MCJ Symposium to honor four USM alumnae

The sixth annual School of Mass Communication and Journalism Symposium will be held Thursday in the Thad Cochran Center. The theme is “Southern Miss Women and the Media: #usmsteelmagnolias” and is set to honor four prominent women in the media, all of whom have made an impact in their communities through hard work and remembering where they came from.

Each of the four women honored will be inducted into the MCJ Hall of Fame, an honor established by the School of Mass Communication and Journalism in 2006 in order to recognize prominent graduates from the University of Southern Mississippi’s MCJ program.

The symposium will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a panel discussion involving the four inductees. This session will be free and open to the public. Following the panel discussion, a ticketed luncheon is scheduled to honor the inductees. Students in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism were encouraged to apply for Master Classes in which three of the four inductees will be speaking on an intimate level with the students selected to attend the classes.

“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Sally-Ann Roberts, Rebecca Brown Baldwin, Margaret Loesch and Dr. Martha D. Saunders into our Hall of Fame,” Chris Campbell, director of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism, said. “As we [the deciding committee] began discussing who we thought should be inducted this year, we noticed the names we were bringing up were mostly those of prominent women. With this year’s election, we figured this was an appropriate time to take a look at prominent women in the media, especially those who are Southern Miss alumnae.”

Mandy Nace, assistant to the director, believes students in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism who were selected to attend one of the master classes with Roberts, Baldwin and Loesch will be pleased with the opportunities attending such a class can afford.

Senior public relations major Chelsey Everett was chosen to participate in one of the classes and is excited to add the experience like this to her resume.

“As a senior, I figured it was time to step up and truly become an active student in the MCJ department,” Everett said. “When I found out about the symposium offering the master classes with these inspirational women, I knew I had to participate. I sent in my application, got accepted and can hardly wait to learn things in these classes that I would not learn in my regular classes. Learning from life experience is completely different than learning out of a book.”

“Students have the opportunity to see how they, too, can make an impact in the industry,” Nace said. “It benefits students to sit in front of someone successful and hear them explain their journeys to becoming the women they are today. Students who are proactive and bold can reach for the stars just like these women have done.”

For more information regarding the symposium or luncheon tickets, contact Nace at Amanda.Tilley@usm.edu or call the MCJ office at 601-266-4258.