Tag: NSU Department of Communication Media and the Arts

Students design social media campaign for Guy Harvey Research Institute

During the Winter 2021 semester, undergraduate Communication students in COMM 4300: Social Media Theory and Practice had the opportunity to put their social skills into action and design a strategic social media campaign for NSU’s Guy Harvey Research Institute. Each winter, the course, offered through the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, partners with a real-world client seeking to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity with its social media presence.

“The best way for students to learn how to conduct a bona fide social media campaign is by partnering with a real client with a real need, and we were excited to have the chance to work with Dr. Shivji and the Guy Harvey Research Institute,” said Whitney Lehmann, associate professor of communication for the Department of Communication, Media, the Arts. “Dr. Shivji had a very clear, strategic vision for the GHRI’s social presence, and it was an invaluable learning experience for students to work with him and his team to design a unique and effective campaign tied to their organizational goals.”

Students kicked off the semester by conducting an initial client interview with Mahmood Shivji, Ph.D., professor for the Department of Biological Sciences and director of the Guy Harvey Research Institute and Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Center. Following the interview with Shivji and Tyler Plum, the GHRI’s social media manager and a master’s student in the Department of Biological Sciences, the undergraduate students conducted an audit of the GHRI’s social media presence and presented Shivji and Plum with proposed objectives, strategies and tactics tied to priority audiences and organizational goals. Campaign deliverables included new social media branding, a social media manual, targeted Twitter lists for networking with members of the media, and a revamped YouTube channel for archiving and curating GHRI video content.

“Working with Dr. Lehmann and her students was not only tremendously informative for us in terms of learning better strategies for social media platform construction and use, but it was also a pleasure interacting with the impressively creative undergraduates,” Shivji said. “The end result of this campaign is a vastly better social media platform for the GHRI to disseminate our work.”

For more information about the B.A. in Communication program, COMM 4300: Social Media Theory and Practice and other courses offered through the curriculum’s Strategic Communication concentration and minor, click here.

Follow the Guy Harvey Research Institute on social media @nsughri, the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences @nsuhcas, and the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts @nsu_dcma

Halmos Faculty Combine Art, Science in Presentation

For the past four years, Halmos College of faculty have been engaged in interdisciplinary efforts to combine science and art at NSU through a program where undergraduate art students visit the microbiology lab to learn how to use bacteria as “paint” and agar plates as their “canvas” to create agar art.

In June 2021, Julie Torruellas Garcia, Ph.D., and Katie Crump, Ph.D., from the Department of Biological Sciences; Kandy Lopez Moreno, M.F.A., from the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts; and former NSU visiting professor Veronique Cote, M.F.A., presented their poster titled, “Creating an Interdisciplinary Curriculum within the Undergraduate Arts and Sciences Through Agar Art,” at the 2021 American Society for Microbiology’s Conference for Undergraduate Educators.

In their presentation, they shared the agar art curriculum including learning outcomes and assessment tools and discussed the benefits of integrating science into the arts. They have written a manuscript of their work that was submitted for publication in the Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education and is currently under review.

NSU Alumna Brightens Library with Special Mural

Anh Nguyen, an alumna of NSU’s Art + Design program, returned to her alma mater this winter to paint an original mural for the fourth floor of the Alvin Sherman Library. Nguyen, better known by her artist name Annie Nugget, describes the mural, titled “Be the Sea,” as a portrayal of letting life go in order to connect with the things that feel meaningful.

“We can pursue almost anything in life, but it only makes sense to do what sparks a passion that can push potential,” she said.

Anh Nguyen

Nguyen graduated from the B.A. in Art + Design program in 2016 with a concentration in studio art. The major, housed within the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, also offers a concentration in graphic design and minors in studio art and graphic design.

In 2016, Nguyen also painted a shark-themed mural, titled “Realizing Potential,” for NSU’s University Center.

“The library was very excited to sponsor this opportunity, and Annie’s diverse portfolio gave her the edge to take on that huge wall,” said Associate Professor of Art + Design Kandy Lopez-Moreno. “As a professional artist, she also creates murals all over South Florida. I’m very proud of her!”

Learn more about NSU’s Art + Design major, including its concentrations and minors, here.

Theatre Alumna Returns to NSU to Serve as Directing Mentor

Actor, teaching artist, theatre director and NSU theatre alumna Jody-Ann Henry returned to her alma mater this winter to serve as directing mentor for the Stage 2 production of Sarah Delappe’s award-winning play “The Wolves,” which took place April 10-11 via Zoom. Henry, who serves as director of theater at Lithonia High School in Atlanta and as a moderator for the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) Professional Learning Community for Middle School Theatre, graduated from the B.A. in Theatre program in 2011 and has a decade of teaching experience and more than 20 years of acting experience.

Jody-Ann Henry

“As directing mentor, Jody-Ann brings real-world knowledge about professional theatre from her own successful career,” said Bill Adams, professor of music and theatre voice for the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. “It’s a score for our students!”

“The Wolves” is a high-energy, high-impact play about coming of age in contemporary American society featuring members of a girls’ high school soccer team. The play examines in-depth issues of inclusion and exclusion, teamwork, acceptance and selectivity while challenging preconceived notions of girlhood and femininity.

To learn more about Stage 2, NSU’s student-managed theatre company housed within the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, click here.

To learn more about the B.A. in Theatre program, click here.

Students Deliver Center for Collaborative Research mural

Each year, the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences offers an opportunity to its ARTS 2100 students to collaborate with a campus department or office to design a potential mural for its walls. During the Winter 2020 semester, three students were chosen by the NSU Center for Collaborative Research (CCR) to paint their design for the new CCR lunchroom space. The selected design concept was created by Sara Kaldas, a studio arts minor, who collaborated with Samantha Rosenblum, a studio arts minor, and Gianna Allison, an art + design major with a concentration in studio arts.

Due to COVID-19, the mural painting was postponed to Winter 2021 and is now completed and on display in the CCR. Art + Design Associate Professor Kandy Lopez-Moreno, who supervised the project, said “The design is minimalistic and clean but at the same time, powerful! I’m very glad that this design was chosen.”

For more information about the B.A. in Art + Design program, including its concentrations and minors, click here.

Halmos Music Masterclass Series Featured Industry Pros

During the Winter 2021 semester, the Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts (DCMA) in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences hosted a Music Masterclass Series featuring an array of workshops and guest lectures hosted by industry professionals.

Mihoko Watanabe

“The Music Masterclass Series was not only designed to enhance the learning experience of NSU’s music students, but rather expose the entire NSU community to a plethora of music topics and careers that exist within the music industry,” said DCMA Assistant Professor of Music Jessica Muñiz-Collado. “It was great having each of these guest artists meet with our students.”

Featured artists and industry professionals included:

  • Miguel Pilgram, an entrepreneur and owner of the NYSW Jazz Lounge, who discussed the business of music and the live music industry sector;
  • Miguel Merino, a drummer, linguist and educator, who discussed the culture of music in the Middle East and, specifically, Egyptian music;
  • Mihoko Watanabe, a flutist, professor of flute at Ball State University (where she received her doctorate degree), who discussed the vibrant music culture of Japan;
  • Andrew Maguire, a percussionist and a drummer for the traveling Hamilton Broadway production in Los Angeles, who discussed the musical theatre industry and good practicing methods;
  • And Pablo Mieglo, the artistic director and conductor for the Symphony of the Americas, who spotlighted the classical music industry.

During the Fall 2020 semester, the department also hosted game composers Ravi Krishnaswami and Jason Menkes, who gave a masterclass on composing music for video games.

For more information about NSU’s B.A. in Music program, click here.

NSU Partners With Real Estate Company Ceiba Groupe to Offer Students and Alumni Real-World Experience in Art and Communications

NSU and South Florida-based real estate company Ceiba Groupe partnered with students, alumni, and faculty in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences on a community mural project at a residential property located in downtown Davie. The collaboration features original artwork by an Art + Design student and alumni that is being documented by Communication majors using multimodal storytelling techniques.

“At NSU, we provide students with the edge to explore their careers and give them a foundation in which they are able to use these skills to pursue their goals,” said Shanti Bruce, Ph.D., chair of NSU’s Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts. “We are grateful that Ceiba Groupe is helping us provide these unique student experiences.”

Under the leadership of Associate Professor Kandy Lopez-Moreno, Art + Design major Annabel Brewster and alumni Kahkashan Ansary and Andres Mora are painting a mural at Ceiba Groupe’s Zona Village, a genre-defining, mixed-use, multi-family development, typifying a best-in-class residential living experience for residents of Davie, Florida. Lopez and the students presented several mural concepts to embody the Zona Village motto “live DIFFERENT,” and the Ceiba Groupe team ultimately selected a concept created by Ansary, who uses abstract expressionism to battle anxiety and depression with colors expressing freedom and hope while exploring the complexities of human emotions.

The painting is currently in process with plans to be completed by April 15. Communication students, led by Assistant Professor Whitney Lehmann, Ph.D., are documenting the project on social media, and Associate Professor Eric Mason, Ph.D., is capturing the painting process via film and time lapse techniques. 

As part of the collaboration, Ceiba Groupe is gifting $5,000 to support a DCMA Student Scholarship Fund.

“We are proud to join this effort with NSU as we provide students with a real-world experience that relates to their studies,” said Jeremy Bedzow, managing principal of Ceiba Groupe. “It has been a pleasure working with these bright individuals and we look forward to the completion of the project.”

The Art + Design program at NSU provides students with a dynamic and comprehensive instructional program in the visual arts with concentrations in studio art or graphic design.

The Communication program at NSU prepares students to excel in industries including radio and television broadcasting, film, journalism, new media, public relations, education, law, and event promotions. With concentrations and minors in digital media production, journalism and strategic communication, the program teaches students how to create, design and edit effective messages for diverse audiences using a variety of media.

Halmos College of Arts and Sciences Healthcare Theatre Course Trains Future Frontline Workers in the Art of Empathy

When you think about theatre, terms like actor, performance or even William Shakespeare probably come to mind. Do you happen to think of the word empathy? Bill Adams, associate professor/coordinator of performing arts for HCAS’s Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts, is helping healthcare students – and future frontline workers – learn the art of empathy with his Healthcare Theatre course.

Adams designed the course with Melissa Morris, director of simulation and interactive technology for NSU’s Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences. Students enrolled in the course work to develop empathetic responses as standardized patients and play roles such as patients, family members and caregivers. The student nurses and doctors who are training with them receive more life-like empathetic responses in their simulations and offer standardized feedback to healthcare students in training.

NSU began offering the course in January 2020, and it is now offered through the HCAS Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts

The course is open to students of all majors and seeks to foster innovative collaboration between students in different disciplines, Adams said.

“Imagine the nursing major giving feedback on the performance of the acting major in an effort to better perform a simulation – but the concepts are reversible because the actors and theatre makers are not only learning how to craft theatre in applied circumstances, but doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers are learning from actors how to be more empathetic in practice,” Adams said.

To learn more about the Healthcare Theatre course, click here.

 

 

 

 

The Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts Hosts NSU Law Alumnus Joshua Lida as a part of the Art + Design “Know Your Worth” Lecture Series

Joshua Lida

On Wednesday, Feb. 10, NSU’s Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts within the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences presented a guest lecture with NSU Shepard Broad College of Law alumnus Joshua Lida as part of its Winter 2021 “Know Your Worth” Art + Design Lecture Series.

The workshop, which took place on Zoom, helped emerging artists and designers navigate the business side of creative entrepreneurship with a focus on the legal system and copyright issues in the art world.

Lida was born and raised in South Florida and studied intellectual property and business law as a law student in NSU’s Shepard Broad College of Law. Upon graduating from NSU, Lida co-founded the law practice Twig, Trade, and Tribunal – also known as “T3” – which focuses on Art Law, including art transactions, art leasing, due diligence, advisory to gallerists, contract negotiation, litigation, intellectual property, art loans and art wealth management.

For more information about the “Know Your Worth” Art + Design Lecture Series, including upcoming events, visit https://www.facebook.com/nsuartdesign

 

 

 

 NSU Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts presents Musical Theatre Project featuring Broadway hits, Feb. 26

The Department of Communication, Media, and the Arts within the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences presents the Musical Theatre Project celebrating Broadway with B.A. in Music students performing songs from “Hello, Dolly!, “Funny Girl,” “Cinderella” and more. Enjoy the show from the comfort of your home; we’ll do the singing and dancing for you!

The event is free and open to the public. Virtual performances will take place during three dates in February:

Friday, Feb. 26, at 7:30 p.m. – click here to access
Saturday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. – click here to access

Sunday, Feb. 28, at 2 p.m. – click here to access

For more information about the event, visit nova.edu/arts

1 … 8 9 10 11