Gaylord College Alumni eNewsletter

October 2008

OU Students Engaged with 2008 Election Presidential Debate Party

Presidential Debate Watch Party
OU students kicked off the election season with a big bang by hosting a watch party of the first televised debate on Sept. 26 and have remained involved in and excited about this year's presidential election. Student organizations hosted watch parties for each of the three televised debates but the first and most successful party was held in Gaylord Hall with estimated attendance of 500+ students. Read more about the Watch Party here.

SoonerVote
Students in Professor Warren Vieth's Multimedia Journalism class have teamed with the Oklahoman to create their own blog about the election process. Most of the students are voting in their first presidential election this year. The blog is hosted at NewsOK.com. Please visit the blog and see what is on the minds of today's students and leave them a comment.

Gaylord Students and Professor Film
New National Commercial for OU

Commercial-Photo Credit Amy Frost

On November 8th, during the Texas A&M game, a new commercial spot for OU will air. The new advertisement is the first OU-spot produced entirely by OU students and faculty.

The student crew is shooting the 30-second commercial this week which focuses mainly on academics. The new spot will highlight OU's National Merit Scholar and study abroad programs, and will include a few comments from OU President David L. Boren, said Jordan Roby, producer and director of the commercial.

Read the full article on the OU Daily Web site and watch a behind-the-scenes video.

Photo credit: Amy Frost, Photo Editor, OU Daily

Alex Shumate Covers OU Football for ESPN

In July 2008, ESPN put out a call for students from their top four preseason schools (Georgia, Ohio State, USC and OU) to cover the spectrum of activities and emotions that encompass football season on their campuses.

The students submitted audition videos and Gaylord College Broadcasting and Electronic Media junior Alex Shumate blew their socks off shooting his entry in High Def!

Now, each week during football season Alex and his counterparts send ESPN video for their ESPNTheMag.com Web site.

Check this page for the latest videos from Alex and the other schools. Be sure to watch the before and after videos of OU/TX weekend (if you can bear it) or catch his latest entry comparing game day experiences for a freshman and a senior.

New JayMac Officers
In addition to honoring four distinguished alumni and bestowing the JayMac Teaching Award at the Oct. 2 banquet new officers were also installed.

The new officers for 2008-2009 are: President Heather Cook, Cleveland County YMCA; Vice President Jolly Brown Pugh, KGOU; Secretary/Treasurer Nancy Coggins, Oklahoma National Memorial.

Gaylord Prize Luncheon, Monday, Nov. 17

Gaylord College will honor Jim Lehrer, executive editor and anchor for PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," for a lifetime of excellence in journalism at a luncheon November 17 to be held at the Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City.

If you would like to attend the banquet, please RSVP by Monday, Nov. 10 to tydy@ou.edu. Tickets are $50 for JayMac members and $100 for non-members.

Read more about the Gaylord Prize.

College loses two 1940s Journalism Alumni
Two accomplished journalism alumni from the 1940s passed away this week. Renowned mystery writer Tony Hillerman died from pulmonary failure on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008. Hillerman was a 1948 grad of the OU school of journalism and went on to practice and teach journalism in New Mexico prior to launching a very successful literary career. Read Julianna Parker's article about Hillerman with memories and comments from current Gaylord faculty and professor emeritus Ned Hockman.

Accomplished Oklahoma journalist Carter Bradley also passed this week. Bradley was a 1940 journalism grad with a long career that spanned journalism, education and government. Read Bradley's obituary from the Tulsa World.

Journey: Dan Eldon's Images of
War and Peace

"Journey: Dan Eldon's Images of War and Peace," an exhibit of compelling news photos, collage artwork and personal journals by the late photojournalist Dan Eldon, is on view at the Gaylord College from Oct. 27 through Nov. 23.

Dan Eldon was a 22-year-old freelance photojournalist that was killed while working for Reuters in Africa during the Somalian conflict in 1993. The multi-faceted exhibit includes color photographs, dry-mounted, poster reproductions of collage journal pages, some personal effects and panels detailing the 1990's Somali conflict that served as the focus of Eldon's work.

The exhibit will be available for viewing on Home Game Saturdays.