Breaking news: the FUTURE.

6/18/2014 Unknown 0 Comments

Amber Jackson selected to 2014 ADCOLOR Futures Program

On a warm evening on June 16th, a crowd gathered at the Time Warner Center for a live announcement of this year's ADCOLOR finalists. Hosted by CCNY's Don Lemon, honorees in categories such as Innovator and Rising Star celebrated ADCOLOR's mission to recognize diversity in the advertising, media and PR industries.

As part of the excitement, Amber Jackson, a BIC management student, learned that she had earned a spot in the 2014 ADCOLOR Futures Program, a highly selective program in which young professionals receive training and mentorship via a sponsored trip to the ADCOLOR Awards and Industry Conference. To qualify, applicants have to be a member or alumni of the organization's diversity summit organizations such as AAF's Most Promising Minority Program, The LAGRANT Foundation Scholarship Program (see article below) and more. They must embody the program's creed of Rising up while Reaching Back. This year's conference will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, California. 

<< Amber celebrated with fellow BIC student and Rising Star nominee, Javier Garcia, as they walked the red carpet for this gala event.

BIC's First Semi-Finalist in the Zahn Social Innovation Competition

6/15/2014 Unknown 0 Comments

It's one thing to be the first, but it's especially astonishing and gratifying to be the first in our first year: Debra Jones became our first BIC student to be selected by the Zahn Center to present her social innovation project to a panel of entrepreneurs, faculty, and venture capitalist (including Peter Zahn himself) in a competition worth $30,000. Her submission, MoYA -- or The Museum of Your Art -- allows non-artists to be part of and to amplify urban renewal through art. 



MoYA is a virtual museum that connects people to public and street art via an app and interactive website. With different versions grounded in different cities, MoYA allows art lovers, culture seekers, and city dwellers to form an active, engaged community of virtual art curators that grows through posting pictures and information of public art, curating personalized collections, creating walking tours connecting to highlighted art, and allowing others to cast votes up and down. The app pinpoints locations so tours can be created by individual “curators.” When you have the app on your smart phone, notifications/info occur as your walk around the city when art is nearby. As MoYA grows with use, so does a more engaged citizenry who is more strongly connected  — by art and culture (things that make us human and keep cities economically viable) — to community and city identity. The pilot for the Museum of Your Art (MoYA) will be for New York City. In addition to being a semi-finalist, Debra's submission was ultimately selected to be part of the Zahn summer incubator for social innovation.


Debra Jones presenting MoYA at the Zahn Social Innovation Competition on May 8, 2014.

The Zahn Social Innovation Ideas Challenge offers an opportunity for the ENTIRE City College community (students, faculty, staff and alumni) to pitch their big ideas on how to change the world through social enterprise. Teams will compete for up to $30K in prize money to help develop their innovative ideas into viable solutions to social and environmental challenges. This gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to submit innovative solutions to a problem they see in the world – from healthcare to education, gender equality to clean water, sustainability to urban architecture. This is their opportunity to activate large-scale change. Throughout the summer and fall, the Zahn Center offers funding, extensive mentorship from CCNY and the NYC social ecosystem, and pro bono legal services, all in an inspiring collaborative workspace to develop the ideas of change maker finalists.

Ketchum helps BIC celebrate Year One

6/02/2014 Unknown 0 Comments

From left: Nancy R. Tag, CCNY Professor and
Director of the BIC program;
Rob Flaherty, Senior Partner, CEO & President
of Ketchum;
Barri Friedman Rafferty, Senior Partner
and CEO North America, of Ketchum
and Member, BIC Board of Advisers

Ketchum's world headquarters office in New York graciously hosted, on May 28th, the end-of-academic-year Mix + Mentor reception for the first class of BIC students.

BIC students and faculty, representatives from several additional advertising and public relations agencies in New York, and a number of Ketchum New York office employees representing the range of services and capabilities of the agency, met to celebrate BIC's students' achievements.

Rob Flaherty, Senior Partner, CEO & President of Ketchum provided a warm and enthusiastic welcome. Barri Friedman Rafferty, Senior Partner and CEO North America, of Ketchum -- and Member of the BIC Board of Advisers -- joined discussions with students.

Nancy R. Tag, CCNY Professor and Director of the BIC program, called out just some of the BIC student achievements during its inaugural academic year:

BIC student, Nehal Mahmoud, was awarded one of five Graduate Fellowships from the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership for a research project on how brands can positively promote public discussion about diversity in the U.S.A.

BIC students Raj Andrew Gomes and Luz Corona received top honors at the CCNY Graduate Symposium for Research and Creative Achievement, for their development of an integrated communications campaign concept for the New York City Citi Bike program.

BIC student Edmund Balogun was selected to present his paper on "Bias in Market Research" to the State University of New York (SUNY) Graduate School at The college of Brockport's third annual Master's Level Graduate Research Conference. Mr. Balogun's paper also received the third place award at the CCNY Graduate Symposium for Research and Creative Achievement.

BIC students Frederick Garcia and Amber Jackson were selected as two of only twenty students nationwide to receive The LAGRANT Foundation graduate scholarship in support of increasing ethnic diversity in the advertising, marketing, and public relations industries.

BIC student Raj Andrew Gomes qualified to represent CCNY at the 2013 JWT College Art Battle in head-to-head competition with long-standing programs including the Miami Ad School, the School of Visual Art, and New York City Tech.


BIC student named one of five Colin Powell Graduate Fellows for 2014-15

6/02/2014 Unknown 0 Comments

One of BIC's first class of students, Nehal Mahmoud, has been named one of five Graduate Fellows for the 2014-15 academic year by the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership.

Ms. Mahmoud entered the BIC program in the fall of 2013 as a public relations specialist, and along with completing her Master of Professional Studies next year, she will pursue a research project on how brands can positively impact the conversation on diversity in the United States. She will also, as a Colin Powell Graduate Fellow, take part in weekly seminars and in public and networking events with distinguished public figures. The Graduate Fellows receive a cash stipend as well as individualized mentorship opportunities.

Ms. Mahmoud has earned the Public Relations Diploma, from MacEwan University (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and holds a BS in Physical Sciences from the University of Alberta.

General Colin L. Powell, U.S.A. (Retired),
at right.
Lisa Staiano-Coico, President of CCNY,
at center.
 (Photo: New York Daily News, April 2013)
The Colin Powell Fellowship for Graduate Students is designed for high achieving City College of New York graduate students of any CCNY program, department, or school. Some fellows enter with interest and experience in public policy; others are students in engineering, science, the health science, the humanities, architecture, and film studies. All fellows are united by a desire to use their field of study to influence policy or social change.

The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at City College of New York is named after its Founder, General Colin L. Powell, U.S.A. (Retired) (CCNY class of 1958).

BIC professor is counsel to award-winning integrated communications program

6/02/2014 Unknown 0 Comments

Frank Walton, Professor at CCNY Media & Communication Arts Department and Director of the Public Program Track at BIC, is also a senior counsel to Shinnyo-en, a Japanese-based global Buddhist organization and its worldwide philanthropic and educational activities. Shinnyo-en's public celebration for peace-making in everyday life, held in New York's Central Park in September 2013, has received the 2014 Public Relations Society of America, New York Chapter, Big Apple Award in the category of Integrated Communications Program: Government, Associations, and Non-profit Organizations. The initiative, the Shinnyo Lantern Floating for Peace, was supported by New York-headquartered Finn Partners and was under the artistic directorship of Zeyba Rahman.