A Class Act
Students in Lisa Sisk's magazine production class earn a grade and a portfolio piece

By Tedra Coakley and Shayla Merritt

Producing a magazine is not easy; it takes a lot of time. It took a whole semester, in fact, for the 15 students who researched, wrote and created the fall 2009 edition of the college alumni magazine InterCom in instructor Lisa Sisk’s new course, Magazine Production and Internal Communications.

“It was exciting to learn how an entire magazine is made,” said Lizzie Erickson, a third-year visual communications major. “It has also allowed me to do something I’ve never really done before — write an article. Although I work at The Daily Gamecock, I’ve always been behind the scenes creating layouts and supervising designers.”

Sisk became involved with InterCom in 2007, but until this semester the magazine was produced by staff, faculty and student volunteers.

The magazine, according to her, needed some work —  work that she knew she could do and do well.

 “I knew I had the skills and dedication needed to make InterCom a publication the College could be proud of,” she said. “I recognized the importance of communicating effectively with our alumni and other internal audiences and felt that we could do a better job of it.”

Sisk had been editing the magazine on top of her normal teaching load. ”To do it right, it meant I needed some more help,” said Sisk. She had been recruiting students to write for InterCom when her students in Camp Carolina 2008 — a six-week workshop designed to prepare incoming journalism and mass communications graduate students for advanced, graduate-level courses — suggested a class. Sisk, along with J-school director Dr. Carol Pardun, realized it was a fantastic idea.

The course is an upper-level elective focused on magazine production for an internal audience. The 12 undergraduate and three graduate students this fall had a variety of backgrounds and interests, such as creative writing, law, graphic design, business, editing and fashion.

“This experience has by far exceeded all of my expectations,” said senior public relations major Whitney Chisholm. “For the first time, I had the opportunity to cover an event and have my story published.”

Rebekah Nale, a senior public relations major, said: “This class with Ms. Sisk has been one of the best classes I have taken at USC. Each of the students in the class will have a published copy of our stories that we can show people for years to come. Not many people can say the same.” 

Sisk’s student-evoked inspiration is rooted in a long public relations career that began at the St. Louis office of international agency Manning, Selvage & Lee where her clients included Fortune 100 companies and nonprofits. She later worked for a variety of corporations and nonprofit organizations.

“I have done investor relations, community relations, corporate communications, internal communications, government relations, full campaigns, event planning and even a telethon for one of my clients,” said Sisk. 

She received her undergraduate degree in mass communications from Lindenwood College in Missouri and went to graduate school to study journalism at Southern Illinois University. She earned her Master of Arts degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina.

In 2001, Sisk became an adjunct instructor, teaching a few of the school’s public relations classes. In 2005, she joined the J-school’s faculty full time. She teaches a variety of upper-level public relations courses including campaigns, writing, a popular Maymester class, and a special-topics service learning class on cause-related public relations and advertising. She also teaches in the Master of Mass Communication program. 

The Magazine Production and Internal Communications course will be offered again in the 2010 spring semester. Sisk encourages anyone interested in the topic to enroll.

“You won’t be disappointed,” said Sisk. “InterCom is an excellent way to learn about internal communications. Students will walk away with the knowledge needed to excel in the field of communications and will have published articles to help build their portfolios.”

For more information on the class and to see what the students worked on all semester, visit the InterCom blog at http://www.cmcisintercom.blogspot.com.

Tedra Coakley is pursuing a Master's in Mass Communication degree at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

She is a 2008 graduate of Hampton University with a degree in print journalism. From Charleston, she plans to start a magazine in the near future.

Shayla Merritt earned her B.A. from Syracuse University in mathematics, policy studies and education. She is currently working on her Master’s in Mass Communication with a focus on Integrated Communications.

In her free time Shayla enjoys reading, writing, running, and spending time with her family and friends.