Academic research and student projects by University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students were honored at the annual convention of the Broadcast Education Association April 15-18 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Communication Studies Professor Christy Brazee and Director of Radio Services Randall Davidson presented a research paper they authored called Process Mapping to a Tipping Point: Enhancing College Radio Underwriting through an Action Learning Project. The paper describes how Brazee’s class in Managerial Communication was able to use UW Oshkosh’s campus radio station WRST as a learning laboratory. They worked to improve the station’s process for securing financial support from area businesses, called ‘underwriting’ in non-commercial radio. The class used a technique called ‘process mapping’ to delineate each step of the process. WRST’s student managers gained the professional experience of being a client and also received help with their fundraising procedures, while class members taking on the exercise had a real-world project to experience and added it to their professional portfolios. The paper was honored with a second place award for debut papers in the BEA’s Management, Marketing and Programming Division.
UW Oshkosh’s Director of Television Services Justine Stokes was also a panelist at the conference. She was on a panel entitled “Finding the Best Non-Linear Video Editing Software for Our Students: Adobe, Apple or Avid?” She and other educators took part in a discussion exploring fiscal and professional standards when choosing editing software for educational programs.
UW Oshkosh’s Titan TV operation was also recognized at the convention. The station received an honorable mention award in the television division of the Signature Station Competition. This award was the result of judging by industry professionals and honored stations for both content creativity and the execution of their operations and practices.
Several UWO students were honored in the conference’s Festival of Media Arts. In the student category for Best Sports Story/Feature/News, WRST Sports Director Brandon Kinnard took a second place award for his segment Titan Football Outlook: UW-Whitewater Warhawks, previewing the homecoming match-up last fall. This piece has also been honored with awards from the National Broadcasting Society, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and the Milwaukee Press Club.
In the student category for TV Spec Scripts, UWO students won two prizes. Timothy Klassa took second place for a script he wrote for the series Family Guy and Tony Bushner got a third place award for an episode of 30 Rock. UWO has now won eleven BEA festival awards.
The BEA convention is held concurrently with the annual convention of the National Association of Broadcasters and its trade show for equipment manufacturers. Stokes and Davidson attended this event as well, along with RTF chief engineer William Kerkhof.
Randall Davidson submitted this announcement. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today.