CSUF Department of Communications
Department of Communications
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  • ACEJMC Self-Study 2021-2022
  • CEPR Application 2021-2022
    • Table of Contents
    • Section A: Information About the University/ College/Department
    • Section B: Information About the Program
    • Section C: Information About the Resources of the Program
    • Section D: Information About Professional Affiliations
    • Section E: Information About the Curriculum
    • Section F: Information About the Faculty
    • Section G: Preferred Site Visit Dates
  • Campus Contacts

Section D: Information About Professional Affiliations


D-01. Organizations public relations students may join and activities available

The College of Communications and Department of Communications provide numerous opportunities for students of all concentrations to be involved in co-curricular and extra-curricular learning. A few of the most noteworthy activities/ organizations are listed and described below.
Advertising Club
The CSUF Advertising Club describes itself as “a premiere organization offering members at CSUF a forum for professional growth and a bridge between campus and career.”

Ad Club meets regularly for discussions with industry leaders, workshops, and presentations on emerging trends in the business. Ad Club is open to all CSUF students but is especially welcoming of students in Advertising and Public Relations concentrations. The organization schedules resume and portfolio workshops so students can have their work reviewed by industry professionals. Agency tours are offered frequently, so students can go on-site to visit workplaces and network with professionals.

Ad Club hosts an annual Creative Competition linked with COMM Week each spring. Students may submit samples of their creative work for critique and judging by area professionals. Prizes are awarded to top entries. Associate Professor Carolyn Coal is the faculty sponsor of Ad Club.


The Ad Club website is:
http://communications.fullerton.edu/clubs/adclub/
Entertainment & Tourism Club
The Entertainment & Tourism Club (ETC) assists students in networking with the entertainment and tourism industries in Orange County and Los Angeles. ETC membership is open to all students, although the organization targets students in Entertainment & Tourism and Public Relations concentrations. In the past three years, membership has averaged 226 students per year.

ETC members and guests are offered opportunities to attend TV and movie production shoots, industry socials and volunteer events, and awards shows such as the American Music Awards. Students are encouraged to network with professionals; ETC members are made aware of internship opportunities in the entertainment and tourism industry. Waleed Rashidi, Instructor, is the faculty sponsor.

The ETC website is:
http://communications.fullerton.edu/clubs/entertainment_and_tourism_club/index.asp
Lambda Pi Eta
The National Communication Honor Society (Tau Epsilon chapter) at California State University Fullerton seeks to build a visibly cohesive community of communications majors, individually and collectively exhibit excellent scholarship, display peer and colleague support, and participate in campus and local service projects.

Members of Lambda Pi Eta - Tau Epsilon are eligible for various benefits that can further their educational or professional careers: Honor Society recognition on resumes, attendance at National Communication Association conferences, participation in career and academic networking events, fellowship with likeminded Communication students, community service opportunities, Honor Society cords, certificate, and pin upon graduation, and access to study, research, project, and publication groups.

Lambda Pi Eta - Tau Epsilon is the only honor society that is open to Communications, Human Communication Studies, and Radio/TV/Film majors at California State University, Fullerton. Lambda Pi Eta meets on campus once a month. Professor Andi Stein is the faculty sponsor.

The Lambda Pi Eta website is:
http://commstudents.fullerton.edu/LambdaPiEta/
Latino Communications Initiative
In 2013, the College of Communications launched the Latino Communications Initiative as a way to prepare more students for the many employment and service opportunities in Latino-focused communications media. The Department of Communications is a major contributor to the LCI in that our faculty was the first to approve the Certificate program that is the central focus of LCI.

The LCI seeks to develop and maintain a qualified workforce that is industry ready by offering courses and certificates that will provide CSUF students cultural competency in Latino communication and added value in an increasingly multicultural market and competitive workforce.

Director Inez Gonzalez is a 12-month employee whose sole focus is to develop and oversee the LCI and make students aware of the multitude career opportunities they make available by completing the Certificate program. The LCI regularly brings industry leaders to campus for meetings and networking with students. Additionally, the LCI organizes and carries out on-site visits such as this one:


Six students from the College of Communications' Latino Communication Initiative recently got a first-hand glimpse of a newsroom during a live, breaking story while attending a career orientation event and tour provided by CBS2/KCAL9 and CBS Entertainment in Los Angeles. Students met Steve Mauldin, CBS2/KCAL9 President and General Manager; Scott Diener, Vice President and News Director; and Olivia Campos-Bergeron, Director of Community Relations, as well as took part in an impromptu studio tour at the invitation of Tiffany Smith-Anoa'i, Vice President, Diversity and Communications at CBS Entertainment.

The LCI Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/CSUFLCI
Latino Journalists of CSUF
An emerging organization at CSUF is the Latino Journalists of CSUF. This student organization works in partnership with the California Chicano News Media Association (CCNMA) and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). The purpose of the Latino Journalists of CSUF is two-fold. The organization works to facilitate networking between professionals in the Latino communications industry and CSUF students. The organization also works to make more students – and Latino students in particular – aware of workplace opportunities in journalism and allied fields. The group was founded in 2012 and is student-run.

The Latino Journalists of CSUF Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/LatinoJournalistsOfCsuf
Maxwell Center for International Communication
The Maxwell Center for International Communications and Media offers students opportunities to increase their global awareness and citizenship skills through international study and travel. At present, the Center has six overseas study abroad programs. Department of Communications students can easily acquire financial support to travel abroad. Professor Dean Kazoleas is the Maxwell Center Director.

The Maxwell Center website has more detail:
http://communications.fullerton.edu/maxwellcenter/studyabroadprogram.asp
Society of Professional Journalists
The Department of Communications supports a chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Membership in SPJ is open to all California State University, Fullerton, undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest in the tenets of responsible journalism. The mission of the organization is to assist students working in journalism-related fields to complete their degrees through advice, guidance, and advocacy; to prepare students with career options; and to increase awareness of free expression and protect First Amendment rights.

The SPJ website is:
http://communications.fullerton.edu/clubs/society_of_professional_journalists/aboutus.asp
Other CSUF student activities/ organizations that offer value for public relations students include:

COMM Week
College of Communications annual networking event for students and professionals
http://communications.fullerton.edu/commweek/

Daily Titan
Department of Communications national award-winning student newspaper
http://www.dailytitan.com/

OC Insight Television
A cooperative venture between CSUF and KCET, the Los Angeles PBS affiliate station
http://www.fullerton.edu/ocinsight/

Tusk Magazine
The Department of Communications national award-winning magazine
http://tuskmagazine.fullerton.edu/

The College of Communications is involved in the process of merging many of the student-produced media programs into one entity, Titan Communications. Titan Communications will be the umbrella organization for:

OC News (Television)
http://ocnews.fullerton.edu/

Titan Internet Radio
http://www.titaninternetradio.org/

Titan Live Television
http://titancom.fullerton.edu/broadcast/LiveWebTV_comm_flash.html

D-02. Opportunities for public relations students to interact with practicing
          professionals – including types of activities 

As shown in section D-01, numerous opportunities exist for Public Relations students to interact with professionals – both within PR and related disciplines. This section will recap specific opportunities made available by Ad Club and PRSSA during the 2013-2014 year to allow such interaction. 
Advertising Club
In keeping with its mission to offer students “a forum for professional growth and a bridge between campus and career,” the Ad Club conducted the following events/ activities during 2013-2014:

CSUF Discoverfest Days
Ad Club participated in CSUF’s Discoverfest (new student preview days) with great success. Ad Club members used new, eye-catching signs and a surfboard and flag to draw in curious students. The Club displayed tri-fold brochures with pictures of board members and event descriptions, distributed handbills with our spring meeting schedules, candy, sodas, and opportunity drawing tickets. Small prizes were given away. Two iPads were set up for students to use to join the mailing list. A total of 73 prospective students expressed interest in being involved with Ad Club.

Classroom visits
Ad Club board members worked tirelessly to produce, shoot, and edit a 90 second “sizzle reel” to promote the club.  The video includes interviews with Ad Club alums speaking about how Ad Club was a boost to their careers.  The video/reel has been uploaded onto YouTube and taken to a variety of COMM classes to promote the club and spark interest for joining Ad Club.

Creative Panel
February 26
Guests:
A panel of four experienced creative directors from agencies including Deutsch LA and Innocean USA participated in a Q&A about industry expectations. Then, panelists viewed student portfolios and critiqued students’ work. Guests were surprised by Ad Club’s professionalism and size; students were excited to listen and talk to some of the most successful people in the Southern California advertising industry.

Speaker Series
(Various dates)
Ad Club’s on-going speaker series included a variety of speakers from regional agencies that typically yield internship connections for students. A final guest, the Ad Club president from 1986, talked about the new digital frontier and provided career advice for students.

PRSSA
The Robert E. Rayfield PRSSA Chapter is one of the largest and most active chapters in the nation with more than 100 members. The chapter exposes its members to the many facets of public relations by providing numerous co-curricular opportunities including speaker events, workshops, and agency tours. Students are able to network with local professionals and CSUF alumni. Through engaging members and other students in real-life public relations experiences beyond the classroom, the chapter is preparing Titans for successful futures in public relations.

Chapter events during 2013-2014 included the following:

COMM Week “Carnivale”
April 23
Professional Adviser Matt Prince
Alumni Panel featuring Nevada Carney (Forever 21), Gabe Medeiros (Ogilvy Public Relations) and Sandy Nesheiwat (Miller Geer & Associates)

Fashion PR Panel Discussion
April 9
Guests: Brianne Bear, COO of Project Ethos, a fashion, music and art company that produces events nationally for emerging brands, and Paula Steurer, founder of Sterling Public Relations.

Public Affairs PR Event 
March 12
Guests: Jenny Wedge, Manager of Public Relations and Public Information Officer for the John Wayne Airport, and PRSSA Professional Advisor Matt Prince.

Gaming PR Event
February 24
Guests: Sarah Campbell, a communications professional with 15 years of experience developing creative PR and marketing strategies for top brands in the technology, entertainment, media and financial industries; Robert Brown of The Bohle Co., who provides counsel on PR strategies, manages staff, books trade show and media tour appointments and pitches and handles first break placements with major media; Mika Kelly, founder of Clever Communications, a boutique PR agency dedicated to the interactive entertainment industry in Laguna Beach, CA

Sports PR Event
February 12
Guests: Cassandra Zebisch, Communications Manager for AEG, the largest sports and entertainment company in the world; Scott Cobett, Communications Program Manager at Oakley, a company passionate about sports, technology, innovation, service and unconventional thinking. 

Diversity PR Event
December 13
Guest: Chuck Sifuentes from the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA).
He recently joined Milagro Strategy Group, a strategic communications firm specializing in public relations, public affairs and Latino community outreach as Senior Media Consultant working on the Walmart account in the Los Angeles area.

Food PR Event
November 20
Guests: Kristin Daher of Morgan Marketing, which has several fast food industry clients. Kristin oversees agency personnel, leads several account teams and spends much of her time building media relationships; Mona Shah-Anderson of Moxxe, who sits on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Restaurant Association and promotes OC’s largest culinary event, Orange County Restaurant Week; Deb Bell, Manager of Public Relations and Engagement for Taco Bell Corp., who has aided in establishing the strategic direction for the largest product launch in Taco Bell history – the Doritos Locos Tacos (DLT) campaign.

Automotive PR Event
November 6
Guests: Brenna Robinson, who develops and executes PR strategy as Public Relations Manager at Kelly Bluebook; Dan Gardner, President and Founder of Gardner Automotive Communications, who has contributed to public relations and marketing programs for Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, Kia, Suzuki and Subaru; Dan Schechner, Editor of Performance Racing Industry, a leading business-to-business publication in the motorsports industry.


Celebrity PR Event
October 9
Guests: Lindsey Carnett and Mari Escamilla from Marketing Maven; Rembrandt Flores from Entertainment Fusion Group.

Social Good PR Event
September 9
Guest: Brandon Sowers, Chief Dreamer of Sevenly and founder of Babblr and BAMGAM.org. Earlier this year, Brandon published Two Buckets, a book that draws from his time with Richard Branson and serves to inspire a younger generation of future entrepreneurs. In 2012, Brandon founded the non-profit “Buy a Meal, Give a Meal” which pairs local restaurants with various humanitarian organizations.

Student involvement challenges
As already noted, the majority of CSUF students are commuters. They typically work one or two jobs and often have family obligations. It is difficult to get as much student involvement in clubs and organizations as we would like. Student organizations are urged to schedule meetings in the evenings to avoid conflicts with scheduled classes (for example, PRSSA meets Wednesdays at 7 p.m.). But many students work in the evening, or need to be home to care for their children or elderly parents. Likewise, many students are in a financial situation where it is difficult for them to afford the annual dues to join a student organization. We anticipate these will be ongoing challenges, and we don’t see that there’s a lot we can to do mitigate them. We welcome input from the site visit team.

It has been difficult for the Department to gather information about what has transpired at student organization meetings. Organizational leadership changes frequently; students tend to not be good record-keepers about what has happened in their organizations during the academic year. Organizational websites often are infrequently updated. The faculty who oversee student organizations are busy people and have no desire to micromanage organizational communication; faculty want to allow student leadership to have autonomy. But that autonomy often results in a lapse in communication with the Department about what’s happening in the organizations. Unfortunately, the Department has not been able to establish systematic reporting of student organization activities to the Department. We have a new Assistant Dean in the College of Communications; a significant part of her job involves working with student organizations. We also welcome input from the site visit team on this issue.

D-03.  Professional contacts – list of at least ten with e-mail addresses
           and phone numbers

  • Ingrid Otero-Smart, CEO, Casanova Pendrill, Costa Mesa, CA, Ingrid.Smart@casanova.com, (714) 918-8200
  • Simon El Hage, Senior Vice President & Director of Strategic Planning, Casanova Pendrill, Costa Mesa, CA, Simon.ElHage@casanova.com, (714) 918-8200
  • Elias Weinstock, Executive Vice President & Chief Creative Officer, Casanova Pendrill, Costa Mesa, CA, elias.weinstock@casanova.com, (714) 918-8200
  • John Echeveste, Partner, Valencia, Perez & Echeveste, South Pasadena, CA, john@vpepr.com, (626) 403-3200 x212
  • Cathi Douglas, APR, Senior Director, CSUF Editorial Services, cdouglas@fullerton.edu, (657) 278-4850
  • Jenny Wedge, Manager, Public Relations, John Wayne Airport, Orange County, CA, JWedge@ocair.com, Office: (949) 252-5182
  • Dan Nasitka, Public and Community Relations 
Director, Discovery Science Center, Santa Ana, CA, dnasitka@discoverycube.org, (951) 805-4174 

  • Cynthia K. Ragland, APR, VP, Marketing & Communications, Orange County Community Foundation, Santa Ana, CA, cragland@oc-cf.org, (949) 553-4202 x22
  • Jessica Neuman, Senior Account Executive, 
Westbound Communications
, Orange, CA, JNeuman@westboundcommunications.com, (714) 663-8188
  • Rachel Smith, Senior PR Specialist & Analyst Relations, EPICOR, Irvine, CA, racsmith@epicor.com, (714) 337-5068
  • Kelly Koehler, Account Executive, Westbound Communications, San Bernardino, CA, kkoehler@westboundcommunications.com, (909) 384-8188
  • Bill Kolberg, Partner & Managing Director, Porter Novelli, Bill.Kolberg@porternovelli.com, (310) 444-7009
  • Dana Kovach, Founder & CEO, Kovach Marketing, Newport Beach, CA, Dana@kovachmarketing.com, (949) 757-2870 x112
  • Jeanie Herbert, Director of Global Surgical Communication, Bausch & Lomb, Aliso Viejo, CA  jh4ir@yahoo.com, (714) 325-3584
  • Elaine Beno, Spokesperson, Automobile Club of Southern California, ebeno22@cox.net , (714) 885-2324
  • Traci Renner, Executive Director, Golin Orange County, trenner@golinharris.com, (714) 662-5100
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