COMMTRACKS
Student-Driven Media in the Ifill College
By: Caroline Smith
Student-driven media is a big part of the Simmons Communications Department. The following four media outlets for student voices provide a look into the Ifill College and the COMM-unity at large.
The Simmons Voice
The Simmons Voice is our campus’ newspaper, covering Simmons- and Boston-related news, sports, health and science, and more. Founded in 1922, The Voice continues to publish content for the Simmons community. For a number of years, it was published both digitally and in print. As of 2018, the paper became fully digital, but the staff is working to bring the print version back to the Simmons community.
Simmons Radio: The Shark
Simmons Radio: The Shark is the University’s internet radio station that features a wide variety of programming including several genres of music, regular student-run shows, and specialty show collaborations with other academic departments, faculty and staff members. The Shark is part of the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System and an affiliate of the IBS/Backbone Student Radio Network. The station and the students who have brought it have received a number of awards for their outstanding work.
Sidelines
Sidelines, published twice a year, is a student literary magazine within the Ifill College that features students’ short stories, poems, photos, and graphic art. The magazine, which is curated, designed, and edited by a student board within the college, allows Simmons students from all disciplines to showcase their creative work for the community to enjoy.
CommTracks
CommTracks, which you are reading now, is an annual publication that was initiated in 2005 as a magazine by, for and about the graduating comm majors and minors. Over the years since its first publication in 2006, the magazine’s 15 issues highlight the happenings of the department and the ways students and faculty collaborate on communications efforts in and out of the classroom. The magazine is a multiple-time winner of gold medals in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association publication competition.
Made by the 2020 senior communication students at Simmons University