Chantal Anderson, a Journalism Foreign Intrigue intern, enjoys a Beijing snow day while overlooking Tiananmen Square.

transforming communication

Support student learning outside the classroom at April 15 event

By NICHOLAS TROST
UW News Lab

Amid the budget crisis, many departments are cutting back, losing precious and unique programs that mean a lot to students. The UW Department of Communication is determined to make sure this doesn’t happen to them.

On Thursday, April 15, the department will sponsor a fundraiser to raise money for the opportunities students have to learn outside the classroom.

“We are a department in which we believe very strongly that students learn as much outside the classroom as inside,” said Department Chair David Domke. “Classroom experiences can be incredibly valuable, but it doesn’t usually fundamentally change a student. We want to keep the programs that will impact how students understand the world.”

Using the theme of transforming experiences, the department will highlight students who have used these special programs as starting points for successful and promising careers.

One such program is the Olympia Legislative Reporting Internship. The department pairs students with news organizations to report in Olympia for 10 weeks during winter quarter. Students receive a $2,500 stipend for their room and board, and often have the experience of a lifetime.

The program has had a tremendous amount of success. Heather Brooke, an alumna of the Olympia Program, made international headlines last year with her investigative work in Britain, where she set the stage for the resignation of the speaker of the House of Commons. She cites the Olympia program as the experience that started her career.

“It all came together with that internship,” said Brooke. “The internship opened a lot of doors for me.”

In addition to the Olympia internship, the department gives up to five students during the summer the chance to travel to China, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Kenya and South America, to work for English-speaking news organizations. For some students, this is why they came to the UW.

“I came to the Journalism program at the UW because of the Foreign Intrigue program,” said Chantal Anderson, a Foreign Intrigue scholarship winner. “It was really important to me that I was able to do it, and I had such an incredible experience.” Anderson wrote for a newspaper in China last year.

In addition to the Olympia and Foreign Intrigue programs, the department offers study-abroad programs in Rome, Switzerland and Argentina. Here students work closely with their faculty mentor, gathering evidence and learning the fundamentals of research. For many students, these programs create valuable mentorships.

“I met Crispin Thurlow when I went with him to Switzerland,” said Kristy Hogue, a participant in the department’s Switzerland study-abroad and Honors programs. “It was great to form a relationship with a professor like that and it really got me excited to do research. He later became my advisor for my senior year Honors coursework.”

The UW Department of Communication prides itself on providing students with opportunities to go abroad and experience their courses of study first-hand. But you don’t always have to travel far to have a transformative experience. One class transforms hundreds of students each year: COM 220, Public Speaking.

“I love teaching this class, it is so intoxicating,” said Senior Lecturer Matt McGarrity, instructor of COM 220. “It can be such a thrill. There are always great success stories. It happens every single quarter.”

COM 220 is a unique class in that it gives students the chance to perform an advocacy speech in Red Square. Often students are nervous in the beginning of the class, but come out confident and eager to speak in public.

“Everyone has a huge gasp when I tell them they have to speak in Red Square,” said McGarrity. “But we scale up to that point, and there is often huge improvement. In fact, it usually happens right before my eyes. Now that’s transformative.”

McGarrity cites the Public Speaking Center as one of the key components to the success of the class. And, like all of the opportunities described here, it needs money.

“The lectures are great, but none of that matters if the students don’t have the opportunity to get their hands on the speech like they can in the speaking center,” said McGarrity. “Almost every department on campus has had to cut their writing centers because of budget cuts. We can’t afford to do that.”

It is clear that no one wants to see these programs go away; not the professors and certainly not the students. Some students depend on department funding to follow their goals and chase their dreams.

“For me, department funding has been really important because I am paying for school myself,” said Anderson. “Paid internships are almost impossible to find in Washington state right now and this is one of the few opportunities that you can gain professional experience and get paid. It is definitely very important and I am very lucky that the Department of Communication funds these programs.”

Kristy Hogue echoed these sentiments, saying it would be hard to swallow if the department had to shut down the programs that have given her so much success and motivation.

It would be a real shame if the department had to cut programs such as Honors,” said Hogue. “There were 10 really motivated people in that class who were itching to get their hands into research before graduate school, or before they graduated to get that experience. The funding is so important.”

These are precisely the reasons why the Department of Communication has gone out of its comfort zone and planned a spring fundraiser so it can further provide for its motivated students.

“It is not what we do for the most part here, that is — go out and raise money,” said Domke. “But we believe so strongly in these experiences for our students and these pieces that shape who they are, so we’ve decided to take this leap. It’s all about the students.”

For many, including those on the Department of Communication Alumni Board, this fundraiser can help the department prepare for the future, whatever that may hold.

“It’s not hard to see that more (budget cuts) may be coming,” said Alumni Board president Terry Tazioli ('70). "We wanted to help, especially in the arena where most cuts tend to come — in any area that does not simply involve classroom study."

Whatever the future holds, it is clear that the Department of Communication is giving its students the necessary tools to succeed in it. At a time when its students need it most, the department is stepping up and bridging the gap, and the students appreciate it.

“The department has made such a difference in my life,” said Anderson. “I could go on and on with what the program has done for me. I have had the coolest professors, great opportunities and so much support. This department is awesome.”

Nicholas Trost is a senior Journalism major graduating in June. He hopes to attend law school in the fall. He hails from Albuquerque, N.M., and currently works as a web content editor for KIRO 7 Eyewitness News in Seattle.