WAJC – CCOM Dean's Pawprints

Dean Valenzano’s 2024 CCOM Top 10

May 16, 2024 butlerccom

From popular music to the top sports plays of any given day or season, Top 10 lists are synonymous with excellence. I witnessed accolades worthy of applause during my first full school year at Butler University as Dean of the College of Communication. There was a whirlwind of excitement, accomplishment, partnership, growing pains, and most importantly learning experiences and enhanced relationships for students, faculty, alumni, staff, and the entire Butler community.

These 10 highlights from the 2023-2024 school year are not in any order of significance but are impactful in my eyes. I’d love to hear about your favorite memories and experiences that didn’t make my list (I know there will be some that I curse myself about not including) but here we go. So imagine your favorite voice actor, as you see the transition frame with a huge one and zero on it. I’ve got the voice of Amy Dichter ‘98 in my head starting us off with an energetic and powerful, “NUMBER 10!” vocalization.

…

WAJC’s Reunion Tour Launch

May 7, 2024 butlerccom

It just feels right when a formal gathering of friends, peers, and mentors evolves into more of a family reunion than a general get together. Everyone doesn’t necessarily know everyone else, but at some point they have shared experiences: they waved the same flag, performed the same duties, learned from the same professor and can reflect upon it fondly.

My good friend and colleague, Ross Hollebon, reminded me recently that a central theme of the Star Wars franchise is “found family,” (yes, we shared “May the 4th Be With You” texts over the weekend) and that is the type of connections that were rekindled during that special evening on Saturday, April 27, 2024 at Robertson Hall.

Generally speaking, a found family refers to a group of unrelated people coming together to establish their own definition of a family unit or close-knit community. In what is now CCOM (many of the attendees graduated from “Radio & Television” and other degree names of the mass communication degree program) there is no more appropriate way to refer to the alumni who graduated after having found themselves during activities for Butler’s former FM radio station, 104.5 WAJC.

…