Bringing the outdoors up close

When Gina DeMillo was given her first feature assignment with Backpacker magazine, she knew exactly what she was getting into. The assignment would bring her back to South Carolina from the magazine's headquarters in Emmaus, Pa., for a chance to hike the 425-mile Palmetto Trail.

The only problem was that it was in June and, having grown up outside of Atlanta, she knew what to expect.

"Of course I agreed, even though it was June and that meant I'd have to enjoy the Southern scenery with a hearty dose of sweltering heat and biting flies," said DeMillo, a 2000 graduate of USC's Master of Mass Communication program.

DeMillo convinced a few friends from USC to join the trek by sweetening the deal with shirts, hats and their shot at immortality: a picture in Backpacker. From that start, DeMillo now sits comfortably in her office as an associate editor of one of America's most popular outdoor publications.

The path to that office was natural and logical for the undergraduate wildlife biology major who also minored in English at the University of Georgia. DeMillo knew she wanted to combine her love for the outdoors with her interest in journalism, and that eventually led her to Backpacker. An important step was completing her master's degree in print journalism at USC's then College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

DeMillo spent much of her time in graduate school freelancing for publications that accepted any form of outdoors journalism, which she says made her much more marketable when it came time to find a job. After her experience as a freelancer, the associate editor now finds her job as a manager much more intense but equally fulfilling.

"People often say that we (Backpacker editors) have the best job in the world because we get to travel and test gear," she said. "Well, that's partly true. But we also have plenty of trips where the gear fails and we long for our warm, dry offices."

In addition to the unpredictable weather, DeMillo notes that for an editor there are typical but unforeseeable conflicts and crises such as story changes and shifting deadlines that arise to test a media manager's skills.

"The professors at USC did a good job preparing us for real life scenarios, many of which I have used on a day-to-day basis," she said.

Grad finds best seat in the Astros' house

Each time the steel roof at Minute Maid Park in Houston retracts in less than 12 minutes, Rob Matwick usually has the best seat in the house.

That's because he's up there making certain the roof  -- all 10 million pounds and 271,500-square feet of it -- opens and closes flawlessly. It's just one of his job's many responsibilities.

As senior vice president of operations and communications for the Houston Astros, Matwick not only oversees the daily operations of the state-of-the- art ballpark, but also handles the team's schedule and media relations.

The journey from his native McKeesport, Pa., to Major League Baseball began on the campus hardwood in Aiken, where Matwick played basketball for the USC-Aiken Pacers.

While an English major at USC-Aiken, Rob befriended Scott Hunter, now publisher of the Aiken Standard, who hired him to cover sports for the paper. Matwick was reporting on South Carolina football games in fall 1980 when he heard of an open graduate assistantship in USC's sports information office, and he decided to pursue his master's in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

After finishing his degree in 1981, Matwick became sports information director at Wichita State University. He moved to the Houston Astros in 1985 as director of media relations and in 1999 became vice president of communications. He was promoted to his current position in 2001.

Today, Matwick and his wife, Kelly, make their home in Pearlland, Texas, with their daughter, Mackenzie.

During baseball's annual winter meetings in December 2001, Rob received the Robert O. Fishel Award. This honor, named after the longtime baseball executive and former New York Yankees public relations director, goes to the "active, non-uniformed representative of Major League Baseball whose ethics, character, dedication, service, professionalism and humanitarianism best represent the standards propounded by Robert O. Fishel."

Even after his 17 years in the big leagues, Matwick still remembers the humility gained one spring evening when he was public address announcer at the Carolina baseball games.

"The Third Base Hecklers were famous in those days for rattling opposing teams. Well, one of the hecklers sent up a note to page 'Mr. Joe Mama' to come to the press box," said Matwick, who made the announcement. "I sensed something was not right, and my fears were confirmed when, for the rest of the night, the Hecklers kept on talking about 'yo mama' this and 'yo mama' that. I think sports information director Tom Price was on Bob Fulton's radio show that night, but never said anything because he could not stop laughing."

Now Matwick does not have to worry about paging Joe Mama at a Houston Astros game, but he does own the difficult task of heading the task force that coordinates the traffic that flows in and out of the stadium for every event. That includes a cooperative effort from nine different local, regional and state agencies and interests.

He also manages the non-baseball activities held at Minute Maid Park, from rock concerts to college graduations.

And he still has to keep an eye on that roof.

Tanner evolves from student to faculty

One of the newest faculty members of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications is a familiar face to most faculty and students roaming the circular catacombs under the Carolina Coliseum. Since completing her MA and Ph.D. at South Carolina, Andrea Tanner has seamlessly evolved from student and instructor to full-time professor and researcher and looks forward to the challenges that loom.

Born in Savannah, Ga., Dr. Tanner graduated from the University of Georgia before a five-year stint as a television anchor, reporter, and producer. Her tour of duty took her through the deep South, working in Columbus, Mississippi and Florence, Alabama before she decided to return to school.

Tanner says the decision to come to South Carolina "was one of those instances where everything fell into place." She and her husband, Ben, a meteorologist with WIS-TV, came to Columbia and the rest is history.

For Tanner, the transition from the fast-paced world of the newsroom to the grind of academia was not a difficult one. In fact, returning to school offered a great way to remain connected to the industry she loved, and believe it or not, Tanner found that the "research was enjoyable."

Now, as an assistant professor in electronic journalism, Dr. Tanner draws upon her experiences from both her professional and scholastic careers. Her interests in local broadcasting methods and health communication have inspired Tanner to seek out grants dealing with promoting health awareness and fitness, especially the role of the local media in disseminating accurate information to the public. One of her goals is to "be a bridge between the School of Journalism and the School of Public Health."

One of the grants that Tanner is pursuing involves research concerning how environmentally sound a newsroom is at a bustling television station.

"Sometimes the confusion of the newsroom leads to poor environmental practices. I would like to research ways to make the newsroom more sustainable, especially from an environmental standpoint," she said.

In addition to her interests in health communication, Tanner assists with the Carolina News television program that airs on channel 12 in Columbia. Her experience with the crazy day-to-day operations allows Tanner to impart a careful mix of knowledge and patience to her students. "I feel that I am a coach, teacher and guidance counselor all rolled into one."

Training for international journalists

Journalists and journalism educators from around the world are coming to train at the USC - Ifra Newsplex, the first-of-its-kind micro-newsroom that opened less than a year ago.

The College of Mass Communications and Information Studies is sponsoring a Newsplex Summer Seminar series to provide training in convergent media to university faculty, advanced undergraduate students, high school teachers, and high school students. Ifra, one of the world's largest organizations dedicated to improving media training and technology, is also offering a full slate of training seminars for industry professionals.

The Ifra Newsplex was designed and built specifically for teaching and research in multiple-media journalism and mass communications. Ifra donated the more than $2 million facility to the College in November. In recognition, the facility was christened the Ifra Newsplex at the University of South Carolina.

Key to Newsplex training is recognizing new opportunities from converging print, Internet and broadcast news in a single facility.

The first step is defining new roles for journalists in the next generation of newsrooms, said Augie Grant, the Newsplex academic liaison at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

A "news resourcer," for example, combines the skills of a journalist and a librarian, with a specialty in retrieving information from archives and computerized databases. The "story builder" coordinates gathering information such as interviews, video, photographs, and graphics, as well as that from the archives, and works with the editorial staff to coordinate release of the story across media.

The "convergent journalist," integrates the information into individual stories for release in appropriate media, and a "newsflow editor" ensures that the stories reach the appropriate media such as the Web, radio, television, newspaper, and wireless phones.  

In role-playing exercises, participants work through scenarios developed by Ifra personnel under the direction of Newsplex Director Kerry Northrup.

A seminar for advanced undergraduate students, July 13-17, will provide advanced training to help prepare them for careers across media.

In addition to exploring the roles and practices in a convergent newsroom, the faculty seminar, July 6-10, will provide university instructors from institutions throughout the United States with specific training in how to create convergent media curricula and conduct research on convergent media.

The first open seminar, Adplexing: Multimedia Advertising and Tour, was May 20-23.

The Ifra Newsplex also is the site of weeklong seminars for individual media organizations to address their specific problems and opportunities related to the production of news and advertising across media.