95 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155 617-627-2155 [email protected]—ase.tufts.edu/cms Welcome to the Fall 2013 CMS Newsletter! In this issue you’ll find our usual blend of features about CMS classes, profiles of alumni, and news about CMS events. We have also continued the trend of asking our students to write more of the articles, which gives them additional journalism experience and often helps them to make some interesting and useful contacts. We want to hear from you! Please let us know if you have ideas for features, and make sure you send us updates on your professional endeavors, as well as your whereabouts. Inside this Issue CMS News — pages 2-3 Alumni News and Profiles — pages 4-9 CMS Events — pages 10-14 Internships — page 15 Students gather in the projection booth in Tisch Library, From the Classroom — pages 16-18 prior to the annual film screenings for the class “Producing Films for Social Change” (See page 16) CMS Newsletter Send us your news! Changed jobs? Gone back to school? Moved? We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] Do you know someone who might be interested in receiving this newsletter? Volume 6, Issue 1 Feel free to pass it along. Fall 2013 2 CMS News Notes from the CMS Director Julie Dobrow CMS Director Greetings from CMS! Communications and Media Studies Program Tufts University As ever, it’s been a busy semester for us. We have a large senior 95 Talbot Avenue class with whom we’re working, we’ve had many interesting events and we’ve been involved with a number of new Medford, MA 02155 partnerships across the university and beyond. [email protected] You will read in this edition of the CMS Newsletter about some of the events we’ve held on campus. You’ll go inside our Producing Director Films for Social Change class and learn more about why this Julie Dobrow intense and intensive course continues to be one of our “signature [email protected] courses.” You’ll hear about some of the new initiatives that are making us very excited and very optimistic about the future of 617-627-4744 film and media studies at Tufts. This fall we launched a new administrative structure at CMS. Program Administrator John Ciampa has become our Program Administrator and is with us full-time. Leslie Goldberg has become our Internship John Ciampa Administrator and is with us three days a week. Though there’s [email protected] always lots for us to do, our little admin team, aided by three 617-627-2155 wonderful work study students, manages to support a program that seems to grow with every successive semester. Please let us know what you’re doing – we love to hear from Internship Administrator alums! And I cannot tell you the number of times that I rely on Leslie Goldberg, J84 our growing database of alumni in the media industries for help, [email protected] advice, and ideas. 617-627-2007 John and Leslie join me in wishing each of you and your families a wonderful holiday season, and all the best for a healthy, happy, Student Assistants and productive 2014! Gracie McKenzie, A15 Kacey Taylor, A14 Lauren Witte, A14 Sol Gittleman Chair In an exciting and major step to move film and media studies at Tufts forward, the university has announced the establishment of the Sol Gittleman Professorship in Film and Media Studies. Over the past year, a group of faculty from many departments has worked to formulate proposals that will solidify and advance film and media studies at Tufts. One of these initiatives has been developing a position description for the new Gittleman chair. Members of this large interdisciplinary group have been appointed to a search committee, and the search has now commenced. Nancy Bauer, one of the Deans for Academic Affairs in the School of Arts and Sciences, stated, “We are thrilled that the first holder of a professorship named after the iconic Sol Gittleman will be in a subject near and dear to Sol’s heart. The launch of a new program in Film and Media Studies with the hire of a high-profile appointment will signal to the Tufts Community and the world our steadfast and very strong commitment, at a time when Universities are struggling with flat budgets, to supporting the humanities and the arts on our campus." 2 3 New CMS partnership with Tufts Medical School The need for clear and effective communication around health issues is arguably one of the most important needs of 21st century life. To meet this need and to better prepare students for the increasing job opportunities in the field, in the spring 2014 semester Tufts will launch a new B/MS in Health Communication. This program, a joint endeavor between the Tufts School of Medicine and the College of Arts & Sciences, will enable qualified undergraduates to get both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years, by starting to accumulate relevant graduate coursework at an accelerated pace. The program will allow students to delve into many different modes of health communication—from public health campaigns to one-on-one patient-provider dialogue to new media. The focus of the program will be getting students to understand the theories of communication that undergird the science, as well as providing students with courses that develop the research skills necessary to identify target audiences and their needs, along with the writing and presentation skills required to deliver the message. In addition, the program will provide students with many opportunities to apply what they have learned in field-based placements. CMS Director Julie Dobrow has worked with a team at the Tufts Medical School, including Sue Gallagher, the director of the health communication program, and Professor Linda Hudson, along with Professor Linda Sprague Martinez from the Community Health program, to develop and launch the program. Gallagher stated, “The new B-MSHCOM program is a logical partnership between the Tufts Medical School, Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, and the School of Arts and Sciences’ Community Health Program and the Communication and Media Studies Program. The program provides undergraduate students with a new career path in health communication and competence-based practical skills that are in high demand in the field of health and medicine. The TUSM program is the oldest health communication program in the country and has added several course that address the new media landscape of e-health, medical health and social media. TUSM added this dual degree program to shorten the time to degree completion and improve the competitiveness of graduates in the marketplace.” Click here for more information about the Health Communication program. CMS Alumni Board member in the news! Click the logo to the right to watch filmmaker Josh Seftel, A90, on his hilarious new Web series about conversations with his mother. My Mom on Movies has been making waves on YouTube and was recently featured in The Boston Globe Magazine and on CBS Sunday Morning. CMS on the Web Please take a moment to visit our website, where you’ll find photos, useful links, and video files from many of our events. If you have a career update, please send it to John Ciampa. You can also visit our Facebook page by clicking on the icon above. 3 4 Alumni News Digital man By Kacey Taylor, A14 Though Glenn Engler, A83, G89, may describe himself as a “husband, father, sports junkie” on his blog, he’s much more than that: he's one of the leading thinkers in the digital marketing field, the global chief of staff and director of corporate strategy at Edelman, the ex-CEO of Digital Influence Group, and the former president of Digitas. He’s also an ever-faithful Jumbo, dedicated to giving back to Tufts by offering eager students his advice, along with the opportunity to join his social network as they look to enter the marketing field. Engler’s time as a Jumbo began during his sophomore year, when he transferred to Tufts from Grinnell College to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics. He loved math, history and problem solving, and saw economics as the perfect blend of all three. During his last semester of school, he took a full-time job at Epsilon, where he traveled around the country predicting population growth rates. This was just the start to what he calls a “meandering path” of jobs in economic forecasting, marketing, then database marketing, which eventually led him to a five-year career in management strategy consulting. With the growth of the internet bubble in the early-2000s, Engler moved into digital marketing, and was appointed senior vice president of Digitas prior to becoming president of the company’s Boston region, overseeing roughly 900 people in three different cities. After spending a decade at Digitas, Engler joined Digital Influence Group (DIG) as its Engler gives advice to a Tufts student during a CMS CEO, making the shift from the largest digital agency in the event held earlier this year called “Advertising and world to a smaller one with a more specific focus on social Marketing the the Digital Age.” media. Earlier this month, he began the next chapter of his career as global chief of staff and the newly-created role of director of corporate strategy at Edelman, the largest PR agency in the world, recently named Global Agency of the Year for 2013 by The Holmes Report. No matter where his career has taken him, Engler remembers his roots as a Jumbo by revisiting campus to share his knowledge and expertise to both students and faculty.