb. 20 in McEwen. Students and advisers from student media organizations from across the state participated in the daylong event that focused primarily on interactive media and business practices.

For the last two years, Elon University's School of Communications has been firmly establishing a presence on the west coast. Now the school is making the 500-mile trip north to plant its roots in the Big Apple.

Associate Professor of Communications Jessica Gisclair was appointed for a second term (2010-2012) as Vice President of Ethics for the Public Relations Society of America Tar Heel Chapter in Greensboro, N.C.

Most experts surveyed in a new Elon University/Pew Internet study say the Internet enhances and augments human intelligence. The survey of nearly 900 Internet stakeholders reveals fascinating new perspectives on the way the Internet is affecting human intelligence and the ways that information is being shared and rendered.

That person you meet at a journalism conference? He's a connection. That person you meet at a late-night party? She's a connection. Those instructors teaching your classes throughout the day? They're connections.

An open house for the Interactive Media master's program will take place at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20 in the McEwen Communications building.

The state's celebration of open government is scheduled for Tuesday, March 16 in Greensboro at the newly opened International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

Alumnus Billy Cahill '09 won an award for his film "A Slice of Key Lime Pie" from The Canadian International Film Festival. He will be traveling to Vancouver, British Columbia to represent himself and accept his award.

They come to the center from the streets, broken homes and jails where they served time with adults. Dozens of Filipino boys, victims of sexual abuse, seek refuge each year at the Stairway Foundation south of Manila – a place where sophomore Meagan Harrison last summer spent two months volunteering through Elon University’s Ward Family Learning in Action Award.

The 2010 U.S. Census "Portrait of America" Road Tour stopped at Elon University on Tuesday as part of the largest civic outreach and awareness campaign in the bureau's history, with a specific focus on the hard-to-count demographics such as college students and economically disadvantaged Americans.

Paul Parsons, professor and dean of the School of Communications, is the author of an article on diversity plans and implementation in the Spring 2010 issue of Insights, a publication of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Erin Barnett '09 won an Honorable Mention - Long Form Award in the 2010 Student Documentary Competition of the Broadcast Education Association for her work, “My Name is Anita," a film she produced as a student to introduce viewers to an HIV/AIDS activist in Namibia.

When four black students from North Carolina A&T University decided to sit at a segregated lunch counter in a Greensboro, N.C., Woolworth's store 50 years ago, they didn't plan on using media to affect national change. They were simply making a principled stand in their small corner of the nation.

Several students in the School of Communications had their research accepted to the 2010 National Conferences on Undergraduate Research April 15-17 at the University of Montana.

Barbara Miller, an assistant professor in the School of Communications, received a research grant from the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State to study ethics in environmental communications.

Live Oak Communications, Elon University's student-run, full-service communications agency, received two awards Jan. 28 from the Tar Heel Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America at the annual Spinks Awards banquet in Greensboro, N.C. The Spinks competition is a professional awards program for agencies in the Triad region of North Carolina.

Janna Anderson, associate professor of communications, was the subject of the Encyclopedia Britannica blog on learning and literacy on Jan. 26. The blog contains excerpts of Anderson's cover story in the January-February issue of The Futurist magazine.

Elon School of Communications instructor Nicole Triche was interviewed Jan. 21 on WUNC's "The State of Things" about her participation in the Strange Beauty Film Festival.

Elon students on a study abroad course in Japan joined in a news conference Jan. 21 to hear the president of Suzuki Motor Corp. declare that the the humble corporate culture of the automaker won't change because of a new alliance with Volkswagen.

Alumnus and acclaimed filmmaker Laith al-Majali will deliver Elon University's 120th Commencement address scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 22, Under the Oaks in front of West Residence Hall.

Brooke Barnett, an associate professor of communications, spoke with WFMY News 2 for a Jan. 28 morning show segment on the changing face of activism in the age of social media.

In the thick of a breaking news story such as the Mumbai bombings that killed scores of people, it can be tough for reporters to critique their own work, and that’s where Elon University senior Hannah Williams fills a need. Williams is the fifth student to be featured in a series of E-net profiles on the inaugural class of Lumen Scholars.

Students in Elon's Interactive Media master's program are currently studying abroad as part of their Winter Term fly-in experience, and you can follow their progress by viewing their personal blogs.

Students in Elon's Interactive Media master's program will soon be flashing their passports and traveling to foreign countries as part of their Winter Term fly-in experience. The entire inaugural class has been broken up into four groups, each of which will be led by a faculty member in the School of Communications.

In a special section on the future of education, The New York Times cited Elon's Master's in Interactive Media program as an example of a highly specialized program leading the way in master's level education.

Elon University's 2010 Bateman Team campaign has partnered with the U.S. Census Bureau to bring the 2010 Census Portrait of America Road Tour Bus to campus.

The video interviews recorded by a crew of student researchers at the Internet Governance Forum in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in November are now posted online on Elon University's Imagining the Internet site.

Sophomore broadcast journalism major Samantha Baranowski placed fifth nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards Broadcast (Radio) Features Competition.

Michael Frontani, associate professor in the School of Communications, contributed a chapter in the "Cambridge Companion to the Beatles," published by the Cambridge University Press and edited by Kenneth Womack.

Ken Calhoun, an assistant professor in the School of Communications, has published a new short story in the literary journal "Redivider." The story, called "Placebo," is the first in a story cycle about an insomnia epidemic.

School of Communications staff member Colin Donohue had a book review published in the Spring 2007 issue of Newspaper Research Journal. Donohue, the Coordinator of Student Media for the school, reviewed the book Baseball and the Media: How Fans Lose in Today's Coverage of the Game by George Castle, a Chicago Cubs beat writer for the Times of Northwest Indiana.