Robert Nowland runs for director of publicity

Robert Nowland is running for director of publicity in the Associated Students' elections. A Seattle native, Nowland has attended Santa Monica College since the summer of 2004, and has found any attempts at familiarizing himself with the campus to be a daunting experience.

"Until I get to know a place and the people, I tend to be a little withdrawn, and I want the information to sort of be there for me," he said. Unfortunately that was not what he encountered when he tried to acquaint himself with SMC clubs and activities.

Most of the information he says that he found on the web, at the A.S., or anywhere else at SMC, was either outdated by at least a semester and sometimes as much as a year or simply nonexistent. Even the info that he did find, such as the descriptions of the clubs on the web, he felt were inadequate, and often did not provide students with e-mail addresses to find out more details.

"Basically it's just a matter of, here's a one sentence thing about this club, this is when we meet, show up anytime you want to," he said. "That's fine for a lot of people who feel comfortable doing that, but for somebody who is a little hesitant to show up at a club meeting where they don't know anybody, and they know that probably other people have already met...sometimes it can be intimidating."

Nowland thought it would be "really nice" if the clubs had links that enable students to get a better feel for what they are looking at, and also e-mail addresses to talk to someone in charge who could introduce students into their group more comfortably. He wants a chance to give students easy access to information in an updated and timely manner.

He feels qualified to become publicity director because of his part time work for UCLA Extension in the creative services and marketing department. There he assists with ads, brochures, the main catalog, and web projects. So he believes he can take on publicity for SMC with ease. "For me it's second nature to do this job," he said.