Student Spotlight

100 MOST INFLUENTIAL SENIORS 2009

The Office of Student Affairs presented the annual class of Northeastern University's "100 Most Influential Seniors." Student who have been selected to this esteemed list exhibit the following qualities: Personal Commitment to enhancing student life; Self-Motivation to make the Northeastern experience the best it can be; Ability to influence peers and campus as a whole in a positive manner; Overall academic success; Effective time-management skills that allow the student to balance academics with extracurricular involvement; Excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to collaborate with fellow students, faculty, and/or administrators on issues of interest.

Faculty, administrators, staff, coaches, and students nominated students over the course of the semester, and the following 11 Communication Studies students were included in this list and determined to be the "most influential" of the senior class.

Jonathan Batista	David Brodsky-Porges
Jessica Bryson	Jon Cunha
Tom Giles	Melanie Harris
McKenna Lowry	NOT PICTURED: Shantelle Anderson Shanise Bland Ashlee Feldman Daralyn Kelleher

2008 GRAD DEBUTS DOCUMENTARY AT ROXBURY FILM FESTIVAL

Few films are lucky enough to be chosen to premier at film festivals and it is an even larger feat when the premiering films are created by college students. Meagan Redman, a 2008 Communication Studies graduate of Northeastern University defied the odds and debuted her documentary, "Sharpening Our Oyster Knives: Living with HIV/AIDS Today" on August 2, 2008, at the Roxbury Film Festival.
HIV/AIDS has maintained an unsettling tight grasp on communities of color in Boston. Meagan's documentary examines the issues (socioeconomic factors, programmatic approaches, funding, government policy) around that fact, while highlighting some of the personal journeys of people infected and affected by the disease locally. Redman produced, narrated and edited the piece as a directed study course, under faculty advisor David Monje, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies. Following the screening on August 2nd, Meagan spoke on a panel addressing health disparities that was moderated by actress/AIDS activist Sheryl Lee Ralph.
The documentary will continue to be screened around Boston, both in community settings and academic environments, including the Boston Living Center and for Caroline O'Connor nursing students at NU. Following graduation, Meagan recently accepted an Assistant Producer position with NBC Peacock Productions, in New York. She did an internship at NBC News earlier in her undergraduate career, as a co-op student.

DEPARTMENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS:

Every year the Department offers an Academic Achievement Award, The Curtis Haigh Scholarship and several Production Achievement Awards. Applications for these awards are typically available in late February or early March. Awards are presented in early April. Please check back in the Spring for more information.

Past recipients include:

2008
Production Achievement Award: Mike Quill, Doug Quill, Lily Rosenbloom
Production Achievement Award (runner up): Meagan Redman
Academic Achievement Award : Alexandra Anweiler
Curtis Haigh Scholarship: David Brodsky-Porges

2007
Academic Achievement Award: Lia Vallesio
Production Achievement Award: Bryan DeBlasio
Production Achievement Award (runner up): Tim Avery
Curtis Haigh Scholarship: Armine Nalbandian

2006
Academic Achievement Award: Christina Lepre
Production Achievement Award: Bryan DeBlasio
Production Achievement Award (runner up): Zachary Pentoney
Curtis Haigh Scholarship: Leonora Giametta