New Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication Offers Amazing Opportunities for Enhanced Digital Storytelling
Posted in: School of Communication and Media News
By: Rayane Yamout
October 10, 2021
At a ribbon cutting ceremony during homecoming weekend, President Jonathan Koppell and School of Communication and Media Director Dr. Keith Strudler officially opened the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication.
The Center is a state-of-the-art teaching and learning space for students, faculty and staff made possible by the generosity of Di Bella and Sautter. Through the power of social media analytics platforms and software, students utilizing the Center can create, visualize, and interpret consumer insights data, monitor societal issues, track public sentiment and assess campaigns. Students also have access to nimble content creation and production tools, which will also thoroughly prepare them for the digital storytelling world in public relations, journalism, advertising and other forms of strategic communication.
Di Bella and Sautter attended the event and had the opportunity to meet faculty, staff, current students and recent graduates. Di Bella is a proud Montclair State University alumna (class of ‘69) who is excited about how the Center will better prepare students for the workforce and help them become innovative, strategic communication leaders. “This space is amazing. We are so proud to help students broaden their knowledge and skills before leaving Montclair State,” Di Bella said. Sautter echoed those comments by sharing how important it is for students to “go beyond being book smart by getting their hands dirty” with digital analytics and production tools.
Dr. Strudler added, “As we launch our new Advertising major and a reinvented Public Relations and Social Media degree, this Center will give our students the competitive, applied advantage to compete for top jobs with anyone in the country. At a time when the world desperately needs ethical professionals who understand how to create clear messages, deliver them to an audience, and measure their efficacy, the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center of Strategic Communication will help them meet that challenge.”
The Center will be home to Hawk Communications (a student-led, strategic communication agency) and co-curricular activities such as the university’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter. In addition to a select number of classes that will be held in the Center, students, faculty and staff will also have the opportunity to collaborate on research projects and special events around social listening and data analytics.
If you are interested in learning more about the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center of Strategic Communication or want to book the room for a research project or event, please contact Keith Green at greenk@montclair.edu. The Center is formerly Room 1011 and is located next to the school’s state-of-the-art News Lab.