West Wing 101
Five Ohio State journalism students, all board members of the University's chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America, traveled to Washington, D.C., in December to gain practical knowledge in media relations by observing White House and other news briefings and meeting with professionals in the media and public relations fields. Among those they met were Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The students meeting with Rumsfeld above are, left to right, Elizabeth Bookwalter, Miranda Zink, Audra Sowash, Jessica Sherrick and Melissa Goldfein. School of Journalism and Communication faculty member Dan Steinberg initiated the trip, which also featured visits with Ohio State alumni based in Washington; tours of the Washington Post newsroom, NBC studios and the Pentagon; and opportunities to view tapings of the television news programs Hardball and the McLaughlin Group.
Photos courtesy of Dan Steinberg     Student Elizabeth Bookwalter meets Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary.

Journalism + business = preparation for workplace

Focus on strategic communication meets employer needs

The School of Journalism and Communication has developed a new undergraduate program area that offers a unique blend of business, journalism and communication courses that will prepare students to tackle the complex and challenging public relations issues they will face in today's workplace.

The Strategic Communication focus area will be offered beginning autumn quarter 2002.

Carroll Glynn, director of the School of Journalism and Communication, said students who pursue the new specialty area will be prepared for careers as marketing specialists, campaign and information managers, and strategic communication specialists for numerous industries.

"Students completing the new Strategic Communication program will be more competitive in the job market and will be much more confident in the workplace," Glynn said. "They will be much more prepared to deal with issues they will encounter, such as crisis management, decision making, research techniques and budget preparation."

Core communication coursework will prepare students to develop and apply strong writing skills and gain a basic understanding of media, integrated marketing, public relations, communication campaigns, public opinion theory, conflict management and organizational communication, among others. Students also will be encouraged to enroll in key courses that focus on marketing, human resources and accounting and pursue the Fisher College of Business' new General Business minor.

"We've added the expectation that students would receive a business minor that would give them the expertise in business areas that they will need," Glynn said.

She said the business component, coupled with the ability to draw from both journalism and communication units in the same school, makes the program the only one of its kind in the nation.

The launch of the Strategic Communication program is the exclamation point on a positive period for the school, which has been rebuilding since the merger of the schools of Journalism and Communication in 1995.

The Strategic Communication program will join the four focus areas currently offered by the school: public opinion/political communication; mass communication; communication technology; and public affairs journalism. The new program offers a broader based and more desirable approach to communication management -- also known as "strategic communication" across the country -- than the previously offered public relations sequence.

Glynn said that adding this new focus area is a win/win situation.

"Based on surveys and focus groups, we have found that this area has tremendous appeal for our students, our alumni and our professional community, and that it would provide a strong link to industry," Glynn said.

OSU alumnus Ted A. Beattie, president and CEO of the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, said the new Strategic Communication focus area is critically important to meeting the needs of both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors of the work force.

"There is a severe shortage of well-trained, experienced professionals in this field," Beattie said. "Having worked in the not-for-profit sector for the past 23 years, I have never experienced such a shortage of qualified graduates. I am very pleased that the J-School leadership has committed to placing a renewed emphasis on this vitally important communication curriculum."

Key to the success of the program will be the hiring of new faculty to replenish a faculty base thinned out through attrition.

"Our new hires will come to us with backgrounds in a variety of communication or business orientations, including marketing, organizational communication and conflict management. We want high-quality educators to be part of this innovative program," Glynn said.

Taking SEATS

Outreach program helps students face the music

By applying his research that focuses on musical development in adolescents, Ohio State music education professor Timothy Gerber is helping to ensure that Columbus school children get great SEATS for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra's Young People's Concerts.

Since May 1985, Gerber has collaborated with OSU alumna Becky Ogden to produce 31 different musical education booklets for the SEATS (Symphony Education and Audience Training in Schools) program. The booklets -- and an accompanying CD -- provide students with basic knowledge of the musical instruments and orchestral works to be performed, the art of conducting, history of the music and composer biographies prior to attending a concert. They also contain facts about the Ohio Theatre, the historic venue for CSO concerts.

Gerber said that though students can't and shouldn't be taught to appreciate classical music, they can be taught to understand it.

"The whole idea is to put orchestral sounds in their ears before they go to the concert. That way, they have a better understanding of the music when they get there," Gerber said.

SEATS booklets are written for four distinct audiences: kindergarten to second grade; third to fifth grade; middle school; and fourth-grade students preparing to take state proficiency tests.

Material for the latter group is written in conjunction with special "Performance and Proficiency Program" concerts by the CSO exclusively for all Columbus Public School fourth-grade students; the intent is to help prepare them for state proficiency tests by utilizing classical music from European, African-American and Hispanic traditions. Accompanying SEATS material includes pertinent vocabulary and a problem-solving approach that mirrors the format of Ohio's fourth-grade proficiency tests.

Ogden, who has resumed her music teaching career in the Worthington Schools, said that while all professional orchestras recognize the need for educational outreach, the interactive musical approach used in SEATS material is unique.

"Other orchestras may offer kids mounds of text about famous composers like Beethoven, but not the kind of paper-and-pencil activities that SEATS provide, where the kids are actually making decisions about the music," Ogden said.

Gerber's work with SEATS is a natural partnership. In support of his research, he volunteers time as a general music teacher in the Columbus schools, most recently in seventh-grade classes at the Arts Impact Middle School. In addition to his writing work for the CSO, he is co-author of the high school text Music! Its Role and Importance in Our Lives, now in its second edition (2000, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill).

Gerber said it is difficult to sell classical music to typical adolescents -- while a small segment may already be interested in pursuing private instruction, the challenge is reaching the rest of that audience.

"A great challenge for me is determining what beyond the vernacular music are kids interested in learning? The answer is'not much,'" Gerber said. "So my work in the schools is to find ways to present all kinds of music to them that truly makes them more open-minded."

Gerber said it is vital to reach this group because curriculum studies have shown that if they don't receive a comprehensive music education in grades K through eight, the chances are they won't get it at all.

The SEATS program evolved after the Columbus Public Schools cut music and visual arts specialists in the elementary schools in the late 1970s. That void was first addressed in the early 1980s when the former supervisor of instrumental music, Al Berry, helped develop the concept for the Young People's Concerts.

"There was, obviously, this concern that elementary students were not getting any music instruction. ... At the same time, the CSO developed a Docent program -- or volunteer-led education effort -- to help prepare kids for a field trip to hear the orchestra play," Gerber said.

While that was a start, he said the children needed a broader understanding of what they were hearing and seeing at the Young People's Concerts. During his first year on the School of Music faculty, the CSO asked Gerber to develop relevant educational materials that classroom teachers and students could study before the concerts. Those efforts that began with Ogden in 1985 continue today, as does the rich collaboration with Columbus schools, which have since restored a full complement of elementary music teachers.

Gerber said Ogden is the key to the success of SEATS.

"She knows how to tailor material specifically to the developmental levels and interests of children. Together, we've been able to focus on genuine music education while helping to build great affinity and respect for the orchestra. Students from more than 30 Ohio counties have learned how to attend a symphony concert, and thousands of kids know from firsthand experience that Columbus has a great symphony orchestra. I'd just like to see the CSO develop a greater profile with undergraduate and graduate students on campus."

Jane Hahn, education and community outreach director for the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, said the SEATS collaboration with Ohio State is vital to the CSO.

"Aligning with an educational institution is extremely important for us as a cultural organization because we're both fostering education," Hahn said. "When we partner with OSU, that solidifies our mission of promoting education to young people."

She said the orchestra partners in many ways with Ohio State: The School of Music and CSO joined forces for the Contemporary Music Festival, taking place through Jan. 13 on campus and in downtown Columbus, that features preeminent Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki; two OSU music students participated in a master class in November with CSO guest artist Andre LaPlante; and the CSO is collaborating with the Melton Center for Jewish Studies for a future Young People's Concert focused on the Holocaust.

For more information about SEATS or the Young People's Concerts, visit the CSO Web site at www.columbussymphony.org/eduoutreach.htm.

next page...