Greenlee alumni visit Newell’s classes

Associate Professor Jay Newell says his “Good News” this month is his “100% advisee edition, where I thank my former students for going the extra miles to help current students begin their professional careers:

• On Thursday of Homecoming Week, Ty Stafford accepted the 2016 LAS Young Alumnus Award from Dean Beate Schmittmann. The Dean congratulated Ty on his being named a Forbes Magazine 30-Under-30 for his marketing and advertising work. Ty also made an appearance in the Ad Principles classroom, talking to 250 students about his Emmy-winning digital work for Red Bull, discussing the challenges of creating a second Super Bowl spot for Pokemon and providing a professional link to a new generation of students. Ty was joined by girlfriend EB Krawczyck, manager of social impact marketing for Participant Media. EB, a Pepperdine graduate, talked with the students about Participant’s slate of socially-conscious movies, including the Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Spotlight.
• Closer to home, Katie (Peeper) Holzworth, a media buyer for Des Moines ad agency Flynn Wright, made her first appearance in the Media Planning class, where she laid out the tools and techniques for planning and executing campaigns for clients such as Kum’n’Go. Former teaching assistant and graduate student
• Jingru Sun returned to the Ad Principles class via Skype from his new job as digital manager for a marketing company in Atlanta.
• A dozen years ago Donavon Davenport was introduced to product placement in the Ad Principles class. He was back to complete the circle, when he Skyped from his office in Santa Monica to introduce his product placement work for clients Porsche and Carhartt. Netflix viewers see Donavon’s work in every episode of the Marvel Comics “Luke Cage” live action series, where lead Mike Colton is a bulletproof “hero for hire” in his Carhartt hoodies.

Students in the Greenlee classes not only hear from these young professionals, but get contact information to build their professional networks. Newell adds, “I want to thank my advisees-turned-pros who are willing to serve as inspiration for the next generation of media-makers.”