SUNY Oswego - Alumni Association - November E-Newsletter

November 2010 • Vol 6 No 8

Comm Alums Come Back to Remember, Network

Communication department alumni came back in force for the 2010 Communication Studies Alumni Dinner, the first in three years.

Gene Pizzolato '81 of the Golf Channel was guest speaker at the communications alumni dinner in October

About 160 Oswego communication studies degree-holders and some current students packed Sheldon Hall ballroom Oct. 9 to see familiar faces and reminisce about Oswego.

The day kicked off with multiple events that alumni enjoyed before the dinner, including a question and answer panel session with students and a tour of some of the newly renovated buildings on campus.

“It brought back a lot of memories,” Bill Tower ’78 said. “Walking by the lake again was great, seeing the Riggs and Johnson renovations, and the Campus Center. They are beautiful.”

Some of the recent additions, particularly the Campus Center and the brand new facilities that house WTOP-TV and WNYO-FM, left alumni in awe.

Tower, who now works for ABC in New York, said “the all-new TV facilities definitely will prepare students to head out in the field.”

Kathy Contino-Turner ’80, who was a general manager for the student radio station WOCR, now WNYO, also came away from the Campus Center impressed and said the building is a great way to bring the campus together as one, especially during large events. She recalled having to make the trek to Romney Fieldhouse for graduation.

Contino-Turner said the daylong festivities couldn’t help but shake the cobwebs off cherished college memories.

“I loved it here,” she said. “It was the best four years of my life.”

Keynote speaker Gene Pizzolato ’81, chief revenue and marketing officer and COO of New Media Ventures for the Golf Channel, shared the importance of networking and risk-taking with the many communication studies students in attendance.

Cable television pioneer Louis A. Borrelli Jr. ’77 called on fellow graduates of the program to make a gift to the Dr. Lewis B. O’Donnell Media Summit or Communication Studies Excellence Fund.

Borrelli and his classmate and friend Al Roker ’76 hope to endow the annual media summit, which Borrelli founded in 2005 and, with Roker, named for O’Donnell in 2007.

The next Communication Studies Alumni Reunion is planned for 2013.

— Kyle C. Gargan ’11

PHOTO CAPTION:
About 160 communication studies alumni, including keynote speaker Gene Pizzolato ’81, far right, returned to Sheldon Hall ballroom for a reunion dinner Oct. 9.

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Who doesn’t want to save the world? Michael Kite ’02 does that for a living through World Wildlife Fund.

As marketing specialist for one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, Kite and his team of three work to raise more than $5 million each year. The majority of that money comes from licensing partnerships and promotions with the likes of Barnes & Noble, Gap, Hewlett-Packard, Dial and Coinstar.

Retail partnerships help WWF spread its message to the general public and raise funds for its conservation work around the globe. For example, Bank of America contributes $100 for every special Visa account opened and Nabisco is supporting WWF’s “Year of the Tiger” initiative with special packaging and a $100,000 donation. The new CVS Green Bag Tag program rewards reusable bag-toting customers, and generates five cents for WWF for each tag sold.

All support WWF’s mission of protecting the future of nature, down to the finest details, Kite said.

“We like to see that the product is made from recycled material and is recyclable itself, and somehow ties into our mission,” Kite said. The Green Bag Tag, for instance, is made from a corn-based material and features a 100 percent recycled silicone lanyard.

As a broadcasting major at Oswego, Kite got involved with WRVO-FM and WNYO-FM.

“I think it gave me a lot more confidence in talking to people,” he said. It was an important part of his early career in broadcast sales and remains an important piece in the message he “sells” today.

“The best part of my job is seeing a product in the store with the WWF logo after months of working with a company to launch it,” said Kite, who joined the organization in 2006. “It’s rewarding to give people a fun, unique way to protect our planet.”

— Shane M. Liebler