In the News
Communication Students win Award at the 2013 New York State Business Competition
A group of four students from the School of Communication & the Arts, as well one student from the School of Management competed and won the People’s Choice Award at the 2013 New York State Business Plan Competition, which was held at SUNY Albany College of Nanoscale Science & Engineering on April 26th. The students’ business plan focused on offering small businesses in the Mid-Hudson area options for social media campaigns that are tailored to their brand. The student team, dubbed Engage, competed in the Social/Non-Profit category.
Presenters had ten minutes to pitch their ideas to the judges followed by a five-minute question and answer session. Engage was among over 100 other teams from 25 colleges and universities across New York State. The judging panel included over 30 venture capitalists, angel investors, investment bankers, and seasoned entrepreneurs. Prizes included over $150,000 and in-kind prizes.
The winning Marist students developed a non-profit called Engage, a social media agency for small businesses in the Mid-Hudson Valley. The students performed primary and secondary research in order to develop several components for their presentation, including financial projections, a pricing strategy, as well as a case study they executed on Facebook with Rossi’s Deli in Poughkeepsie.
The team was composed of Seniors Kelly Tranfaglia and Casey Fisk, Juniors Jackie Mucilli and Sam Baines, and Sophomore Chris Lorenz. Tranfaglia, Fisk, and Lorenz are Advertising majors within the School of Communication. Mucilli is a double Public Relations and Advertising major, and Baines is a Marketing major in the School of Management. School of Communication faculty members Kathy Boyle and LoriBeth Greenan served as faculty advisors for the team.
Fashion Program Director chaired the Arts of Fashion education seminars at Hong Kong Polytechnic University
As part of the Arts of Fashion international fashion design competion, hosted by Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, Marist College Fashion Program Director, Radley Cramer, chaired the morning session of the AOF Fashion Education Seminar Series on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. In addition to chairing the event and presenting his work “The Impact of Disruptive Technology on Fashion Education,” Cramer also served as a juror for the first-round judging of the annual fashion design competition. The competition included more than 300 works from 45 countries, and featured a jury representing the United States, Finland, People's Republic of China, United Kingdom, France and South Korea. 50 finalists will advance to the second level of competition.
Sports Communication Students Win National Case Study Competition
A team of four Marist College sports communication students won this year's undergraduate case study competition held by the College Sports Research Institute (CSRI) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The case study presentation was held on Wednesday, April 17, as part of the institute's annual academic conference on intercollegiate athletics. Marist was announced the winning team Friday morning at the conference. Marist also won the competition in 2011 and placed second in 2012. The University of Tennessee finished second this year, while last year's winner Loras College finished third.
Marist competed against 12 other teams from colleges and universities around the country. Marist's team consists of senior Milena Carrese, junior Taylor Mead, and sophomores Caitlin Kelly and Zachary Obid. All four are sports communication majors. None of the four competitors were part of previous case study teams, making their overall victory even more impressive.
Case study coordinator Dr. Coyte Cooper of the University of North Carolina noted the high quality of student work this year and the increased competitiveness of all teams. During the awards ceremony, he also noted Marist's tradition of top finishes.
Although tired, Kelly was excited with the victory.
"I could tell by the positive reactions of the judges that we had really made the right choices with all our research," said Kelly. "We worked really hard, and I'm proud of the entire team."
This year's case study focused on Holy Cross University and the evolution of the Big East Athletic Conference. For the competition, teams had to successfully complete two parts of the case study project. First, they wrote and submitted in advance a written case study on whether Holy Cross should have joined the Big East in its formation in 1979. Second, students gave a 10-minute presentation on whether now Holy Cross should entertain a move from its current athletic conference to another, like the new Big East, if given the opportunity. The presentation was followed by five minutes of questions from a panel of academics and sports administrators.
Obid noted that Marist's location in the northeast gave them a strategic advantage in discussing Holy Cross and northeastern athletic conferences.
"I grew up near Boston, and I'm very familiar with these schools and these leagues. When we had to answer questions about arenas in Worcester, I could actually talk about those arenas because I've been there," noted Obid.
Keith Strudler, director of the Marist College Center for Sports Communication and the team's faculty advisor, is thrilled by the professionalism of these students in producing high caliber work.
"Winning is always great for the students, and it's a validation of all the time and effort they put into this project," said Strudler. "But more importantly, I am impressed by how well they handled a very competitive academic environment and really came together as a team."
For more information about CSRI's case study competition, go to http://www.csriconference.org/case_study.html.
For more information about the Marist College Center for Sports Communication, visit http://sportscomm.marist.edu.
Ed Smith's Work at Royal Scottish Academy
Work by Marist College Professor of Art and Art Gallery Director Ed Smith is included in Sculptors' Prints, an exhibition at The Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh. The exhibition runs from February 23 to March 31. Smith's work, Battle of the Naked Men, included in this exhibition, is based upon a work of the same name by Antonio Pollaiuolo, a 15th-century Florentine artist, which was one of the earliest and most influential of Italian engravings. Smith's print is nearly 7 feet x 7 feet and is made of 12 separate sheets.
The Royal Scottish Academy is that country's preeminent arts institution, and features some of Scotland's most distinguished sculptors, including academy members. Smith is one of only two American artists to be included in the show, which features prominent sculptors like Eduardo Paolozzi, Doug Cocker, Antoni Tapies, and Arthur Watson.
Ed Smith is associate professor of art and art gallery director at Marist College. Smith is a Guggenheim fellow in sculpture and drawing and an associate of the Royal British Society of Sculptors. He is also an associate fellow at Trumbull College, Yale University. Smith has been a visiting artist, lecturer, artist-in-residence, professor and distinguished visiting artist at numerous institutions including Boston University, Yale University, Lacoste School of the Arts in France, New York Studio School, Glasgow School of Art, and North Glasgow College. His work has been written about and reviewed in The New York Times, Sculpture Magazine, Art News, The Miami Herald, Times Union, Giornale Dell'Arte, The San Francisco Examiner, Art New England, and many others publications. Smith's awards and honors include, Awards for Teaching Excellence, National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts, Ford Foundation Grants, First Alternate Prix de Rome, Fulbright Award, 2009-10 Marist College Faculty of the Year Award, and NY State Council on the Arts.
The Center for Sports Communication hosts Yankees baseball analyst Jack Curry
Yankees baseball analyst and award winning baseball writer Jack Curry will speak at Marist College on Thursday, February 28, at 7 p.m. in theMcCann Arena. Curry will talk and answer questions about his experiences covering baseball and offer advice to aspiring sports media professionals. The event is sponsored by the Marist College Center for Sports Communication. Curry is best known for his analysis on the Yankee’s pre- and post-game shows on the YES Network, where he has worked since 2010. He is also a columnist forYesnetwork.com and was a part of the YES team that won a 2011 Emmy Award for its Yankees coverage. Curry is also recognized for his coverage of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the New York Yankees during a long career atThe New York Times. While atThe Times, Curry covered 18 World Series, 11 All-Star Games, 10 MLB Winter meetings and two World Baseball Classics. Curry has made appearances on MSG’s Angles round table show and WCBS-TV’sBaseball Insiderweekly studio show. He has also provided commentary on television and radio shows such as ESPN’sOutside the Lines, MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, ESPN Radio’sThe Michael Kay Showand various WFAN Radio programs. Curry is co-author, with Derek Jeter, ofThe New York Timesbest sellerThe Life You Imagine: Life Lessons for Achieving Your Dreams.
PR Faculty Feature Presenter at the U.S. National Summit on Strategic Communication
Professor Mark Van Dyke will be the featured presenter at the upcoming U.S. National Summit on Strategic Communication in Washington, D.C, April 22-23.
An expert is strategic communication research and practice, Professor Van Dyke was invited to close the Summit by Robert Grupp, who has also arranged for presentations by senior leaders from the U.S. House of Representatives, IBM, NATO, the U.S. military services and defense agencies, corporations, etc. Robert Grupp, who is organizing the conference, is president of his own international communication management agency. He has also served as president and CEO of the Institute for Public Relations and the International Public Relations Association, and he is a member of the Arthur Page Society. Click here to learn more about the Summit.
Fashion Students Win Big at YMA FSF Geofffrey Beane National Scholarship Award
When the stars of the New York fashion world gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in early January to honor industry leaders present and future, Marist students were front and center. The YMA FSF Geoffrey Beene National Scholarship Awards, among the industry’s most prestigious competitions, drew entrees from the country’s top 41 fashion and business programs, including Harvard, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and the Savannah College of Art & Design, in addition toMarist. By night’s end, Marist students had captured six $5,000 scholarships, one $10,000 scholarship, and one of only four $30,000 Geoffrey Beene Scholarship awards, which went to Nicole Rodgers, a junior fashion design major from Byfield, Mass. “I could not be more pleased with the hard work and well-earned success of our students and the superb mentoring of these students by the fashion faculty,” said Fashion Program Director Radley Cramer, who, along with several members of the fashion faculty and members of the College’s senior administration, turned out to support the scholarship winners. “These students will become the next leaders of the fashion industry.”
Nicole participated in the summer pre-college fashion design summer course the summer before her freshman year. Through that experience, she says, she grew as a designer and realized that fashion was her true passion. Last year, she won Marist’s Sophomore Design Award and the YMA/FSF Scholarship, which made her eligible to be nominated by the Marist Fashion Program as a candidate for this year's Geoffrey Beene Scholarship. Her winning concept focused on sustainability throughout the entire product life cycle. Her case study retailer, Verden, addresses issues starting with the creative process all the way through sourcing ethical materials, to producing the garments, to choosing sustainable options within the pop-up store itself.
With eight winners overall, Marist’s showing at this year’s event was its best ever. In terms of total awards among the 41 schools, it finished behind only Cornell University, which had nine winners. Relative to the size, however, Marist had the most winners among the field. Marist winners were: Maria Catalano, a sophomore fashion design major from Collegeville, Penn.; Kellie-Anne Cerini, a junior fashion design major from Nesconset, N.Y.; Philippa Hatch, a junior fashion design and fashion merchandising double major from Middletown, Md.; Jill Hub, a sophomore fashion design major from Pompton Plains, N.J.; Dana Liu, a junior fashion design major from Northport, N.Y.;Paige Palermo, a senior fashion merchandising major from Saugus, Mass., who won $10,000 in recognition for her being one of the top six applicants with the highest overall rating of their proposals; Marissa Wilson, a sophomore fashion design major from Howell, N.J.; and Nicole Rodgers.
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