Do you ever wonder what it would be like to know what your professors like to do outside of school? What about the staff members with whom you come into contact? Elizabethtown College gives the students the opportunity to find out a few extra fun facts about their favorite professors and staff members. This opportunity presents itself through the “Faculty Show,” a radio show on WWEC.
The faculty radio show takes place every Wednesday at 4 p.m., and it features a faculty member or a staff member from the College. Dr. Colin Helb, assistant professor of communications, sits down with the lucky faculty or staff guest and interviews them for the show. The show is relaxed and is something fun for faculty members to take part in every week.
To help this show come along, the communications students from Multimedia Applications for Corporate Communication (COM 235) help produce the show; from finding the guest to writing the script, these students are a big part of making the show happen. But the people who really make the show unique are the faculty or staff members who volunteer their time for the show.
A lot of faculty and staff members have appeared on the show. The list of professors and staff members who have participated so far is: Dr. Kirsten Johnson, associate professor of communications and communications department chair; Dr. Kelly Poniatowski, assistant professor of communications; David Donovan, lecturer in communications; Andy Williams, director of broadcasting; Dr. Fletcher McClellan, dean of faculty; Amy Mountain, director of communications and Donna Talarico, the integrated marketing manager.
“A lot of professors were interested in being on the air but not every week,” Devon Geduldig, a junior COM 235 student, said. She also added that “working on the show and producing it is a lot of fun, and something different than just producing a normal radio show because you actually get to learn something about your favorite teachers.”
The faculty and staff members on the show get to talk about themselves and things that are going on in their lives. “We talked about our lives outside of Etown, instead of inside of Etown; it showed a different side of us besides just being professors, and we got to talk about other fun things we do outside of Etown, like our hobbies and things we’re involved in,” Johnson said.
The faculty and staff members also get to choose the music that is played during the breaks. “Seeing that our professors like the same music as us is also pretty cool,” Geduldig said.
The show itself is a good way to learn new things about the professors and staff members. “It’s a great way to get to know the faculty and staff members outside the classroom,” Geduldig said.
The idea is to get away from the academic world for a little bit and actually focus on the faculty or staff member as an everyday person instead of just as our professors and employees of the College.
“My favorite part was being able to talk about non-academics because we are so used to talking about academics and our areas of expertise,” Johnson said.
“The best part of the show is the atmosphere. When the professors are in there sharing interesting things about their life it’s definitely a cool experience to see the side a lot of students don’t get to see often,” Geduldig explained.
Johnson also commented, “The atmosphere is definitely not serious—more of a relaxed atmosphere.”
The show presents the opportunity to get to know the faculty and staff better than just in the classroom so the next time you want to know a little bit more about the faculty and staff of the College, just tune in to the radio show, because here at Etown we like to reach out to everyone.
“I think it’s a great idea, and a chance for communications department to reach out to the community, and I would definitely recommend it to other teachers; it is very low pressure and low stress, and if you like talking and listening to music you should take part,” Johnson said.
