Business Communication alum Lauren Shapiro and her husband Matthew Mittleman recently drew the attention of the local Beth El congregation for their creation of a new line of travel-worthy baby cups, "CollapseAndGo." From the Beth El congregation's blog:
"For Lauren and Matt, Jewish communal values helped inspire CollapseAndGo. Among those values is Tikkun Olam (literally, 'repairing the world'), which encourages Jews to improve the human condition within the Jewish community and beyond. With CollapseAndGo, Shapiro and Mittleman hope to alleviate some of the anxieties of modern parenthood.
The goal of CollapseAndGo is to make everyday baby products more functional, helping parents lead a simpler life. 'If we can make parents’ lives a little less stressful, we have done our job,' said Shapiro.
For that reason, Shapiro and Mittleman designed the CollapseAndGo bottles to grow with young children. From a bottle nipple to a sippy cup top, CollapseAndGo bottles have interchangeable lids, which prevents parents from needing to buy new cups and bottles. Additionally, the handle attachment makes it easy for older babies to hold as they learn and develop.
According to the pair, the patented Collapsabottle and Collapsacup collapse to the size of a hockey puck and are made of food-grade silicone to prevent cracking and staining, are tip-proof, dishwasher-safe and stack one on top of another for storage.
Read more about the entrepreneurs here. (Photo from Bethelbalto.com)
Professor Verni (left in the photo) who (along with colleague Inna Alesina) was awarded an "Arts Alive" grant that will enable the two professors to examine the interactive connection between advertising and art as they teach during the fall semester. The two teachers collaborated earlier this year as they split teaching duties in a new client-centered course called "The Mill."
Dr. Bell McManus was one of only a handful of faculty members who received a Faculty Research Grant for the upcoming year. Her work will focus on "Communication Ethics and the Social World." Dr. Bell McManus' research into the area of Communication Ethics has produced "Communication Ethics Literacy: Dialogue and Difference," which she co-authored with Ronald C. Arnett (2017, Kendall Hunt Publishing).
Just about two months into her thru hike of the Appalachian Trail, Business Communication alumni Mackenzie Wieder wrote a post about one of the biggest challenges she has faced thus far: exhaustion. After one particularly daunting 19-mile day, Mackenzie found herself thinking about giving up, but instead, she collapsed into a 12-hour sleep in her tent and woke up feeling more optimistic. She writes: