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Bachelor of Science in Communication
News from the Launch Pad (department newsletter)
Veteran Newsman Robert Hager is Highlight of 2008 Industry Advisory Board
Visit
Emmy-award-winning aviation broadcaster Robert Hager was the keynote speaker
for the 2008 Communication Industrial Advisory Board visit Jan. 31-Feb.1 at
Embry-Riddle. Open to the entire ERAU community, his speech at the IC auditorium
was titled “The Future of Aviation” and specifically addressed aviation media
issues.
In Hager’s 35 years at NBC as the person Tom Brokow called “the dean of aviation
reporting,” he covered, among many other stories, the Swissair accident
in Nova Scotia; the TWA explosion over Long Island Sound, and the downing
of Pan AM 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. He also covered major national diaster
stories such as Hurricane Andrew in Miami, Hurricane Hugo in Charleston, and
the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building.
Hours before his speech, Hager took part
in a panel discussion on “Careers in Aviation and Entertainment Communication.”
Other panelists included Communication Industry Advisory Board members Aviation
Daily editor Benet Wilson, Disney Special Events Manager Kim Johnson, Manager
for Corporate Communications, Tim Kincaid, and Senior Public Relations Manager
at Boeing International Elizabeth Verdier, and aviation broadcaster Dan Ronan.
Front row left to right: Board Member Dan Ronan, Keynote
Speaker Robert Hager, and Board Member Kim Johnson; back
row: Board Member Elizabeth Verdier, Communication Program Coordinator
Stephen Zeigler, Communication Professor Steve Master, Board Member Sheila
Chamberlain, and Board Member Tim Kincaid.
The primary role of the Communication
Industrial Advisory Board is mentoring Communication program majors and
helping them them with internships and careers, said Program Coordinator Dr.
Stephen Zeigler. The Board meets annually in January for two days with program
instructors and students. Advisory Board members conclude their visit by rotating
through classrooms answering questions and offering students advice about careers
in communication.
ERAU Communication Team Wins NASA Competition
Embry-Riddle has long been best known for its aviation programs. In summer
2007, however, Daytona Beach public relations and marketing students took
top honors at a NASA-sponsored, nationwide public relations competition in
Houston. Suddenly, the Embry-Riddle Bachelor of Science in Communication program
was in the aviation/aerospace communication spotlight.
 In a nail-biting, on-site challenge in the finals against an 84-student,
two-school combined Arizona team that had dominated the competition in recent
years, the six-member Embry-Riddle team tied the Arizonans for the first-place
grand prize. This was the school's first entrance to the annual competition
started in 1998 and co-sponsored by the Texas Space Grant Consortium.
College
student teams across the country are challenged by NASA to promote math and
science to students, and the space program to the American public in a a
program known as "NASA Means Business."
The team consisted of Kelly Billon, team leader and Communication major;
Melanie Pugh, Communication major; Ken Baylor, Communication; Joe Antonucci,
Aviation Business Administration major; Kevin Mock, Aerospace Engineering
major; Ivens Jean, MBA program; and faculty advisor, Dr. Joanne Detore-Nakamura.
In September '07, the ERAU team was invited to present their work to
NASA officials in Washington D.C., as well as attend the NASA Project Management
Conference in February '08. The team was also given a seat on the
advisory board of the Coalition for Space Exploration. Kelly Billon accepted
the seat, joining board members Buzz Aldrin, Gene Kranz and James Cameron,
among others.
“Though well known in the aerospace community, Embry-Riddle is new to
the fields of public relations and marketing,” said Billon. “It felt amazing
to set the standard for aerospace communication and marketing. By the end
of the competition, we weren’t Embry-Who, but instead Embry-Riddle, First
Place.”
The year-long "NASA Means Business" competition required community outreach,
a strategic public relations plan, a Web site, a public service announcement/commercial,
and print media. It concluded in May '07 at the Kennedy Space Center
with a one-hour presentation from the 7 finalist teams.
The teams were tasked to create a marketing campaign complete with
commercials, a web site, flyers and outreach events, all using the central
point of NASA's new efforts to explore the Moon and Mars. The team kicked
off their work in the summer of 2006, presented via video conference to determine
the finalists in November, landed an all-access adventure at Houston’s Johnson
Space Center in February, and competed in the final challenge at Kennedy
Space Center last May.
At KSC, the team had to present their original plan, and also create
an ad-hoc proposal within a 24-hour time frame. The team used a hero
motif to create a plan for educators to embrace science and math. Another
Web site, storyboards and design proposal followed, but at the end of the weekend,
the work was good enough to tie for first-place with the combined team
from Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and
Mass Communication and the Art Institute of Phoenix.
The 24-hour assignment marked a high point in the cohesion of the
team. "After
the first day when we presented our major campaign, we knew where
we stood, since going into it we had not seen what everyone else had done," said
team Web site designer Pugh. "But after the first day of presentations,
we knew there was steep competition and we were more motivated."
Billon, too, enjoyed the underdog
role in the final competition. “Following seven hours of presentations,
we were assigned another proposal mirroring the requirements of the
year-long competition-we were given 24 hours,” she said. “The relief
after the first round of presentations was brief. We knew that we lacked
the manpower and familiarity with the competition that other schools had,
so we didn’t waste any time. With people typing, coloring, and writing, we
stayed up through the night. It was a brainstorm, teamwork in its best form.
With the help of caffeine and snacks, we presented a fun, creative, and professional
presentation.”
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