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The Paul & Louise Miller Distinguished Professor and the School of Print Media presented Virgil Smith on October 27^th, discussing “Finding News Media Jobs When the Future of Media is Unknown.” Smith is the VP of Talent Management at Gannett Co., Inc—responsible for employee acquisition, leadership development, and leadership and diversity initiatives.

With today’s economy, any college student is worried about job placement after graduation. Smith discussed the concern about the future within the media industry and shared ideas on how to prepare for entering the workforce. He recommends creating a website to talk about yourself and show who you are as an individual. Also, it is one location where you can showcase your work (photographs, print media, design pieces) and supply your resume and references. Today, many employers want to have all information readily available and easy to find.

Smith stressed being able to learn new skills throughout your career to stay on top of the trends. This allows you to “develop new muscles.” In addition, Smith highlighted the fact that knowledge is a plus, but people skills, problem solving, and analytical thinking are top skills employers are seeking in candidates.

Some tips Smith introduced for managing your career include:

1. Take responsibility for building your career. It is your responsibility; develop a vision for yourself.
2. Define career satisfaction for yourself. Know yourself and identify what gives you personal and professional satisfaction.
3. Determine what you are good at and where you need development. Then develop a plan to improve your knowledge and skill level to ensure you are competitive for the career opportunity you want. Keep your resume updated.
4. Build your own brand. Determine what you want to be known for, professionally and personally.
5. Track your accomplishments.
6. Build relationships.
7. Know your value in the organization.

It is important for you to continuously work on your skill set. As Smith stated, “You have to embrace change and be willing to do things differently.” To be successful in today’s industry you must know yourself, but be willing to expand into different mediums.

To look for jobs within the Gannett Corporation visit http://www.gannett.com/career/.

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Left to right: Steve Matteson (Ascender Corporation), Tom Rickner (Ascender Corporation), Michelle Perham (Microsoft), Chuck Bigelow (RIT)

On October 28th, 2009 a panel of typographic experts gathered to impart the wisdom they have gathered over years in the typography industry.

Led by Charles Bigelow, typography professor in the School of Print Media and a co-creator of the Lucida fonts, the panel discussed the paths their careers followed leading them to the high-ranking typography positions in which they currently reside.

All three of the panel members attended RIT and graduated from the School of Print Media. Steve Matteson and Tom Rickner currently operate Ascender Corporation as Type Design Diriector and Type Designer and Font Producer respectively. Ascender Corporation has been contracted by major corporations like Google, Microsoft, Apple and designed the typefaces used in the Microsoft Zune player as well as the Android G2 Google phone.

Michelle Perham currently works for Microsoft Typography Group as a project manager and oversees international type design for all Microsoft products including the recent Windows 7. Her group currently has over 250 different fonts with more foreign fonts than latin fonts. According to Perham, less than 10% of world computers running Microsoft are using latin fonts.

The panel discussion covered a wide range of typographic topics including the increase in display fonts and the decrease in newspapers. According to Charles Bigelow, as the display technology and “hinting” of fonts become more refined, people are more comfortable reading off of a display. There is a linear relationship between this refinement and the demise of the newspaper industry.

A major focus of this panel discussion was job opportunities in the world of typography and design. The panel all seemed to agree that you have to follow the aspect of your education that held your attention the most no matter if it was your core focus of study. Chuck Bigelow has a degree in Anthropology and Michelle Perham has a degree in Photography, both took a type class and have based their careers around this particular facet of their education.

In addition to following your passion, the panelists from Ascender discussed the importance of hand drawing and the ability to have a strong grasp on the tools needed for type design before considering entering the field. A strong understanding of type was stressed as well as the need to practice with font revivals before attempting to put a person’s own work onto the screen.

If one thing was clear in this discussion it is that type is in high demand.

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RIT recently held its annual Brick City Homecoming & Family Weekend on October 9-11. The weekend’s events attracted thousands of students, parents, alumni, and guests from around the world.

Homecoming weekend kicked off Friday morning with the CIAS Golf Tournament at 8:00am in Penfield. Later that evening, the Rochester Riverside Convention Center hosted the RIT President’s Alumni Ball. Attendees of the ball spoke with President Destler and enjoyed a fantastic three-course dinner. The event opened with an hors d’oeuvre reception, live music by an Elvis tribute artist, and casino games. The highlight of the night for many was the side-splitting performance by comedian Jim Gaffigan. Gaffigan is known for several Comedy Central specials, comedy albums, and roles in television and movies.

Wikipedia founder and philanthropist Jimmy Wales was the 2009 Horton Distinguished Speaker. As a leading Internet entrepreneur, Wales was named one of the 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine. He spoke at the Gordon Field House on Saturday morning. The RIT Hockey team played in their first-ever homecoming hockey game on Saturday night at the Blue Cross Arena downtown. The Tigers battled the Colgate Red Raiders in their opening game, but could not edge out a win.

Sunday saw the closing of homecoming weekend. The day started off with a 5K Fun Run & Walk around campus, followed by a Bon Voyage Brunch at the RITz Sports Zone. Brick City Homecoming is the first community and family weekend event on campus this year, with Imagine RIT coming up in Spring quarter.

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Vimeo is one of the up and coming video sharing websites that is taking video production seriously. Vimeo is a step above YouTube and sites in a similar vein, in that the Vimeo staff expects quality videos from creative people in a respective community. Critique on videos are welcome, but comments must be relevant and on point. Videos must be original material and decent quality. Vimeo is trying to bring a standard to videos on the Internet that has diminished in the age of YouTube.

With this in mind, SPMetc has joined the ranks of Vimeo users. You can come check us out at http://vimeo.com/user2446807. We will be posting videos from past events as well as any we acquire from here on out. You can currently watch videos about the Ink Chemistry and Formulation Lab and the Open Publishing Guide. More videos will be up soon, so keep your eyes open for a more visual look at the School of Print Media.

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