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UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 7TH JUNE, 2015
It’s a common complaint
that many university students
appear to be confined by the walls of theory to the point
that they fail as active participants when entering the world
beyond their classrooms.
AtThe UWI, St. Augustine, the Department of Literary,
Cultural and Communication Studies has been combating
this perception of university students as “ivory tower”
products for some time. Its latest salvo came in the form
of this year’s Communication Studies Research Day event,
“Third Eyes: Communication Beyond Perception.”
On April 9, final-year students of the Communication
Studies degree programme showcased what can happen
when theory and practice come together. The students
partnered with organizations and mentors in the working
world, identifying and solving communication issues within
the small businesses, NGOs and corporate sector companies
that they worked with.
Onemightmuse ina similar fashion to theDepartmental
Head, Dr. Louis Regis, that this is one of the most effective
ways to educate students.
If you walked past the Daaga Auditorium at the
beginning of the event you would have been struck by
the students’ booth displays, which represented a wide
spectrum of organizations and issues. The booths were so
well displayed that one observer remarked, “this could easily
have been mistaken for a trade expo at the Hyatt.”
The eight booths featured small and medium sized
businesses such as The Perfect Cup, a coffee shop on
Ariapita Avenue; Look Opticals, an eye-care provider; Body
By Marcus, a fitness centre; and Above Group from the
advertising industry. Also in themix were twoNGOs – FEEL
(Foundation for the Enhancement and Enrichment of Life)
and the Blue Teddy Initiative, a movement that focuses on
helping child victims of sexual violence.
Each of these organizations partnered with a group of
four to five final-year students, together with a supervising
tutor from the course, and they worked together to addresses
communication challenges within the organization over a
period of eight months. Organizations wanted help on issues
as diverse as building a stronger social media presence,
increasing foot traffic in stores, lifting sales, building a
communication plan, and establishing a firmer, fresher
brand identity.
One partner organization, Salt Water Advertising, was
so pleased it offered a job to the five students who worked
with them during the year.
Inside the packed Daaga Auditorium, the remaining
students gave exciting group presentations on stage. One
group transformed the stage into a Sunday market scene
as they made their case for greater support of the Green
Market in Santa Cruz. Vicki Assevero, founder andmanager
of the Green Market, said that she was totally pleased with
the presentation and the collaboration with the students.
The Green Market was followed by a presentation on
gender representation in the media, which so impressed and
moved the Master of Ceremonies, Errol Fabien of Gayelle,
that he announced his television channel’s intention to
Campus News
A presentation on gender representation in the media.
After words
Communication Studies students go into action
B y A r i a n a H e r b e r t
Ariana Herbert
is a student of the Communication Studies programme.
contribute five hours of programming time per week to the
Communication Studies programme.
The audience was then informed by another student
presentation of the importance of certification in the field
of journalism as The UWI gets ready to launch its BA in
Journalism degree. The final presentation discussed the
clash between millennial culture and traditional corporate
culture.
Course coordinator, Dr. Tia Smith, was brimming with
pride as she noted that thinking beyond the sometimes
confining walls of the classroom is an important step for
students becoming socially responsible individuals.
The keynote speaker, Retired Supreme Court Justice of
New York, Judge Laura Blackburne, offered some critical
insight into the importance of effective communication
to society.
No stranger to engaging the people, she acknowledged
the presence of social injustice and the necessity of tactical,
collaborative communication in overturning inequality. She
asserted that the great Martin Luther King Jr. used excellent
communication strategies to successfully allowmany voices
to be heard through nonviolent strategies.
Her advice was that while it is easy to retaliate, an act of
outrage remains a mere act of outrage if the accompanying
message is not effectively delivered. What’s not easy is
staying in the battle and strategically organizing unified
action through becoming focused on communicating in
better ways.
This particular academic year students were able to
move beyond the classroom and engage with the world in
a greater capacity. An unfounded perception still lingers
that university students lack the skills to participate in the
working world, but that narrative is being transformed, just
ask anyone who attended the 2015 Communication Studies
Research Day.
Destination Fitness offered lots of tips.
