FEATURE STORIES
2021
The Speaking Center is Now Open!
March 20 • With a mission of supporting the development of effective communicators, The Speaking Center is now open and taking appointments.
The Speaking Center was established by the School of Communication & Multimedia Studies to help FAU students, faculty, and staff "develop the skills and confidence to become effective and ethical speakers who can communicate ideas clearly in face-to-face and mediated formats," according to Dr. Lindsay Harroff, Director of The Speaking Center. She said there are currently four graduate consultants available for one-on-one consultations to assist speakers with the preparation of speeches and public presentations. Consultants are trained to assist with any stage of the speech preparation process, from brainstorming to delivery. Consultations are available in-person and online.
Visit the website to find consultation availabilities, to schedule a consultation, and to learn more.
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The Paradigm Press: Telling Stories of the Black Community at FAU
February 2 • Watch Critical Conversations: Shifting the Paradigm with Paradigm Press Zoom Video
With a mission to highlight stories of the Black community at FAU, a journalism student launched the university’s first black newspaper in March 2020. The Paradigm Press is an online newspaper founded by Kennedy McKinney, who is also the current editor-in-chief of the paper.
"So the reason we wanted to do that [launching the paper] was because when I came to FAU as a freshman, there were so many things that the Black community was doing within the school," McKinney said in an interview with Wilkine Brutus at WLRN. Mr. Brutus is also an adviser to the newspaper.
The online newspaper covers a range of topics such as student life, sports, culture, entertainment, and issues in the Black community both on and off-campus. Recently, the paper also launched its podcast, Paradoxically, that talks about race, minority issues, current events and controversies, etc.
You can follow The Paradigm Press on Twitter and Instagram. To offer your support or assistance to the newspaper, please contact Mr. Brutus or Ms. McKinney.
Student Creates Short Documentary Series to Highlight Artists Amidst Pandemic
January 20 • An undergraduate student in the School of Communication & Multimedia Studies, Moises Linares is producing a series of short documentary/interview videos featuring talented musicians.
Through his series, 4Beat Media, Linares wants to capture the journey of musicians developing their crafts as artists, and share what it takes to innovate in the music scene while expressing passion and commitment to living and breathing art.
A musician himself, Linares was inspired to create the series seeing how the pandemic is affecting musicians and other artists. "..a lot of workers that are involved in the live music scene, they are either laid off or they are on unemployment," says Linares. He wants to "help those musicians so they can know their story."
He hopes to connect with other SCMS filmmakers and creatives to collaborate on future episodes, and feature talented artists. The first episode of the series was released in September and features a Fort Lauderdale, Fl, based artist, Daniel "Felix El Gato" Garcia. Drummer, bassist, DJ, and a Bboy performer, Felix has merged his passion for dance and music, to create his unique style.
2020
National Communication Association Inducts 31 SCMS Students
December 20 • Lambda Pi Eta welcomed 31 students from the School of Communications and Multimedia Studies at FAU in a virtual induction ceremony held on Dec. 4. A complete list of the inductees is on the ceremony program. The ceremony can be viewed here.
The ceremony began with the opening remarks from chapter advisor, Dr. Matthew Sobnosky, followed by a welcome speech from SCMS Director Dr. Carol Mills.
The communication honors society awards membership to undergraduate students who have completed 60 semester credit hours, including 12 communication studies courses, and have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 in all the courses taken, with a minimum GPA of 3.25 in all communication courses.
Living the American dream in China’s Wild West: Award-Winning Documentary by SCMS Faculty Adam Smith
November 16 • A film by Adam James Smith, MFA, Assistant Professor of Multimedia Studies in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies (SCMS), is currently being screened in Europe with in-person screenings in Vienna, Austria; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Lund, Sweden. The film, titled “Americaville,” was awarded Best Feature Documentary at the Swedish Architecture Film Festival.
“Americaville” centers around a replica of the Wyoming town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming that was built in China, north of Beijing. In the film, Annie Liu escapes China’s increasingly uninhabitable city of Beijing to pursue happiness, freedom, romance and spiritual fulfillment in Jackson Hole, only to find the American idyll harder to attain than what was promised to her.
After finishing his first feature documentary in China, “The Land of Many Palaces,” Adam began work on “Americaville” in late 2014. While “The Land of Many Palaces” focused on the movement of rural people into a new city, “Americaville” focused on the opposite movement, of a wealthy urban elite leaving China’s increasingly uninhabitable cities to live out an imagined American small-town life.