Anne Kankaanranta teaches a number of courses on corporate and organizational communication both at BSc and MSc-level. She is also the vice director of the MSc program in Corporate Communication.

As justifications the Award Committee states the following: 

"Senior University Lecturer Anne Kankaanranta, Ph.D. (Linguistics), M.Sc. (Econ. & Bus. Admin.), is a skilled and committed teacher, who is valued and respected by students. She has worked especially diligently in teaching communications that will support the professional development of all students at the School of Business and as a master's thesis supervisor, where she has produced excellent results. Anne Kankaanranta is a pioneer in developing student-centred teaching at Aalto. Her teaching is also based on her own research, the results of which she has published regularly in peer-reviewed international journals. Anne Kankaanranta has had an essential role carrying responsibility for the Business Communication program".

The award for the best theoretical paper was given to Säde Rytkönen (MSc graduate in 2012) & Leena Louhiala-Salminen on “Sell the Sizzle” - Communicating environmental, social, and governance issues to institutional investors.

First year PhD Candidate Mark Badham received an award for ‘highly commended theoretical paper’ based on his paper titled Communicating through the ‘Love Lens’: Using communication to progress stakeholders through relationship-based phases.

In addition, Kirsti Iivonen (PhD Candidate) received one of the Acorn ™ Speaker Commendations for engaging, leading and inspiring presentations with her presentation on Rhetorical Construction of Narcissist CSR Orientation: How the American Beverage Industry Makes Sense of the Consumer Health Issue.

In the Department of Communication, Järventie-Thesleff's teaching and research will mainly focus on organizational and management communication, in the context of media management and corporate branding in particular. As a newly appointed professor, she will also join the management team of the department.

The year 2011 is marked with an increased attention towards Open Educational Practices (OEP) in the context of higher education both in EU and globally. On the 14^th of November UNESCO held a Joint Policy Forum on Mainstreaming OEP at its headquarters in Paris. Finland was represented by Tapio Koskinen (Aalto Pro) and Alona Senishch-Chmilevska (Department of Communication).

Alona shares hew experience of attending the forum: “Being someone who uses Open Educational Resources in classroom and wonders what resources for learning will look like in decades to come, I felt privileged being invited to participate in such meaningful event which aimed at establishing Guidelines for Mainstreaming Open Educational Resources (OER) in Higher Education. The forum brought together educational professionals, organizational leaders and policy makers from around the world to examine the results of Open Educational Quality Initiative (OPAL) and Content Creation Excellence through Dialogue in Education (CONCEDE) projects that promote innovation and quality in higher education through open Educational practices (OEP).

Being a registered member of OPAL (http://www.oer-quality.org/) Aalto is seen as a supporter of Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. One of the “grand” samples of OER at Aalto is Le-Mill project run by TAIK since 2006 (http://lemill.net/). On a smaller scale, Open Educational Practices exist as individual initiatives at different schools and departments of Aalto and it is vital to bring these practices together if Aalto aims to succeed in mainstreaming OEP at institutional level.”

 Next year, UNESCO hosts the biggest OER event of the decade – 2012 World Open Educational Resources Congress in Paris that will also celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the 2002 UNESCO Forum that created the term OER. UNESCO welcomes all those interested to attend the congress in June, 20-22, UNESCO HQ, Paris, France. For more information please contact alona.senishch@aalto.fi.

More in Finnish here.

In addition to three IBC MSc graduates – Marja Näsi, Anni Ruotsalainen and Teemu Salmi -   two DSc graduates – Salla Huttunen and Christa Uusi-Rauva - received their diplomas. Now, the total number of IBC MSc graduates amounts to 31 and that of DSc graduates to 5.

From the left: Teemu Salmi, Anni Ruotsalainen, Marja Näsi (and Teemu’s daughter)

From the left:  Heidi Hirsto, Christa Uusi-Rauva, Salla Huttunen (and Christa’s son)

To add to our excitement, we were very happy to congratulate two graduates from our ‘sister program’, Talouselämän viestintä: Heidi Hirsto received her DSc diploma and Ella Lillqvist her MSc diploma.

To celebrate this special event, we enjoyed cake and sparkling wine at the Department lounge.

Ella Lillqvist

Congratulations!