From left, Pierce Kafka, Travis Cantey, Cat Sullivan and Steven Richmond outside the Carolina Theater at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C.

Dr. Andy Opel, associate professor of Communication and the director of the Media Production Program, and four Media Production majors took part in the Full Frame Fellows Program at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C., April 12-15.

Thanks to the generous support of the Bickel Scholarship, Cat Sullivan (’12), Pierce Kafka (’12), Travis Cantey (’13) and Stephen Richmond (’12) were able to join students from 12 other universities as part of the annual fellows program at Full Frame.

Full Frame is one of the leading documentary festivals in the country, attracting more than 1,200 submissions from around the world this year and screening more than 100 films.  The fellows program gives students access to a series of master classes where they get direct access to filmmakers and industry representatives.

“The experience of networking with the students from all the other universities was a great addition to meeting the more established film makers such as Stanley Nelson,” Sullivan said.

All four students were enrolled in Dr. Opel’s documentary production course, RTV 4332/5325, and were knee deep into the editing process when they took the time out to attend the festival.

“Even this late in the process of shooting our own documentary, it was nice to take time off for the festival,” Cantey said. “Watching each story unfold and studying the stylistic choices of each film really gave us the creative inspiration we needed to push through our final edit.”

Watching five or six films a day and attending workshops sets a grueling pace but the intensity of the experience is infectious.  “It was an amusement park for movie buffs and a film maker’s paradise. This community gathers once a year to share stories and I left inspired to find my own story to tell,” Kafka said.

Steven Richmond added, “Learning how to approach filmmakers and industry professionals and have a legit conversation with them was an invaluable experience.”

The range of topics and styles provides students an excellent opportunity to experience the current state of the documentary form.  From the complexity of health care examined in Escape Fire (http://www.escapefiremovie.com/) to the personal reflections of documentary icon Ross McElwee in his new film Photographic Memory (http://photographicmemorythemovie.com/) to visually stunning and environmentally terrifying Chasing Ice (http://chasingice.com), these students were challenged to reconsider their assumptions, aesthetics and career paths as the festival opened their eyes to the vibrant world of documentary film. For more information, go to www.fullframefest.org.

The annual Media Production Video Festival will be held Tuesday, April 24, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Student Life Cinema.  The festival features the best in narrative and documentary shorts, animation and sports features.

The festival showcases a sample of the award-winning work coming out of the School of Communication’s Media Production Program. There is no admission charge.

Ann Thornton, who earned her master’s in Library and Information Studies at Florida State in 1994, has been named director of the New York Public Libraries, the largest public library system in the world.

She will be responsible for collection development, preservation, reference and research services, and exhibitions at four world-renowned research libraries and 87 branch libraries.

Ms. Thornton has been at the NYPL since 1996 and has held positions as the Assistant Director of Electronic Resources, the Associate Director of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library and Director of Reference and Research Services.

Her official title is The Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries. Most recently, she was acting director, having moved into that position when former director David Ferriero was named Archivist of the United States in 2009. She was a key architect of the One Library Strategy, which  included a new catalog for both circulating and non-circulating material, and she oversaw the launch of Job Search Central at the Science, Industry and Business Library.

“In her 15-plus years at NYPL, Ann has established herself as a paragon of collegiality and a leader promoting the highest standards of excellence,” Library President Anthony Marx said. “She has done a superb job as the acting Andrew W. Mellon director, leading with her signature grace, authority, and wide-ranging expertise.

“The important steps she has taken in moving the Library forward in collection-sharing have been especially notable: opening up the collections and making them more accessible both physically and digitally to record numbers of users, developing formal partnerships with NYU and Columbia University, and developing the HathiTrust collaborations.

“She is recognized as an authority for libraries everywhere on a myriad of topics ranging from library-use instruction to e-books and the Internet in libraries, and we are proud to name her the Library’s Andrew W. Mellon Director,” Marx said.

In addition to her FSU graduate degree,  Thornton has a BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Early in her career, she served as a systems librarian at the University of Houston Libraries, and more recently, she was a Research Libraries Leadership Fellow in a program sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries.

“I’m deeply honored to be named Andrew W. Mellon Director,” Ms. Thornton said. “The New York Public Library has a deeply committed and talented staff, and I never stop learning from them.  I am excited about the incredible opportunities we have to serve users better as a destination – both onsite and online – that facilitates learning and the development of new ideas, scholarship, products, businesses, and works of art.”

TALLAHASSEE (April 9, 2012) — On Friday the American Library Association (ALA) New Members Roundtable congratulated The Florida State University ALA Student Chapter as the winner of its 2012 Student Chapter of the Year Award.

The annual award is presented to one of the 57 national chapters in recognition of outstanding contributions to the American Library Association, to the chapter’s school and to the library and information studies profession.

The Florida State University (FSU) chapter was praised by the ALA award committee for “its accomplishments in each of the six categories related to the award.” The committee was “impressed with the chapter’s use of technology to recruit, retain, and communicate with members, especially PhD candidates, and the variety of activities for both local and distance students. The chapter leadership also demonstrated a strong commitment to future growth by drafting a strategic plan to solidify the long-term prosperity of the chapter.”

“We are very proud of our chapter and its officers, who have consistently risen to the challenge of reaching the majority of our students, who are taking their classes online and at a distance,” said Dr. Christie Koontz, the chapter’s faculty advisor. “With the support of our college, our chapter began webcasting its meetings three years ago.”

The Florida State University ALA student chapter is located at its School of Library & Information Studies, one of three school’s comprising the College of Communication & Information, and known for having the university’s largest online program. The School offers its ALA-accredited master’s degree entirely online.

“By consistently engaging our chapter’s local and distance members via our social media outlets and technology, we have fostered a sense of the importance of professional development, the exchange of ideas, social cohesiveness and cooperation with other organizations such as the Beta Phi Mu honor society,” said chapter president, John Hinrichs. “It is a tremendous honor to receive this award on behalf of the distinguished 65-year history of Florida State’s School of Library & Information Studies.”

The FSU-SLIS student chapter will receive a certificate and $1,000 check to help defray travel expenses to the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, in June. The FSU-SLIS chapter will be recognized there during an awards reception held by the New Members Roundtable.

“It is truly a wonderful feeling to be recognized for all of the great things that our student members, both past and present, have accomplished,” said Allison George, chapter vice president.

For more information, read the ALA New Members Roundtable release.

###

Lisa Scott, Ph.D.

Dr. Lisa Scott, director of clinical education in the School of Communication Science & Disorders, has won an FSU Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award.

“Dr. Scott is a great teacher, both in and out of the classroom, and this award is richly deserved,” said Dr. Kenn Apel, school director.

She was awarded an FSU Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching award in 2007, and she has been nominated repeatedly for the Excellence in Graduate Teaching award. She also received the FSU Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year award in 2007.

“I’m really honored to receive a Graduate Teaching Award because teaching is something I am very passionate about,” she said. “To know that my students and colleagues value my teaching is very humbling.”

Testimonials by her graduate students that were included in her nomination describe a dedicated teacher who is committed to her students:

• “Dr. Scott is the type of instructor whom I would like to have all my classes taught by. She is enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the subjects she teaches. Best of all, she has a great sense of humor and she will go above and beyond to help you with anything, which are important qualities for a professor to have.”

• “Dr. Scott is a machine. No matter what life throws at her, she remains an accomplished mother, wife, teacher, supervisor, employee and friend.  She lets nothing get in her way and will put all aside to help those in need around her.  As an instructor and supervisor, she enlivens the class by providing anecdotes on her life and by sparking ideas in her students’ minds.”

• “Dr. Scott is a very passionate professor and makes her classes personally relevant. I always felt like she truly cared about our growth in the profession as well as personally. She constantly gave personal examples from her career and life in order to illustrate her topic discussions, which really brought a personal, caring touch to her class.”

A graduate of the University of Nebraska’s special education and communication disorders program, Dr. Scott has conducted extensive research on stuttering and fluency disorders. She holds the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC-SLP) and is licensed in Florida to practice speech language pathology.

Dr. Scott joined the faculty of what was then called the Department of Communication Disorders in 2002. In 2010, she was named director of clinical education, a position that includes directing all aspects of clinical education for 120 graduate students; overseeing accreditation and pre-certification standards, developing clinical programs; supervising the clinical educator team; and managing the staff and daily operations of the L.L. Schendel Speech and Hearing Clinic.