The 2008 Reception

The 2008 reception was a great success.  Thanks to all our students and alumni who came out for our gala event!

Expedition Courses Culminate in the Slane College Annual Alumni and Friends Gala Reception

UPDATE: The Bradley University Hilltopics news magazine has posted an excellent article detailing this unique experience. Read their piece called Access to Hollywood.

One of the most distinctive features of the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts is its unique approach to distance education. Not only does distance learning mean that the College brings the world to its students through the incredible high technology of Internet2, it also means that students actually “go the distance to learn.”

Every January and May, Slane College professors lead their students on full-credit expeditions to locations overseas and in the States for world-class learning experiences in communications and fine arts. For many of our students, a most important destination is the capital of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles, known around the world as simply “Hollywood.”

THE HOLLYWOOD EXPEDITIONS

For more than twenty years, award-winning Slane College Professors Dr. Ron Koperski (known to generations of his students as “Dr. K”) and Dr. Bob Jacobs (known to generations of his students as “Dr. Bob”) have been leading innovative expedition courses to LA that take them into the very corporate and creative centers of the entertainment industry. Both professors draw on years of professional associations with the top industry professionals to give their students unprecedented access to the executives and creative artists in the very studios and board rooms of such industry giants as Warner Brothers, Paramount, Disney, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, CBS, NBC, Interscope Records, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Kodak Theatre, Dick Clark Productions, HBO, Worldwide Pants, E!, and DreamWorks SKG, among many others. Dr. K and Dr. Bob are there again this year with outstanding groups of our best junior and senior students. Dr. Koperski’s Entertainment Industry Seminar focuses on public relations, marketing, and programming.

Dr. Jacobs' students are immersed in film and television production. Best of all is that most of the executives and creative artists they meet are Bradley alumni who together constitute a formidable group of Hollywood power and talent. And that group grows bigger every year.

 

This year, our students were hosted by David Horowitz (BU, ’59,15 Emmy Awards for journalism); Lisa Helfrich Jackson, (BU ’86, Co-Executive Director of The New Adventures of Old Christine and two-time Emmy Award winner for Everybody Loves Raymond); Tami Lane (BU ’96, Academy Award winner for makeup design in The Chronicles of Narnia), Jim Tanker (BU ’72, award-winning television director), Ryan Saul (BU ’93, Senior Literary Agent for Metropolitan Talent Agency); Jonathan Buss (BU ’94, Emmy Award winning producer and director); Jed Schlanger (BU ’96, Production Supervisor at DreamWorks Animation); Monique Eising (BU ’96, Animation Artist at Steele); Heidi Rotbart (BU ’79, President, Heidi Rotbart Management); Laura Herlovich (BU ’79, President and Owner of PR Plus, Las Vegas), and Kimberly Barnhart (BU ’99, Production Coordinator for the Fox Television show Standoff), among many others. And if they’re not Bradley alumni, then they’re great Bradley partners.

This year, our students had special sessions with Kevin Black (Ranking Executive with Warner Brothers Records), Ralph Berge (Senior Vice President of Production at Paramount); Keith Salmon (President of Hyena Editorial), Antoine Fuqua (Director of Training Day and Tears of the Sun); Barbara Brogliatti (former Chief Information Officer and Executive Vice President of Public Relations for Warner Brothers); and with Doug Frank (President of Music Operations for Warner Brothers Pictures). Last year, Barbara Brogliatti taught Corporate Communication in the Entertainment Industry at Bradley—from her office in LA via Internet2. Last May, Doug Frank gave the Commencement Address to the Bradley Class of 2006 and was awarded Bradley’s highest honorary degree: Doctor of Humane Letters.

THE GALA RECEPTION

On Thursday, January 18 at 6:30 pm, virtually the entire Bradley Hollywood contingent converged at Le Meridien Hotel in Beverly Hills for the 11th Annual Bradley Hollywood Alumni and Friends Receptions. Over 150 of our best and brightest were the guests of Dean Jeffrey Huberman, Dr. Ron Koperski, Dr. Bob Jacobs, and their students for an evening of high-spirited, high-energy, networking, reunion, and enjoyment.

In addition to all the great people, good food, and good drinks, Special features of this year's Reception included samples of some astonishing creative work by Slane College students and faculty, previews of coming attractions and exciting projects, and special recognition for Doug Frank, David and Suzanne Horowitz, and the members of the trustees of the John C. Hench Foundation. Jose Deetjen, Leonor Deetjen, and Sandy Huskins honored Bradley in October with the naming of the John C. Hench Production Art Studios—in honor and memory of the late John Hench, the founder and creative force behind Walt Disney Imagineering. The Master of Ceremonies for the Gala was Emmy Award winning San Diego television reporter and commentator Larry Himmel.

You're Invited!

All Bradley alumni, friends, partners, students, parents, and prospective students and their parents are invited to our Hollywood Gala Receptions.

Next year's celebration will be on Thursday, January 10, 2008

If you're not already on our guest list (or if your address has changed since we last contacted you), call or write to Carrie (309-677-3707, ckroenke@bradley.edu) to make sure we send you all the details of one of the most exciting, high-energy entertainment industry networking events in Hollywood.