Communication Studies Program Assessment of Student Learning Introduction

As a collective faculty, we have not conducted any formal research regarding student learning; however, we have had numerous Communication Majors make great accomplishments, both inside and outside of the college. We believe that much of what we do in the Communication Studies Program is based on theories of applied learning. We, therefore, concur that our students have been able to successfully apply what they have learned in their Communication courses here at Stockton. Below is an incomplete list of some of those accomplishments. We can also produce copies of some of this material if requested.

In the spring of 2007, approximately 30 students from the Communication Seminar Course attended the 11^th Annual New Jersey Communication Association Conference, held at Kean University. Approximately 20 of those students presented on a panel entitled, “Communication and Popular Culture.” Presentation titles included: MTV and its Impact on Music, Reality Television, and Youth; The Beatles Impact on Popular Music; The McDonald’s Corporation and its Impact on Family Interaction; The Impact of AOL Instant Messaging on Interpersonal Communication; and The Impact of Cell Phones on Interpersonal Communication.

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  Andrea Gabrick (Fall 1998, Program Distinction, Magna Cum Laude) was offered a full-time position in a media organization in Arlington, Virginia before she had completed the internship there.
  

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  Janel Keller (Spring 1999, Program Distinction) was offered a part-time position after her internship at Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point. The intern site created the job for her as they were very pleased with her internship performance.
  
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  Susan Evrard (Spring 1999, Program Distinction), who was a senior reporter and editor for ARGO, was offered a reporter position in Asbury Park Press. According to Allison Garvey of AP Press, “With each assignment Sue exhibited a professionalism and curiosity that signal a real calling to a career as an outstanding beat reporter.”
  
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  Amanda Keyes (Spring 1999) became an assistant manager at Unitel-Wireless Communications Systems in Egg Harbor Township.
  
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  Jennifer Wilson (Spring 1999) was offered a formal position for camera work at WMGM, NBC, Channel 40.
  
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  Kevin Barrett (Spring 1999) received a position for data management in Philadelphia.
  
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  Joshua Gershenbaum (Spring 1999) was hired as a post-production technician at Superdupe Recording Studio at Madison Ave., New York.
  
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  Lori Rao (Spring 1999, Program Distinction) received a full-time position at Edison Media Research.
  
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  Andrea Levick (Fall 1999, Program Distinction) was asked to take on a part-time position within the Programming Department of 100.7 WZXL because of her excellent work in data management and public relations
  
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  Debra Bessetti became a part-time copywriter for Equity Communications after her internship.
  
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  Marc Strozyk was asked to stay at Ginn Computer Company, Ocean City with a starting salary of $800 a week.
  
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  Regina Higbee was offered a decent job at Bell Atlantic Network Services in South Plainfield.
  
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  Bethany Farms got accepted in the production team of a Philadelphia TV station.
  
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  Matthew David Finelli (Fall 1999) accepted a job at a local advertising agency.
  
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  Tim Campbell (Fall 1999) got a job at TNS as a part-time cameraman.
  

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  Anthony Fiumara was awarded a full-time job in his internship company with an annual salary of $38,000.
  
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  Pamela Reistle received a full-time job offer from her internship company Compas Inc. in Cherry Hill.
  
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  Frank Tedesco, who completed his internship at WMGM, NBC, Channel 40 in 1999, received a full-time job offer as a radiographer.
  
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  Jennifer Wilson also got a video production staff position after her internship at WMGM.
  
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  Shawn Rody (Fall 2000, Program Distinction) was hired as a TV production person in Manhattan when he had completed his internship at Cronkite Productions Inc. in New York.
  
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  Kathryn Player (Spring 2000, Program Distinction, Summa Cum Laude) received admission notices with financial scholarship from several prestigious universities. She chose to complete her graduate study in Sports Management at Temple University with a full assistantship.
  

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  Wesley Schnell (Spring 2001, Program Distinction) played a leading role in Communication Society and maintained a GPA of 3.9. He received a number of scholarship and other honors during his studies at Stockton and was listed in Who is Who. With strong recommendations from James Shen and Joe Borrell, he attempted his internship first at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and later ended it in Washington D.C. for political communication and congressional reporting.
  
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  Minority student Llewelyn Glover (Spring 2001, Program Distinction) did extremely well in his communication and theatre studies. With the reference letters from James and others, he was admitted with scholarship in the film school of Chapam University in California.
  
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  Elizabeth Makoski completed her internship at New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission in Newark, NJ. Her media-related experience and computer skills won her a position as manager associate in Commerce Bank before she walked through the commencement. Her starting salary was $33,000.
  
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  Right after her graduation Kari Biehler was hired as a commercial account executive by Pitney Bowes, a Fortune 500 company. She impressed the employer with her solid computer application skills, and the marketing and media experience she obtained from her internship at the Press of Atlantic City.
  
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  Christopher Nagle had his DJ job with his internship experience at K Rock 98.7 & The Coast WCZT 94.3.
  
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  Guy Zompa got his PR job in Absecon before graduation.
  
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  Nicole Muscarella impressed the Manhattan boss with her oral, written and computer skills and organizational insight during her internship at Koch Entertainment on Broadway, New York. She was offered a formal job position with $41,000 before she finished her degree studies at Stockton.
  
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  When Lisa Easter completed her internship at Atlantic Cape Community College, she was asked to take an administrative position with the mid 30’s. But she found a better position at Slack Inc. in Deptford as a marketing research assistant.
  
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  Nick DeLuca found a corporate position soon after his internship at KYW.
  
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  Christina Soffer (Fall 2001, Program Distinction) created a good performance record for her internship in a real estate business in northern New Jersey. She received a job offer at WHD (Whole Home Direct) with $35,000 and full benefits right after her graduation.
  

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  Brian Garnett interned at 102.7 WJSE Somerspoint, NJ last summer. Because of his excellent work performance, he took a job offer from the radio station before his graduation from Stockton.
  
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  Kelly Washart (Spring 2002, Program Distinction) was offered a position of PR Assistant in Parker & Partners Marketing Resources, L.L.C. for her internship performance impressed the company supervisors.
  
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  Damon Scalfaro received a job offer at Australian Trade Commission with lower 30’s after he completed his internship in the Embassy of Australia in, Washington D.C.
  
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  Kim Pinnix (Spring 2002, Program Distinction, Cum Laude) got a full-time position of marketing assistant at Seashore Gardens Living Center because of her internship experience at American Society for Engineering Education in Washington D.C.
  
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  Suzanne Wavro (Spring 2002, Program Distinction, Cum Laude cum laude, transfer Scholar Award Antoinette Bigel Studies Endowed Scholarship) was accepted by Stockton Education Program.
  
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  Lisa Boccuti, (Fall 2002, Program Distinction, Cum Laude) accepted a job as a marketing associate of a pharmaceutical company in South Jersey.
  
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  Katy Smith (Fall 2002, Program Distinction, Magna Cum Laude) received a job offer at Access Response, Inc., an advertising company in Toms River, with her successful internship experience in PR. The new alumna even offered internship positions for the communication majors in 2003.
  

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  Lapell Chapman finished his internship at Pleasantville High School, where he operated the Media Distribution System, and performed on site camera operations for sports events and other activities, and controlled the sound system for board of education meetings. His excellent performance bought him a dual position of a K-12 teacher and director of the TV station with a starting salary of 45K.
  
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  Kelly Vance became the promotions and marketing coordinator of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies Hockey Team when she had completed her internship in promotion and advertising there.
  

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  James Dunn was sent to WAYV 95.1, Atlantic City for his radio internship, and he got a job offer there due to his outstanding work performance in radio production.
  

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  Robyn Porreca’s internship experience with WRAT 95.9 in S. Belmar helped her gain the position of promotion support staff.
  

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  Melissa Gonzalez, who impressed her internship supervisor in Millennium Radio Group with her outstanding work in radio promotion, copy writing, and advertising, found a conversion sales representative position for R.J. Reynolds in Wright Consulting in Philadelphia with 32K. She worked as a city manager with another communication alumna Kelly Rich.
  
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  Kari Spodofora had her internship at Gilmore & Monahan Attorneys & Law, Toms River. Her positive attitude and work performance in legal communication management was greatly appreciated by the lawyers. With the education at Stockton and the internship experience, she was admitted into Law School of Rutgers, Camden in fall 2003.
  
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  Jennifer Kane, (Spring 2003, Program Distinction, Magna Cum Laude), found an administrative job in Ocean County College. She was later accepted as a graduate student in the MAIT Program at Stockton.
  
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  Sharon Giordano (Fall 2003, Program Distinction, Magna Cum Laude) was hired by Stockton as Assistant Director for Community of Scholar in 2004.
  
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  Stephanie Grossman was offered a job at the Government Affairs Office for the ExxonMobile Corporation, Washington D.C. in February 2003. In six months she was promoted to be Congressional Staff Assistant, working with the lobbyists of Exxon for the House and Senate. In Spring 2004, she was accepted into the Columbian Graduate School of Public Administration at George Washington University.
  

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  Kelly Lenzi did her internship at the Miss America Organization in Atlantic City. Her outstanding performance and communication capability won her a producer position before she finished the seasonal work there.
  
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  When Erin Foster finished her internship at ImageMaker, Brick, NJ, she got a job at Lanmark Advertising in Eatontown in October 2003. She started as a marketing associate at $29K.
  

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  Leah Kuchinsky got a job at AC Coin & Slot as their sales coordinator after she completed her internship at Taj Mahal.
  
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  In Maryville Foundation, Franklinville, NJ, Laurie Emhe did her internship in fundraising and social investigation for the Chair of Camden County Freeholder Thomas Gurick. Her independent research work and grant writing was considered efficient and professional, “providing valuable information concerning capitalization of foundations.” She was awarded a position in October 2003 as Human Resource Manager/Grant writer for Maryville Addiction Services (non-profit) in Williamston. Her starting salary was 37,500, to be increased to 40,000 in 3 months.
  
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  Esther Guzman did her internship at UniVision. Her positive attitude and work performance in communication management was greatly appreciated by the Hispanic media organization. She was offered a job position soon afterwards.
  
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  Jessica Batha (Spring 2004, Program Distinction, Cum Laude), who did an advertising/PR internship, found a job as assistant for the Account Executive.
  
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  Cindy Coppola, who received a very positive internship evaluation from the Miss America Organization, was accepted by both California State University at Los Angeles and California State University at Fullerton in fall 2004. She went to the latter for her graduate study in Communication/Public Relations.
  
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  Kim Troncone (Fall 2004, Program Distinction, Summa Cum Laude) with dual degrees in Communication and Education, obtained a teacher position in a public school in South Jersey.
  

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  Cannella Autumn, who interned in American Cancer Society, Philadelphia, was hired as marketing sales associate in Fashion Biz, NYC in fall 2005.
  
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  Terrence Field got a job at Human Capital Management, Inc., Valley Forge, PA, an IT consultant business, after completing the internship in spring 2005.
  
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  Allison L. Venezio did her in KYW-TV 3, CBS, Philadelphia. She not only participated in many production events but also aired a show that she directed and produced.
  
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  Sarah Hamilton got admitted at Master Program in Journalism, Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA.
  

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  Sharon Giordano and Bojan Zilovic got admitted into Stockton’s MAIT Program in F06.
  
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  Barbara Knopp-Ayres was hired by Absegami High School as Media Assistant.
  
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  Intern: Lisa Diebner, Interned in WMCN DT-44, TV in Atlantic City, and was hired as production assistant in Music Choice, New York City, 10/16/06
  
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  Scott Holden, Staff Reporter of The Central Record in Medford, NJ, 11/16/06 e-mail
  
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  Lauren Shapiro received admission notice from the graduate school of Communication Department of Johns Hopkins University.
  
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  Brian Coleman, who interned in Washington D.C. in fall 2006, received a job offer as Continuity of Operations Specialist for the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services. Nominated by the Mass Communications Advisor to be featured in the e-newsletter that the Washington Center regularly sends to prospective interns, Brian was asked to deliver a speech as the Mass Communications representative at the scheduled TWC commencement on December 11, 2006.
  

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  Elizabeth M. Runner’s application for Peace Corps got accepted by the organization’s Administrations Office, Washington D.C.
  
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  Vanya Kasakova, a S07 communication graduate, got accepted into the MAIT.
  
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  Jill Pokus, a comm. graduate and the Program Distinction Honor recipient in May 2005, was hired as Associate Center Manager and Marketing Manager of Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions with a starting salary of 36k.
  
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  Communication senior Aja Graffa interned with CNN in Washington D.C. in fall 2007. Aja received a job offer from CNN right after she completed her internship.
  

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  Darlene Dobkowski is admitted into the fall 2008 Graduate Program of Communication of Emerson College.
  
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  Jeff Schiffer got accepted into Graduate School of Communication of Monmouth University in spring 2008
  
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  Jaclyn Malley, a 2006 communication graduate and an associate producer of Red Films, New York City, got admitted into the Graduate School of Corporate Communication, Monmouth University, fall 2008.
  
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  One of James’ former advisees Sherri Alexandersen, who completed her MAIT studies at Stockton with the honor of Founders Award in May 2007, landed a job as a Multimedia Designer for the aerospace firm Lockheed Martin in fall 2007.
  
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  Another James’ former advisee Kimberly Pinnix graduated from Drexel University with an M.S. Degree in Public Communication (in Publishing track, GPA: 3.88).
  
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  In 2008, there were at least five communication majors working at the Press of Atlantic City as full-time or part-time employees, including three recent graduates Rachel Guevara, Jennifer Hults, and Kelly Ashe, and the recipient of Charles C. Reynolds Endowed Journalism Scholarship Brittany Grugan.
  
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  Darlene Dobkowski, a fall 2007 graduate now studying at the graduate school of journalism at Emerson College, received an internship position at www.boston.com
  

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  Reyanna Turner got accepted at The University of Maryland, College Park, and Towson University.
  
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  Joshua Hoftiezer got admitted into the fall 2009 graduate program (writing) of the communications department, Rowan University.
  
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  Graduating senior Jessica Grullon interviewed Governor Corzine during her fall 2009 internship with NBC40 WMGM-TV). She received a very positive evaluation from the news director for her media writing and Spanish speaking skills.
  
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  Justin Dolan was hired by MTV in New York City in 2009.
  
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  Bojan Zilovic, a 2005 graduate, was hired by ACCC as an assistant professor of communication in 2009
  
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  Jennifer Giardina, ’09 summer graduate, received a position as a part-time Production Assistant with NBC40 WMGM-TV in November 4, 2009
  
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  Aneta Soponska, post-graduation practicum at New York Times, New York, fall 2009. Working fulltime in Poland now.
  
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  Celeste George, a 2004 graduate, served as the art director of Artcraft Promotional Concepts in Moorestown, New Jersey
  

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  In spring 2010, Christa Cycak interned with MTV in New York City. She took many daily responsibilities for production management projects in Comedy Central:
  
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    Coordinating a number of producers and free-lance workers for TV shows
    
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    Designed spread sheets for nationwide contacts and crew traveling
    
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    Prepared financial packets for the accounting department
    
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    TV editing
    
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    Assisted different projects, including a new reality show in downtown New York City.
    
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    During his internship with Atlantic Prevention Resources in fall 2009, William Walsh helped produce a documentary for banning smoking in Atlantic City casinos.
    
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  Lyndsey Watkins worked with the NJ Department of Environmental Protection in Leeds Point. Her internship involved data management and web site improvement.
  
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  Christy Barbetto interned in Fastenal, Hammonton, NJ and received a manager’s position before she completed the internship in spring 2010.
  
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  Jennifer Jade Lor performed an internship in the Southern New Jersey Office of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez during the summer of 2010. She received a very positive evaluation for “her effective communication and organization skills.”
  
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  Emily Lingo did her internship in the Clear Channel Communications in Philadelphia in the summer of 2010. She updated the station’s website and coordinated many events and was commended for her good communication management skills.
  
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  Andrew Moore went through the WLFR Internship and now he is one of the WLFR student managers.  He currently writes for a music magazine Origivation. http://www.origivation.com/
  

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  Thirteen Communication majors were published in China Daily during the 2009 – 2010 academic year. China Daily is a the only national English-language newspaper in China, it is a prestigious publication with daily a circulation of more than 200,000 copies. It is distributed more than 150 countries and regions. It is read by political leaders, corporate executives, educators and other elite groups around the word.
  
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  Student in the class, Writing for the Media – COMM 2103, have been publishing in the Press of AC since 2005 with an average of 5 letters published each semester. Eighteen letters were published in Fall of 2009 and Spring of 2010.
  
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  Hristina Ninova produced about 200 byline stories during her internship at the prestigious Washington-based newspaper, The Washington Examiner. She was also running a column for that newspaper while she was working there.
  
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  Five students were published in the 21^st Century. 21st Century is the education edition of China Daily.