New faces will be running the Student Media Board at Ottawa University next fall.
The Student Media Board is made up of faculty advisors as well as student leaders. Jenalea Myers, Jeanny Sharp, Shannon Dyer, Chris Hickerson and Kara Cunningham are the faculty advisors on the board. Currently, Cyrus Oliver and Amanda Roseberry are the student representatives.
“The Student Media Board is the meeting place for communication for our media labs on campus,” Dyer said.
The main responsibilities of the Student Media Board are as follows: to hire and appoint positions, to review any complaints and concerns, to co-ordinate manuals for each organization and to handle any miscellaneous business.
Student leaders also help determine direction for the labs. These labs give students an opportunity to develop what interests them most.
The Media Board offers five different positions to communications students which give them a chance to be a leader to their peers in and out of the department. The five different areas include radio, newspaper, media sales, digital media and a new position offer this year titled business manager.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have strong leadership on the Student Media Board,” Dyer said.
Three of the positions have been filled for next fall. Danielle Jurski will become Editor-In-Chief for The Campus newspaper, Joshua Vail will be the new Webmaster for Digital Media Production and Megan Reed will be the new Advertising Director for Media Sales. Other positions may be filled next fall.
Joshua Vail is a junior transfer from New Jersey and will be in charge of the newspaper website.
“I’m definitely looking forward to being in a leadership role. I haven’t really had that in the past and I want some leadership experience before I get into the field,” Vail said.
He also hopes to improve on what has already been done in the past to the school website.
“It looks good on your resume to have a leadership position and I’m interested in the development of digital journalism,” he said. “I think that this class will help me get a look at where that is going in the future. I want to make the best website that I can.”
Jurski, a sophomore from Topeka, also wants to improve on what’s been done this year for the print version of the newspaper.
“I think we’ve done a lot of great things this year,” she said. “We took a lot of risks and made a lot of changes. I plan to continue this next year; I think we’ve grown a lot as a publication and it’s something I’m proud to be a part of.”
Dyer believes that all of these leaders play an important role on campus.
“In the field of journalism and broadcast journalism digital media is quickly becoming the most prevelant medium and it serves to integrate all the media,” Dyer said.
Reed, a freshman, will help sell and design ads that are sold for the school newspaper. She is excited to have a leadership role doing something she loves.
“I have been doing ad design and sales since high school and I am looking forward to putting a new spin on what I have always done,” she said. “I’m glad I get to do what I have done in the past and bring it to college.”
The Student Media Board is a great way for communication students to gain some experience before going out into the real world. This organization allows students to interact and learn from their fellow peers.
“We’re really looking forward to next year. Our programs continue to grow and evolve in exciting ways,” Dyer said.