Summer at the Circus offers Grady students insight into portfolio school

Students from a variety of colleges participated in the Summer at the Circus, including 15 students from Grady College which hosts the program.

While some Grady College students spend their summers studying abroad or working on internships, others spend their time at the circus…Summer at the Circus, that is. Summer at the Circus is an intense eight-week program offering college students an inside experience of Creative Circus, a prestigious portfolio school in Atlanta. 

This unique program is offered through the Department of Advertising and Public Relations and just completed its fourth summer of educating students in a variety of disciplines from the University of Georgia and other colleges including the University of Texas, Emory University and Dartmouth College, to name a few. A total of 22 students participated in this experiential learning program, and Grady college students can earn up to six hours of credit for taking the program.

Read more about this year's Summer at the Circus program.
*Author: Sarah Freeman

AdPR Faculty Spotlight: Dr. James Hamilton

Associate Professor Dr. Hamilton

Dr. James Hamilton is currently an Associate Professor of Advertising in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Grady College.

What's your educational background?

I have a BA (1983) as a double major in English and Communications (plus nearly enough classes in History for a triple major), and an MA (1986) in Communications, both from the University of Washington in Seattle.

My PhD (1993) is in Mass Communications from the University of Iowa.

What were you doing before you came to Grady?

Immediately prior to coming to Grady, for five years (1995-1999) I was an Assistant Professor of Mass Communication at SUNY Geneseo in western New York State.

Prior to that and after completing my PhD, I lived in Baltimore for 2-1/2 years, working as a Training Coordinator for a top-50 law firm based in Baltimore. At that time it had installed a new Windows-based LAN to connect its offices in Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. It needed someone to put together and deliver a training program to its partners, associates and staff.

After completing my MA and prior starting my PhD, I worked for 2-1/2 years as a Copywriter for Corporate Communications at a (then) small computer startup company named Microsoft.

What drew you to become a professor at Grady College?

The quality of the programs. And, by moving down South, I could throw away my rusty snow shovels.

What classes (if any) are you teaching this semester?

I'm teaching ADPR3100, "Principles of Advertising" (I've taught this off and on since Spring 2000) and JRMC7960, "Foundations of Advertising," which is a ramped-up intro designed for first-year M.A. students.

What kinds of classes have you taught, and what have been your favorite ones to teach?

Much of my undergraduate teaching focuses on the creative end of the process. I try to give students in ADPR3100 a good overall sense of it, and really enjoy diving deeply into it with small groups of students in ADPR3110, "Advertising Message Strategy" and ADPR3520, "Graphic Communication."

I'm also really excited to have been in with Dr. Kirsten Strausbaugh on the first year of the "Summer at the Circus" intense creative bootcamp collaboration between AdPR and the Creative Circus portfolio school in Atlanta. This will quickly become the prime stop for UGA students serious about a career in creative.

What is your research focus, if applicable? (Any projects you can share with us at this time?)

My general focus is on communication as a general social process (as opposed to one engaged in only by those working in media industries). Right now I'm investigating the role and place of non-professional users in the activities of media industries.

One project I'm working on with Advertising major Chelsea Harvey has to do with the productive role of fans in the early years of the motion-picture industry in helping generate movie ideas and scripts, provide early feedback on movies, and participate in various promotions. The second project is similar, but dealing with the emergence of the television industry. I'm working on it with Ph.D. student Steve McCreery.

What are you most looking forward to this semester?

Actually, I've been looking forward to the point at which we've already reached. Once the classes are up and students have settled in, that's when the learning gets easier.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

What spare time? :) I stay active--cycling mostly, but also working out at Ramsey. I also spend time working on our little fixer-upper cabin on a north branch of Lake Hartwell.

What do you love about UGA/Athens area?

You're close to everything, but far enough away from it, too.

What advice would you give to your students?

Study widely--don't over-specialize. Especially for students interested in creative, you absolutely never know where a good idea is going to come from. That course in classics may very well provide the insight later on for a key campaign in which you'll shine.

And always have a few irons in the fire. If one direction doesn't seem to be working out, you have others to pursue if not simply to make a living at.

Anything else you'd like to share with us?

There's nothing like working with the great colleagues and students we have here.

Grady AdPR partners with Creative Circus for course program

Grady AdPR and the Creative Circus are partnering to offer "Summer at the Circus," an innovative academic summer program that offers creative-track classes emphasizing creative strategy, writing, art direction, advanced web design, game development and more. Creative Circus, a top-level, two-year creativity school in Atlanta, offers portfolio development in areas such as advertising, interactive development, photography and design.

"This program is a creativity boot camp," said Dr. Tom Reichert, AdPR Department Head. "We are very excited to partner with one of the best portfolio schools in the country to offer students a better creative understanding and skill set."

Courses will be taught and administered by UGA faculty. Creative Circus professionals-in-residence will offer several specialized modules during the courses, so that students get hands-on mentoring and feedback from front-line professionals.

"I can't tell you how excited we in the department are about this opportunity. It will put the creative experience that Grady undergraduate advertising majors get on par with the few schools in the nation (such as Texas at Austin) who have a specified creative track," said Dr. Kirsten Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, senior lecturer in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations. "It will give our students an absolutely immersive summer experience that should provide a taste of the portfolio school environment, mindset and work ethic. And they'll bring their learning back to the classroom at Grady and to their peers. It's a win-win situation all around."

Grady students who take Summer Circus classes can earn up to six credit hours of upper-level UGA academic credit. Financial aid and HOPE may apply for qualified students. Students will take classes in Atlanta, and will have access to housing at Emory University or Georgia Tech.

The deadline to apply for the Summer at the Circus program is March 31. More details can be found here.