Department News
Alumni Event - More than 40 graduates and friends of the Department met Feb. 5 at the college’s Center for Visual Arts located at 1734 Wazee St. Additional alumni events are planned for the future.
Department faculty coordinated and are teaching the first computer gaming course offered by Metro State. The course is multidisciplinary and is the work of Bob Amend, Chris Jennings, and Lisa Ortiz. More than 20 students are enrolled in the course.
Susan Cook prepared and is teaching a new course this semester--Communication Strategies for Health Practitioners.
Faculty Highlights
Professor Clark Germann is working with African/African American Studies Professor Lucas Nandih Shamala to obtain funding to provide laptop computers for schools in Western Kenya. Computers would go primary and secondary schools in the villages of Kambiri, Magale, Shanderema, and Malava. One possibility is the use of laptops from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project www.laptop.org. The machines are designed and built especially for children in developing countries, living in some of the most remote environments.
Dr. Clark Germann is also a member of the steering committee of the College’s new First-Year Student Success program. In addition, he is teaching one of the 40 sections of classes offered this fall. Professor Lisa Ortiz is providing training for program faculty in the use of the Blackboard course management software. The program will serve 600 new students who are placed in 40 “cohorts”—groups who take two linked classes together. The program is designed to help students in the freshman year succeed in the college environment.
Professor Lisa Ortiz was awarded the New Media Consortium Virtual Learning Prize. The competitive program of awards creates a collection of innovative open-source learning experiences that make use of the unique attributes of a virtual learning environment. Lisa’s winning project was “Experience Disabilities”. In addition, she developed and implemented Metro State’s Roadrunner Island in the Second Life virtual environment. Lisa was also selected to participate in Metro State’s coveted MetroLeads leadership training program.
Professors Susan Cook and Clark Germann collaborated on a convention presentation and major book review. Gender, ethnicity and technological compency: An unconventional view of the digital divide was presented at the Convention of the National Communication Association in San Diego. Old theories in a new medium: Rhetoric and democracy a’ la virtuality was published in The Review of Communication from Routledge Press.
Professor Bob Amend is teaching a new course this semester: Critiquing and Producing the Travel Video Program. In addition, he is active in NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) and continues to help the NATPE Educational Foundation organize student career workshops in various cities throughout the US. Past workshops have been held in Denver, Seattle and Philadelphia. Spring 2009 will feature a NATPE workshop in Raleigh. With another associate, he is soliciting funds for a proposed documentary about energy use and alternatives to oil.
Students in the News
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