The Department of Journalism and Mass Communication will host the 23rd annual Gutenberg Awards celebration dinner Thursday.
Gutenberg Awards are given to JMC alumni who have displayed exceptional performance in their careers and are distinguished in their accomplishments.
This year’s honorees are Jason McArthur (’93), Michelle Morris (’87) and LaCanas Tucker (’94). McArthur is the vice president of artists and repertoire for Sony Music Entertainment’s Christian label, Provident Label, in Nashville, Tennessee. Morris is the CEO and managing partner for GideonStone, LLC in Houston. Tucker is the internal communications lead at Regulatory Center, KPMG in New York City.
The event itself will include food, a photobooth and the opportunity to network with JMC professionals and ACU alumni, as well as the awards ceremony where the honorees will receive a model of Gutenberg’s printing press handcrafted by the department’s own Dr. Charles Marler.
Emily Gerlach, junior advertising and public relations major from Far Hills, New Jersey, is the account director for the event and coordinated a team of six people to help with planning.
“This year, there is a wide variety of recipients, which means there will be someone for everyone in the JMC department to go to that will be interested in what they are majoring in,” Gerlach said.
Claire Heath, who is the account coordinator for the ceremony, expressed her excitement for this year’s event.
“It’s a nice, comfortable and rather small gathering of students and professionals where you get the opportunity to connect and create relationships with someone who could be your potential employer,” said Heath, a junior advertising and public relations major from Grapevine.
Heath said she went into the planning process blindly because she had never attended the event before. However, with her eye set on a career in event planning, she has thoroughly enjoyed helping coordinate the ceremony.
“I’m basically the maid of honor to the bride on the day of the wedding, and it’s been a joy,” Heath said. “Emily is so great to work with and is a wonderful leader, and I am so thankful to be her right-hand man throughout this process.”
Gerlach and Heath strongly encourage all students, JMC major or not, to attend the event. It’s an opportunity where students can hear real testimonies of what alumni from the department have done with their degrees in their lives.
“I just want JMC students to know that this is such a valuable event that they should come to,” Gerlach said. “We are so blessed to have a department that truly cares about our futures and making connections. We need to take advantage of that.”
The event is Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Hunter Welcome Center and is free for all JMC majors. Sign-up sheets are available in the department and tickets for non-JMC majors or minors are available at www.acu.edu/academics/cas/jmc/about/events/gutenberg/.
