EC Communication Department’s Business Partner of the Year is

Charles Powell, Producer of Faith Café

(FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga.)—Because of his commitment to helping students at Emmanuel College, the communication faculty at EC proudly name Charles Powell as this year’s EC Communication Department Business Partner of the Year.

Faculty members Jennifer Benson and Paula Dixon presented the honor to Powell at a small gathering of colleagues and students at LifeSprings Resources in Franklin Springs Monday, July 28. EC’s four-year communication degree began 10 years ago, and this is the first time this award is presented.

"It is very important to me to help students gain valuable knowledge in a professional environment replete with real world experience,” Powell says. “Many people helped me when I was young; I'm just paying back a debt I owe to others."

During the 2007-08 school year, Powell gave communication students the opportunity to intern in television production and was key in helping establish an endowed scholarship for EC’s communication internship students. He also introduced communication students to people like Wendy Vinson, Senior Vice President of Marketing at INSP, The Inspirational Ministries, based in Charlotte, N.C.; Grant Barbre, President of NorthStar Studios in Nashville, Tenn.; and Steve Gilreath, Director of the Dove Awards.

Powell is Director of Marketing at LifeSprings Resources and Producer of Faith Café, a popular Christian talk show featured on i-Lifetv, Inspirational Life Television. Faith Café is known for addressing real life problems and featuring guests like Jars of Clay, Bebo Norman, and Mandisa.

Because creating Faith Café involves much television production, Powell invited 7 communication students from Emmanuel to intern with him in March at NorthStar Studios, the largest full service television and video production facility in Nashville. While on the set of Faith Café, Gilreath, Director of Faith Café, invited two local EC students, Crystal Cleveland and Sara Ray, to work with him again in April at the 39^th GMA Dove Awards at the Grande Ole Opry, which was televised live on the Gospel Music Channel.

“Working on the set of Faith Café and the Dove Awards proved to be my perfect bridge from college into the professional world,” says Ray. “The experience I gained helped me to make contacts in the communication industry and finalize a direction for my future career.” Ray first interned with LifeSprings in 2007 and was hired part time that summer. She graduated in May and is now full time there as an assistant curriculum editor.

“We deeply appreciate Charles and his continuous encouragement to us and our students,” says Paula Dixon, last year’s Communication Department Chair. “He understands the importance of students working in their career fields while they’re earning their degrees instead of waiting to work in the industry after graduation. Charles believes in it strongly enough to give them those opportunities, and that helps our students learn in ways no classroom anywhere can allow.”

Students who seek the B.A. or B.S. degrees in communication at Emmanuel choose a concentration in multimedia or corporate. Their motto is “impacting the world for Christ through media.” For more information about EC’s communication internship program, contact Paula Dixon at pdixon@ec.edu or (706) 245-7226.

Link to Award Letter

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Written by Paula Dixon

Photos by Communication Junior Lauren Peeples