Pitch Letter To Janet Mackay Smith, Editor at large for Wicked Local Salem, I am writing to you today to share

new and exciting happenings within the Salem State communications department. Now more than ever our Communications department is flourishing. Professors are focusing in on stretching students boundaries and teaching them how to engage with our surrounding community, as this is an integral part of any communications career. One student group that has grown leaps and bounds is PRSSA. This is catered for all our Public Relations students, the fastest growing concentration in our department. Recently the group went on a Marketing Agency Tour where they learned about the different tactics they can use when approaching social media. Students have been working on a semester long project optimizing the communication departments social media use so we can reach out to multitudes of audiences. Our activity has skyrocketed on Tumblr, twitter, and Facebook and we see a large increase in our viewers. Our students are always looking for new and creative ways to approach the field of communications. I believe if our students and faculty joined forces with your media outlet we could form a symbiotic relationship. Students could learn from you about the best tactics to reach out to the surrounding community, a place where you have carved a name for yourself. You could also gain fresh ideas from this generation about how to reach out to a younger audience. I hope to hear from you soon and begin to cultivate a new relationship. Regards, Hannah Wagner 1 Loring Avenue H_wagner@salemstate.edu 508-330-0398

STUDENT THEATRE ENSEMBLE MAKES A KILLING Student Theatre Ensemble continues to raise the bar for student groups

SALEM, MA- The Student Theatre Ensemble of Salem State University recently traveled to the KCACTF (The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival) to represent their theatre department. Students participated in workshops, competed, provided support for fellow students, and made connections with people in the theatre world. The board raised enough money to travel with the department and dedicate their time to them. Students Adelaide Majeski and Ryan Boetcher, from STE, won for outstanding Stage Management and Directing. Maritza Bostic and Emily Grove received recognition for their commendable work as well in Directing and Acting. Other members of the board worked crew for the show that was nominated, Kafka in Tel Aviv, giving up their time before the competition and during to help their department. The boards publicist posted on their social media outlets throughout the whole week keeping everyone at Salem State and in the community updated on everything happening at the festival. She did an impressive job of updating the pages throughout the day with updates, photos of what the group was doing, and videos. The duties of the groups publicist is a great simulation of what you would be expected to do when you are getting paid for PR work. The Student Theatre Ensemble shows dedication and care to their work. Kudos to the Student Theatre Ensemble for all their hard work and passion! ###

Cindy Vincent
Cindy Vincent is the newest edition to our staff in the Public Relations sector. Cindy graduated from the University of Oklahoma and worked in Government PR where she learned how to act in a crisis on a day to day basis and worked her way up to Project Manager. Her most recent client was the U.S. Army Corps. She has extensive knowledge on media usage and knows how to keep a pulse on its ever changing ways. We are so happy to add her to our staff!

Robert Brown
Robert Brown has been with us for 20 years. He is the current head of our Public Relations division. He is the faculty advisor for our PRSSA chapter and a participating member of the Publicity club of New England, where he guided his students to win Best Special Event Publicity. His background includes experience in two fortune 500 companies and director of publications at Price-Cooper. His writing has appeared in the Boston Globe and Readers digest. Professor Brown brings wisdom from years of rich experience.

Rebecca Hains
Rebecca is one of our most active faculty members. She has a Ph.D. in mass media and communications from Temple University. She is a published author of the book Growing up with Girl Power: Girlhood on Screen and in Everyday Life. Rebecca has always been an activist for female empowerment in the media, just last year she started a petition against Lululemon founder Chip Wilson for his fat shaming against womens bodies. She has been featured in many news articles, spoken on fox news against gendered toy aisles, and cofounded the Brave Girls Alliance. There is much to learn from a woman so actively involved in our media today.

REBECCA HAINS ADDRESSES THE EFFECTS OF PRINCESS CULTURE IN HER NEW BOOK

Professor Rebecca Hains of the Salem State Communications department is to release her new book this year entitled The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls Through the Princess-Obsessed Years. Hains is a childrens media culture expert and has always kept a keen eye on the effects culture has on the children of our generation. Her first book Girl Power focused on the effects of the mainstream ideology of girl power on the youth of America. Hains has used her knowledge and experience to look out for the women in culture today. She has petitioned at Salem State against companies such as Lululemon for discrimination against bigger women. Now she tackles the princess culture of our world today. Hains new book examines princess pop culture and the negative stereotypes it generates for young girls. Hains believes we need to give these girls armor to protect themselves against the harsh images the media projects of womanhood. She offers specific tools for concerned parents to use. Hains suggests parents limit their childrens media use and shows them how to create a dialogue with their daughters. She suggests that parents show their daughters how to think critically about the stereotypes they see in the media. Her book is essential for any parent trying to empower their daughters and navigate through the many problems our pop culture brings to the table.

However the book is not just for parents with daughters. Professor Guillermo Avila-Saavedra worked with Hains and created a chapter that addresses the Disney princes. He explores the message that is being sent to little boys in these movies. He found that there is a lot of pressure to conform to stereotypical ideas of masculinity. Guillermo also made some fascinating discoveries about what the movies have to say about race. He found that the princes who display the highest amount of feminine qualities are the princes of different races. The work in this book is a rich exploration of how to empower and arm the children of our time against pop culture media. We are proud to have these cultural activists as a part of the SSU Communications team.

SSU DELIVERS ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL CAREER FAIR THIS YEAR

SALEM, MASS- On Monday March 24th Salem State delivered another successful career fair for students. The career fair offers an opportunity for students to network themselves with over 50 different professional companies. Students can talk with representatives from the company and set up job interviews or even land internships. Career services also held on campus interviews with Enterprise Holdings, the Boston Celtics, Walgreens, and Compass Working Capital. Students were asked to dress professionally and were welcome to use the LinkedIn photo booth which supplied students with free headshots for future job interviews. The career fair offers people more experience each year they go and makes the interview process outside of school seem far less daunting and nerve racking. You dont get second chances at first impressions but this experience lets you try many times to get the first impression right! Students said that the people they met had so much experience to share with them and they were more than willing to show them the ropes. Companies also offered constructive criticism on resumes and how they can be improved upon, simple aspects such as keeping them up-to-date and making sure they are clear and concise. Some representatives stated how important it was that the students show they have background knowledge of what they do and why they are interested in working for them. They also said it is helpful for students to enter into the fair knowing what they want to achieve. For more great tips on how to perfect your interview skills check out these tips for success! (http://www.careerspots.com/Downloads/QuickTips/cs_fairs_213.pdf)