Standard 8 Professional And Public Service Highlights Consistent with Loyola’s mission and commitment to service, the school is a vibrant entity for professional and public service. Since 1996, the Shawn M. Donnelley Center for Nonprofit Communications has been housed in the school and has helped more than 350 nonprofits in the New Orleans area. It is a world-class center equipped with a dozen laptop computers and excellent workspace to offer workshops to nonprofits in the area. For more than 35 years, the school has hosted the Tom Bell Silver Scribe High School Journalism Contest that brings about 50 high school students to campus each year. The school is home to the Lens, New Orleans’ award winning online investigative unit. The school has hosted three weeklong strategic communications training workshops for the federal government since 2010. LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 210 1. Summarize the professional and public service activities undertaken by the unit. Include operation of campus media if under control of the unit; short courses, continuing education, institutes, high school and college press meetings; judging of contests; sponsorship of speakers addressing communication issues of public consequence and concern; and similar activities. Consistent with Loyola University New Orleans’ mission and commitment to service, the School of Mass Communication is a vibrant entity for professional and public service activities. Here are leading examples from local, state and national levels: • The school is home to The Lens (www.thelensnola.org), New Orleans’ only online nonprofit investigative journalism unit. Since 2012, the school provides office space for award winning journalists, two of whom are Loyola University journalism graduates including Edward R. Murrow national winner Jessica Williams (2011 graduate) and two-time Pulitzer winner Bob Marshall (1971). Lens reporters often serve as guest speakers in our classes. They are also spaces for students to intern and work. With The Lens, the school has cohosted two free, public events: “Last Call for Louisiana’s Coast?” looking at coastal erosion (2013) and “Journalism in New Orleans: Where Do We Go From Here?” exploring the New Orleans news media scene (2012). • The Shawn M. Donnelley Center for Nonprofit Communication is a student-run agency in the school that gives students experience in public relations, design, advertising, event and strategic planning by working with nonprofits to create communication solutions. The center was founded in 1996 by alum Shawn M. Donnelley to establish a lab where students could work under faculty supervision on projects for nonprofit organizations. The center also offers workshops and programs for nonprofits. Workshops have included “Tending your Garden: Website vs. Wordpress,” “Planting the Seeds: Promoting Yourself,” “Fundraising and Public Relations,” “Raking the Green: Fundraising and You.” The center also has held numerous nonprofit focus groups to better determine the best way to offer services. The Donnelley Center with the entire school also sponsors a toy drive at Christmas to benefit needy children in the New Orleans area. • The Center for the Study of New Orleans was founded in 2009 by journalism professor Dr. Leslie Parr. The center sponsors about six events per academic year. To date, thousands of people have attended the events and seminars annually that are free and open to the public. Events have included a day of discussions and workshops for New Orleans and Gulf Coast-area stakeholders to learn about the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill and discuss the elements of a comprehensive response strategy (2010); “Live to Eat,” a day of workshops and discussions celebrating New Orleans’ relationship with food (2011); “An Evening of Jazz and History,” a look at the origin of New Orleans jazz (2009); “New Orleans in the 60s, A Time of Change,” a panel discussion on the turbulent era of segregation, integration and emerging identity groups (2010), documentary film screenings and daylong events. SMC faculty LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 211 member Lisa Martin and staff member Laura Beatty are on the steering committee for the center. • The school hosts an annual Networking Night for mass communication students to meet professionals from the New Orleans area to secure future internships and professional employment. We invite students from Tulane, Dillard and Xavier universities’ communication programs to join us. More than 100 students meet with professionals from more than 75 organizations every fall at this popular event. • The school holds a portfolio review night once a year. A panel of mass communication professionals come to campus and review the portfolios of our seniors as they get ready to enter the job market. • Every year since 1977, the school has held the Tom Bell Silver Scribe High School Journalism Contest. About 50 high school students from the New Orleans metro area participate in the daylong event. Students compete in photography, feature writing, newswriting and more. There are prizes for individuals and schools. • The school welcomed about 20 students from nearby Sophie B. Wright High School to tour the campus and see what college life is like in 2013. • The School of Mass Communication hosted a regional Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Watchdog Workshop on campus in 2012. It was open to the working media and student journalists. About 75 people attended the two-day event. • The Loyola University Center for Environmental Communication (LUCEC) co- hosted a workshop for journalists on the Gulf oil disaster at The Times-Picayune in 2010. • The School of Mass Communication with the Asian-American Journalism Association hosted a week-long journalism camp, J Camp, for high school students in conjunction with the Asian-American Journalists Association. Forty-three high school students learned about writing, reporting, videography and photography from nationally recognized professionals who volunteer their time and expertise every summer. • The school has hosted three Strategic Communications Workshops for federal government public information officers of the Social Security Administration (February 2010, January 2011 and April 2012). Federal government spokespersons were trained by SMC faculty and other local professionals in public speaking and other media related skills in a week-long training program. • In 2013, the school welcomed Today Show host Hoda Kotb to campus to speak with students from Loyola and Tulane about her journalism career. LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 212 • In 2013, the school welcomed NPR Correspondent ABC News political commentator Cokie Roberts to campus to have lunch with journalism students and talk about her career. • The school offered leadership training to student organization leaders with New Orleans PR professional and graduate Jeffery Ory 2012. • Alum Reid Steinberg, Senior Vice President of ICON International hosted a two- day advertising workshop for Loyola students and alums. • Journalists and Loyola alums Tom and Jennifer Llamas came to campus to meet with students in class and then lecture in the evening about their road to success in TV journalism. Tom is the 5 p.m. anchor at WNBC in New York. He also appears on NBC’s The Today Show. Jennifer is a producer at MSNBC. She has served as producer on the Tamron Hall Show. • The school welcomed the Rev. Paul A. Soukup, S.J., Ph.D., in 2010 as he discussed “Communicating Catholic Values” in an open forum. Father Soukup is a mass communications professor in the Communication Department at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. He also serves on Loyola University New Orleans’ Board of Trustees. 2. Provide brochures and other publications that describe the unit’s professional and public service activities. There are several examples of the unit’s professional and public service on the following pages: LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 213 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 214 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 215 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 216 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 217 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY NEW ORLEANS SELF STUDY 2013 218 3. Describe the unit’s contact with alumni, professionals and professional organizations to keep curriculum and instruction current and to promote the exchange of ideas. • The school has a 12-member development committee made up of alumni and professionals. Although the ultimate current goal of the committee is to assist the director and school’s development officer in finding partners to help fund the school’s multimedia facility, the committee has also helped to inform the case statement as well as the overall project. Members include: Joe Mahoney*, Lifetime Strategies Group, owner, Chair of Development Committee Troy Broussard, Regional Director AT&T Michelle Burke, Premier Event Management, LLC Amy Collins*, Youth Leadership Council Ann Cook*, Kelsey-Seybold, Vice President Business Development John Deveney*, Deveney Communications, owner Joe Duke, 2 Dukes Media, former CBS News Chief Talent Recruiter Julie Ferriot, Ketchum Public Relations, Global Director Ketchum’s Social Responsibility Program Sally Forman, Sally Forman Communications owner Jennifer Llamas*, MSNBC, producer Tom Llamas*, WNBC, reporter and anchor Molly Mazzolini*, Infinite Scale owner *indicates School of Mass Communication alumni • Alumni and professionals participate in the school’s annual networking