Published April 27, 2015
Dr. Christopher Mapp, director of Student Publications at the University of Louisiana
at Monroe, helped launch a national initiative to certify college media advisers (CMA)
in New York City.
Mapp was a presenter at two of 10 sessions offered to advisers during the College
Media Association’s annual convention, held in March. The series of hour-long sessions
was designed to help both new and established advisers learn best practices in the
field.
Mapp covered the topics of establishing relationships on campus and recruiting and
retaining media students.
“It was a fantastic opportunity to give back to CMA, which along with organizations
like the Student Press Law Center, serves as an invaluable resource for student media
advisers,” Mapp said.
The initiative, spearheaded by Kelley Callaway, director of student media at Rice
University, is the first of its kind.
“Like many fields in higher education, student media professionals have to be well-versed
in a breadth of topics,” said Callaway, who also serves as Vice President of Member
Services for CMA. “By offering the certification, CMA is rewarding advisers for at
least some of the extra time they put in to learning their craft and mentoring students.”
Upon completion of the course, advisers receive a certificate from CMA. Mapp said
the process helps advisers learn to cope with many of the unique issues advisers face.
“There isn’t a playbook for a lot of the situations that come up in student media,
whether it’s ethical or legal decisions, free speech issues or even personnel matters.
So a certification course like the one CMA now offers really helps fill in a much-needed
gap,” Mapp said.
