Recipient: Karl Phillips

Karl Phillips is one of our top television students in out program. Karl is constantly involved in projects that go above and beyond what we think of as student productions. This is evident when he recently picked up a silver Telly award (the top award) where he competed against seasoned industry professionals.  The fact that one of our students is winning professional television awards against industry professionals should speak volumes about his talent. The best part is Karl continues to develop his craft. He understands that you never stop learning how to improve your product. I believe Karl will be an amazing television or film professional. He has worked on amazing projects over at CAS and was so good that we decided to bring him on board with our Big Ten Network crew.

Recipient: Nicolas Friederici

Nicolas is a Fulbright scholar in the TISM MA program.  He’s been working with multiple faculty members on research projects, including projects funded by the National Science Foundation.  His own research focuses on how people interact on health information sites.  Nicolas was effusively nominated for this award by a number of faculty members.

Recipient: Gugu Mabuza

Gugu was nominated for this award for his excellence in designing, marketing, and managing a range of projects, including his thesis work on SpartyLive and mobile applications.  He has shown a remarkable grasp of the multiple dimensions of interactive media projects, and is very much the “whole package” of what the MA TISM is about.

Recipient: Molly McGeachy

Molly has been the project manager for the Great Place Network, a social media collaboration with MSU Extension and the Land Policy Institute. In this job she has fulfilled a variety of roles, all of them involving uncertainty, multiple stakeholders, and difficult tasks.  She has done so with grace and tenacity.  Molly has additionally worked hard on her own projects, related to sports reporting, specifically around golf.  We anticipate she’s going to have a bright future.

Recipient: Han Ei Chew

Han Ei has been dividing his time between multiple research projects, working with professors LaRose, Levy and DeMaagd on a series of large-scale data collections related to the ICT4D research area.  In addition to his research activities, he’s provided rich service to the department by assisting in the ICT4D speaker series and attracting new PhD students to the program.  Anyone who has worked with Han Ei has been fortunate enough to experience his consistently positive attitude and up beat demeanor.

Recipient: Julia Crouse

PhD students often focus on developing a particular facet of their academic personality: Will they be a teacher, a researcher, or a bureaucrat? During the 2010-2011 term, Julia Crouse has repeatedly demonstrated the breadth of her diversity is only matched by the quality of her commitments. Working as a TA for one section of TC100 and as the instructor of a separate section (and keeping the various syllabi, requirements, and students separate), a research assistant on several lines of research, and a colleague and collaborator across departments, Julia espouses the flexibility and organizational skills imperative of a PhD scholar. She has been a tremendous asset and resource as a TA in TC100 this semester, both in developing and delivering course content, and has demonstrated that one must not be only a knife or fork, but can indeed be a giant, multipurpose tool.

Recipient: Caleb Carr

For the past four years, Caleb Carr has worked in various capacities with TC100, serving as instructor of record for many of these (including the last four consecutive semesters) and overseeing lesson plan development, evaluation methods, and TA training and development. He has been integral in moving TC100 toward integrating the college’s vision of multiple discussion sections, and adapting course content to changes in the telecommunication environment. By introducing and beginning TC100 students working with APA style in conducting and reporting research in TC100, not only have his students improved as scholars, but ripples can be felt throughout the curriculum as previous students advance to upper-level classes with an existent knowledge of APA style. Caleb has managed the teaching load of a tenure-track faculty while balancing the responsibilities of his own studies and research, and has exemplified the rigor of instruction and standards to which all TC students should be held.