5 March 2019
Brianna Kraemer
The Communication Graduate Student Association (CGSA) and the Communication Department will be hosting their annual Communication Career Night to help students working towards their communication degrees better understand their next professional steps after graduation.
George Cheney of the Communication Department is one of the main coordinators of the event. He and a few others from the department have been planning the event since December and are hoping for a successful night.
Nikki Martinez, a graduate student studying communication, serves as the current CGSA president and explained that the event meets the needs of many communication students.
According to Martinez, a high number of people pursuing communication-related careers find it difficult to know exactly what their options are and what they will be able to do after graduating with their degree. Communication Career Night’s goal is to give students the answers to their questions and help them feel more confident to use their degree in the future.
“We have a Q&A session and they also do professional photos. We are sponsored through SGA so it’s open to all students,” said Martinez.
UCCS alumni, professors and community members will share their stories, backgrounds in communication and their advice for students.
Some of the speakers include Cynthia Griffin, the director of Patient Experience for Centura Health, Mark Paglia, who has a degree in film production and will share his experience working with ABC, CBS and ESPN and Laura Austin-Eurich, the director of Undergraduate Studies, who will speak on internships, service learning and networking.
[Editor’s note: Austin-Eurich is the faculty advisor for the Scribe.]
There are several other speakers to be featured at the the event that will provide students with the opportunity to learn about different areas of the field and also speak individually with students.
“Last year we had about 110 people show up, so this year we are expecting around 120 people,” said Martinez.
Martinez continued on to explain what other events CGSA does throughout the year.
“We do Internship Speed Dating and we are working on an event right now that is going to connect different cohorts of students. We are going to work on how we can bridge the gaps between undergraduate programs, graduate programs and the faculty.”
Traditionally, the Internship Speed Dating takes place every fall and the Communication Career Night every spring.
At the end of Communication Career Night, students will have a better understanding about the trends in today’s job market, how to prepare for interviews, job search and how to use the communication degree to their advantage. There will be time for networking and free professional photos to use on Linkedin or for job interviews.
The event will be on March 7 from 5 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. in University Center 116.