The Eagle adviser elected exec. director of college media association

Faculty advisers from the eight-member Nebraska Collegiate Media Association elected Michael D. Kennedy, CSC journalism instructor and adviser of The Eagle, as the association’s executive director at its annual meeting Saturday, this year at Hastings College.

In accepting the post, Kennedy, who was president-elect, abdicated the association’s presidency, a one-year post he would have assumed effective Saturday. The executive director’s position carries a five-year term. David Swartzlander, adviser of The Doane Owl and doaneline.com, Doane College, Crete, was elected president to fill the vacancy.

“Dave and I have worked together in the past when we produced the design and layout workshop presented by Tim Harrower of Oregon who happens to be the author of the textbook we both use in our publication design courses. We get along well and I know we’ll work together well through the coming year,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy also said he was grateful his colleagues from the member schools have the faith in him to execute the responsibilities of NCMA’s executive directorship.

“Anyone who knows me, knows I will do my best to serve the association’s membership, primarily the students,” he said.

Kennedy, who already served two terms as NCMA president, 2011-13, has been serving as acting-executive director since December 2013. Back then, NCMA President Max McElwain asked Kennedy to step in temporarily after then executive director Jason Elznic, former adviser of The Viewpoint, the student newspaper at Northeast Community College, Norfolk, left NCMA when he assumed a new teaching post in the English department at NCC.

“I have no doubt that Michael Kennedy will be a superb executive director for the Nebraska Collegiate Media Association,” Swartzlander said. “He’s well organized, thorough and favors an approach to make the organization more professional in its operation than it has been in the past. That can only help the organization to grow and provide more help and services to students and advisers in the future.”

Swartzlander said that he expects Kennedy to bring the NCMA “into the 21st century” by implementing website to showcase outstanding student work, post job and internship opportunities, and streamline the entry process for NCMA’s annual Golden Leaf Awards.

“I expect Michael will work closely with me, the new NCMA president, to work on ways to provide content for the new website, including posting internship and job opportunities for students,” he said.

“In addition, I think NCMA must find ways to raise revenue as well as cut expenses to make ends meet and balance the budget,” Swartzlander said. “I have every confidence that Michael is the man for that job.”

On Saturday the association agreed to increase its entry fees from $5 to $10 per entry. It also cut costs by approving a measure that provides plaques for first-place recipients only.

Since 2010, the association provided plaques for first through third places in all four of its media competition divisions—newspaper, radio, digital medium and television. All award winners, that is first-place through honorable mention, will still receive certificates, it is just the first-place recipients who will have those certificates inside a framed plaque.