Over the summer, a group of English and Rhetoric and Professional Writing professors launched the first–ever campus podcast.
The podcast, “redpod,” is SVSU’s initial attempt to break into the podcasting world and establish a new medium to communicate certain happenings occurring across campus.
Hosted by English Lecturer Tim Kenyon, with help from RPW Professors Scott Kowalewski and William Williamson, “redpod” is setting its sights on being an asset for students and faculty.
“Redpod” will be hosted on and can be downloaded from various different formats such as SoundCloud and iTunes.
Kenyon, being the one who originally spearheaded starting the podcast, sits as the lone host and producer of the show.
“I had originally conceived the idea of ‘redpod’ probably about a year ago,” Kenyon said. “I started thinking of different ways to gather information and get it out there for the students in a different way.”
Kenyon hopes that the podcast can become a direct line between faculty and students, conveying information about areas of campus living that students may not entirely be aware about.
The podcast launched this summer with its first episode dedicated to learning about the Writing Center. The inaugural episode featured an interview with two tutors from the Writing Center, Alexa Foor and Josh Atkins.
At first glance into the angle that “redpod” is taking, the first episode discussed the various different ways in which the Writing Center benefits students as well as the importance of building up adequate writing skills as students go through the college experience.
With interest in new forms of electronic media growing amongst college-aged students, one aspect of “redpod” is to keep up with the changing technology and make connections with students campus-wide.
The next few episodes of the podcast are already in the works and will feature specific individuals representing different areas of campus that newer students may be completely unaware of.
The second episode will feature information about what students can get out of Career Services. Kenyon said this was a way to “advertise” all of the great resources available to students on campus.
The podcast will be hosting topics that explore some of the extracurricular activities on campus as well.
Later on, Kenyon hopes to get in touch with some employees from the Ryder Center to explore all of the different intramural sports that students can join. It is these types of highlights that “redpod” is hoping to deliver in an attempt to educate students on the richness that campus living has to offer.
Even though the first few episodes will focus more on campus life, Kenyon stresses that down the line, there will be episodes more focused on connecting with other faculty members across campus, as opposed to students, in addition to regular content.
“We really (want) to get involved with the content creation that will help both faculty and students,” Kenyon said. “(We want to) reach out and kind of bridge that gap in both the educational settings, the classroom and also general campus life.”
