Getting to Know U: TJA President Janine Worrell Coleman

Here's the inaugural installment of a new regular Blog feature, "Getting to Know U." TJA Board Members work and play hard. Each week or so, a different Board Member will share a few fun details about herself. First up ... President Janine Worrell Coleman.

Janine Worrell Coleman

HOMETOWN? Montclair, Virginia

WHAT YEAR DID YOU GRADUATE AND WHAT WAS YOUR MAJOR? I graduated in 2003 with a BA in Cinema-Television, Production and a minor in French.

WHAT ARE YOUR CAREER GOALS? I'd like to ultimately own a post-production house or at least have the freedom to set my own schedule while working.

DESCRIBE YOUR BEST USC MEMORY. This one's a hard one, because I had so many good memories, from different parts of my USC career.  I think, though, that it's worth mentioning the first time I kind of did a double-take to myself and thought, "USC is probably the best decision I've ever made because this school is clearly awesome." It was the time that I attended a murder-mystery party in my dorm's courtyard freshman year.  It was a lot of fun and of course I lost the game miserably, but seeing something like that set up in our little courtyard really hit home the reality of my decision to attend USC- the fact that I was on my own, interesting things were happening around me all the time and I could choose to do anything I wanted.

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE LA HOT SPOT? We have a local bar aptly named "Little Bar" and my friends and I go to Saturday Night Trivia under the fear-inspiring name of "I Just Want Some Pants." 

DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? I have a step-kitty named Stradivarius. He lives in my building with new TJA member Janel King and I have ample visitation rights.

FINISH THIS STATEMENT: I'D RATHER BE ... reading science fiction books!  

TJA'S MOTTO IS FRIENDSHIP, LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP ... WHICH OF THESE DO YOU RELATE TO THE BEST? I guess this year, it'd be Leadership, as I'm the President. I enjoy planning and organizing things, and after planning my wedding for over a year, it's nice to do something else for a change!  I think TJA definitely gives you the opportunity to experience all three facets of our motto and hopefully I've done my best.

Innovate at USC!

Innovation at USC - February 2011
The latest in innovation news from the University of Southern California
prepared by the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation

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TEDxUSC: APPLY FOR AN INVITATION
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We are now accepting applications for TEDxUSC 2011. APPLY TODAY! Mark your calendars; TEDxUSC 2011 will take place on April 12, 2011, in Bovard Auditorium at USC.

In 2009, The University of Southern California was host to the first-ever TEDx event.  Since then, the TEDx movement has spurred a surge of people around the world to host their own independently organized TEDx events in over 70 countries, in more than 37 languages, 1,600 venues, with over 150,000 attendees! Click here to learn more about TEDxUSC 2011.

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INNOVATOR OPPORTUNITIES
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Below is a selection of grants and other opportunities for USC innovators. To find more programs, check out the USC Stevens website: http://stevens.usc.edu/be_opportunities.php

WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES INNOVATION TOURNAMENT 2011 – DEADLINE MARCH 7, 2011
Are you an innovator? Do you—or could you—have an idea for a solution that can be implemented in businesses worldwide? If so, you have the opportunity, as an individual or as part of a team, to participate in a global contest, obtain publicity for your solution and are a cash prize winner of up to $20,000. Wipro Technologies, a software services firm headquartered in Bangalore, India, and Knowledge@Wharton, the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania, have teamed up for the second year to conduct a global “Innovation Tournament.”

POPTECH IS NOW ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2011 SOCIAL INNOVATION FELLOWSHIP – DEADLINE MARCH 31, 2011
The Social Innovation Fellows Program serves visionary change agents who are incubating high-potential solutions to pressing national, regional and global challenges. Our program is designed to provide a powerful toolkit for creating real and lasting impact. Fellows also gain increased visibility, access to a year-round community of peers in many sectors and a world-class network of experts and supporters. The program is highly selective, with 10 to 20 Social Innovation Fellows selected annually from among hundreds of nominations.

SUMMIT on SCIENCE, ENTERTAINMENT, and EDUCATIOIN – THE GRANT - DEADLINE MAY 16, 2011
The Science & Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences is seeking proposals to establish collaborative partnerships among scientists, entertainment industry professionals, and educators to develop educational products or services that effectively leverage the resources of the entertainment community (including film, television, and video games) to improve educational outcomes in science classrooms. A total of $225,000, generously provided by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, will support the development of one or two innovative ideas. This document outlines the proposal guidelines. The guidelines are also available at http://seenas.ning.com.

SUMMER@HIGHLAND 2011 – DEADLINE APRIL 7, 2011
In its fourth year, Summer@Highland is an entrepreneurship program designed to provide university-affiliated startups and first-time entrepreneurs with the environment and resources for advancing their startup initiative/company to the next level. Highland receives no equity stake in exchange for participating in the core program and teams are under no obligation to Highland after the summer. Selected teams will receive a financial stipend and complimentary work space in either our Highland Entrepreneur Center in Lexington, Massachusetts or California (planning for location in SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco). The teams will have access to Highland investment professionals, mentors from our founder & CEO community along with further resources for injecting real-world advice, insight and perspectives into the entrepreneurial and company-building process.

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INNVOVATION EVENTS
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For more innovation event, check out the USC Stevens' events calendar: http://stevens.usc.edu/calendar.php

FEBRUARY 24, 2001: LUNCH AND LEARN: SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING (SRI)
GS Sustain is a unique global equity strategy that brings together ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria, broad industry analysis and return on capital to identify long-term investment opportunities.

FEBRUARY 24, 2011: TECH COAST ANGELS FAST PITCH COMPETITION
CEOs of Southern California-based companies who are looking for a great venue to present their startup to a panel of investors should Apply Today. The Fast Pitch winner will be invited to present at a Tech Coast Angels screening session and will be considered for funding.

FEBRUARY 28, 2011: POWER UNDER PRESSURE: DIGITAL CAPITALISM AND THE FINANCIAL-ECONOMIC CRISIS
A talk by Dan Schiller, professor of library and information science and professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

TJA Women are Everywhere!

February has been a busy month for the members of TJA!  Let us share a couple events that you might have seen us:

The Visions and Voices event.  Social Chair Jaymie mentioned it at our January meeting, and as a result, several TJA members attended the day-long event, complete with catering from the always delicious Papa Johns!  

All of us tried different workshops, from swing dancing, to playing piano, to making collages with computers!  We met a lot of people, both current students and past alumni.  The event went swimmingly, with lots of planning and support from Visions and Voices, an initiative put forth by President Nikias himself, back when he was Provost.

Our February meeting.  February is always a special month, as we get to invite our Scholarship Recipients from the past year to visit us!  This year, we had an unprecedented five girls attend our meeting, all of whom were exceptional ladies of USC and helped remind us why we do what we do!

Here's Dawn posing with some of her celebrated recipients.  The girls spoke up at the meeting to tell us about themselves, and most added a sweet note to our Babble Box thanking us for our efforts!  Such a great group!

The Trojan Family Reception.  President Nikias and his wife, Nikki, as the new heads of USC, have decided to do a several-city tour, one of which stopping at LA Live in Downtown LA.  It was beyond gratifying to see a third of our membership attend this wonderful event.  We even saw past members there too!

TJA past and present members: Jenny, Carina, Sherry, Ashley, Nancy, Randyn, Dawn, Stephanie and Janine.

Both Randyn and Janine had to attend the event early, as Presidents of their respective groups, to participate in photos with President Nikias.  As a result, they got to sit up front to watch the President give a very rousing speech to a group of 700 people!  See it for yourself:

As part of the reception, there was a virtual bounty of food and drink made available to us.  And it was delicious!  It was a Mediterranean spread in honour of the President- olives, goat cheese, pita bread, sun-dried tomatoes, shrimp and octopus salad, bacon-wrapped dates (delicious!) and goat cheese fritters!

 Randyn enjoying the selection.

New member Ashley grabs some food!

Nancy and her cute husband loving the dessert bar.

And one cannot wax poetic enough about the dessert bar- mousses, tarts, creme brulees, cakes- it was heaven.  All in all, we had a wonderful time celebrating the President and the start of his legacy at USC!

The USC vs. Oregon basketball game.  Social Chair Jaymie came through again with a wonderful event for us TJA members to attend!  Most of us met at McKays before the game to have some dinner and drinks.  President-Elect Ashley joined us for a bit before heading off to the game to work!  The rest of us- Jaymie, Janine, Kendra, Jodie, Katie, Logielyn, Carina, Ashley Z. and her mother- grabbed good seats in the stadium.

We got great seats!

We won!  Cue obligatory Fight Song!

There you have it!  TJA girls ARE everywhere!  Stay tuned for exciting Benefit news coming and we hope to see all of you at our March meeting!  Fight on!

The Paper Read

January 30th, a group of us spent our rainy sunny afternoon gathered around the fireplace (literally!) reading through this year's scholarship applications.  It is always exciting to learn about what students are currently studying and the activities they are involved in both on and off campus.  After many hours and thoughtful consideration we narrowed the field down to our ten finalists.  Each of these ladies have been invited to interview with us.

That is where YOU come into the picture.  The interviews will be conducted on campus in the Watt Room of the Ronald Tutor Campus Center on Tuesday and Wednesday, February 22nd & 23rd.  Mark you calendars and save the dates.  We want as many members as possible to assist in this process.  It is your opportunity to meet the ladies and help determine who we award scholarships to for the 2011-2012 academic year.