Spring Break
Donaldson named keynote speaker
Briana Hernandez
Issue date: 9/6/07 Section: News
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Professor Rucker said that since Donaldson confirmed his attendance, there has been a "solid buzz" about the reunion.
"I was asked to do this project by the department director in January and the moment I put out the word to just a few alums, it was like, 'Oh yeah! Let's do it!'" Rucker said. "When we put the word out on Sam Donaldson, my phone has been ringing off the hook. Faculty have been calling me saying, 'You've got Sam Donaldson?' … 'What a score.' That's what I've been hearing."
Other than Donaldson's prestige, many factors led to his selection as key-note speaker, including budgeting and overall interest in the event from potential speakers.
"There were quite a few perspective speakers we were looking at, but we were really limited by their fees," Drnek said. "Mr. Donaldson has a relatively reasonable public speaking fee for the quality of celebrity that he is. Through a lot of hard work by Professor Rucker, we finally have it confirmed. So, it's really exciting."
Drnek said that SJSU alumni were considered for key-note speaker.
"We did look at that, but it didn't make sense for us," Drnek said. "We wanted to try to bring someone who would get our alumni really excited to come back and speak."
The Director's Association tried acquiring other notable key-note candidates to no avail.
"We were kicking around the idea of Maria Shriver," Drnek said. "But unfortunately, neither her office nor Governor Schwarzenegger's office would get back to us."
As far as what Donaldson will address in his speech, Drnek said, "His focus was always politics. He may touch on that. He may not. He started the first online news Webcast, which was a big pushing point for media convergence. So it would be really great if he talked about that."
The radio-television journalism reunion will be a 5-day event from Oct. 8-12 and will be entirely student-run.
"(Radio-television news directors association) is coordinating the whole thing," Drnek said. "It's really going to be a student-based event in terms of the work that is getting done."
Drnek said the week will hold a "slew" of events, including a meet and greet between students and alumni, and will end with Friday's key-note speech.
"That is when the building will be an open house," Drnek said. "We want to showcase the fact that San Jose State is all about media convergence."
"I was asked to do this project by the department director in January and the moment I put out the word to just a few alums, it was like, 'Oh yeah! Let's do it!'" Rucker said. "When we put the word out on Sam Donaldson, my phone has been ringing off the hook. Faculty have been calling me saying, 'You've got Sam Donaldson?' … 'What a score.' That's what I've been hearing."
Other than Donaldson's prestige, many factors led to his selection as key-note speaker, including budgeting and overall interest in the event from potential speakers.
"There were quite a few perspective speakers we were looking at, but we were really limited by their fees," Drnek said. "Mr. Donaldson has a relatively reasonable public speaking fee for the quality of celebrity that he is. Through a lot of hard work by Professor Rucker, we finally have it confirmed. So, it's really exciting."
Drnek said that SJSU alumni were considered for key-note speaker.
"We did look at that, but it didn't make sense for us," Drnek said. "We wanted to try to bring someone who would get our alumni really excited to come back and speak."
The Director's Association tried acquiring other notable key-note candidates to no avail.
"We were kicking around the idea of Maria Shriver," Drnek said. "But unfortunately, neither her office nor Governor Schwarzenegger's office would get back to us."
As far as what Donaldson will address in his speech, Drnek said, "His focus was always politics. He may touch on that. He may not. He started the first online news Webcast, which was a big pushing point for media convergence. So it would be really great if he talked about that."
The radio-television journalism reunion will be a 5-day event from Oct. 8-12 and will be entirely student-run.
"(Radio-television news directors association) is coordinating the whole thing," Drnek said. "It's really going to be a student-based event in terms of the work that is getting done."
Drnek said the week will hold a "slew" of events, including a meet and greet between students and alumni, and will end with Friday's key-note speech.
"That is when the building will be an open house," Drnek said. "We want to showcase the fact that San Jose State is all about media convergence."
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