Testimonials

"Your outstanding Faculty/Industry Seminar on media ownership not only shed light on the many facets of media consolidation, it also spawned media consolidation roundtables on university campuses across the country, thereby increasing public awareness of this fundamental issue."

- Susan Ness, Former FCC Commissioner

“No other group, association, organization, or foundation offers a similar intensive and highly engaging seminar as the one offered by the IRTS Foundation. I can think of no better way to build bridges between the academy and the industry, in a meaningful and mutually-beneficial manner, than what the IRTS does through its Annual Faculty/Industry Seminar.”

-Yahya R. Kamalipour, Purdue University Calumet

“I would definitely attend again and would encourage others to apply as well. This seminar came to me HIGHLY RECOMMENDED by past attendees, and now I see why. It is so rare to be able to interact with industry elites. I’ve learned so much, which will undoubtedly affect the future direction of the public policy course I teach, as well as my own research. Additionally, I really appreciate the timeliness of the topics discussed by the panels. This was really on the cutting edge. THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

-Jeff Blevins, Iowa State University

“The seminar is a great experience. By attending, we get a perspective that’s hard to come by. Even if you stay on top of the trade journals, you can’t gain the information that you do by hearing it first-hand from industry professionals. Thanks for making the seminar so informative!”

-Bambi Landholm, Kansas State University

“The fact that the conference focuses less on the theoretical aspects of the media industry and more on the practical aspects is indeed its strongest attribute. The seminar truly enables academics to carry some very valuable knowledge back to the classroom.”

-John Allen Hendricks, Southeastern Oklahoma State University

“The IRTS conference has always hugely expanded my knowledge of television, and more specifically (and perhaps importantly) the business aspects of television. Since I teach broadcast journalism, I really appreciate learning about the world in which TV news operates…I also learn discreet little factoids…that I use constantly in class. I feel like I have a much surer grasp on what’s going to happen in the near future after I attend the conference. It is not an exaggeration to say the conference vastly expands my knowledge of television and, more importantly, my horizons as a teacher.”

-Alison Schafer, American University

"I use these seminars to bring my knowledge of the industry up-to-date. This is where I find out what the industry is concerned about, and what the trends are in the industry. These seminars are invaluable. I am already planning to incorporate information from this seminar in my next semester’s classes. I am teaching a research course and I plan to use my notes from the panel on research in my lectures. In my introduction to Mass Media class I plan to use just about all other information I obtained."

-Thimios Zaharopoulos, Washburn University

“This program represents what I consider to be one of the best professional development opportunities available to people such as myself who are responsible for “teaching” about the media.”

-Don Jung, Southeast Missouri State University

“I am giving a 10 to all of the panels simply because the combination of the panels provided us with an excellent variety of perspectives from different levels of the industry, going from business to content issues. I have already been able to use every single panel’s material in my teaching. The impact on my classes is very clear because I can incorporate the seminar material in my production classes as well as in my more theoretical classes…It is always valuable to be able to give real world examples as an expansion of lectures and class discussions. They help to make especially more theoretical material more understandable.”

-Helena Vanhala, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point