Manie Robinson ’06 is a busy guy.<\/p>\n
One of South Carolina\u2019s most recognizable faces in sports journalism, he works full time as a columnist covering Clemson University for The Greenville News despite living in Columbia. His wife, Parthenia (Luke) Robinson \u201907, is pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina. His own quest to earn a Master of Fine Arts in documentary production from Wake Forest University requires him to drive to Winston-Salem, North Carolina twice a week, and he\u2019s writing a book \u2013 all while being a father to two small children.<\/p>\n
But when Cynthia King, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of communication studies, asked if Robinson would be willing to spend five weeks on campus this winter as the department\u2019s Professional-in-Residence, there was no question what his answer would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Furman calls, it\u2019s hard to say no,\u201d he says with a chuckle. It was even easier to say yes when King explained what her new program was all about. A survey had indicated students wanted a stronger connection between classroom and career, which caught King\u2019s attention and put the idea wheel in motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, rather than just career days, what if we embedded a professional in some of our classes,\u201d King says. \u201cWe wanted something a little more substantive than someone getting up there and telling war stories. It\u2019s important to connect classroom learning to skills and knowledge that they\u2019re going to need in the professional world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patrick Kerley \u201904, managing director at global public relations and communications firm Burson-Marsteller, was the program\u2019s first Professional-in-Residence in the fall. Robinson arrived on campus Feb. 2 and has since been a fixture in Furman Hall teaching classes, sharing his work, offering advice and answering questions about a rapidly changing field.<\/p>\n
One thing he has stressed above all else is the importance of loving what you do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not recruiting people into journalism, but I have championed how important it is. They need to find what they think is that important,\u201d Robinson says. \u201cThat\u2019s what is great about Furman \u2013 you don\u2019t really come in saying, \u2018I\u2019m going here, and four years later I\u2019m going to have this job.\u2019 You go here to find a vocation \u2013 something that you enjoy and that makes you feel like you\u2019re contributing to society, your community and your career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson was fortunate in that he found his passion before he even arrived on campus. He interned at his South Carolina hometown paper, the Anderson Independent-Mail, the summer after he graduated from high school and worked as a freelance writer covering high school games throughout his time at Furman. But as the journalism industry has struggled and digital media has overwhelmed print, Robinson knows the future is uncertain.<\/p>\n
Adapt to survive is how he puts it, which is part of the reason for branching into documentary film making. Being willing to accept change and explore new things is the key to a future in communications.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about being able to figure out how to be passionate and tell stories in different mediums,\u201d he says. \u201cJournalism is kind of a natural progression for a communications major, but there are so many other successful professionals out there who can open up their minds to different possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson says interacting with students who are sitting in the very same classrooms where he earned his communications studies degree has reminded him why he did it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m surprised I haven\u2019t gotten more questions about the formula for getting a job. They\u2019ve been more interested in the process of storytelling, and that\u2019s really moving,\u201d he says. \u201cThey\u2019re not just wanting to get the assignment done; they\u2019re actually interested in this stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great for me, and kind of rejuvenating, to see them engaged in this material, in this space, and thinking about these things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Examples of Robinson\u2019s work can be seen on his website<\/a>. For more information on the Furman Communication Studies department, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Manie Robinson ’06 is a busy guy. One of South Carolina\u2019s most recognizable faces in sports journalism, he works full time as a columnist covering Clemson University for The Greenville […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":7284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,26,63,51,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-administrative","category-career-services","category-communication-studies","category-corporate-and-professional-development"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}