ENGL 336 November Event

There are many events in the fall semester at Frostburg State University. There is the beginning of the academic year, Homecoming, football season, Holiday break, and one of the most important events for the school: Majors and minors fairs and information sessions. One took place on November 6^th in room 111 in the Lane Center. It was the Communication Studies (CMST) Advising Social.  The social gathered CMST seniors, CMST Capstone students, underclassmen within the major, and prospective CMST students. The entire CMST fulltime faculty attended as well. The leader of the event was CMST chairwomen Dr. Elesha Ruminski, who started the social off by welcoming everyone to the program. 

The Advising Social is supposed to persuade prospective and current CMST majors of why majoring in CMST is beneficial to one’s academic and professional career; providing examples and evidence from the CMST seniors by explaining their experience in the program. There are a total of three faculty members in the CMST department. Along with Chairwomen Dr. Rumiski, as she is also an Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Coordinator of the Leadership Studies Minor and CMST Capstone, as well as The Dialogue Series Project Director, there is Dr. Brent Kice, who is an Assistant Professor and Basic Course Coordinator for the major. Lastly is David Stern who is a Lecturer and Ph.D. candidate at Duquesne University. In spring 2013, Dr. Sheri Whalen, who was an Assistant Professor in the CMST department, joined the Mass Communication department in this fall 2013 semester. The CMST department is currently looking for a new replacement to cover some of the other expertise courses she taught, such as Political Communications.  

Early in the program everyone in the room went around and introduced there self, and told how they were associated with Communications or why they were interested in Communication Studies. This effort was led by Dr. Ruminski, who said “ CMST studies to me is such a broad field, and one of my interest is organizational communication as I grew up in the Labor movement, so the organizational structure of communication is very import to me.” Other students followed with their testimonies. One student named Antionette Coward said “ I’m interested in CMST because it has helped me improved my communication skills.” She is one of the Capstone seniors who attended the social as a class requirement. For her career plans, Cowards explained, “I would like to work with children someday, so maybe I could be a counselor, or I would like to be on the radio, so watch out for me ya’ll.” Everyone in the room laughed. Another Capstone student named Taylor Vandegrift said “I choose to major in CMST because I knew there are a variety of careers that Communications can be applied to. I never knew what I wanted to be, and I still don’t when I graduate, but I know there are many options” 

Some of the other perks people noted about being in the major is the chance to join the Student Communication Studies Association (SCSA), how they have gone on trips when enrolled in the Political Communications course taught by former CMST staff Dr. Whalen, and that students can get class credit for an internship of their liking with the capstone. 

The students of the fall 2013 semester Capstone class, were six in total, and included: Megan Foy; Antionette Coward, Robert Michels, Taylor Vandegrift, Ashley Patterson, and Josef Epps. They were preparing for their Capstone presentation, which is set to be on December 11^th in the evening. 

Besides the information session, many of the attendees enjoyed the event. The food was the entire rave, as it was provided by ARAMARK. The menu included chicken skewers with a peanut sauce, quesadillas with sour cream and salsa, a fruit and veggie tray, Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip cookies, and Apple Cider as a beverage. It was a good evening for many.