College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

For the second consecutive year, a team of University of Dayton students advised by Greg Kennedy won an Honorable Mention Emmy Award in the long form non-fiction category. This year's film, The Modern Entrepreneur: The Divided Path to Higher Education, was honored with a student production Emmy by the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Produced during the 2016-17 academic year, the film focused on the role of higher education in fostering modern entrepreneurship. The 11 undergraduate communication majors who made up the crew included writers Alyssa Argentine ‘17, Daniel Cone, Kaitlyn Kraus ‘17, Samantha Miller ‘17, Samuel Rita, Eli Thiele, Mark Vanderslice, editor Dave Jay, camera operator Logan Lambert, audio engineer Cameron Franko and color technician Alyssa Suter.

Last year, another team of University students won for documentary filmmaking for the film All You Can Eat, which looked at food access in the Dayton region. That crew included producers Joseph Buffo ‘16, Rachel Keck ‘16, Kerri Marks ‘16, Rhiannon Matuszak ‘16, Gregory C. Rotuno ‘16.

Department of communication media specialist Greg Kennedy advised both groups. Kennedy has been in the department since 2014 and teaches a variety of courses with a focus on media and the advancing technology of the business world. He also owns his own commercial film company called The Trinity Film Group, where he writes, directs and produces video projects.

“I want the students to feel challenged,” Kennedy said. “I don’t want it to just be a piece of cake, and they fall into the filmmaking process and everything just works out, and you really don’t know what you did right. I want the students to have challenges where they get to a location and learn to set up lights, and audio, and ask, ‘how do we film this?’”

Preproduction for The Modern Entrepreneur: The Divided Path to Higher Education happened during the 2016 fall semester. Final filming and editing occurred during the the 2017 spring semester.

“Greg continues to demonstrate how valuable an addition he has been to the department and to UD,” said Joe Valenzano, associate professor and department of communication chair. “He has helped us make enormous advances in the media production program through his work with students — specifically his mentorship of two groups of students who developed Honorable Mention Emmy Awards for documentaries they filmed under his tutelage. Greg is a model department and University citizen and someone who exhibits the values of UD through his teaching and activities on campus. We are truly blessed to have him.”

The Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences offers student production awards every year in recognition of student creative excellence in media. The student production award competition received entries from colleges, universities and high schools across the chapter’s four-state region. Industry professionals judged and critiqued the entries, which showcased a wide range of talent from these future broadcasters and media producers. This year’s awards were presented August 5 during the chapter’s annual Emmy Awards Gala in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

To watch the University students’ films, please see the related videos below.

• - Aaron Alford, communication assistant, College of Arts and Sciences