welcome message sent

This morning I sent out the welcome message to the COMM 144 students. Winter session starts in a week, but it's quite short, so I wanted to get students involved with the class early. Several students have already contacted me and I've added two student blogs to the class blog roll.

There should be plenty of material for all of us to blog about. Much of the business section of the newspaper has moved to the front page: the meltdown of the U.S. (and now global) financial institutions, the precarious position of the Detroit automakers, the VP as Fry's who defrauded vendors, the massive layoffs in nearly all sectors of the U.S. workforce, and the continued offshoring of U.S. jobs. And of course all colleges and universities are facing budget cuts, layoffs, and higher tuitions as enrollments soar. These are grim times, yet current events stress the applicability of and need for a course in organizational communication.

I look forward to our blogging conversations about organizational communication concepts and theories. I'll likely post a few entries this week, but graded blogging doesn't start until January 5.

~ Professor Cyborg