Campbell’s communication professor may have one of the longest commutes of anyone in North Carolina. Once a week Dr. Michael Ray Smith, the Archie K. Davis Fellow in Campbell’s Department of Mass Communication, flies to New York to teach a class at The King’s College, located in the Empire State Building. The King’s College recruited Smith to be a Distinguished Visiting Professor on the recommendation of a communication colleague. Smith continues to maintain his teaching and writing responsibilities at Campbell but the department is hopeful that the New York experience will provide Campbell with exposure to the nation’s top media. “We’d like to connect with public relations and advertising companies while exposing the King’s College students to a blend of communication philosophy, history and issues,” Smith said. Smith isn’t the first Campbell professor to teach in another state during the semester although the concept is still novel. For instance, Dr. Edward Fubara of the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business taught in Michigan in spring. Smith often shares his experiences with students from each campus. The New York students are well schooled in philosophy, politics and economics but are getting a taste of the applied side of the communication business and ideas on portfolio content and characteristics employers seek today. Among the top of the list, says Smith, is the idea of a mass communication generalist—not the traditional advertising, public relations or journalism graduate. “Dr. Edward Johnson of Campbell conducted a statewide survey and learned this helpful nugget,” Smith said. At the Buies Creek, N.C., campus, Campbell students are profiting from the New York exposure to the Big Apple’s mass media concentration. Smith visits magazine offices and interacts with other communication professors as he learns his way around the world’s center for mass media. “I’ve also learned that catching a yellow taxi in the rain is the impossible dream,” Smith said. “However, I’ve also learned first-hand that the research on New York is true. It is the world’s most polite city.”Photo Copy: Campbell University’s Dr. Michael Ray Smith
Communication professor teaching at the Empire State Building