Hussman School faculty members receive Thrive@Carolina grant for spoken word competition proposal

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Associate Professor Terence Oliver and Professor of the Practice Dana McMahan are part of a team that has received a Thrive@Carolina Innovation and Collaboration Grant for its proposal to begin a spoken word competition.

The proposal requested $24,500 to support the project's personnel, marketing, assessment, awards, production and studio space.

Students in the competition will create short performances that address the subject of thriving at the University. The team aims to inspire and motivate students to achieve academic success through creative media and cross-collaboration.

"The talented faculty at the School of Media and Journalism know how to turn ideas into media experiences," said Susan King, dean of the Hussman School. "Both Terence Oliver and Dana McMahan are innovators who thrive in the culture of collaboration that is the special DNA of UNC. I believe our media professors working with professors in other disciplines can accelerate student understanding and success in a way that is exponentially powerful."

Selected applicants will win a cash award and their performances — with the help of Ruel W. Tyson Jr. Distinguished Professor of Humanities Mark Katz — will be paired with student-composed instrumental tracks, filmed by graduate students in the Hussman School and animated by Oliver.

This initiative will involve two courses, MUSC 156: Beat Making Lab and MUSC 157: Rap Lab.

Anna Spelman, a first-year master's student and Park Fellow in the Hussman School, will head the team of graduate students filming the videos. She has a background in photography and is studying video journalism at UNC.

Oliver will then animate the pieces by creating graphics and written words to the videos. These videos will be disseminated across campus and beyond by McMahan, who will work to market and advertise the final product, dispersing it over social media and student peer-to-peer networks to promote student success and thriving.

"We will produce powerful positive motion graphic-infused videos that will leverage strategic and innovative hooks of the spoken word," said Oliver. "This is an exciting project that will build upon and support the concept of thriving in the educational pursuit from the first day students hit campus, through graduation and beyond. Through a creative celebration of achievement, we will build a of sense of community that is positive and hinges on the word 'success.' This project has great promise to meet students where they are while encouraging mentoring and create a supportive community of learners. We are excited about the potential.​"

Thrive@Carolina was created by UNC following a 21st Century Vision Committee on Access and Completion proposal in July 2013 for a University-wide effort to foster a culture of success and completion for all students. The initiative was created to focus on students' strengths instead of their deficiencies when working toward retention. It also aims to improve the environment and chances for success of first-generation students and transfer students.

Chancellor Carol Folt announced the initiative in November 2015 and, in January 2016, its working group began issuing calls for proposals for projects that encourage collaboration across administrative boundaries.