Congratulation to Courtney Cordero (B.A. 2010) on receiving this year’s Communication Studies Outstanding Alumni Award.

In 2014, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Communication Studies Department at SJSU we inaugurated the COMM Alumni Award. This yearly award is designed to recognize alumni who have made significant accomplishments when putting their COMM degree into practice.

This year’s recipient, Courtney Cordero, distinguished herself in COMM 157SL: Community Action & Service, where she worked with Sacred Heart Community Center in downtown San Jose. Her professors in this course were impressed with her dedication to the community and her communication skills.

After graduation, Courtney accepted a position as the Associate Director of Communications at the Northwest YMCA in Cupertino. After one year, she was promoted to the Director of Communications based on her outstanding performance and leadership.

Two years later she was promoted to Director for Philanthropy and Volunteers. In this position she developed outreach strategies to identify donors and business prospects to partner with the organization, leading the Annual Campaign raising over $750,000 in three years, resulting in 32% revenue growth.

In March of this year, Courtney accepted a new position at the YMCA Corporate Office in San Diego Country, the second largest YMCA office in the United States with 28 community centers. Courtney is now responsible for an annual campaign of 6.4 million dollars.

Courtney’s success is impressive. But, perhaps more remarkable is that in addition to her day job, she remains involved in her community.

After graduating from SJSU, she served as a volunteer Marketing Director for Beautiful Day, a community outreach program, in which she participated in volunteer work at an AIDS community center, an elementary school and a medical mission trip to the Philippines.

And, for four years after her graduation, Courtney came back to SJSU each semester to talk to students in the Community Action and Service course about the importance of community learning and leadership.

Courtney’s obviously outstanding communication skills coupled with her commitment to community growth and development exemplify social responsibility, ethical awareness, and community engagement.

Congratulations Courtney!

Victoria Rodriguez, Administrative Analyst for the Department of Communication Studies, received the College of Social Science 2015 Staff Excellence Award.

Vicky has worked in the COMM Studies department for many years. As with many staff on campus, her official job title does not convey the many ways in which she supports our department. This award recognizes Vicky’s extraordinary contributions to the Communication Studies department in many ways. Read more: http://www.sjsu.edu/comm/news_events/rodriguez_staff_excellence/index.html.

Congratulations Vicky!

The Communication Studies Department is proud to congratulate Professor Andrew Wood on receiving the College of Social Sciences 2015 Austen D. Warburton Award of Merit.

This award recognizes a faculty member who has achieved the highest level of scholarship, as demonstrated by an outstanding record of publications and the delivery of scholarly papers before prestigious professional organizations. Read more: http://www.sjsu.edu/comm/news_events/wood_warburton/.

Congratulations Dr. Wood!

Kudos to Dr. Matthew Spangler, whose play, Albatross, won two Elliot Norton Awards in Boston last week (Outstanding Production and Outstanding Solo Show).  It will be produced again this coming week, for five performances only, at the New Repertory Theatre in Boston.

From the theatre’s press: “Albatross is not a mere recitation of Coleridge’s classic “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. It’s a breathtaking theatrical reimagining that pulls the Mariner into the 21st century, a 300 hundred-year-old immortal doomed to tell his harrowing sea yarn to you, the audience. It’s funny, shocking, and exciting – full of pirates, storms, sea battles, even penguins. Ultimately, it’s a profoundly moving celebration of the power of storytelling, the interconnectedness of life on earth, and the urgent necessity of Love.”

You can watch the trailer here!

Congratulations Dr. Spangler!

Dr. Spangler’s new play Albatross, a one-person performance based on Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” is a finalist for three Elliot Norton Awards: Outstanding New Script, Outstanding Solo Performance, and Outstanding Production. The other finalists for the Outstanding New Script award are Bill Doncaster and Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks.  Albatross was produced earlier this year by the Poets’ Theatre in Boston.  The Elliot Norton Awards are presented annually to recognize achievements in Boston area theatre.

Congratulations to Dr. Spangler!