Jennifer Whitney is a senior in the Park School of Communications studying Integrated Marketing Communications at Ithaca College.  After Ithaca College she wants to become a convention planner.  She discovered her interest for planning while attending Mohawk Valley Community College where she was the Vice President of the Campus Activities Board.  This role gave her experience in event selection based on target attendees, managing budgets, event promotion, and planning and working events.  Jennifer was especially inspired by the planners of the UNFCCC (United Nations Federation of Climate Control Convention) which she attended in November of 2005 through Ithaca College.   The convention took place at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal and brought together representatives, advocates, and the media from around the world for the purpose of communication, deliberation and decision making. 

            Her studies at the Park School, although not directly focused on event planning, are significant to the planning process.  With major foci in both advertising and public relations, both can be used when tailoring events to a target group of attendees and event promotion. 

            In order to land a job as a meeting planner after upon graduation, Jennifer plans to join the PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) in order to immerse herself with the industry and its current trends. 

            Jennifer has interned at three different companies during her college career.  This past summer, she worked at Trainor & Associates, a small Upstate New York advertising agency, as the advertising intern.  She managed incoming projects, proofed ad copy, compiled research on prospective clients and media options, and created client proposals.  The summer before, Jennifer interned at Alesia & Crewell Architects as the marketing intern and at Clear Channel Radio as the sales assistant. 

At Alesia & Crewell she managed the direct mail campaign, created and instated a new efficient storage system for new and completed projects, and gathered information for proposals.  As the sales assistant at Clear Channel, Jennifer not only worked for the sales department, but also for the Traffic Department and the Business Office.  Between the three she received, recorded, and submitted clients’ spot orders and instructions, and participated in client brainstorming meetings.  These combined experiences have enabled Jennifer to gain insight into the media, advertising and marketing businesses.

            Before transferring to Ithaca College, Jennifer spent time attending SUNY Institute of Technology and Mohawk Valley Community College.  These first two years of her college career were spent refining her interests and defining her career goals.  She spent her first semester of post-secondary education at SUNY Institute of Technology where she studied computer science.  During her free time she acted as President of the Women’s Organization of Excellence on campus and as Senior Freshman Senator in Student Government.

            After a semester at SUNY Institute of Technology, she decided her interests were not in the field of computer science and transferred to Mohawk Valley Community College and majored in Liberal Arts, where she aimed to find her true interests.  Her classes were generally focused in the business field.  Outside the classroom Jennifer ran the Campus Activities Board, joined Phi Theta Kappa as the Vice President of Fellowship, and acted as a student representative on the Academic Appeals Committee.  In appreciation for her work and dedication, she was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence by the State University of New York.

            When Jennifer is not in school, she enjoys practicing the Korean martial art of Tae Kwon Do and racing sailboats.