Hal Vincent, Live Oak’s faculty director, wrote a chapter spotlighting the co-curricular organization now celebrating its 10th year in operation.
Hal Vincent, a lecturer in the School of Communications, wrote a chapter highlighting Live Oak Communications’ business planning model in a new book titled “Real World Career Preparation: A Guide to Creating A Student-Run Communication Agency.”
The publication bills itself as the “first book to address student-run agencies,” with instructions on how to strategize, finance, launch and develop a successful, high-impact practice agency. The book was written by Douglas Swanson, a professor at California State University, Fullerton, where he founded PRactical ADvantage Communications, an award-winning student-run agency. Live Oak is one of 16 student agencies featured with their own book chapter written by each program's respective faculty mentor.
This year, Live Oak Communications celebrates 10 years in operation, and Vincent is in his fifth as the faculty director of the co-curricular organization founded by Associate Professor Lee Bush. Vincent said it felt natural to him that Live Oak is featured among the nation’s most prominent examples of student experiential learning in communications, joining institutions such as Boston University, Ball State University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of South Carolina.
“Doug Swanson and Lee Bush are recognized as two of the most prominent scholars in this area. While student agencies have existed in some form for a number of years, the focused research and studies regarding pedagogies, learning objectives and student outcomes are much newer,” Vincent said. Bush was given special recognition of her contributions to the field in the form of research in the book’s introduction.
Vincent added that the opportunity to pen a book chapter, along with his participation in numerous conference papers, educators’ panels, and peer-reviewed publications with Bush and Associate Professor Daniel Haygood, validate Live Oak’s ability to deliver on the Elon promise of engaged learning and teacher-student mentoring for academic and post-college career success.
Swanson said that the contributions from Vincent about Live Oak’s “Model for Systematic Self-Promotion,” as well as the “detailed guidance from Elon,” have played a role in the book’s warm reception and initial success.
“Elon and the School of Communications made a commitment to offering students a unique experience in 2007,” Vincent said. “A strong foundation – thanks Lee – with continued research and refinements of teaching methods as the industry evolves, as well as the talented students who translate the skills they acquired here to professional success, are why we receive so much attention from other universities.”
Vincent also recognized the invaluable contributions of Associate Professor Ben Hannam in guiding the creative and design students to produce award-winning work. Those efforts have elevated Live Oak’s reputation among educators and industry professionals, he said.
Lastly, Vincent noted that while Swanson’s book is aimed at helping faculty and administrators create an agency, the time is ripe for literature directly for the students to manage and run an agency. “Perhaps we’ll be seeing the second book about student-run agencies on the market real soon … wink, wink,” he added.