New Media Conference a Big Success!

 

SC State communication majors were joined by students from five other HBCUs for a first-ever media conference organized by production director Rolondo Davis and a team of our communication majors. 

The 2026 SC HBCU Media Conference was held in the I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium. Everyone was pleased with the turnout. Students came from the following schools: SC State, Claflin, Voorhees, Morris, Benedict and Clinton colleges. 

The all-day conference featured several speakers including the dynamic Sierra Artemus. 

Artemus has a broad communication background. A University of South Carolina broadcast journalism graduate, she spoke about her years of work at Columbia television stations, behind and in front of the camera. 

She is currently with the S.C. Department of Veteran Affairs as a multimedia coordinator. 

Other speakers were Dr. David Staten, co-founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of HBCU Times magazine, Elizabeth Mosely-Hawkins (SC State Class of 2000), senior director of strategic communications with SC States University Relations office, and Kiera McGowen (Class of 2025). McGowen is pursuing a paralegal studies degree, and then plans to attend law school.  

Impressive speakers we had! 

Shandon Kelly, a junior from Columbia, was among several communications majors who assisted Rolondo Davis in the planning and execution of the media conference. 

Talk is that the Communications Program will make this an annual event. 

Head Shot Event Hits the Mark!

 

Many thanks to Communications Program production coordinator Rolondo Davis (right) for his expertise last week in our professional head shots event. 

This was a campus wide service and fundraising initiative for the Communications Club. A number of students, staff and faculty came by Turner Hall to pose for Mr. Davis in his pop up studio. 

For just $5 everyone had several profile photos taken and after some fine tuning by Mr. Davis, the favorite images (chosen by the subjects) were emailed to each attendee. 

To follow are samples of the high quality photos that we all can use for LinkedIn, other social media and different professional purposes. 

Thank you Rolondo Davis for sharing your time, equipment and expertise to make this first time event a big success!  

Thanks also to freshman Communications Club member Ariana Pinder for signing people in, taking payments and ensuring an efficient process. 

Kudos as well to Alex Gadsden of the Comm Club and Spiked Magazine for helping Mr. Davis with some of the photography. 

Let's head now to those beautiful head shots!

Nia Smith