The Western Carolina University Department of Communication received donations totaling $1,600 for student opportunities at the end of the fall 2024 semester.
The donations came from responses to the department head’s note in the December 2024 Communication Department Newsletter. The note mentioned that any support is helpful and enhances student’s educational experience.
Communication department head Dr. Scott Eldredge expressed the importance of sharing support calls on social media. “What really helped was the postings and then re-posting we did on LinkedIn and Facebook we did where the posting was made by the department’s official social media pages, and then I was able to re-share on my personal pages,” said Dr. Eldredge.
A wide range of donors responded to this call, including generous alumni, professionals who work with and advise WCU students and personal friends of faculty.
When asked why these donors responded, Dr. Eldredge said, “We spend a lot of time talking about all the opportunities we strive to provide for our students, and they wanted to help us get there.”
The support will bring the communication department a new radio newscast opportunity. The newscast will allow students to practice writing and reporting skills while providing news to additional audiences in a new format.
This practice is valuable as “journalists today need to be versed in a wide variety of technology and platforms, and this helps them for a multi-media world,” said Dr. Eldredge.
The donation further supports students by allowing a small stipend to be given to students who work on the radio newscast because it is extracurricular.
Dr. Eldredge hopes the radio newscast can be a year-round programming offered by the communication department.