WTSR Interviews

After extensive planning for a remote semester, the College’s faculty are adjusting to the reality of teaching classes from their homes. With new technology and changes to classroom management, professors reflect on how the first few weeks of the semester have been anything but typical.

A few professors from The College share their insights into the semester. Here are excerpts from the full interviews with them. 

Dr. Steve O’Brien, interim dean and professor of school of engineering, (0:39) discusses the learning angles and challenges for STEM students. 

Dr. James Beyers, chair and professor of early childhood education, (9:39), approaches remote teaching as a real life application model for his future educator students, in preparing for the workplace.

Dr. Joe Goebel, chair and professor of world languages and cultures and Spanish (22:59), especially recognizes technology challenges and embracing the behind the scenes work of all faculty and staff.

(Originally aired October 2020)

Patrick Lavery is a TCNJ and WTSR alumni from 2009 who now works at Townsquare Media in Trenton as Afternoon News Anchor on New Jersey 101.5 WKXW-FM. Through his experience at WTSR, Patrick joins us today to discuss his inspiration and hardwork from college radio to professional radio.

Erin Vogt is a TCNJ and WTSR alumni from 2002 who now also works at Townsquare Media as a news reporter and occasional anchor on New Jersey 101.5 WKXW-FM. Through her background in journalism, Erin discusses how her education at TCNJ and WTSR helped her better connect with the local community and become a professional reporter.

Vin Ebenau is a 2014 college radio alumni from WHRT Radio at Sacred Heart University. He currently works as a reporter for NJ 101.5 as well as a News Anchor/Reporter for other Townsquare Media NJ stations at the Jersey Shore for 92.7 WOBM, 94.3ThePoint, 105.7TheHawk and Beach Radio 104.1. Today Vin joins us to talk about his experience in college radio and how it helped him gain the industry skills and to have fun every day in professional radio.

Students are on the forefront of a changing workplace amidst the covid-19 pandemic. As a part of our special reporting on how students’ perspectives on their career aspirations during the coronavirus, I am joined today with Robert Kick, a senior TCNJ nursing student and member of the TCNJ Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Robert discusses the student organization’s responsibility in the community, as well as insight he has learned through a real life application working in his clinicals as well as serving on his hometown EMT squad and fire house

Throughout this semester, virtual learning has made forming new friendships and connections on campus much more difficult. The Commuter Collegiate Union (CCU) at The College of New Jersey has been planning a virtual event that would allow people to have multiple, casual short interactions with diverse students across multiple organizations. 

The event is planned for Tuesday November 17th @ 8:30 p.m. Lauren Wright, a sophomore TCNJ student and vice president of CCU joined me to discuss the event as a casual way to provide students with the opportunity to connect and find new methods of improving social interactions in a remote semester.

During an unconventional football season in 2020, some NJ private high schools, such as Mater Dei in Middletown, are considering new strategies to strengthen their team, including collecting analytics through new softwares, such as Edjvarsity. Something banned in the NCAA and pro teams, analytics question traditional forms of collecting player stats by creating a play from multiple options of outputs. Originally reported from The New York Times, Sports Reporter Ben Sphigel joins us to further discuss this change in the sports world and the response from the community.

Darrel Frater, a 2015 TCNJ School of Business alumni and current student in the MBA program, joins us today to discuss his career in entrepreneurship, including, TheClub, an app he has recently developed as a platform for DJs and musicians during the pandemic to host parties and events. With over 1,000 streamers and several influencers and endorsements, the app has widely grown throughout the community, with the influence based in his background from PromSocial, a prom planning app for teens. In a sponsored interview with The School of Business, we also discuss the current MBA program and combining lessons from the classroom into the industry.

Six students from TCNJ recently published a research paper on covid news coverage in a double-volume issue in the Spanish journal, Trípodos. The following students involved in this publication include: Suchir Govindarajan, Alexis Marta, James Sparano, Miranda Crowley, Abigail Lewis, Radhika Purandane, and Dr. Pollack, professor of communications and public health; all with varying backgrounds from communication, public health, and english. They originally published the first article on nationwide coverage of federal government responses to the coronavirus crisis, finding that the media manifests a disappointment in that the national government has not robustly protected the public. With most members present, we were able to discuss the research process, the career application into the real world, as well as working forward in their second installment of the project.

Nadia Vaeh IMA Vox Pop Winner and trailblazer for creating conscious pop, Nadia Vaeh has recently released a single, “Anxiety,” in order to build awareness about important mental health concerns as well as deliver music that connects deeply to an emotional state. Through her new release this fall, just in time for “spooky season,” Nadia Vaeh joins us today to discuss some of her other songs, influences in creating music, as well as connecting with fans and inspirations during the coronavirus. You can check out more of her music and background on her website.