SMPA is a pioneering teaching and research leader. Professor Silvio Waisbord is Editor of the International Journal of Press/Politics, an interdisciplinary journal for the analysis and discussion of the role of the press and politics in a globalized world.
Students at our annual Communications Career Expo network with a CNN recruiter. SMPA helps students pursue rewarding careers in media, journalism, and communications via internships, networking events, and employment workshops.
Graduate student Rachel Weisel and Professor Kimberly Gross, in partnership with the Project for Excellence in Journalism, studied how the media uses Twitter. Their findings were published in a groundbreaking report that garnered national press coverage.
Students line up outside GW's Lisner Auditorium before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speak at an event hosted by SMPA. The event was broadcast on CNN.
SMPA Faculty and staff use the flash studio for live and recorded professional programming.
Longtime political reporter and broadcaster Gwen Ifill of The Newshour with Jim Lehrer addresses students.
CNN's Christiane Amanpour and SMPA Director Frank Sesno interview five former U.S. Secretaries of State, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher, Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III. The free event was sponsored by SMPA.
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On September 15, the School of Media and Public Affairs presented a guest lecture by Dr. Philip N. Howard, a scholar of the role of new information technologies in political systems. With evidence from fieldwork in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Tajikistan and Tanzania, and using the latest statistical models, Howard demonstrated that communications technologies have played a crucial role in advancing democracy in Muslim countries.
A video of highlights from the event are now available for viewing below.
Our new Public Diplomacy Fellow, Mary Jeffers, came to the School of Media and Public Affairs to fulfill a desire to reimmerse herself in academia and share her experiences as a Public Affairs Officer with the Department of State. After working in public diplomacy since 1985, Jeffers certainly has much expertise she is eager to share.
Most recently, Jeffers spent the last three years at the U.S. Embassy in Morocco. The end of her stay was dominated by the Moroccan version of the Arab Spring, during which she saw firsthand how the events in Tunisia galvanized the young, wired population in Morocco to use Facebook to organize protests throughout the country. Jeffers had been to Morocco before and in fact, her first visit there inspired her path to public diplomacy.
In 1980, Jeffers travelled to Morocco as a graduate student, not of political communication or international affairs, but of archeology. While working on an excavation, Jeffers became close with her Moroccan peers, and she spent a lot of time visiting in their homes. As she exchanged cultural information with her new friends, Jeffers realized her whole world was changing.
“The ability to see—really see—the world through their eyes had a great impact on me,” she said. “It was like a light bulb turned on in my head. I wanted everyone to experience this new awareness.”
In the blink of an eye, Jeffers changed her career trajectory. She moved to Washington, D.C. and worked for the non-profit AMIDEAST for a few years, until the yearning to again go overseas propelled her to take the Foreign Service exam. She passed, and a Public Affairs Officer was born. Read the rest of this entry »
Attention all SMPA students and alumni - you are invited to attend the third-annual GW Communications Career Expo! Last year, 30+ employers and over 200 attendees registered to attend the event to discuss current trends and employment in the fields of communications, media, and journalism. Meet with representatives from various communications organizations and alumni to discuss your career plans, network, or learn about internships and full-time jobs. Use the opportunity to find out more about companies you are considering or fields you might want to explore. This event is co-sponsored by the School of Media and Public Affairs, the Graduate School of Political Management, and the GW Career Center.
Join us Wednesday, October 12, in the Grand Ballroom and the Continental Ballroom of the Marvin Center (third floor). From 3:30pm-4:15pm, participate in an active Q and A session with industry experts with a variety of backgrounds... and then from 4:15-6:00 pm meet with employers and take advantage of multiple "resource tables" available to help you with everything from fellowships, to resume critique, to building your online brand.
Q and A panelists will include:
1. Bill Black, Co-Chair, Fleishman Hillard’ s global public affairs practice.
2. Catherine Lux Fry – Director of Career Services, American Society of Association Executives (ASAE)
3. Nick Fabiani (SMPA '10) APCO, a public affairs and strategic communication firm (he will briefly address how he was hired as a result of last year's expo!)
4. P. J. Crowley, SMPA Professor of Practice, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
5. Mosheh Oinounou, (SMPA BA ’04), Senior Producer, CBS News Early Show, formerly of Fox News, NBC, and Bloomberg TV
6. Just Added! Kim Hunter, (SMPA BA '07, GSPM MA '08), US Press Secretary at the One Campaign, former Press Secretary for Senator Jim Webb and Assistant Press Secretary at the Democratic National Committee.
Employers signed up so far include the following, but more sign up every day:
1. 101 Magazine
2. Agence France-Presse
3. AKQA Inc
4. Alliance Francaise de Washington
5. APCO Worldwide
6. Beacon Hill Staffing
7. Burson Marsteller
8. CBS News
9. CNN
10. DC SmartStaff
11. DC Courier
12. Discovery Communications
13. Fox News Channel
14. Intermarket Inc
15. Kearns & West
16. Ogilvey Public Relations Worldwide
17. PRSA-NCC
18. PublicSquare.net
19. Scott Circle Communications
20. The Ad Council
21. Verve Wireless
Also, don't miss the chance to meet our Alumni Ambassadors, available to also answer questions about your career:
1. Nick Fabiani SMPA ’10, Project Assistant, APCO Worldwide
2. Carrie Giddins GSPM ‘01, GSPM Alumni President and GW Faculty Member
3. Jennifer Holtz, SMPA BA '01, is a communications attorney at Booz Allen Hamilton advising federal clients on broadband policy and emergency communications. She has experience working for the federal government, trade associations, and other companies.
4. Eric Federing, SMPA BA ’82, KPMG Executive Director, Business and Public Policy. He has served as a Communications Director in both the House and Senate, and managed press information centers for multiple Democratic National Conventions.
Plus, don't miss the opportunity to take advantage of over ten tables full of career resources available to you as a student at GW!
Entrance is free. Current students should register by logging into GWork and clicking on the "Events" tab... alumni should register via this link.
This is the biggest event of the year for everyone with an interest in communications. See you there!
The sport of bullfighting has been making recent headlines as over 600 years of tradition ended yesterday with the passing of a new ban in the Spanish region of Catalonia. Bullfighting also has been making headlines for SMPA Professor Nina Seavey, whose documentary The Matador has been nominated for an Emmy in the category of Outstanding Music and Sound.
The film follows top ranked Spanish matador David Fandila, or "El Fandi," in his quest to complete over 100 corridas, or fights, in one season of bullfighting, a feat accomplished by only 12 bullfighters in the history of the sport. The documentary, with its stunning cinematography of epic battles between man and bull, needed an operatic score to match the images on the screen. Seavey immediately thought of New York composter John Califra, who specializes in what she describes as "big, beautiful orchestral scores." Having composed the music for events like New York City's Times Square millenium celebration and Major League Baseball’s "World Baseball Classic," she knew Califra could create music that matched the intensity of the story. The two spent many months in deep collaboration over the feel and emotion of the film's score; when the soundtrack recording from the Bulgarian National Symphony Orchestra arrived for review, Seavey and Califra knew they had created music that expressed the passion of the bullfighting on the screen.
Tonight, the Emmy winners will be announced. "At this level, the competition is so fierce," explains Seavey, who already has an Emmy for her film A Paralyzing Fear: The Story of Polio in America. "Simply being nominated is a great honor." The School of Media and Public Affairs certainly wishes her much luck this evening!
For more information about the film and its score, visit www.matadorthefilm.com.
4th & Goal, the most recent documentary by Nina Gilden Seavey, the Director of SMPA's Documentary Center, has been met with much critical acclaim. Tomorrow, September 20, the film that Pete Carroll, former head coach at USC and current head coach of the Seattle Seahawks called a “must-see” will be released nationally on DVD and various video-on-demand services.
Touted as “The Blind Side meets Hoop Dreams,” 4th & Goal tells the compelling story of six young standout football players as they strive to reach the National Football League. Filmed over six years, the documentary follows DeQwan, Albert, Gibril, Tim, Randy, and Bret from their recruitment by and collegiate careers at such Division I schools as the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M to their encounters with the often cruel reality that is professional football.
Annually, fewer than one percent of the one million high school students playing football ultimately will be drafted into the NFL. “The film really explores that funnel effect,” says Seavey. “The stories of the players in the film are emblematic of the journey taken by so many athletes aspiring to play on television on Sundays.”
So emblematic is the film, in fact, the NFL Players Association has adopted 4th & Goal as the centerpiece for its renowned Training Camp for Life program. Training Camp for Life serves as an intensive workshop for top high school football players about to begin the Division I recruitment process. Previously, the program screened The Blind Side; this year, 4th & Goal took its place. “That certainly was a great endorsement,” said Seavey.
The documentary also has been accepted into the most prestigious festival of sports cinema in the world, the Milano International FICTS Fest, which takes place in Milano, Italy later this year.
The successes of 4th & Goal come at an exciting time for The Documentary Center, as Seavey's previous film, The Matador, has been nominated for an Emmy. Stay tuned for more details about the nomination next week on our blog.
To learn more about 4th & Goal and its release, visit the official film website.
Professor Steven Livingston (second from left) listens to New Jersey Star-Ledger photographer Aristede Economopoulos at a symposium at Pace University. Photo: Sean Elliot
Two SMPA faculty members commemorated the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by participating in scholarly discourses on the media's depiction of the attacks. SMPA Director Frank Sesno joined the discussions in a Kalb Report taping at the National Press Club, while Professor Steven Livingston participated as a symposium panelist sponsored by Pace University and the National Press Photographers Association.
On September 8, Professor Livingston served as a panelist for “How Media Images of Disaster are Shaped -- and Shape Us," a symposium that explored the impact of media images of the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center attack. The event also featured keynote speaker Aaron Brown, a former CNN news anchor, and the panel discussion was moderated by Michelle Charlesworth, WABC-TV news reporter and weekend anchor. The symposium coincided with the unveiling of a photography exhibit of images from 9/11 called “Witness to Tragedy and Recovery," New York City’s most comprehensive exhibition of media images of the attack and the subsequent recovery.
Prof. Entman accepts his award. Cell phone photo by Prof. Livingston.
He won for his 2004 book Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion and US Foreign Policy, which introduced a new model of how media framing works especially in relation to policymaking, governing, and foreign policy.
At a pre-conference event, Professors Entman and Steven Livingston spoke during a plenary session titled "The Political Communication of Threat" and Professor Catie Snow Bailard presented her paper titled "A Field Experiment on the Internet’s Effect in an African Election: Savvier Citizens,Disaffected Voters, or Both?"
Did you know that SMPA has an award-winning debate team? New coach Paul Hayes just landed on campus and is ready to take the team to new heights.
A graduate of both the New York University School of Law and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (BA), Paul has extensive experience and a strong record of success as both a debate coach and competitor. During his senior year of college, Paul and his partner led UMKC to the 1995 Cross Examination Debate Association National Sweepstakes Championship by winning 8 of the 11 tournaments they attended. As a coach at Michigan State University, Paul helped MSU win the 1996 CEDA National Sweepstakes Championship and a first round bid to the 1997 National Debate Tournament. Prior to joining GW, Paul was a litigator and antitrust attorney.
Students interested in learning more about GW Debate are encouraged to contact Paul at GWDebate.Hayes@gmail.com. The debate team offers partial scholarships to qualifying students.
