Graduate explains how new media classes jumpstarted his career
April 22, 2008
Yoel Robinson, a 2000 Mass Comm graduate, currently works as a Jewish Heritage Educator at Binghamton, Ithaca and Cornell Universities. He explained how the journalism/new media classes he took at Towson have helped him.
One of his many goals and objectives in his current job is to use the technology skills he gained in Prof. Thom Lieb’s courses.
“I am currently designing and developing a Web site that will provide news content as well as course modules,” Robinson said. “Professor Lieb introduced our class to Photoshop, which is a good friend to me now. I produce many marketing and promotional pieces through the Photoshop software.”
Robinson’s first job after graduating from Towson was Executive Vice President of a start-up direct marketing firm, where he continued to expand his technical skills, which were sparked under Prof. Lieb’s guidance, he said.
“I learned programming languages and databases,” he said. “I was a founder of a design and development firm, which was an off-shoot of the direct marketing firm.”
He later became the Web Developer for the Office of Continuing and Extended Education at the University of Maryland at College Park (now know as the Professional Studies).
“I have a tremendous amount of gratitude for Professor Lieb and his pioneering journalism with new media,” Robinson said. “I learned how to grab the reader’s mind by writing specifically for the Internet audience and grab their eye with good, solid design.”
Kristin Beauchamp, 07 grad, works as Web project manager
April 19, 2008
Kristin Beauchamp, a 2007 graduate from the Journalism/New Media track, works at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey, Ca., in their Communication and Marketing office. She began as the senior web/marketing assistant and has recently been promoted to the Web project manager and webmaster.
Her main job duty is to unite the hospital’s 2,300 employees through technology using the hospital’s Intranet and to communicatie the hospital’s marketing and PR efforts to the public through www.chomp.org, she says.
Specifically, she oversees all aspects of the hospital’s public Web site and internal intranet, including providing strategic direction for the Web sites and recommendations for ongoing development. She maintains the visual and editorial quality of the Web sites, so they are consistent with hospital strategic goals, marketing and communication objectives. She also manages the hospital’s online publications and compiles and produces other online content.
DJ Gallo writes sports satire book
April 18, 2008
DJ Gallo, a 2001 Mass Comm graduate, merged his love of sports and his humor writing skill into a successful sports satire Web site, SportsPickle.com, after graduation. The site has gathered much praise from the media, with newspapers like The Orlando Sentinel calling it “the funniest sports site on the Web.” In May 2007 he published a book of his work from SportsPickle, SportsPickle Presents: The View from the Upper Deck.
Gallo is also a columnist for ESPN’s Page 2 and a regular contributor to ESPN The Magazine. He has written for Cracked and The Onion as well.
The Towerlight wrote about Gallo’s launch of SportsPickle in 2001.
Brian Stelter, 07 grad, covers media industry for The New York Times
April 17, 2008
Brian Stelter, class of 2007, is a reporter for the Business section of The New York Times, where he covers the media industry.
Stelter gained national attention while still a student at Towson with his TVNewser blog that covered the television news industry. His blog became a must-read in the industry after he broke stories such the discovery of a PhotoShopped publicity shot of Katie Couric, the ” CBS Evening News” anchor, which made her appear a dress size or two smaller.
The New York Times wrote about Stelter and his blog in 2006. He affiliated TVNewser with Mediabistro.com, where he blogged for a salary, while still a Towson journalism student.Stelter also served as editor in chief of The Towerlight for several years.
At The New York Times, Stelter also blogs about the TV industry at TV Decoder, which is described as “a guide to television — what’s on, who’s watching and why it matters. Brian Stelter covers the day’s on-screen and behind-the-scenes developments, with insights into Nielsen ratings and the machinations of the TV industry.”
You can read a Q&A with Brian Stelter on the Towson University Web site.
