by Logan Meriwether, Student Reporter
Northwestern’s new mass communication professor says he is planning big things for his students and the student body as a whole.
Dr. Luis Rocha Antunes said he is trying to get students at Northwestern to keep up with university news.
Antunes wants to start a news show to put on RangerPulse.com covering different stories on campus. He also hopes to launch podcast shows covering a vast range of items.
He said he wants to bring real-life situations into his classes to help students for when they have an actual job. In his broadcast practicum class, he is not only giving assignments that students will be doing at a job, but he is also giving students an opportunity to explore what they enjoy in broadcast, he said.
Antunes wants to create different broadcast sets, allowing students to bring in students that aren’t in the mass communication program. Those students will be interviewed about sports, student life or other events going on.
Antunes is also trying to start a podcast show with props and lighting in the university’s radio station – “something that makes students feel comfortable and invites people want to talk,” Antunes said.
Antunes wants to make the podcast into a talk show by bringing on different guests, including athletes, students and faculty. He believes this will make students learn and study what is going on around campus so they can keep a conversation going during the talk show.
“This will make for a smoother interview, and students will learn more about other subjects other than just mass comm,” Antunes said.
Antunes wants to have either a weekly or a monthly newscast highlighting a feature story in the Northwestern News.
“The Northwestern News does a good job going after stories on campus and showing them, and I think we can collaborate and have a news cast on their stories,” Antunes said.
Antunes hopes to put together a video package of the stories his students do and post them to RangerPulse.com so students can watch the stories.
Antunes hopes this will make his students excited about their video packages, knowing students and faculty are going to get to watch them.
Draven Smith, a mass communication major, said he has learned how to build video packages that enhance his abilities in Audition and Premier, two software programs used in audio and video production.
“Dr. Antunes uttered the phrase ‘start with the end in mind,’ which has stuck with me throughout the course,” Smith said.
Smith said Antunes has given students the creative freedom to work toward their own personal interests when they complete their assignments.
Sean Doherty said he is looking forward to starting a podcast.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and I’m finally getting a chance to do so,” Doherty said.
Doherty hopes it will be a success. If it is, he will keep it going even after he graduates college.
Antunes hopes for future classes that he will have students that are already interested in audio and visual broadcasting, and that they will want to pursue a job in broadcasting.
“This is a great opportunity to build up your portfolios and gear it towards the job you want,” Antunes said.