Open to students of all class years, the Meet & Greet is designed to foster meaningful connections between students and employers actively seeking talent in the fields of communications and sport management. Whether students are exploring career paths, searching for internships, or preparing for post-graduation employment, this event provides a welcoming environment to network and gain insight into various industries.

Attendees will have the chance to engage in one-on-one conversations with employers, learn about current job and internship opportunities and gain advice on how to stand out in competitive professional settings. Events like this not only help students build their professional networks but also allow them to practice essential communication skills in a real-world setting.

Students are encouraged to bring copies of their resumes, dress professionally and come prepared with questions. The Communications and Sport Management Meet & Greet promises to be an excellent opportunity to take the next step toward a successful career.

The research, with a team from Penn State University, was published in the journal “Communication Research.” Chen and her colleagues found that the more social information an AI doctor recalls about patients, the higher the patients’ satisfaction, but only if they were offered privacy control.

“When an AI doctor recalls a patient’s social information, it is perceived as putting more effort into individuation, which leads to higher patient satisfaction, but only when the patient has privacy control,” said Chen. “This was surprising because AI systems treat all data the same, but patients see it differently. They perceived it as the doctor putting in more effort to recall the patient’s social information.”

Read more on Chen’s research at .

Jennifer Smith ’95 and her sister Kate Smith didn’t set out to write a Hallmark movie when they wrote “Confessions of a Christmas Letter” 20 years ago. But, on Nov. 17, the film premiered on the Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas programming event.

The film follows Settie Rose, played by “The Office” star Angela Kinsey, a quirky family matriarch who enters her town’s holiday letter-writing contest but needs help, so she hires struggling novelist Juan to craft the perfect letter. When a mix-up leads to the rumor that Juan is engaged to Settie’s daughter Lily, the whole family scrambles to keep up the charade.

“We modeled a lot of the comedy off of letters that my mom would get,” said Jennifer. “My parents would get all these Christmas letters every year, people going through what happened that year, and my mom would save them by the door in a basket. My sister and I would come home and read them and laugh because a lot of them were really funny.”

Jennifer and Kate have been trying to get the movie made for decades, but the original version was much racier than the now-Hallmark version, written with Goldie Hawn in mind for the lead. So when a producer pitched it to Hallmark, Jennifer said they were shocked but excited. This will be the pair’s second movie with Hallmark since 2003’s “Audrey’s Rain” starring Jean Smart.

“It’s a lot more comedic than the movies Hallmark normally does so that was an interesting process trying to preserve the comedy,” said Jennifer. “We enjoyed working with Hallmark and hope to be able to do more with them in the future.”

After graduating with a degree in communications from ������Ƶ in 1995, Jennifer moved to Studio City, California, working as a production assistant on sitcoms while she started her screenwriting career with her sister. Kate now lives in New Mexico, so the two collaborate online.

“I can’t imagine writing with anyone else,” said Jennifer. “I know other writing teams that are not related and I think it’s hard. We complement each other because she’s really good with character development and I’m good with dialogue.”

While writing scripts for the last 20 years, Jennifer has also been the manager of high-risk operations at NBC Universal’s Environmental Health and Safety Department. The job, she says, started as just a temporary assignment.

“Safety is a big issue in the entertainment industry,” said Jennifer. “It’s been nice to be able to help out with and be a part of that. I can separate the writing from that job and NBC Universal is OK with me doing the writing.”

Jennifer credits the hands-on experience she received at ������Ƶ as a good starting point for her screenwriting career. Film classes, taught by Assistant Professor of Cinema and Television Arts Ray Johnson, helped to guide her.

“It felt more like you were actually doing an internship and you were working for the communications department, whether it was writing an article for the newspaper or putting together stories for the news channel,” said Jennifer. “It definitely prepared me. It created a new learning environment for people who were just figuring out what they wanted to do.”

premiered on the Hallmark Channel Nov. 17 and will re-air throughout December.

College radio station fills today’s local airwaves with music, discussions and entertainment on FM 89.3, and the station’s influence at ������Ƶ dates back to the 1970s.

In 1975,��������Ƶ’s Student Communications Media Board approved plans for an FM radio station on campus and filed for a Federal Communications Commission license for the station, which would reach listeners within a two-mile radius of ������Ƶ. However, the group faced several “setbacks and delays” along the way, according to an article in the Oct. 6, 1977, edition of the Pendulum student newspaper.

“According to [station manager Bill] Zint, the station’s call letters came on the 21st attempt to get call letters approval from the licensing department of the Federal Communications Commission. The first 20 attempts duplicated the letters of existing stations,” the article stated.

That 21st attempt established the call letters WSOE, which would come to stand for “Wonderful Sounds of ������Ƶ.”

But, the call letters were just the beginning. The Pendulum also reported issues with the radio tower’s installation, a bad transmitter and high frequency fees as other setbacks for the station.

Despite all those obstacles, WSOE went on air for the first time in 1977, broadcasting a test program on Sept. 29 and the first full broadcast on Oct. 6.

WSOE would later be forced to expand after the FCC announced new standards, requiring public radio to operate 12 hours per day, 365 days a year. So WSOE applied to become a 500-watt station that could reach a 25-mile radius, purchased new transmitting equipment and paid the necessary expenses to expand its broadcasting hours.

Since then, WSOE has showcased jazz, classical and pop music, along with discussions, educational programming and radio dramas for the campus community. Providing ������Ƶ with a reliable source of information and entertainment on the radio has been WSOE’s goal from the beginning.

“Effective communication is a primary need between students and their own [Student Government Association], between students and administration, and between college and community,” said station adviser Anne Ponder in the 1977 Pendulum article. “Because the student management is dedicated to the idea of constructive and responsible broadcasting, WSOE may be the greatest possibility in the recent development of the college.”

In this 1995 video, by ������Ƶ Student Television’s “������Ƶ Current Events,” WSOE station manager Doc Siddal discusses the station’s purpose on campus.

In 2018, WSOE hosted a reunion to celebrate its 40th anniversary, inviting former general managers and staff members, as well as current students and station DJs. The group honored the history of the station and listened to an alumni panel, which focused on WSOE’s impacts in the lives and careers of those involved with the station over the years. The group included Atlantic Records executive Tom Mullen ’00, who said,��“WSOE is the reason I am in the music industry.”

The reunion also celebrated Assistant Professor Gerald Gibson, who retired in 2018. During the event, Director of Technology, Operations and Multimedia Projects Bryan Baker presented Gibson with an Award of Excellence in advising and mentorship for helping to lead WSOE since 1979.

But, if you look back about 30 more years into the past, you’ll find the very beginning of college radio at ������Ƶ. In 1949, the ������Ƶ College Amateur Radio Club hosted its first meeting, which saw 11 “radio fans” come together to introduce radio at ������Ƶ. That same year, the club applied for an FCC license to build an amateur radio station. The Radio Club later acquired two transmitters, which were missing parts and required students to rebuild them before going on the air.

Thanks to the Radio Club and WSOE’s dedication, the ������Ƶ community still has a source for engaging college radio 70 years later.

Do you have any special pieces of ������Ƶ history? Share your photos and videos with us via email at news@elon.edu or using the hashtag #������ƵTBT on ,�������Ի���.

������Ƶ students, faculty and staff were offered a free lunch Sept. 26 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium in Schar Hall in exchange for the steep price of their First Amendment rights.

But not many Americans can name those five, reinforcing the importance of continuing to inform citizens of the First Amendment privileges. According to a 2017 survey from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, 37 percent of Americans can’t name one of the five rights afforded to them by the First Amendment. And only 48 percent could remember freedom of speech.

“Sometimes the First Amendment seems only like words on a page, so we use this event to try to bring it to life,” said Director of Student Media Colin Donohue ’05, who organized the event. “Sadly, it’s easy to overlook the importance of the amendment. And in today’s charged political climate, it’s especially important to explore our rights.”

As people walked into the atrium, signs warned them that they were entering The People’s Republic of ������Ƶ, where the motto is: “Tread carefully and keep your mouth shut.”

Among the people who wouldn’t stay quiet, though, were Communications Dean Rochelle Ford, who loudly expressed her disappointment that so many people were willing to trade their First Amendment rights for a free burger. Fellow protesters Marjorie Anne Foster ’19, Madison Hays ’22 and Emily Holland ’22 led chants decrying the loss of diners’ rights.

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Alex Roat ’20 and Sam Porozok ’22 attempted to cover the event for ������Ƶ News Network before being forcibly removed. And Hannah Garcia ’22 and Joshua Grossman ’20 proselytized and offered blessings at their own peril.

Keeping everyone in line inside The People’s Republic of ������Ƶ were Dictator for the Day and SGA President Kenneth Brown ’19 and police officers Cammie Behnke ’19, Selina Guevara ’19, Jeremy Palladino ’22 and Kenny Harvey ’22.

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Donohue, an instructor in the School of Communications and the faculty director of the Oaks Neighborhood, brought the event to campus but didn’t originate it. It’s the brainchild of Michael Koretzky, who started it in 2006 at Florida Atlantic University with funds from the Society of Professional Journalists.

������Ƶ’s version of the First Amendment Free Food Festival was sponsored by the School of Communications, Oaks Neighborhood, Danieley Center Neighborhood, Historic Neighborhood, Council on Civic Engagement, and 1 For All, which is a national nonpartisan program designed to build understanding and support for the First Amendment.

“I think the First Amendment Free Food Festival is important because it shows people what it would be like to have their First Amendment rights taken away,” Roat said. “Our First Amendment rights are the cornerstone of American democracy and we take them for granted, but this event helps students to realize how important those rights are to our everyday lives, and what our lives would be like if they were denied.”

At noon Wednesday, Sept. 26 in the Snow Family Grand Atrium in Schar Hall, students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to eat lunch for free. But only if they sign away their First Amendment rights.

The event, called the First Amendment Free Food Festival, is open to all ������Ƶ students, faculty and staff. It will feature students acting as police, who will direct people into the eating area, command topics of conversation, prohibit coverage of the event and otherwise ensure no one enjoys freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly or petition.

It’s always an appropriate time to learn about Americans’ First Amendment privileges. According to a 2017 survey from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, 37 percent of Americans can’t name one of the five rights afforded to them by the First Amendment. And only 48 percent could remember freedom of speech.

������Ƶ hosted the event for the first time last year, and more than 100 people turned out to swap free speech for a free burger.

“The event was a success last year not just because of turnout but because the playful atmosphere helped people gain a better understanding of what losing First Amendment privileges may look like,” said Colin Donohue, who organized the event. “Sometimes the First Amendment seems only like words on a page, so we use this event to try to bring it to life.”

Donohue, the director of student media in the School of Communications and the faculty director of the Oaks Neighborhood, didn’t originate the event. It’s the brainchild of Michael Koretzky, who started it in 2006 at Florida Atlantic University with funds from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Since 2006, The First Amendment Free Food Festival has been offered on dozens of college campuses. The event at ������Ƶ is sponsored by the Oaks, Historic and Danieley Center neighborhoods, along with the School of Communications and the Council on Civic Engagement.