Our students produce video projects, news articles, research papers and other works in class and through student media that deserve a wider audience. With their permission, we showcase some of their work here.
On the national level, Elon Communications students present research at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Southeast Colloquium and the National Conference of Undergraduate Research. A majority of the students' travel costs are paid by the university. Students also make dozens of research presentations annually at Elon University's Student Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF).
Students are eligible to apply for Elon grants (including SURE and Rawls grants) to underwrite research projects; there is an expectation that research projects will be completed in many courses; and motivated students have the opportunity to collaborate with professors in research studies.
Some of our students excel in programs such as The Elon Phoenix Weekly and FreshTV:
Elon Phoenix Weekly is a student-produced sports show that airs regionally on Saturday mornings on ESPN2. The 30-minute show began airing in 2006 in a five-county region in North Carolina. It airs when classes are in session, and it is a joint venture between the School of Communications and the Athletics Department with funding from the Provost's Office. Recently, the program a national first-place prize for Best News/Sports Feature from the Association of Higher Education Cable Television Administrators. The award went to alumna Tiffany Lyons, the student producer of Phoenix Weekly at the time, and the entry was a compilation that included an interview with Elon alumnus Jack McKeon, who led the Florida Marlins to the World Series title in 2003; coverage of the Southern Conference basketball tournament in Charleston, S.C.; and several studio segments. J. McMerty is the show's adviser.
View past episodes of the Phoenix Weekly
The mission of FreshTV is to encourage student growth and exploration in the area of cinema, journalism and broadcast production.
We are searching for CREATIVE and AMBITIOUS minds!
FreshTV is an accelerated training program that prepares students to be successful in the many areas of communications. The program consists of a series of workshops that are designed to set students up to have the base knowledge and contacts to be successful in the beginning of their college career.
The program consists of 15 weeks of training that cover basic training on cameras and other equipment, studio rotations, non-fiction and fiction story design and production and planning. Students in Elon's School of Communications are all encouraged to pursue a specialty, but they're also required to demonstrate core competencies across media platforms. FreshTV introduces students to the worlds of news reporting, documentary filmmaking and non-fiction storytelling.
For more information, check out the weekly schedule for the FreshTV program. (PDF) Outside of program (PDF)
For questions, contact:
J McMerty
(p) 336.278.5087
jmcmerty@elon.edu
McEwen 004
Colin Donohue
(p) 336.278.5850
cdonohue@elon.edu
Pendulum Building 105
Junior corporate communications and journalism major Caroline Matthews received an internship with the graphics department for the Houston Astros in the summer of 2008. She designed a number of print ads and promotional materials for the Major League Baseball organization, which you can view here.
Matthews holds leadership roles with PRSSA and The Pendulum, for which she is the top design editor.
Season Ticket Holder Ad
Game Promotion
Kids Birthday and Ballpark Tour
Promotional Binder
Watch the trailer for Max Cantor's documentary about Barry Steelman, a dreamer, first as the owner of an independent movie theater in Concord, N.H., called Cinema 93, and then as the owner of a small video store by the same name on Pleasant St. For the past decade his dream has been to create a new theater in town. With construction underway, his dream looked to be coming true, but a breach with the board of directors caused Barry to leave the project. Now, with the opening approaching, he's left to think hard about his legacy. Barry Steelman is the everyman who has given his community an escape by showing them the endless possibilities of film.
Four students produced news packages from the Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro in November. See samples of their work below. And visit the Imaging the Internet site for more of their packages.
Anne Nicholson's piece about Internet access
Eryn Gradwell's piece about Internet security
Dannika Lewis's piece about Internet diversity
Michele Hammerbacher's piece about Internet openness
The following stories about Charlayne Hunter-Gault's speech come from Prof. Janna Anderson's Media Writing class. Her students are freshmen and sophomores.
(Download Word file)
elon}
