Coral Gables, FL (Feb. 25, 2009) - In its 10th year, the School’s Communication Week brought top industry professionals and notable alumni in the field back to campus for a week of panel discussions, lectures and workshops, aimed at giving current students a taste of working in the changing landscape of the communication industry. Communication Week events took place the week of Feb. 16-20.

This year’s theme, the Communication Connection, emphasized how the communication industry touches many different aspects of today’s society including business, the economy, entrepreneurship and globalization, and the importance of being familiar with all of communication’s areas and disciplines.

“The speakers and events were promoted to students in all majors, so you’d see journalism students turning up for a panel on multimedia tools that was put together by the public relations program, and you’d see advertising, journalism and PR students at the seminar with Wine Spectator and Cigar Aficionado magazines Publisher Marvin Shanken and his editors,” said Colee Splichal, faculty lecturer in public relations.

Social networking and the implementation of multimedia components were an underlying theme in this year’s conversations. Alex de Carvalho, founder of StartPR, spoke on the benefits of using social media to build reputation and develop branding. And top media executives, Borja Perez, vice president of digital media for Telemundo and internet marketing consultant Jay Berkowitz, spoke on the importance of using blogs, wikis and podcasts to maximize web exposure.

Senior public relations major, Barbi Gomez, summed up the week by saying “Com Week 2009 gave all of us a better understanding of how the atmosphere of communication is changing and evolving into a more social and multi-media world.”