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Steven Noble
Editor, Internal Publications
p. 403.440.5692
e-mail: snoble@mtroyal.ca

Fred Cheney
Media Relations Officer
p. 403.440.5195
e-mail: fcheney@mtroyal.ca

 

A volunteer project combining expertise from all four disciplines within the Faculty of Communication Studies has helped a Calgary nonprofit agency celebrate a major milestone.

In just six weeks, seven faculty members and ten students worked with Alpha House, an addiction and recovery centre, on planning and communications around the reopening of their main facility on Nov. 18.

The volunteer project was part of Mount Royal University’s Faculty in the Field initiative.

“Whether through research, knowledge, consultation or community-based programs, Mount Royal directly impacts the Calgary community. Faculty in the Field showcases the immense value our faculty and programs bring to our city,” says Karen Richards, Marketing and Communications Associate in the Office of External Relations.

Alpha House's grand reopening was a huge success thanks in part to the involvement of Mount Royal's Faculty of Communication Studies.

External Relations created Faculty in the Field as part of the marketing and communications strategies to publicize Mount Royal’s transition to a university, and contacted each faculty to invite their participation.

Faculty of Communication Studies Dean Marc Chikinda says he recognized Faculty in the Field as a unique opportunity to create a two-way window between Mount Royal and the community.

“I think people sometimes wonder what it is we do at Mount Royal University, how it is we do it and what the relationship with the community is,” Chikinda says.

“They know we’re in the business of education, but what kind of education and how do we go about that education? This project offered the community we work with the opportunity to see what it is we actually do.

“So I brought it forward to our Faculty Council meeting and solicited input from all the minds around the table. Everyone’s represented there, from support staff to students to faculty, and that’s where the idea came from, proposed initially by Janet Hamnett.”

Hamnett, an Assistant Professor who teaches Public Relations, was inspired by the opportunities Faculty in the Field offered.

“I liked the idea of collaboration with a nonprofit community partner because of its opportunity for our students to contribute their expertise,” Hamnett says. “It’s been a wonderful learning opportunity.”

Chikinda says the project also helped Alpha House by providing communications planning help in advance of their Grand Reopening.

Four student volunteers from the Broadcast Diploma program — Jackie Ostash, Michelle Thomas, Dave Matthews and Matt Branagh — worked with program Chair Irv Ratushniak to research, shoot and produce a video that Alpha House plans to use on their website and in other awareness-building activities.

From the Journalism major, student Sean-Paul Boynton volunteered to spend an evening shift at Alpha House and wrote an article for the Calgary Journal.

He also covered the Grand Reopening. Program Chair Terry Field and professors Shauna Snow-Capparelli and Robert Bragg volunteered their journalism expertise.

Information Design students Kelsey McColgan, Janine Tanahill and Erica Black met with program Chair Glenn Ruhl to provide insights into redesigning key Alpha House print pieces.

And Public Relations students Darcy Mammal and Sanja Okilj worked with faculty volunteers Elizabeth Lennox and Janet Hamnett to provide assistance with key messages, building a media kit and creating an invitation for the Nov. 18 reopening ceremony at Alpha House.

Chikinda says having people from four majors undertaking various elements of the project is unique.

“I don’t know that lots of educational institutions can, at one and the same time, provide a video, a print journalism story, redesigned promotional materials and planning for a special event.”

He also says the project was as important for faculty as it was for students.

“It’s very important for students working to a deadline — and in this case, a pretty tight deadline. Here was a case of an actual client and an actual deadline being set,” Chikinda says.

“It wasn’t an assignment, it was reality, and so time management becomes something that comes to the fore.

“For faculty, I think it’s a chance to showcase some of their organizational abilities but, more importantly, to showcase to their students that there are direct applications in the context of the society that we live in — that what they’re learning is going to be very useful to them when they graduate.”

Richards says it’s still possible for faculties to participate in the Faculty in the Field initiative.

“Faculty in the Field was initially intended to be a shorter campaign tied directly to transition, but due to the interest of so many faculties to do several initiatives over the next year, it has morphed into an on-going initiative.”

That’s good news for Chikinda.

“You know, there are always hiccups with any projects, but this was overwhelmingly good,” he says. “If there’s something similar that comes our way, we’ll consider participating again.”

– Nancy Cope, Dec. 3 2009