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/.

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.

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.

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.

In working with the gallery, Arianna was elevated to “partner status” and was endowed with responsibilities equal to those of the other partners.  Arianna was responsible for gallery sittings 2-3 times per week in which she would monitor activities within the gallery and survey individuals who visited on that day.  During openings, she was responsible for greeting visitors, replenishing refreshments, and counting the number of people entering and exiting the gallery.  While the internship was unpaid, Arianna was given a stipend of one hundred dollars for purchasing schoolbooks for the upcoming year and was able to exhibit her personal photography for four months with no fee except a 15% commission charged on sold photographs.

While working at Image City, Arianna’s main task was to edit and proof the gallery’s exhibition catalog for their ‘2009 Portfolio Show.’  Arianna employed skills learned within the School of Print Media as well as in the School of Photography in order to connect between photographers wishing to exhibit their work in the show with the production crew at Lumiere Framing and Printing.  She also created a public relations packet for surrounding area hotels to help publicize the gallery.

Interviews for these co-op positions will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 3rd and November 4th.  You many sign up for an interview time in the front office (#1135) beginning on Wednesday morning (October 28th). You should bring two copies of your up-to-date resume to the interview.

Professor Riordan and Professor Birkett will be conducting the interviews, and we will be happy to answer any of your questions if you cannot attend one of the Information Sessions.

These co-ops are a great opportunity to develop independence and self reliance along with having a unique travel experience! Do give them serious consideration.

Jim Gaffigan is a man who speaks of many things. Holidays, bacon, and hot pockets are all words associated with his act. He is a man of many voices and often talks as if he’s a member of the audience looking at his show. And although these little facts may be pretty random to anyone who doesn’t know who he is, Gaffigan was able to sell out the Gordon Field House on October 9^th, the first day of Brick City Homecoming weekend.

Gaffigan has released three CD’s and two DVD’s in his career. He is one of the co-stars in the TBS comedy “My Boys.”  He has starred in “Comedy Central Presents” and has appeared on the silver screen multiple times. In the business since 1991, Gaffigan has plenty of material and life experience to draw from, and he does so in his performance.

Gaffigan began his show with new material, and ran with it for a good half hour. Starting with the exciting topic of his shoes, socks and underwear, he tells the audience “You can’t censor me.”  Even he knows his comedy is pretty low key, but with Gaffigan, that works just fine. His new material included jokes about his family, hotel rooms and swimming pools. All outrageous subjects in there own right.

By the second half of the show, Gaffigan brought out the material that everyone bought their tickets for. Gaffigan began his skit on food, a favorite of his. Commenting on people’s obsession with food, he gracefully jabs waffle houses and confesses his love for bacon. In a bit of improvisational genius with the interpreter, he stops his act for a second, looks over, and exclaims in one of the funniest statements of the night “Even the sign for bacon is beautiful!” HE then proceeded to say bacon a number of times, watching the interpreter sign the word. Although the audience was laughing along, Gaffigan was enjoying himself as well.

And of course, no night can be complete with Jim without a little banter about Hot Pockets. When he first uttered the words, everyone cheered and got overly excited; Gaffigan did not disappoint. Describing how Hot Pocket’s transactions in a restaurant would happen, Gaffigan had the whole audience in hysterics. He continued with how unhealthy Hot Pockets are, declaring if you were to eat a Breakfast Hot Pocket, you would have “A Hot Pocket for breakfast, Hot Pocket for lunch, and be dead by dinner” to equal reception.

At no point did Gaffigan fall short. Delivering a well-polished act mixed with old and new material, improvisation and rehearsed act, Gaffigan proved what a talent he is. As the audience leaves, you can hear line after line being quoted by passer bys. Gaffigan gave us all that was expected, and if possible, so much more.

Signatures Literary and Art Magazine celebrated its 25^th reunion at Lovin’ Cup during Brick City weekend. The event was open to everyone, be it a contributor to the magazine or a lover of poetry and music. It attracted a wide range of audience–alumni staff of the magazine made an appearance as well as professors and students alike.  Everyone came to appreciate art, performed and in the open.

The party kicked off with Henry Kearse playing on the piano while everyone settled down. Signatures advisors Professor John Roche, Professor Vincent Golphin and managing editor Sarai Oviedo then welcomed everyone to the event.

Rob Livolsi was the first performer. A singer/songwriter, Livolsi played a few songs on the piano housed in Lovin’ Cup.He was followed with an acoustic set by Pia Mater, a local favorite. Playing for a half hour, Pia Mater had a good set, especially considering it was there first acoustic performance ever in public.

Poetry had its chance to shine as well, with performances from Garrete McMahon, Danielle Gatti, Zachary Smith, Andy Knight, Whitney Gratton, Sarai Oviedo and John Roche.  The content ranged from original poetry, to a performance skit, to readings from past Signatures issues. There was also time for an open mike, which some people took advantage of.

Pia Matter then came out for another short acoustic set, finishing the activities for the event. With closing remarks from John Roche, the party came to a close. Alumni, contributors, and editors all mingled and took copies of the magazine, ending the celebration of Signatures 25 year run. By the look of it, there is no slowing down for Signatures anytime soon.

“Finding News Media Jobs When The Future of Media Is Unknown…”
Virgil Smith, VP Talent Management, Gannett Corp.

With more and more major newspapers in the United States downsizing their print operations and moving toward publishing online, the future of the news media industry is uncertain. To educate students about the types of jobs and skills needed as the industry shifts focus, the Paul & Louise Miller Distinguished Professor and the School of Print Media will host, “Finding News Media Jobs When the Future of Media is Unknown,” 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, October 27, in the Gannett Building, Neblette Conference Room (07-1104). This presentation is the next installment of the Paul and Louise Miller Lecture Series sponsored by RIT’s School of Print Media.

The featured speaker is Virgil Smith, Vice President of Talent Management, Gannett Co., Inc.  Mr. Smith is responsible for employee acquisition, leadership development and leadership & diversity initiatives. He is an experienced media executive with P&L managerial responsibility for newspaper operations, staff expertise in human resources, talent management and diversity strategy, at two major news and information companies in the U.S.; an involved executive who works to make his community and society a better place for all.

The lecture will be moderated by Professor Twyla Cummings, Paul & Louise Miller Distinguished Professor.  The event is free and open to the public.

Entering her 4th year in the New Media Publishing Program, Kadley Gosselin returned from a two quarter co-op at toy-maker, Hasbro in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hired as a pre-press intern, Kadley was responsible for final proofing artwork, uploading electronic packaging files to their asset management system and distributing hard press proofs from Hasbro Far East.

Kadley describes her time at Hasbro:

“My actual responsibilities were pretty close to what was described to me when I was hired. I had a constant workload of releasing packaging artwork files to Hasbro Far East (HFE) in Hong Kong, which required filling out a “Final Art Release” form with the print specs, material, and part numbers and sending it with the art files via an FTP client. I also had the responsibility of uploading electronic packaging files to the Hasbro Asset Library for the prepress department. I created hard press proofs for the graphic designers to approve, and also received and distributed daily shipments of proofs from the print vendors in Hong Kong. My general support to the prepress department including everything from filing, assorted organizational projects, and training other interns.”

“Learning to be incredibly attentive to detail was the most important thing I took away from my experience. When working with HFE it was very important that all information I gave to them had been double-checked. Prepress is the last set of eyes to see the packaging art files before they go to HFE so it was important that I did not make any mistakes, otherwise it could cost the company.”

“My biggest achievement was filling in for the Prepress Manager while he was on vacation. While I was terrified before he left, I learned a tremendous amount in the week that he was gone. Keeping track of all of his brands and working with new people showed me how much I had learned in the months prior. After a day or two, I felt comfortable and could manage his workload better than I had ever expected.”

Kadley’s coop experience exhibits a major facet of the New Media Publishing program. Classes in pre-press operations allowed her to excel in here time at Hasbro.