Call for Entries:

2005 Coltrin Professor of the Year Award
presented to the author of the IRTS Faculty/Industry Seminar Case Study

University educators are invited to design a case study competition for the annual IRTS Faculty/Industry Seminar, which is attended by 75 faculty members from across the nation each year. Following implementation at the seminar, the exercise should be suitable for classroom use. The goal is to help educators keep their teaching timely, relevant, and reflective of the current state of the electronic media industry.

The deadline for 2005 submissions will be announced.

The author of the case selected by a panel of judges will:

1) Have the case implemented at the annual IRTS Foundation Faculty/Industry Seminar held in New York City. 2005 dates TBA.

2) Receive a $1500 cash award and plaque presented by Stephen H. Coltrin* at a major IRTS industry event.

3) Receive hotel accommodations for the conference and industry event, as well as round-trip airfare.

4) Have the case published with authorship credit on the IRTS web site or in other publications.

How much time is allotted for the Case Study at the Seminar?

The Faculty/Industry Seminar begins with a keynote dinner on Wednesday, and concludes with an analysis of the case study team presentations from 9:00 - 10:30 AM on Sunday. Sometimes the topic of the case dictates the entire theme of the seminar. Other times only portions of the seminar address the subject of the case. IRTS maintains the right to decide to what degree speakers and panels will address the theme of the case. Portions of the schedule that will definitely be dedicated to the case will be as follows:

Thursday, 90 minute-session
Unveiling of the Case

Coltrin Professor of the Year will direct a session that introduces his or her winning case, which can either be distributed to conferees for the first time on Wednesday at the conference registration or during this session. You will decide how to structure this time. For example, you might include a panel that will address specific issues in the assignment, have faculty break into teams at this time, hold a debate or an open dialogue, etc. Our only requirement is that faculty have an opportunity to ask questions regarding the assignment at some point during the session.

Saturday, 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM
Team Meetings and Presentations

This day is exclusively dedicated to the case assignment. Traditionally, we break the group of 75 into 6-8 teams that spend the majority of the day in breakout rooms, taking time out only for a lunch from 12:30 - 1:30. The entire group convenes at approximately 3:30 PM, and each team has up to 15 minutes to make a presentation to a panel of judges. Please note: this time allotment would include time for the judges to ask questions, i.e. you could choose to have 10 minute presentations, followed by 5 minutes of questions from the judges. Judges convene at the end of the presentations and the Coltrin Professor of the Year will make notes from their commentary to provide conferees with an analysis the next day. Your case design need not follow this exact schedule or style. It's okay to break tradition, but we do ask that you structure some form of competition into the assignment. We have an additional $2,500 Stephen H. Coltrin Award for Excellence in Communications Education, which is divided amongst the members of the winning team.

Note: If you attended this seminar more than three years ago, you may recall that the case study competition took place from 7:00 - 10:00 PM on Saturday night, and team presentations were 20 minutes long. Teams met until 5:30, had dinner from 5:30 - 6:30, and convened at 7:00 PM. Conferee feedback suggests the aforementioned abbreviated format, which was first implemented at our 2001 Seminar, is preferred by those participating. We kindly ask that your case study adhere to this new layout.

Sunday, 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Competition Analysis and Conference Wrap-Up

The Coltrin Professor of the Year traditionally provides a competition analysis (approximately 15 minutes) to provide insight into the judging process. The winning team is announced and publicity photos are taken.

What should your submission include?

Please send five copies of the following:

1. A cover letter addressed to the Coltrin Professor Selection Committee, introducing your case and any relevant information you would like to share. This letter can be brief-its simply an opportunity to introduce yourself and provide any guidance that can help the judges to properly focus on your case. If there are elements of your proposal based on previous work in this area, please be sure to provide an explanation of this work, including where, when, and the results achieved. For example: Maybe you have already used the case in the classroom, or maybe it's based on significant research you've done on the subject.
2. A resume or curriculum vitae.
3. The case assignment that would be distributed to conferees. We suggest it be approximately 1-4 single-spaced pages.
4. Your plan for implementation. How will the teams be structured in terms of size and composition, and how will you schedule the time allotted for the assignment? What will be required in the presentations? What will be the basis for selecting a winning team? You can assume attendees will come from both small and large schools and represent many different disciplines within the realm of electronic communications. At the same time, special care would be taken to select a core of professors who teach courses or have done research within the specialization of the case. Again, we suggest 1-4 single-spaced pages.
5. Any resource materials (eg., background article or chart), if applicable, you feel should be distributed with the case.
6. An optional list of readings, web sites, etc., if appropriate, that conferees could access for advance preparation. (Note: Do not expect judges to search for these sources).
7. A list of criteria and scoring methodology for the judges, as well as suggestions on who should be invited to judge the competition. This can be generic-you need not specify names.

Please send materials to:

Joyce Tudryn
President
IRTS Foundation
420 Lexington Ave., Suite 1601
New York, NY 10170

Good luck! Please feel free to share this with colleagues who may be interested. Click here to view past case studies.