• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2011-09-16_Vol77_No11_06

September 16th, 2011 WESTERN CAROLINIAN Page 6 FRAT UPR ES Before They Were Educators: Assistant Professor Gabe Nucci Tyler Auffhammer, Staff Writer The Olympic Games, the Super Bowl, the World Series. What do all of these have in common? Theyre all events that Assistant Pro- fessor of Broadcasting Gabe Nucci has contributed to and thrived in. Born in snowy Roches- ter, N.Y., Nucci spent most of his childhood in sunny Miami, Fla. An amateur musician from a young age, he aspired to work in the re- cording studio with profes- sional musicians. However, after entering Florida State University and then trans- ferring to the University of * Maryland, Nucci found that his dream would have to be _ * tweaked due to a shortage of good degree programs. For that reason, he started studying radio in college, eventually transferring into the television industry and completing: freelance work with the Canadian Broad- casting Company in Wash- ington, D.C. during the first Gulf War. Nucci would grad- uate with a degree equiva- lent to a B.A. in ou cations. Fresh out of college, Ni: _ cei went to work for a com- pany that did translations of -. training materials and ran the . ' video department byhimself, _ requiring him to oversee the video production of foreign _Janguage training programs. He also found that he would grow as a person in the com- pany. 4 At-one: point I actu- ally got to hire and manage someone in the video de- ' partment but then had to fire them soon after, said Nucci, - yeealling the bittersweet ex- perience. It was a learning - experience in both manage- naa task priority. I was P Se anne = a beeeerere Pr erorergr eaveee Par err ree ergerdy ~ PROTO SUBMITTED _ Nucci takes a aria fom working to pose in nfm len a pair + of hie teams silos uP at hes 2006 Winter 2 Olympiesh held i in Turin, nly see R Sees e eee sqeeeree PEPE DPF PEP SED SPSS HEED OE MER OT PPO bE Fa Py PPP DSRS O EO REDA ERR ERR I PE FO CUP PLDES RESIS RDA PRE DEERE DOLD PLO PIPED PEM OPE MELD SORE OPE RPL PALO PLOFMPSO PARED EDEL SD in a small company, leading _ my own department, and. was accountable to every- . one around me. I learned so much. After leaving the small time company, Nucci be- came involved with a high- er-end video editing facility in the early 90s, which was _ driven by big time produc- tions like The Discovery Channel and National Geo- - graphic. He would continue working as an editor up until 2000, after over a decade of national credits and achieve- _ ments, when he decided to retire from-editing. T was simply burned out. _ [had edited from the small time to the big time and had done it all. I was ready for a - change, reminisces Nucci, calling back on old memo- . Ties. Nucci moved to Boston, where he met his wife and worked local television, cov- ering mostly local sports but also larger broadcasts such as games of the Boston Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins. _Nuccis prowess as a video editor, technical man- ager, and television produc- tion engineer made -him a sought after commodity and was soon working on broad- casts of the Indianapolis 500, the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, and most recently the 2010 World ae in South Africa. While he may have missed the simplicity of documentaries, Nucci found comfort in the big-time broadcasts. ae On the contrasting na- _ tures of documentary work and live television: ey I was dette a ve 1 would edit a piece and think it was complete, but then more changes were called for. To contrast that, live tele- vision is done when the night _ ends and no further changes are made. I liked that about live television. Nucci often found him- self crawling under a truck in the rain during the Olympics or the Super Bowl and think back to eating sushi in a dry room editing some film for a documentary. However, su- shi never made up for the ex- periences that those big-time broadcasts brought him. I got to see the world and meet many people who ince and every U.S. state ex- cept Arkansas and Hawaii. I have also travelled to Latin | America, Hee South AE rica; the Middle East, Chi- na, said Nucci, lacking the. amount of fingers to count the countries he has visited. Despite the glitz and glamour of a_ broadcast- ing career that brought him many challenges, a mar- riage, and an Emmy for his work with NBC at the 2008 Olympics, Nucci heard the _classroom calling. T had worked with Har- ris Broadcast. and Sony Broadcast in the early 90s as a trainer for the new equip- ment, so I did have some teaching experiences, said Nucci, speaking about his arrival to Western in 2010. Inow call my friends. [have:. _ Visited every Canadian prov-. Finding icomfort in. the mountains after many years in Boston was a relief for _ Nucci, who is also still learn- ing the art of teaching in a university setting. _ I am always up front with students to let them know that I am still learning as a teacher. I have always kept my nose to grindstone and have had patience for my long-term goals. The same goes for my teaching career, admits Nucci, who is still young in the teaching profession but remains a vet- eran in the world of broad- casting. T still freelance in the summer with my friends, That gives me good insight into the industry so that I can keep my students up-to-date about internships and experi- ence opportunities. Some of Nuccis students are currently applying with NBC to work on the 2012 Summer Olympics in Lon- don, If chosen, the students will be working on tasks such as logging sporting events or editing video for the Internet: In his relatively short time at Western, Nucci has found joy seeing his stu- - dents thrive in the industry he once made a career out of. Some of the best times Ive had so far is seeing my former students succeed and accomplish their goals, said Nucci, imparting that he is always open to speak with his students and that making himself available to them is very important to him. - While Nucci may have decided that rolling around in the mud under produc- tion trucks is no longer his thing, he has decided that prepping the new breed of video editors and produc- tion engineers for a competi- . tive and thrilling industry like television is important ' to him. The possibility of a few Emmy invitations from former students doesnt hurt either. : PRPRLISRELOOESEREAESDLDID LUV A)EUEI TING DEUDEED CO ASLGNSTSNED PUREE IELEST EE UPTLEDSL SUCH eTEO ELAR TL/LE ETD OE PLDIZ EAT HCALGIDGOREIRL IFLR EPEARIAAELLES CRI DOLERESBREDTFE(EORETELUPRA DRED CAERUSEEALDEEIRCHTT YAO 4 bne (babs POREDEEA PY 9 12 hed GCE AGSEALAG ok PAE Y a Rap Fo PAIES TAN LE sFobHT OOMPED 4EHH=>D abs are sfx toh PROPR LOOP PUR CD A OAOOAEE ICD Od ce dee SEVP AG cIOA CULM SAE Ea Reso Sd Le Spe LDU SPILL dion saelld aps Mbane Nau RT salapeteaeh itoaviasab shop Sauchay ol abedaplhsads aphacb nis psadnoatsane ko ltaiesoe ; Western Carolina Universitys campus prepared should disaster strike Tle duthammer, StaffWriter Septeniber is Nation- al Preparedness Month, and, in honor of the recent trembles felt from the 5.9 magnitude earthquake that rocked Virginia and the East Coast, The Western Carolin- ian thought it wise to delve into the world of emergency preparedness on the Western Carolina University campus. WCU Emergency Man- ager Tammi Hudson sat down with the newspaper to help unweave the intricate web of services provided by - the emergency management staff to both old and new stu- dents alike. Tf I could give stu- . derits one recommendation, it would be to sign up for CatTracker, said Hudson, referring to the system that allows students, faculty, staff _and parents to receive a mes- sage in case of emergency via e-mail, cell phone or ' home phone. While the CatIracker team is making a push for mandatory registration for all incoming students, only a fourth of the 9,000 plus cur- ~ rently enrolled students have registered for the emergency - notification system online. | Tt gives my team a way to contact students in the _ event that something hap- pens that could threaten their lives or simply their daily routine, said Hudson, who is an avid fan of the system. Hudson believes _ that -* bringing awareness to what has already happened can prevent further accidents from occurring. There are too many times where things can be prevented if students would ~ be aware of the tools at their disposal, said Hudson. The Western Carolina sive website offers many tools that students can access to become more awate of -the emergency preparedness on campus. Along with CatTracker, an emergency preparedness checklist and a video entitled Shots Fired.On Campus, are offered. The wideo is re- quired to be shown to all fac- ulty and staff and will pre- _ pare students as well in the event that an active shooter situation arises. Along with online mate- rial, the campus itself has many safeguards against potentially dangerous situ-. ations.Every building on - campus has a generator at- tached to it to run fire alarm systems and other life safety systems and the four im- portant buildings (Campus Police Department, Critical Facility, Data Center, and the Steam Building) have entire generator systems that pow- er them, For students with meal plans, the campus dining hall maintains food supplies that will last the university for nearly a week in the event of power failure, but lacks full generator power. The emergency prepared- ness staff also maintains an All Hazards Emergency Operations Plan that brings together members of the entire community (Campus _ EMS and University Police, along with EMS, Fire, and Police from Jackson County) to develop a series of plans that prepare the community for events such as commu- nicable disease outbreak to natural weather disasters, or more commonly, power out- ages. All in all, over sixty emergency _ preparedness plans have been developed and continue to be improved . and drilled. Despite the overwhelm- ing amount of preparedness on campus, the university was not always that pre- pared. Only in the past few years have many campuses: moved from updating their preparedness plans five years to what we have now, which has us drilling our plans and updating them all the time, said Hudson, adding that the repetition makes it easier to respond when an actual situation presents itself. Western is now on a con- tinuous preparedness cycle that involves preparedness, response, recovery, and fi- nally mitigation. This cycle x allows the emergency team to develop, assess, and im- prove their plans and make * sure that they are well pre- pared for any and all situa- tions. The influx of awareness for preparedness was im- pacted by events like Hur- ricane Katrina and the Vir- ginia Tech shootings, both of which had lasting impacts on the way universities man- age their readiness, stressed Hudson. Western Carolina Uni- versity also maintains a plan that involves two teams that are involved in determining whether classes will be de- layed or canceled because of an impending storm or natu- ral disaster, The chancellor and his executive counsel make up the Policy Group and then there is the Emergency Re- sponse Team who: reviews weather reports and provide information to the policy group so that they can make the final decision about de- laying or cancelling class. Dont get your hopes up every | for a delay or cancellation though. - Its rare that we . cancel or delay classes because in this region of the state we dont receive many hurri- canes, tornadoes, or terrible winter storms. The beginning of spring classes last year were de- ~ layed because of a winter storm, but Hudson cannot foresee if the same will hap- _ pen again this year. Every storm is different, each with its own makeup and projection. .We stay alert, we watch the weather, and we keep the chancellor and his staff informed, said Hudson. To find out more informa- tion about staying prepared or to sign up for CatTracker, visit the Emergency Pre- paredness page on WCUs website. FAMILY (J PRACTICE OUR FAMILY CARING FOR YOUR FAMILY HOURS OF OPERATION | SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 430 FISHER CREEK ROAD SYLVA, NORTH CAROLINA 28779 MONDAY - FRIDAY 7:45AM ~ 5:00PM CLOSED J "828-586-4012 WWW.SYLVAFAMILYPRACTICEPA.COM

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2011-09-16
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 12
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2011-09-16_Vol77_No11
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library