Speaker 1: 0:00

Check us out to hear the latest on life in the volunteer state. Yvonca and her guests discuss everything from life, love and business with a Tennessee flair. It's a Tennessee thing, always relatable, always relevant and always a good time. This is Talkin' Tennessee, and now your host, yvonca.

Speaker 2: 0:23

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Speaker 3: 0:48

Welcome back to Talking Tennessee with Yvonca. I am your host and I'm here with a dear friend that I'm going to share this week. His name is Joe Mazur and he is at the University of Tennessee. He's the Dean of Communications and Information. Welcome to Talking Tennessee.

Speaker 4: 1:05

Thank you, yvonca, great to be here.

Speaker 3: 1:06

You're welcome. You're welcome. Well, let me go ahead and tell you how we connected. We're both in Leadership Knoxville this year and you know, when you get on a path of trying to give back to your community, sometimes you have to get in some spaces that can. It probably wasn't overwhelming to him, but it was overwhelming to me. When I walked in leadership Knoxville and I saw all of my class, I was like what have I done? And I have to say you have really made this last. What 10 months? So amazing. Um, you would think that we've known each other our whole life because we cut up the same way. So I just want to tell you you really made me feel at home when it felt overwhelming that day, that first day.

Speaker 4: 1:53

Ditto, ditto. That's a big class it is. And really, really impressive people in there, very, very impressive people, and I think that's the biggest thing is Leadership.

Speaker 3: 2:02

Knoxville puts some of the best people in a room and just wants us to grow so we can build up our community. But it can feel overwhelming the first day and I just remember you walking up to me and introducing yourself and it just like we clicked yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:17

Yeah, so we have a good time. Yes, a totally good time.

Speaker 3: 2:20

So we meet up once a month and we have a whole day to spend time together. So we meet up once a month and we have a whole day to spend time together. But this amazing man, he has done so much in his career and we're going to get into it. But let me first start. You were at Clemson.

Speaker 3: 2:33

I was you were at Clemson 11 years 11 years at Clemson and you decided to come to University of Tennessee. Now we're going to go back just a little bit because I want to give a shout out to his family. His wife what is your wife's name? Chrissy, Chrissy, Chrissy. And so you bouncing her around, was she okay with it?

Speaker 4: 2:57

Well, sure. So Chrissy's actually a faculty member here at the University of Tennessee as well. She was at Clemson, so this turned out to be a really great for both of us.

Speaker 3: 3:06

I have noticed a lot of staff have. Both of them work for the University of Tennessee and I just think that's great because you're on the same path and I think you can help build each other up into your careers and into the field that you're in, do you?

Speaker 4: 3:23

agree with that. I agree, and we're also on the same work calendar too.

Speaker 3: 3:26

Because we have two young kids.

Speaker 4: 3:28

So that makes juggling things a lot easier.

Speaker 3: 3:30

How old are your kids?

Speaker 4: 3:31

Our daughter Claire is 11 and our son Owen is 9.

Speaker 3: 3:34

Okay, 11 and 9. Those are ages that they are finding their way into independence. On certain things they want to be independent. They don't want mom and dad to do everything for them. But then there's other times they're like okay, I'm still a baby and I need you to help me. So how the big move? Let's talk about it. When you were at Clemson, what made you even think about a job change?

Speaker 4: 4:03

Yeah, about being a dean. Yes, why here? My gosh. So I was at Clemson for 11 years and over the course of the time there, the department where I was a faculty member, the Department of Communication, went through a lot of growth. We grew quite a bit Number of faculty, number of staff, number of students, new academic programs, new partnerships with the community and with the university. So in 2011 at Clemson, we opened a social media listening center. It was a social media lab, a research lab, one of the first of its kind in higher education, probably the first and, I think, probably maybe the fifth in the world. The first four were in Fortune 100, fortune 500 companies.

Speaker 4: 4:40

But where does Tennessee come in? A couple of years after that, there was a group of staff from the University of Tennessee, from this college, that came to Clemson 2014. And they wanted to open a similar lab here and they came down to check out our space and everything. So they came, showed them around. They left.

Speaker 4: 5:01

About a week later I got an email from a woman named Courtney Childers. Courtney is a faculty member in the Tomper School of Advertising and Public Relations and an associate dean in the college and she said hey. She said I know you're leading this new lab at Clemson. It's very new. My dean asked me here at Tennessee to direct our lab. We're going to stand up. Can I just talk to you? I want to talk a little bit about what it was like to stand this up. So we had a phone call, we talked, courtney got a lovely thank you note in the mail from her back then and then we started exchanging faculty and students. So we would send students here for their PhDs, we would hire, you know, the students finishing their PhDs onto the faculty at Clemson. That was it. That was my engagement, my knowledge with University of Tennessee.

Speaker 3: 5:48

That's what opened the door.

Speaker 4: 5:49

It opened the door. Fast forward, december of 2020. Wake up every morning. I read, you know, various things every morning. One is the Chronicle of Higher Ed. I get online, I look at scanning through and at the bottom of the main page the Chronicle there's a box that says top jobs and it said Dean College of Communication and Information, ut. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. I didn't know the prior dean had stepped down or was retiring.

Speaker 1: 6:18

So I did a quick Google.

Speaker 4: 6:19

I was like oh, he's stepping down, he's going back to the faculty. He served 15 years.

Speaker 3: 6:22

Oh, interesting, ignored it Still didn't know what to think about it.

Speaker 4: 6:25

It was the end of the semester I was grading, I was getting all my papers graded, grades turned in and all those things. So that was a Monday. This was in the middle of the pandemic, Okay. So at the end of that week, Chrissy and I took the kids through this drive-through holiday light display in Easley. South Carolina Drove them through Came home was putting our youngest to bed. I was lying in bed next to them, as many parents do now We've got to scroll a little bit Catching up on emails.

Speaker 4: 6:56

I peek through there the emails, and I have an email from the recruiter who was working for UT and running the dean search and they said Joe, you've just been nominated to be dean of the College of Communication and Information at UT. Would you be open for a phone conversation? I bet you were in shock. I was. I was like, oh my gosh, I just saw this online earlier this week and went into Chrissy. I was like I just got this email. I got nominated for the dean position at Tennessee. Should I do the call?

Speaker 3: 7:19

And she said yeah absolutely, she's like you better do the call. We'd been in Knoxville quite a bit.

Speaker 4: 7:22

And she said, yeah, do the call. So I emailed the recruiter that night and we had started just exchanging emails that night, right before the holidays. We talked. One thing led to another. Here I am, start packing up my office at Clemson when I knew I was moving here. Okay, and I'm cleaning out drawers and papers for my desk. And I'm cleaning out drawers and papers for my desk, and I look down and I see this UT orange card in the drawer, the card there and I don't keep a lot of stuff like that, but I look down and I opened up that card and I opened it and it was the thank you note that Courtney sent me about seven years prior.

Speaker 1: 8:01

I hung on to it for some reason, wow.

Speaker 4: 8:03

So I packed it First day on the job here at UT faculty were coming by to welcome me, say hello, courtney pops in. She's like hey, it's great to see you meet you in person for the first time. I said absolutely Great to meet you. Should I have a present for you? And I said thanks. And she gave me a pair of UT socks. And I said you know what I have a present for you. And I reached over and I got that card and I said I knew there was a reason I kept this.

Speaker 4: 8:27

And she opened up and she was like oh my gosh that is so neat.

Speaker 3: 8:35

So Courtney is now associate dean of the college. She started about a year ago. You know that's the biggest thing I try to tell people. You never I was saying this the other day you never know what path you're going to go down. You never know who you might meet At the time. There may be nothing on the horizon, but you never know how someone can open a door for you that you didn't even know you wanted a door open because you wasn't even looking for that. You know that type thing but the communications between you two open that door. And so I always try to tell people is you have to broaden your thoughts, because sometimes you never know what God may want for you and if you shut your mind off to things then you can really miss a blessing that really was for you. But because you wasn't looking for it at that time, you know you can shut that door and so we're happy to treat University of Tennessee. It's great to be here.

Speaker 4: 9:29

This is the everything school and I need to thank you for not making the different colored orange joke. Clemson and Tennessee because everybody that I meet has always made that joke for about the first four years.

Speaker 3: 9:39

No, no, no, it's good. No, but we have the best orange though, Anyway. But so when you got here, you know, tell me what it was like to be a dean. You know, okay, here I'm a dean at University of Tennessee. You know how did you start finding your way in this position?

Speaker 4: 10:00

Yeah. So I came into the role and this was a college where I think faculty staff, students, alumni, were really excited about the future. They wanted to roll up their sleeves and really take the college forward. So I started by doing a lot of listening with our faculty, with our staff, with our students. I'm really fortunate as a dean of the college, we have a 35-member alumni advisory board for the college. They're all major supporters of the college and I met with them and listened to them and talked a little bit about you know where they thought we were, where we are and where they think we should go. And their industry feedback helped to inform the faculty's work and what they were doing to move us forward.

Speaker 4: 10:43

And it's really interesting when you look across the country at various universities across the country, there are very few universities that bring all areas of communication and information sciences under one standalone college at a university. I didn't know that. Yeah, we're unique in that sense, in that Tennessee we are the flagship institution of the state, we're the land-grant institution of the state, so we exist to serve the communities in the state.

Speaker 3: 11:15

Okay.

Speaker 4: 11:15

And we are a Research I university in the state. Okay, so flagship land-grant Research? I right, three in one, yes. And when you look across the country in some states where, say, for example, north Carolina?

Speaker 4: 11:34

Okay, in North Carolina great university, the study of journalism is in a different academic program, a different school, a different college than, say, communication studies. Okay, if you look at the University of Georgia, you have the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication and then you have the Department of Communication Studies. That's in the College of Arts and Sciences clear on another area of campus. Right, right, what's cool about Tennessee is we are the flagship institution of the state land grant research one. We bring all areas of communication information in one standalone college so the faculty are able to work together across those disciplines.

Speaker 3: 12:17

Yes, right, everybody is together and truly collaborate.

Speaker 4: 12:20

There's only two universities where you have the flagship institution, the land grant and the research one that bring it all under one roof, and that's Tennessee and Kentucky. Okay, you look, in some states the flagship institution of the state is not the land grant institution of the state. So in the state of North Carolina you have NC State. They're the land-grant institution, but the University of North Carolina is viewed as a flagship.

Speaker 3: 12:50

That's what makes it different.

Speaker 4: 12:51

It makes it different and you can look at those similar arrangements across the country. Tennessee is unique with a land-grant and with a flagship.

Speaker 3: 13:00

So on a day-to-day, tell my viewers on a day-to-day, what does your department, what do y'all focus on? That is just like and it can change day by day, but if people want to know, you know what does the communication and information? What do they do on a daily basis to help higher education, help students, you know, thrive and strive to be the best at whatever they're doing.

Speaker 4: 13:27

Yeah, so we have about a little over 1,700 undergraduate students. Okay, that are across several degree programs in advertising, public relations, journalism, communication studies, information sciences we have several master's programs, master's programs in communication and information, in strategic and digital communication. In information sciences, we have a doctoral program for people that are studying for their PhDs to develop advanced research capabilities to work in industry or to work in higher education as faculty.

Speaker 3: 13:57

And it's so many people right now wanting PhDs. Yes, it's amazing, it is wanting PhDs?

Speaker 4: 14:08

Yes, it's amazing. It is, and we also at UT. This college teaches the introductory oral communication course that's part of Volcor, so general education, so almost every UT student will take that introductory public speaking course as part of their general education program in their first or second year. Why is that important? Well, that's important because almost every UT student will come through this college at some point. So we will serve over probably about 6,000 students per year through our major programs, our minors and through general education through those courses. So we're firing on all cylinders.

Speaker 4: 14:39

And we haven't even talked about global, our study abroad programs, how we place students in internships. We have a new online undergraduate degree program that's coming online. You know, ivanka, in the state of Tennessee there's around one million Tennesseans that have hours toward a bachelor's degree but have not yet had an opportunity to complete it. So to respond to that, we're standing up, starting in the fall fall of 2025. It was just approved by the Board of Trustees. It's getting reviewed by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission as we do this here today. Opportunity for those citizens of the state that have not yet completed their undergraduate degree to do it, and to do it online, asynchronously, in an environment that's convenient for them so let me ask you this um when I was researching and reading up about you, your first generation, I am yes, he is first generation of a college graduate.

Speaker 3: 15:47

Yes, that right there in itself is so big to so many families. There are so many families still to this day that has never had a college graduate. So can you, let's go back just a little bit and share that part of why you wanted to become? A college graduate. So can you, let's go back just a little bit and share that part of why you wanted to become a college graduate and why did you go in this direction, into helping other students become a college graduate?

Speaker 4: 16:17

So I'm from a very, very small rural town in Pennsylvania.

Speaker 3: 16:22

Okay, did I ever tell you, david? David, my husband is from Pittsburgh. Yes, I think we talked about that. And he's from Monroeville, so keep going, keep going.

Speaker 4: 16:31

Shout out to my husband From central Pennsylvania, middle part of the state about an hour north of Harrisburg, Very rural community. Decades ago it was part of the anthracite coal region, so a coal mining community. The town now has been known for having really good high school football Okay, Really good high school football and having the first high school television station in the country.

Speaker 3: 16:57

Really Okay In 1968, right.

Speaker 4: 17:00

So, as a first generation, my path to higher education. I'm so fortunate that it went all the way back to high school.

Speaker 3: 17:09

And did your parents encourage you to? Yeah, because if you think about it, let me just say this Some parents don't encourage that, you know, and if a child doesn't see value in it or have someone mentor or someone in the church or out in the community, that will show them totally different. They could say well, I don't need that because my mom and dad didn't do it. You know what I'm saying, so speak on being that first one.

Speaker 4: 17:35

Yeah, absolutely, of course. Of course they did, they absolutely encouraged me, that's great. For for to go to undergraduate and to go to college. I don't think they thought.

Speaker 3: 17:43

They probably didn't think I was going to make a career of it at the time, because I think you know coming out of high school they're like you're going to go to college and then you're going to go get a job. Yeah, exactly, that was kind of the path.

Speaker 4: 17:51

And I don't think, you know, coming out of high school, you're not saying to yourself well, I'm going to be a college professor.

Speaker 3: 17:59

Kids don't even know what they truly want to be when they first come out of high school. I know, when I came out of high school, I didn't.

Speaker 4: 18:07

I'm just being honest. Exactly, keep going. Yeah, exactly, but in high school I went to the public high school. There was a television station. 1968 was developed by a man named George McPhee. He was an art teacher for the school district Back in the day he received offers from Walt Disney himself to draw for the school district. Back in the day he received offers from Walt Disney himself to draw for the Disney company. But he was happy. He built this television station back in 1968 and I met him when I was a freshman and we're talking 30 minutes of live news every morning, all the sporting events, community events on live or tape delay at a high school. This was and this was not just to the high school, this was a 100 mile radius around the town as well and I know we didn't have that this was not an AV club, this was a fully functioning television station.

Speaker 4: 18:53

And I met him my freshman year, very close to him. Awesome teacher, awesome mentor, taught you a lot. Midway through my junior year he became ill very suddenly and he died and I was devastated. I mean midway through my junior year. He became ill very suddenly and he died, oh wow, and I was devastated.

Speaker 3: 19:08

I was about to say it probably affected you.

Speaker 4: 19:11

And the school district didn't have much of a succession plan at that time, because you don't have a succession plan to run a television station like that.

Speaker 1: 19:21

It's run by high school kids.

Speaker 4: 19:23

So the principal called me and my one of my friends who worked there with me his name was Joe as well called us into the office and he basically was like you guys got to keep this going.

Speaker 3: 19:32

And you're probably like and we said, sure, we were like, well, we were there, what happened?

Speaker 4: 19:36

We were there from six in the morning until midnight, almost every night. And whenever we were on deadline, we'd go to the principal and we'd say Mr Beierschmidt, he has since passed. God rest his soul. We'd say, mr Beierschmidt, we're on deadline for this, we really need it. And he would say, boys, don't worry about it.

Speaker 3: 20:02

And he'd go on the loudspeaker in the middle of the school day and what you have to do really yes, and we did that because he truly believed, yes, that what you were doing is was greater we did that and um plus, you got to um, basically honor the person that showed you and mentored you. We did in that position before he died.

Speaker 4: 20:22

We we did. His son took over for him. It's kind of beautiful of a transition. His son took over for him my senior year I remember it was his son, that kind of took over and I was sitting alongside a freshman that we were training him on master control in the control room. And after we were done he called me the new.

Speaker 4: 20:42

Mr McPhee called me aside and he said Joey, he said the way you were talking to Paul, the way you were teaching him. He said you're my dad. Do you know that You're my dad? My dad would do that Really.

Speaker 1: 20:53

Now.

Speaker 3: 20:53

I was in high school, so that message did not sink in no, as it should, so I went on my merry way, you know, through undergraduate and took a little bit to figure it out.

Speaker 4: 21:02

But um, now it's about making a difference in the lives of students here at the university of tennessee, overseeing all of our communication information programs and, you know, at a university that prioritizes access. But a funny story, joe, my friend who worked in um was from small town same just like me. We joke that we're doing okay. I'm the dean of CCI here at Tennessee. Joe is now vice president over digital content for Nickelodeon. Really, really, yeah, and he works in New York City.

Speaker 3: 21:36

Both of y'all did really well.

Speaker 4: 21:38

What's beautiful about that is every year this college takes a group of students to New York on an industry trip and they tour agencies, they tour production houses, they tour many of the large networks based in New York. Joe opens up Nickelodeon for our students.

Speaker 3: 21:53

That's wild, isn't that great? And y'all still get to basically work together for other students.

Speaker 4: 22:01

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:01

So let me say this so you've been here since 2021. And I looked at a lot of the stats and I know you're so humble, you're a humble person but let me just say this From 2021 to 2025, I saw that the growth is at 35%.

Speaker 4: 22:20

Student enrollment. Student enrollment.

Speaker 3: 22:22

And that's big.

Speaker 4: 22:23

It's a lot.

Speaker 3: 22:24

Okay, so let's speak on it.

Speaker 4: 22:25

Yes.

Speaker 3: 22:27

So how did y'all get it there?

Speaker 4: 22:28

So we have great faculty, great staff in this college, absolutely fantastic Team environment. Everybody wants to move the college forward and I think the university overall has seen quite a bit of interest. Yes, you know the number of applications to UT has risen quite a bit over the years.

Speaker 3: 22:48

Especially in the last five years, I would say Especially so.

Speaker 4: 22:51

And Dondi Plowman, our chancellor, is fantastic.

Speaker 3: 22:53

She's amazing, amazing, awesome, very relatable and very she makes students feel like. I watch her at different events and she's always and to whoever's speaking with her, you know, she always connects. That's what I was looking for. She always connects with the students and I think that right there, because a lot of times kids go through life, depending on what kind of parents you know upbringing they had, somebody may not have connected with them, and I think that's what I see about University of Tennessee. Holly, y'all try to connect with that student and bring them along. Yeah, so keep going.

Speaker 4: 23:38

So I think about this college and sometimes I think about UT, as this is a small college or a small university with lots and lots of other students.

Speaker 3: 23:49

Yes. Right A student might be a student and a big family.

Speaker 4: 23:51

Right and a big family and I think that's awesome. So you know, in terms of growing the enrollment, we have overhauled, I think, some of the way we recruit our first-time, first-year students. We do a lot to make sure that students, when they arrive here as a first-year student, through general education, through Volcor, understand the programs that are available to them here in the college, because sometimes a high school student may not know that, gosh, you could major in advertising and y'all truly educate them on what they could apply for exactly and get into exactly.

Speaker 4: 24:26

So I think a lot of that has has played a role. But you have to have you have to have great teammates to enable to do that. So we have great staff, great faculty that are just super passionate, and the faculty always remind me. They say, joe, remember, we've grown a lot. But as we grow, as we've grown, as we've grown and as we continue to grow, we cannot lose sight of our focus on student success and the relationships that faculty have with their students.

Speaker 3: 24:49

So we will always prioritize and I think that's what sets uh university of tennessee, um, in their own lane, in their own way of doing things, because this school wants to make sure every student has the best opportunities to succeed. Yeah, and not saying other colleges don't, but I just think because I'm around University of Tennessee a lot and I go from department to department and I'm just like, but it's the air of University of Tennessee. So let me ask you this how has the digital age transformed the field of communications in your opinion?

Speaker 3: 25:29

Oh, my gosh Is that a hard one, that's a big one.

Speaker 4: 25:33

That's a whole podcast episode in and of itself. You know, I think it has done incredible things that are very good, yes, but it's also presented quite a bit of challenges, I agree. So maintenance and how new relationships can be formed in online spaces that are healthy and healthy for individuals and healthy for families and society.

Speaker 3: 26:09

I think the biggest thing, especially with social media, with my kids. I have a 31-year-old and I have a 15-year-old and one's a girl, one's a boy and they're being raised totally different in two different type worlds and it's like, okay, the digital part of it. Social media, can be very much uplifting in a lot of ways, but in other ways it can be very a Debbie Downer, very a Debbie Downer.

Speaker 3: 26:40

And I think you have to truly work into finding your way with the positive and not deal with the negative. And I think a lot of young students struggle with that, because you're in a society that says, well, you know, accept everybody, but then you don't want negative, you can't accept the negative. So I think the digital, the transformation, can be very tricky, you know. So how do y'all deal with? You know the back and forth of social media in the digital world.

Speaker 4: 27:11

Yeah, so I think some of the negative sides to social Please speak on it the negative sides to social.

Speaker 4: 27:14

Please speak on it, you know very much, connect to misinformation, disinformation and how we interpret truth online. Yes, right Now we could identify that as a problem and try to deal with it. Or, as Chancellor Plowman here says, leadership is the willingness to act. You can act to try to address the problem. So in this college, one of the things we did, we got our faculty together and across all of our academic programs we said, well, what really pulls us together? Whether you're in advertising or journalism or information science, what pulls us together? And one of the things that we really settled on was the notion of information integrity.

Speaker 3: 27:56

Information integrity.

Speaker 4: 27:57

Information integrity.

Speaker 3: 27:59

That's a good one.

Speaker 4: 27:59

Right. So the truth, the accuracy of information and how that has both positive and negative influences in society.

Speaker 3: 28:10

It can truly affect you.

Speaker 4: 28:11

So we stood up the college's first research institute, the Information Integrity Institute. It's called iCubed, icubed iCubed yes.

Speaker 4: 28:17

Catherine Luther, a faculty member in our journalism school, is the leader of that institute. We have faculty fellows from all four schools that are doing research around that topic and, the best part as a land-grant institution, like I said earlier, we serve our communities. They're not just doing research tucked away in a lab or publishing in academic journals that few people will read. They're taking their research findings out into the community. So they go into the Knox County library system Okay and they host forums with members of the community about information integrity, about media literacy, misinformation, disinformation, helping members of the community understand I was about to say understand.

Speaker 3: 28:57

Right.

Speaker 4: 28:57

Members of the community understand their work, understand the work they're doing, how it's important, why it matters, how they're helping to address a challenge that we have through technology.

Speaker 3: 29:07

So what do you see? The biggest challenge in opportunities facing high education today?

Speaker 4: 29:15

So I think there is a waning public confidence in higher education, waning public confidence, public trust in higher education. If you look at some national data, you would see that individuals who have taken out large amounts of debt to pursue a college degree, some have not finished that degree. Remember what I said about a million Tennesseans hours toward a degree never finished. They've taken out debt to a degree.

Speaker 3: 29:49

I didn't know that Never finished.

Speaker 4: 29:51

So they have lots of questions about the value of higher education. Again, what are you doing to help the problem right? We stood up our online undergraduate degree program to help those individuals complete their degrees right.

Speaker 4: 30:07

I think, being at a land-grant institution where we exist to serve communities of the state through our research, our teaching, our extension and our outreach of the state through our research, our teaching, our extension and our outreach, that type of exercise, that type of mission, I think, is in some ways an antidote of sorts to that waning public trust. Because we're trying to. At the University of Tennessee, and in this college in particular, we're focused on doing work that matters to the community and matters to the people of the state.

Speaker 3: 30:39

Say it one more time.

Speaker 4: 30:40

We're doing work that matters to the community and matters to the people of the state.

Speaker 3: 30:46

What I keep hearing you say. You want to better your community Exactly, and it's like no matter what. It takes you back to your beginnings. You started in a small community. It took you back to your beginnings. You started in a small community. It took you back to okay, the person of the paper that taught. I'm at the station.

Speaker 1: 31:07

Television station.

Speaker 3: 31:08

Television station, Not paper. Sorry that it took you back to. That is what am I doing for my community.

Speaker 3: 31:16

That's true, took you back to. That is what am I doing for my community. And you're sitting here in a very prestigious position that you can make or break a student. But you was that student because you never had someone to show you why a college degree was so important. But you turned that that you didn't have into a positive by getting a college education and you can sit and speak on like if a student says, well, my mom didn't graduate, my dad didn't graduate. You know, my family feels like that I shouldn't go to college. You can say you know what, I know what that feels like. You know, and that's not against the parents or the last generations, that's just not what they did. But you can be. You're the one that can say you know what I'm first generation, you know and show them that your path, other people's path may not be theirs, but your path can be different and can go in higher education and have a more successful impact in the community.

Speaker 4: 32:23

Do you agree with that? I agree with that 100%. I think that's a really good analysis. Thank you Very good.

Speaker 3: 32:28

Thank you, and so my thing is is that communication is key in everything we do. We have to be able to communicate, because if you stay closed mouth and never speak up, how can you change anything? So this is a viewer question. Okay, they said to ask you you're in communications, how do you give a voice? How do you give a voice to a student that's you know, say they're an introvert and they don't know how to speak up? What would you say? How do you give that person a voice?

Speaker 4: 33:09

I think they need to be a student in this college and we could give them that training and we can give them that voice. You know, it's really interesting when I mentioned earlier when we take our undergraduate students to New York City every January. That program has been going on for over 30 years, started by a faculty member in our Tombers School of Advertising and Public Relations, eric Haley. He's been at UT for a long time and when he started here he said you know, I noticed at that time that there were many students that you know their vision or their long term plan was to get a job settle down in their community here in the state, which is fantastic and wonderful, but we wanted to also expose them to opportunities in the industry across the country.

Speaker 3: 33:57

Right, right For them to find their way. So they can find their way, no matter if it's in their state or a different state, exactly.

Speaker 4: 34:02

Exactly and they designed this program and he took students and they've been doing it for 30 years. Some of the students it's their first time on an airplane?

Speaker 3: 34:12

Yes, and they go to.

Speaker 4: 34:13

New.

Speaker 3: 34:13

York City and people take that so for granted. I think that's a part of the privilege of your parents taking you on a plane. Everybody didn't get that. I know I didn't as a child. Yeah, you know I've exposed it to my children, but I never went on a plane when I was a kid. Right, we went on trips, but we went in the car, we didn't fly. You know that type thing. We went on trips, but we went in the car, we didn't fly. You know that type thing and that is something that is a great thing, but you don't need to take it for granted and make a student that has never been exposed to that make them feel less than because they haven't. That's right. Yes.

Speaker 4: 34:50

So we take them there every January.

Speaker 4: 34:54

And they have 60, 75 students going around the city in groups and such, and it's awesome. They all come together for an alumni reception on one of the nights. So all of our alumni in the college that are living and working around New York come and they meet our students. And every time when I speak at that alumni reception I ask the alumni how many of you are living and working in New York City today solely because of your time on this trip when you were a student in the college? That's a good question. You get about 15, 20, 25 hands go up around the room.

Speaker 3: 35:25

Real quick.

Speaker 4: 35:26

Really impactful and it's a really quick check on the impact of that particular program and what it does to change students' lives Right, right and they come back more confident of who they are More driven. Where they want to be more driven. And it's experiences like that that contribute to this college's goal of building the number one communication and information student experience in the country, and it's connections like that that we have with our alumni and industry partners.

Speaker 3: 35:56

So here's another viewer question what advice do you have for a student interested in the career like PR, media or broadcasting? What advice would you give?

Speaker 4: 36:08

That's great. So I think they need to. I think it's a pretty good question. That's a good one. They need to go to a university like Tennessee. That would provide them with the opportunity to number one major in those areas but number two, really get applied hands-on experiences in organizations in each of those areas. So in this college we have a media center and in that media center we have several media properties, professional and student. So East Tennessee's NPR station, wuot, is part of this college. It's a professional station. Our students have the opportunity to work in that station. I'm very on in their education. We also have the Daily Beacon, the student newspaper. We have the volunteer channel and the Daily.

Speaker 4: 36:51

Beacon has always been Our student television group. So our students need to have opportunities early on to start to cut their teeth, get the reps in Okay In those organizations as they settle into those career opportunities and sometimes you get in. I have many, many students over the years. They start working in one of those outlets Maybe it's the Daily Beacon, Maybe it's the Volunteer Channel and they're like gosh, I really like this. Like this isn't for me. I need to pivot to a different area of the college and that's important.

Speaker 3: 37:20

That means learning happens. Yes, you have to find your way and figure out what works for you and be okay to pivot.

Speaker 4: 37:29

Yes, exactly, pivoting is okay.

Speaker 3: 37:31

So how important is hands-on experience, like internship or student media, in developing real-world communication skills? How important is hands-on experience like internship or student media in developing real-world communication skills? How important is that?

Speaker 4: 37:41

So important, so important that many of the programs in the college require some type of applied hands-on experience or an internship. We have a fantastic Center for Career Development at the University of Tennessee. It's a university-wide center, awesome people over there, open to all majors, everyone across campus. Go over. You can get advice on building a resume, building a cover letter, advice for an internship.

Speaker 3: 38:11

And so many students need to know how to build a resume. Students need to know how to build a resume and. I think resumes really have young people fearful. I've had young people tell me like I don't know how to build a resume.

Speaker 4: 38:26

I don't know and I'm like, but you can learn how to build it Exactly, and the beauty of it is our students have access, of course, to the university's career center. But one of the first things we did in my first year as dean, we hired a full-time director of career and professional development in the college. Her name is Devin Lane, which is fantastic, has industry experience.

Speaker 4: 38:49

Shout out to Ms Devin, so our students are able to get hands-on career professional development guidance that's industry-specific, to CCI, to the programs here, because you know, as you apply for jobs in advertising, the way you put together a portfolio and a resume a little bit different than if you're a journalist and you're applying to, say, work in local news and you have to put your reel together to work right. So we're able to provide now that guidance on the ground in the college that's specific. And hands-on Hands-on yes.

Speaker 3: 39:24

So how can students stand out in such a fast-paced and competitive communications industry? I think because it's fast-paced. It is.

Speaker 4: 39:33

You know, they have to have the confidence and the courage to take risks and to really put themselves out there, and I think we do a good job in the college of preparing them to do that. I want to give you an example. So about two years ago we hired a faculty member in the college that a lot of people at UT know of. His name is Peyton Manning.

Speaker 3: 39:52

Yes.

Speaker 4: 39:52

Peyton is an alum of the college and gives so much to our community, so much. Media industry leader. Yes, he's so good. Wonderful human being, top of his industry and as a professor of practice. Professors of practice bring industry experience into the classroom. He joins us several times throughout the academic year. He joins us several times throughout the academic year and he will team teach with our current faculty in particular courses. Okay, so he was here. When he was here, this was early in the fall semester. Past fall semester.

Speaker 3: 40:28

And everybody was so excited for him to be here. Everybody was excited.

Speaker 4: 40:31

He was in a. This was an advertising course, it was a sports promotion and branding course. He was in a class about 100 students. He came in. He, you know, took student, take students questions. He teaches with the question and answer type approach right you know, really great, great guy sits in front of the room with the faculty member and they interview each other, like we're doing here.

Speaker 3: 40:52

Yes, except there's a class and the questions are getting asked and he allows the questions to come in. It's great.

Speaker 4: 40:57

At the end of the class, peyton always says well, let's take a photo together. And the class says, oh well, all right, it's going to be a group photo. And it's actually no. Peyton says I'm going to take an individual photo with each of you. And the students are just elated and so great, this is a class of 100 students students. They all get in line, they all start getting in line with Peyton to get their photo, their picture taken, and there was one student that was taking a little bit of extra time with.

Speaker 4: 41:27

Peyton. They started talking, they were exchanging things and what had happened was the student said to Peyton and she said Mr Manning, I want to work at Omaha Productions, this production company.

Speaker 3: 41:38

Right.

Speaker 4: 41:38

Here are things I'm able to do. Here is a copy of my resume and a business card. I would love to work at Omaha Productions, and we saw.

Speaker 3: 41:46

Peyton. That's amazing, isn't that?

Speaker 4: 41:47

great she put herself out there. Yes, really, it took a lot of courage to do that. Yes, my gosh, peyton took it and said thank you. He tucked it into his SUCO pocket and Peyton left. Students left. This class was in the morning. Later that day in the afternoon I'm walking in the building and I see the student Looks like a deer in the headlights and I said are you okay, is everything all right? And she said yeah, I'm okay. I said no, really you okay? Everything all right? She said yeah, I have an interview in one hour with Omaha Productions.

Speaker 3: 42:24

She now works at Omaha Productions. Viewers, did you hear what he just said? Stepping out on faith? She may never be in a room with him again. She took the opportunity and I tell so many people when I go to speak I'm like everything's not going to be perfect timing. You know, I'm saying in your mind but it is perfect timing to me when it comes to you know, step down faith and be like, okay, I'll even do it, say no, I'm in and she works at his company.

Speaker 4: 42:54

yeah, so pe. So Peyton left there, texted his leadership back at Omaha and said let's interview this person. And they did, and they hired her, and that's why we love Peyton. Volunteered through and through. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 43:04

Awesome, through and through. You cut his arm. You're going to see orange? Most definitely, most definitely so. You've been so busy in running the college you know what makes Joe. Who is Joe? I'm a husband, I'm a dad, I'm a cook. He's my classmate, your classmate.

Speaker 4: 43:29

And friend.

Speaker 2: 43:30

You like to cook? Community leader. Yes, yeah, absolutely. What do you like to do Italian?

Speaker 3: 43:34

Italian, so I like to make pasta from scratch.

Speaker 4: 43:36

Really, it's kind of my thing. My grandmother on my mom's side of the family, Italian was an awesome, awesome cook.

Speaker 3: 43:47

So I love to cook. It's like a stress reliever for me. Is it for you? Oh, yeah, okay, yeah, it's great, I can work all day long. And people's like how in the world do you do all the things you do and cook five days a week? I said because cooking to me is a stress reliever. Plus, I like to create. I'm a, I'm a creator, yep, like to create. So think about food. You're, you're creating a meal.

Speaker 3: 44:09

And I told this mother that uh, comes on my facebook live and years ago she told me that she didn't like to cook for her kids because her husband was the better cook. And she said she felt less than. And I said kids don't care, you know who's the better cook. I said that's one way to show your kids how much you love them, because when you cook, you can make them chicken nuggets. Those kids are going to remember that when they grow old. So it's not really about you know making the perfect meal. It's about the time you put and the love you put into a meal. So when I'm cooking for my family, that's my way of saying you know what? I know our life is chaotic sometimes, but here's a meal to show you you're the most important thing to me.

Speaker 3: 44:58

And does cooking. Do that for you.

Speaker 4: 44:59

It does, it does, and you know. It's one of those things where you don't how do you know you're successful and made a difference? I don't. I don't. When people are eating any food that I cook, I don't need to hear a thank you. All I want to hear is Mmm, mmm. You. All I want to hear is look, no, speaking right. You know the silverware clanking on the plate, exactly. Yeah, so it's, it's a stress relief and it's it's, it's, it's just fun. I like to do it.

Speaker 3: 45:24

It's a hobby so here's a viewer question is there a dish that reminds you of home or college, a certain dish you cook?

Speaker 4: 45:36

oh my gosh viewers.

Speaker 3: 45:38

I didn't tell him this question, I had to spring it on you, so there is.

Speaker 4: 45:42

So this is not an italian dish, it's a polish dish. I just made it. A couple of weeks ago, my grandparents, on my my dad's side of the family would um, would make this um halushki, which is like it noodles and onions and olive oil and butter and not really much anything else.

Speaker 3: 46:01

Wait a minute.

Speaker 4: 46:03

It's called holushki.

Speaker 3: 46:04

And what's in it.

Speaker 4: 46:05

Cabbage, uh-huh.

Speaker 3: 46:07

Noodles, noodles.

Speaker 4: 46:09

Uh-huh Onions.

Speaker 3: 46:10

Uh-huh. Butter Really Okay so my viewers know my husband's from Pittsburgh, yeah. And so his family makes a meal. It's pasta. Now let me just say I'm not a cottage cheese person. Okay, but they make Me neither he makes noodles, cottage cheese butter. I think that's it.

Speaker 3: 46:34

I'm sorry, but that sounds foul yeah, it does, and I'm just I'm like is that a pittsburgh thing? It must, because he will sit and eat that I mean his mom makes every time he comes home. Uh, because they live in florida now and I'm like this gotta be a pittsburgh thing. When you said the butter and and the pasta, it made me think about.

Speaker 4: 46:55

Is those are just a thing that y'all mix together uh, if I ever come over your house, please have them not serve me that please.

Speaker 3: 47:03

They call it cottage cheese and noodles and I'm just like, but yes, but so you make that meal. So one more question if you host a dinner for the students, what would be the meal?

Speaker 4: 47:15

Well, we do it. I mean, when I started here my first semester, we knew very quickly that we needed to make sure that I was out in front of students to build strong relationships.

Speaker 3: 47:30

And connection.

Speaker 4: 47:31

And connection and we keep it very simple here in the college. Students like it pretty simple when it comes to food.

Speaker 3: 47:39

Every fall, every spring, we do an event he's being modest because, let me just tell you, university of Tennessee feeds these kids all kinds of things.

Speaker 4: 47:47

We do. In the front of the building, on our front lawn, we have an event called Dogs with the Dean every fall and into the spring, and we just have hot dogs, hot dogs, chips and who doesn't like a hot dog Right? And we have eight 900 students that will show up.

Speaker 3: 48:06

Really.

Speaker 4: 48:07

And we invite all the staff in our neighborhood to come Dogs with the Dean.

Speaker 3: 48:11

Dogs with the Dean and that's a great way like have a hot dog, connect with the Dean, ask questions and just bond Right A lot of bonding happens over food.

Speaker 4: 48:23

When we were at Clemson, we were faculty in residence. We lived on campus for two years in a residence hall. We baked 1,000 chocolate chip cookies for move-in weekend and that's how we went around the building and welcomed all the new students and their families to campus.

Speaker 3: 48:36

It was a cookie. You made a thousand cookies, a thousand chocolate chip cookies and everybody's sweating hungry.

Speaker 1: 48:44

They're trying to move in, that's not a fun experience, but we're like hey, I'm Joe.

Speaker 4: 48:49

And this is my wife, Chrissy. We're faculty in residence here. We're here to support, you know, your son, your daughter.

Speaker 3: 48:55

Here's a homemade cookie.

Speaker 4: 48:56

Would you like a cookie? Uh-huh?

Speaker 3: 48:57

Well, yeah, absolutely Right, but that cookie is that introduction it is, it is and it's that thing that will open a door. It will yes.

Speaker 3: 49:08

Open a door for a conversation. So, as I end this podcast, first let me say again so, as I end this podcast, first let me say again thank you for allowing me to come into the college and, you know, show people why we love University of Tennessee and what all you can achieve and build to be successful. That's my thing. And then the second thing is what's next for the college, for the college? So, we are continuing to grow.

Speaker 4: 49:42

We're working to kind of fine tune what it means to deliver the number one student experience in this college, and I would love, 10 years from now, that every student in the college who wanted to go on one of the, wants to go on one of those industry trips, can do so. Every student who wants to study abroad, we can provide them the resources to do it. Every student who wants to intern, do an internship in their dream city, they can do it because we can provide them with the resources to be able to do it. That's where I hope we are in in 10. It's about access. It's about lifting up our communities, making a difference in the lives of students, and that's where I hope we are.

Speaker 3: 50:23

So making a difference. One last question, and I just thought of this question Name something in the past 10 months at Leadership Knoxville you walked in there, the dean of communications and information. Name something that you've learned that you've brought back to apply. Is there something that you could say, yeah, it's something different. Is there anything?

Speaker 4: 50:50

Well, I think it's every day. I think the power of community is in that room and the power of leadership is in that room and the importance of community leaders are in that room to our faculty, to our staff and help our whole college understand that the work that we do in here is transformational for the communities and the state. We just have to make sure that we're actively partnering with our community and that's why the example I gave earlier of the Information Integrity Institute taking a workout of the library system, right, yes, leadership. Knoxville provides that constant, constant reminder, yes, of the importance of community and the importance of community leadership.

Speaker 3: 51:45

Thank you again Tune in this Friday to Talk in Tennessee. Bye guys.

Speaker 1: 51:53

Thanks for listening to Talk in Tennessee with Yvonca. Watch out for our weekly episodes from the First Family of Real Estate and check us out on the web wwwyvoncasalesrealestatecom. See our videos on Yvonca's YouTube channel or find us on Facebook under Yvonca Landis, and Twitter at Yvonca Landis and Twitter at Yvonca Landis. And don't forget to tell a friend about us. Until next time. Yvonca signing off.