Media and Communications Day, a former annual event, will soon return to campus.
Geneseo will be hosting the event on Tuesday April 10 in the MacVittie College Union ballroom from 5-7 p.m. Students of all years and majors are welcome to attend.
This is the first Media and Communications Day that Geneseo has had in current years, but it was once an annual event. Communication lecturer and WGSU-FM Faculty Director of Communication Michael Saffran ‘85 discussed the drive behind bringing this event back to Geneseo.
The event will begin with a panel discussion led by 12 alumni and will surround the topic of how Geneseo helped prepare them for a career in communication and beyond, according to Saffran. Following the panel, there will be a speed networking event set up with various tables each pertaining to a different career field within the communication major, Saffran said.
Geneseo Student Television is a club that became inactive this academic year after student interest declined, Saffran continued. GSTV—along with the campus radio station WGSU and The Lamron—are outlets that many alumni were heavily involved in at Geneseo.
After the end of GSTV, Saffran said that he shared an article from The Lamron reporting what had happened with the club in the WGSU alumni group online. This resulted in many alumni lashing out and blaming the college for their lack of support.
“There were lots of misperceptions last fall when the alumnistarted to get word of the demise after reading The Lamron headline regarding GSTV and they assumed that the college had shut down GSTV,” Saffran said.
Many alumni, however, soon realized that the termination of GSTV was largely due to diminished student interest, and they took their concerns in a different direction, Saffran said.
“Media day grew out of the uproar from the alumni and it sort of began as a ‘save GSTV initiative,’ but it evolved into more of a ‘let’s just show that there is value in pursuing media careers generally—be it print, traditional print, television, radio—and the skills gained in those positions that you can take to other careers,’” Saffran said.
Saffran collaborated with Ann Kraus ‘87, associate professor and Chair of the communication department Andrew Herman and career advisor Anna Grace Kelly ‘17 to make this event happen.
Kelly encourages all students to attend—whether they are a second semester senior or an undecided freshman. She emphasized the importance of having a strong, broad network in today’s society and the many advantages associated with networking.
“Networking is extremely important. We call it the hidden job market because anyone can go online, find a position to apply to, apply to it and hopefully land an interview, but there’s also a way to find jobs by just networking with people,” Kelly said.
“If you have the name of an alumni who works at a company that you’re very interested in, sometimes that will give you an advantage,” Kelly said. “You have someone who you can work with, someone who can explain the position and how to advertise yourself in the best ways to that company.”
From a career advisor’s perspective, Kelly urges students to take advantage of the resources offered beyond Geneseo’s campus.
Although she does promote visiting the Department of Career Development to find the right internship or job, she strongly suggests students talk to alumni in person or through networks such as LinkedIn to expand their network.
Students can register for the event through Knight Jobs under the career events section, but drop-ins are welcome to attend and participate in the event as well.