Murphy Reporter Fall 2013
University of Minnesota
School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Readying Researchers Professor Dan Wackman with Ph.D. student Jiyoung Han
Faculty form research partnerships with graduate students and groom the next generation of mass communication scholars.
Murphy Reporter Fall 2013
DIRECTOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Albert Tims EDITOR
Sarah Howard DESIGN
Sarah Howard, Nicholas Khow CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Chelsea Reynolds COPY EDITOR
Letta Page
PHOTOGRAPHY
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Sue Couling, Sarah Howard, Bill Kelley, Mark Vancleave ALUMNI RECORDS
Mary Achartz, Julie Golias PRINTING
Bolger Printing 2013–2014 SJMC Alumni Society Board Members Chad Haldeman, president Mary Tan, vice president Amy Nelson, secretary Carolyn Ahlstrom Heather Arntson Matt Burgess Jim Hammerand Victoria Hoshal John Lutter Megan Matthews
FEATURES
08 Passing It On
Students granted Ph.D.s in the past 20 years make a mark on mass communication research
10 Readying Researchers
SJMC graduate students work with — not for — faculty to enhance scholarship.
15 David Lord Honored with
DEPARTMENTS 04 HEADLINES Faculty Member Debuts Book 4
Changes to SJMC Alumni Society Board 4 Faculty Receives Fellowship for Women’s
Mentorship Program Kick-off 5 Murphy Reporter Wins Awards 5 Alumni Spotlight: K. “Vish” Viswanath 6 Student Work Impacts Community 7
Ralph D. Casey Award
Northwest newspaper president receives The Murphy Reporter is published semiannually by the University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication for alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends of the school.
honor named for SJMC’s first director.
16 School’s Out for Summer
Six undergraduate students share experiences from summer 2013.
This publication is available in alternative formats upon request. Direct requests to Sarah Howard at 612-625-8095 or showard@umn.edu.
20 EVENTS
Reddit Co-Founder Visits U of MN 20 Washington Post Editor Shares
Investigative Journalism Advice 20
SJMC Welcomes Murrow Fellows 21 MJC Sponsors Partner Events 22 Fall Forum Talks Advertising Trends 23
Send questions or comments to murphrep@umn.edu or Murphy Reporter, 111 Murphy Hall, 206 SE Church St., Minneapolis, MN 55455 The University of Minnesota shall provide equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
Health Research 5
See Change 24 28th Annual Silha Lecture 26
28 STUDENT NEWS CORRECTION: In the Spring 2013 issue in “Honoring a Legend,” Theodore L. Glasser was described inaccurately. Glasser was the associate director at the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law and is now a professor of communication at Stanford University.
30 FACULTY NEWS 32 ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES
34 WHY I GIVE 35 IN MEMORIAM
PHOTO BY PETER BECK
Ahead of the Curve The University, College and School have entered a new era of enhanced public accountability for operational efficiency, research impact and student learning outcomes. Visitors to the School’s website will find public accountability information on undergraduate student graduation rates, student evaluation of faculty interaction, satisfaction with instruction, advising services and representative examples of our new graduates’ starting jobs (see it at z.umn.edu/sjmcpublicaccountability). We are working with the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) on an ambitious initiative to establish a range of metrics to track progress over time and to help inform investment in future strengths. These measurement tools encompass faculty scholarship and productivity, graduate student success, undergraduate learning outcomes, achievement of diversity goals, community engagement, curricular focus and the quality of student experience in our major tracks and more. The map on page 8 illustrates where more recent Mass Communication Ph.D. graduates serve on the faculty at Ph.D.granting programs and is a good example of a measure of impact (and success) of our Ph.D. program. Measurement and accountability linked to ACEJMC accreditation requirements positioned us well ahead of many other academic units in CLA, but aren’t of sufficient scope or of the comparative nature likely to satisfy emerging institutional expectations. We support the drive for greater accountability and are fully engaged with the development of new quality indicators
and comparative benchmarks. President Eric Kaler and Provost Karen Hanson have set in motion a comprehensive strategic planning process to help move the University forward. Here are several of the core institutional characteristics they want to define the University of Minnesota and the Twin Cities campus: • nationally prominent undergraduate program • leading research institution • destination for graduate and professional education • center for recognized faculty excellence • nation-leading health care provider • an athletic powerhouse • deep community engagement • world-class philanthropy • and sustained state support President Kaler has charged Provost Hanson to work with faculty, staff and students to develop a bold, inspirational and aspirational strategic plan that articulates a 10-year vision and defines specific action steps for the next three to five years. This plan should yield clearly defined metrics to guide investment decisions and identify both what we will and will not do going forward. It should build on existing strengths, but with a new vision, new goals and clearly defined priorities. The challenge before the School is to make sure we continue to play a central role in the CLA and the University of Minnesota envisioned by President Kaler and Provost
Hanson. This issue of the Murphy Reporter illustrates the high caliber of our faculty and graduate students and the richness of the undergraduate experience in areas where we believe we have strength and will continue to invest. But we’re certainly not content with existing strengths as we work to articulate a new vision, set new goals and clear priorities. We’ve pushed forward with a major redesign both of our undergraduate concentration in strategic communication and our Ph.D. program curriculum and requirements (read about the changes on pages 28 and 29). A major redesign of our journalism curriculum is in progress. We have a faculty group exploring the establishment of a new interdisciplinary center focused on Health and Environment Communication. In addition, we have an innovative five-year B.A./ M.A. in Health Communication approved by the faculty and out for review by the College. I’m encouraged and impressed with the constructive engagement of our faculty and staff and the amazing achievements of both our graduate and undergraduate students. I believe you’ll see why when you read this issue of the award-winning Murphy Reporter. Best,
Albert R. Tims Director, School of Journalism & Mass Communication Murphy Reporter
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HEADLINES Dell’Orto’s New Book Explores Journalistic Practices at Borders Assistant professor Giovanna Dell’Orto has published “Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates on Immigration in the U.S. and the E.U.” The book, published by Routledge, examines how journalistic practices shape public debates over undocumented immigration at both the U.S.-Mexico border and at Mediterranean borders. Dell’Orto’s interest in border immigration manifested in a class. In 2012, Dell’Orto received a grant from the University of Minnesota Center for German and European Studies to co-teach a graduate seminar about the topic with Georgia Tech political science professor Vicki Birchfield, who serves as co-editor of the book. This class then inspired a conference, which took place in April 2012. Dell’Orto and Birchfield invited reporters, human rights advocates and academic researchers from across the United States and Europe to Minnesota. Every person who spoke at the conference was invited to contribute a chapter to the book. From The Guardian and The Associated Press in Rome to the Arizona Republic and the Houston Chronicle, reporters give their perspectives on the issue. Academic perspectives from scholars and graduate students round out the content. “It’s great to have this comparative perspective and to bring the dialogue to both the professionals and the scholars,” Dell’Orto said. The book was published as part of Routledge’s series Studies in Global Information, Politics and Society and is available at routledge.com/books. In 2013, Dell’Orto also published “American Journalism and International Relations: Foreign Correspondence from the Early Republic to the Digital Era,” available from Cambridge University Press. –Sarah Howard PHOTO BY PETER BECK
SJMC Alumni Society Board Members Welcomes New Members In fall 2013, the School of Journalism & Mass Communication Alumni Society Board welcomed four new members who represent areas of journalism and strategic communication that are on the rise and in need of representation on the board. “These new members bring an amazing energy to our board,” said board president Chad Haldeman. “We’re excited to have them and are excited to add members from across the areas of journalism and strategic communication who have proven to be leaders in their fields.”
of members’ terms, new jobs and relocations. Ending their terms in spring 2013 were Sarah Bauer, Nina Bouphasavanh, Demian Brink, Daniel Gore and Sarah Howard. Members serve two, three-year terms. The SJMC Alumni Society Board is responsible for SJMC’s mentor program, which pairs students with professionals in the Twin Cities, as well as the Award of Excellence and Above the Fold awards, presented each year at Spring Showcase. For more information on the Alumni Board and bios of all board members, visit z.umn.edu/sjmcalumniboard –S.H.
The board had a number of openings due to the end
Carolyn Ahlstrom (B.A., ’06) Senior strategist, Colle + McVoy
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Heather Arntson (B.A., ’05; M.A., ’09) Jim Hammerand (B.A., ’07) Senior digital marketing specialist, Digital editor, General Mills Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal
Megan Matthews (B.A., ’09) Producer, KSTP-TV
HEADLINES
Nagler Receives Fellowship To Engage In Women’s Health Research In January 2014, assistant professor Rebekah Nagler will become the College of Liberal Arts’ first faculty member selected as a Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH, pronounced “Birch”) scholar by the Deborah E. Powell Center for Women’s Health at the University of Minnesota. The program is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Research on Women’s Health. The program fosters mentored research career development for junior faculty engaged in interdisciplinary women’s health or sex differences research. As a BIRCWH Scholar, Nagler will receive up to three years of support to complete her research project, titled “Exposure to Cancer Screening Media Controversy and its Influence on Underserved Women’s Perceptions, Screening Behaviors and Clinical Interactions.”
Part of the program includes Nagler’s interaction with faculty mentors. Nagler’s mentors are: John Finnegan (Ph.D., ’85), dean of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and a professor in the division of epidemiology and community health; Alexander Rothman, associate dean of graduate programs and professor in the department of psychology; SJMC associate professor Marco Yzer and K. (Vish) Vishwanath (Ph.D., ’90), a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. –S.H. PHOTO BY PETER BECK
Nearly 50 SJMC juniors and seniors and their mentors took part in the SJMC Alumni Society Board Mentor Program kick-off on Nov. 16, 2013 at the McNamara Alumni Center. The program — celebrating its 30th year — pairs students with a Twin Cities professional, who provides guidance to students about career trajectory and life post-graduation. The kick-off breakfast serves as a way for the pairs to meet for the first time and plan goals for the upcoming year. The program is the largest and longestrunning mentor program at the University of Minnesota. For more, including testimonials and Left: SJMC students Kali Dingman and Gina O’Connor. Right: Lexi Dietrich with her mentor advice from former mentors and mentees, visit Alec Schimke of the Minnesota Swarm. z.umn.edu/sjmcmentorprogram. –S.H.
PHOTOS BY MARK VANCLEAVE
Mentorship Program Kicks Off 30th Season
Murphy Reporter Wins 5 Honors at Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association Annual Awards Howard from the spring 2013 issue and single page/spread design for “Grieving Online” by Nicholas Khow in the spring 2013 issue. The publication was awarded bronze for the profile article “Reporting the World” by Sarah Howard in the spring 2013 issue. More than 700 entries were submitted to the MMPA Awards. Previously the Murphy Reporter has been honored in writing and design categories, winning three awards in 2012 and one award in 2009. To read the articles, visit z.umn.edu/ mmpa2013.
PHOTO BY SUE COULING
On Nov. 7, 2013 at the Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association’s (MMPA) annual gala, the Murphy Reporter was honored with five awards for both editorial and design categories. The magazine, which competes in the Education Under 30,000 category, won gold for the feature article “The Importance of Mentoring” by Sarah Howard from the fall 2012 issue and single page/spread design for “Elliston Fund Hits $1 Million in Giving” by Nicholas Khow and Sarah Howard from the spring 2013 issue. The magazine won silver for the feature article “Students in the Newsroom” by Sarah
Murphy Reporter editor Sarah Howard with the magazine’s two gold awards at the MMPA gala.
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HEADLINES
Alumni Spotlight: K. “Vish” Viswanath A man with many titles, K. “Vish” Viswanath (M.A., ’86; Ph.D., ’90) is a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, a faculty member with the Center for Community-Based Research at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and faculty director of the health communication core at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC). At the DF/HCC, he also holds roles as the leader of the Cancer Risk and Disparities program and founding director of the DF/HCC’s Enhancing Communications for Health Outcomes Laboratory. In addition, he continues to lead important health communication research and mentor the next generation of health communication scholars. How did you become interested in health communication? I worked on research for a satellite television program in rural India, where you cannot ignore poverty. It’s just the reality. I was trying to understand how communications can really help in addressing poverty and what role it plays in development and social change. When I pursued graduate school, I came to Murphy Hall and ran into some of the foremost thinkers on the subject, which really set me on my path. Who did you study with at SJMC? How did they affect your career? My adviser for my master’s thesis was professor Roy Carter. Then, for my Ph.D., I worked with professor Phil Tichenor. Anybody who knows Prof. Tichenor knows that he’s possibly one of the most rigorous thinkers in the field — his work on knowledge and power is seminal. I also really benefited from working with a group of faculty, including professors Gillmor, Wackman, Schwartz, Dicken-Garcia and Lee. They encouraged me to ask the big questions. Drs. Jerry Kline and John Finnegan helped me orient to health communication research. How has the field of health communication changed since you were in school? When I was in graduate school, health communication was not a very prominent field. But now, more than 20 years later, it has become one of the most active and visible areas in communication. It’s grown due to an increasing recognition in our society that prevention can be a cure to many health ailments and that investing in health is tied to social and economic outcomes. There is a growing recognition that one of the most significant ways to promote health is through communication. What makes health communication so complex? The first problem is the substantial number of people who can’t even access the information. But then if you do have access, how do you navigate the complexity? Socioeconomic status plays a large role. But even if you understand the information, how do you act on it? For a lot of people, they may know that they should do something, but they may not have the resources. For example, you may know that you should eat fruits and vegetables, but what if you cannot afford it? It’s a multifaceted problem. Plus, you see challenges at group levels as well. Some groups can disseminate information while others cannot; for example, the funding of anti-tobacco movements versus tobacco companies. It’s a bit of an irony that in this “Information Age” some people and groups are being left behind when it comes to information access and use. Why is collaboration so necessary in your field? We now know that major problems in individual and population health are complex in origin and require an understanding from a multi-disciplinary perspective. In fact, the causal origins are at the intersection of many factors and social statuses. Solutions too require multi-disciplinary approaches and we inevitably have to engage experts from many fields, such as communication, public health, epidemiology and computer science, among others. Working at the intersection of several disciplines helps you understand these problems and develop solutions. Collaboration is inevitable. What is the value in working with the next generation of scholars? One of the greatest things that SJMC did for me was it instilled the importance of mentoring. From the professors to my classmates, I worked with some remarkable scholars who I consider my mentors. It’s only because of my mentors, who went out of their way to groom me and take that extra step, that I’m where I am today. So I know the value of mentoring and feel that I should give back. But it’s selfish too, because my students, fellows and staff enrich me intellectually. They participate in the process and together we work through intellectual puzzles. They are an investment in the future. We are producing some of the best minds who are focusing on addressing major public health issues. –S.H. 6 Murphy Reporter FALL 2013
HEADLINES
Student Work Impacts Community MinnPost Series Explores Subprime Lending In 2012, award-winning, Minneapolis-based news organization MinnPost received a grant from the Northwest Area Foundation, which supports efforts to reduce poverty across an eight-state region. The purpose of the grant? To allow MinnPost to partner with SJMC and produce an investigative report into subprime and “predatory” lending in Minnesota. In fall 2012, 11 student journalists enrolled in In-depth Reporting dug into the payday lending industry along with MinnPost reporter Sharon Schmickle and SJMC faculty member Chris Ison. Students poured through court documents, loan agreements and subprime mortgage documents. They used computer-assisted reporting methods to analyze data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Minnesota Department of Commerce to produce an interactive map showing the location of lending shops and found that many are in low income areas. The students spoke with a number of community members affected by predatory practices. The reporting resulted in a 15-story series published over several months. A project of this scope demands “tenacity and flexibility, as well as the highest journalistic skills and standards,” said Schmickle, who worked with the students to produce and edit the stories. “These students proved they were up to that challenge by every measure.” The students uncovered new information, including a loophole in state law that Read the stories at z.umn.edu/lendingtrap allowed many lenders to dodge state restrictions. They also discovered evidence that many of those most adversely affected by the high interest rates were minorities. The series “documented a serious problem in our community, reporting both on the human toll of these lending practices and the public-policy questions they raise,” said MinnPost managing editor Roger Buoen. “The Lending Trap series is a great example of how MinnPost’s partnership with the journalism school has helped us dig deeper into issues that our readers and the community care about.” Three students from the class subsequently were offered internships to continue working with MinnPost: Kevin Burbach, Jeff Hargarten and Sarah Rose Miller.
Odyssey in Red Wing
Minnesota Timberwolves Campaign Debuts
In May session 2013, nine students enrolled in Odyssey in Photojournalism: an iPad Portrait of a Minnesota Town descended on Red Wing, Minn. to create an in-depth look at the community by photographing and interviewing residents. The students’ work resulted in a magazine and iPad portfolios of their work.
A campaign for the Minnesota Timberwolves created in the fall 2012 Strategic Communication Case Analysis class at SJMC has made its debut on the small screen. The campaign, dubbed “Wolves Are Coming,” was teased throughout the 2013 preseason and features a wolf prowling a snowy forest representing Minnesota’s cold winters. On Oct. 30, 2013, the full television spots, which include elements of the students’ campaign, began airing. The project is part of FOX’s Creative University, which brings real-world business challenges into the classroom environment to provide educational opportunities. Through this, FOX Sports North (FSN) partnered with SJMC to create a powerful marketing campaign that will promote the team on FSN. Students conducted market and branding research while creating the campaigns and even attended games to get fan and team insights. In late 2012, four campaign concepts were presented to the clients: FOX and FOX Sports North. One campaign was chosen and throughout 2013, the campaign became a commercial concept for the Timberwolves. “[This experience] allowed us to get real experience and get a lot more hands-on,” said SJMC student Kelsey Batkiewicz, who graduated in December 2012 but continued to work on the project. “You can only learn so much in the classroom setting, but we were really able to work with others and real-life clients.” The commercial was shot in August 2013 with the students on-location. “It’s great to see the entire procedure from step one all the way to the finished project,” said journalism and graphic design double-major Kathryn Blong. The partnership continued in fall 2013. Students enrolled in Account Planning worked with FSN and the Minnesota Wild to develop a communication campaign for Hockey Day in Minnesota for 2015. –S.H.
See the magazine and a behind-the-scenes video at sjmc.umn.edu/studentwork/photojournalism.html
View the commercial + behind-the-scenes video at z.umn.edu/sjmctimberwolves
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Passing It On In the past 20 years, SJMC has granted more than 100 Ph.D. degrees. Graduates go on to work at research-intensive institutions and in the mass communication industry. And many teach in Ph.D.-granting programs, working with the next generation of scholars. Here, we take a look at where these graduates are making their mark.
Doug Blanks Hindman (1994), Associate Professor Elizabeth Blanks Hindman (1994), Associate Professor Washington State University College of Communication
Dhavan Shah (1999) Maier-Bascom Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Giovanna Dell’Orto (2004), Assistant Professor Jennifer Williams (2009), Assistant Professor University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication Rebecca Swenson (2012), Assistant Professor University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resources
David Domke (1996), Chair and Professor, University of Washington Department of Communication Sujatha Sosale (1998) Associate Professor, University of Iowa School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Linda Adler-Kassner (1995) Professor and Director of Writing Program, University of California - Santa Barbara
Qimei Chen (2001), Shidler Distinguished Professor and Chair of Marketing Department, University of Hawai’i at Manoa Shidler College of Business Ilia Rodriguez (1999), Associate Professor Department of Communication & Journalism University of New Mexico
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David Perlmutter (1996), Dean and Professor, Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication
Patrick Meirick (2002), Associate Professor University of Oklahoma Department of Communication Julie Jones (2010), Associate Professor University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Communication
Yong Volz (2006) Associate Professor, University of Missouri School of Journalism
Erik Ugland (2003), Associate Professor Nathan Gilkerson (2012), Assistant Professor Marquette University Diederich College of Communication
Jennifer Moore (2012) Assistant Professor, University of Maine Department of Communication and Journalism
Brittany Duff (2009), Assistant Professor Sela Sar (2006), Associate Professor John Wirtz (2009), Assistant Professor University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign College of Media
Impact is felt around the world. Currently, dozens of our graduates are teaching internationally. Here, we look at those teaching in Ph.D.-granting programs who graduated in the past 20 years. Mark Cenite (2001) Associate Chair, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Wee Kim Wee School of Community and Information
George Anghelcev (2008) Assistant Professor, Penn State University College of Communications
Mohan Dutta (2001) Professor and Department Head, National University of Singapore Department of Communications and New Media Anthony (Ying Him) Fung (1998) Professor and Director, The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Journalism and Communication
Xiaoli Nan (2005) Associate Professor, University of Maryland Department of Communication
Zixue Tai (2004) Associate Professor, University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications
Yoori Hwang (2009) Assistant Professor, Myongji University, South Korea Department of Digital Media Hongwon Park (1999) Professor Pusan National University, South Korea Department of Communication Wonsun Shin (2010), Assistant Professor Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Wee Kim Wee School of Community and Information Taejin Yoon (1997) Professor, Yonsei University, South Korea Graduate School of Communication & Arts
Itai Himelboim (2008) Assistant Professor, University of Georgia Grady College
Fang Wan (2002) Associate Professor, University of Manitoba Asper School of Business
Catherine Luther (1999), Professor and Associate Dean University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Communication and Information
Ann Brill (1994) Professor and Dean School of Journalism and Mass Communication University of Kansas
Editor’s Note: Only those who have graduated in the past 20 years (1993 and sooner) and are teaching in Ph.D.-granting programs are included. This map is accurate as of December 2013.
Information compiled by Sarah Howard Graphic by Nicholas Khow
R R E
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Associate professor Amy Kristin Sanders with M.A./J.D. dual degree student Cassie Batchelder in Sanders’s office.
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By Chelsea Reynolds Photography by Craig Bares
Renowned mass communication scholars have called Murphy Hall home since its doors opened in 1939. For 75 years, faculty members have proposed seminal mass communication theories, directed nationally recognized research facilities and edited some of our field’s most cited academic journals. As instructors, they have advised graduate students who have gone on to teach and conduct research at top-tier universities. The School’s legacy of producing quality researchers continues today. “We’re trying to build up a culture here where research is seen as an essential part of SJMC’s mission,” said assistant professor Seth Lewis. At SJMC, doctoral and master’s students are encouraged to develop their own research philosophies — a rarity in a field where young scholars often follow their advisers’ research agendas. SJMC has shown that student autonomy and diversity in research are top priorities. “We look at the mass communication field in this department from a broader
Student Seeks Out Faculty Research Partner Before Rodrigo Zamith began his doctoral studies, he knew which researchers he wanted to work with. On the top of his list was assistant professor Seth Lewis. Zamith studied Lewis’s faculty biography, personal websites and research publications. By the time he entered Murphy Hall in fall 2011, he was confident his research interests would complement Lewis’s work on journalism, technology and content analysis of big data sets. “I do remember Rodrigo approaching me very early in his first semester,” Lewis said. Since then, the two have partnered on a number of projects. Zamith has thrice served as Lewis’s research assistant for a grant-funded project that investigated the culture surrounding the international grassroots journalism organization Hacks/Hackers. “We tried to understand how this group, which is at the cutting edge of the intersection between journalists and technologists, thinks about journalism,” Zamith said. The two are still analyzing data they gathered over three semesters. Lewis and Zamith have collaborated on five other research projects ranging in scope from analyses of online news innovation contests to a case study on sources used in reporting on the Arab Spring and a methodological recommendation for computational content analysis. All have been published in journals or presented at conferences. So how does this high-production duo keep churning out papers? Zamith credits Lewis for being a conceptual thinker who works well under pressure, and Lewis values Zamith’s prowess with statistical modeling and large data sets. “The best kind of research relationships are synergistic in that the whole is better than the parts,” Lewis said. “[Zamith’s] thinking forces me to be sharper, and I hope that’s true the other way.” “One of the best aspects of my working relationship with Seth is that he went from treating me as a research assistant to a research partner,” Zamith said. “And that’s not a semantic difference.”
Assistant professor Seth Lewis with Ph.D. student Rodrigo Zamith in Lewis’s office.
perspective,” said Jisu Huh, associate professor and director of graduate studies. “You are trained to see the big picture and understand how your research is connected to other related subfields within mass communication and how it contributes.” Faculty view young scholars not only as students of mass communication, but as partners in an ongoing dialogue about research philosophy. “We really think of our graduate students as young colleagues,” Huh said.
Huh’s guidance, the updated graduate programs emphasize intensive social science training by integrating multiple methodological and theoretical techniques. This approach helps prepare young scholars for a competitive academic market that increasingly demands competency in diverse research areas.
CLASSROOM PREPARATION
Previous generations of SJMC graduate students have chosen to focus on either quantitative, statistics-based research or qualitative, humanistic research and learned about mass communication theory in topical seminars related to those fields. The new curricula require each incoming scholar to enroll in a survey course on theories of mass communication as well as courses on quantitative and qualitative methods.
The School’s 2013 graduate student cohort is the first to learn in redesigned master’s and doctoral curricula. Under
It’s a broader, more foundational approach to scholarship than SJMC has taken before — and with good reason.
“The objective is to give students the sense that they’re perfectly able to come up with their own ideas and run with them,” said associate professor Marco Yzer.
Ph.D. student Anna Popkova with assistant professor Giovanna Dell’Orto in Dell’Orto’s office
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“We really think of our graduate students as young colleagues.” “Students cannot be well-rounded scholars without well-rounded methodological training,” Huh said. The augmented degree requirements reflect the School’s dedication to its graduate student body. Many graduate programs in journalism and mass communication employ graduate students as research assistants for ongoing faculty projects. A research assistant’s job may include organizing data or facilitating lab experiments, but the bulk of idea genera-
Partnership Breeds Interactive Classroom Experience and Conference Many SJMC collaborations take the form of research partnerships that produce papers for journals and conferences. Others, like that between assistant professor Giovanna Dell’Orto and doctoral student Anna Popkova, are more creative endeavors. Together, this team developed a graduate seminar, research conference and book based on a single parent project called “Reporting at Southern Borders.” Work began in 2010 when Dell’Orto received a grant from the Center for German and European Studies to form a graduate-level class with a colleague from the Georgia Institute of Technology. The course’s focus was to investigate how journalists report on immigration issues. At the time, Popkova was Dell’Orto’s research assistant. Her duty was to help pick class readings and learning materials, but there was one particular challenge: All materials had to be chosen to accommodate students who Skyped in from a partner classroom at Georgia Tech. “Course development RAs are not common,” Dell’Orto said. “But to me they’re really important. After all, the goal is not only the subject matter, but hopefully you can also learn things that you can use when you’re a faculty member.” Developing an online learning experience offered just that. “It’s really rare that you’d have that experience as a graduate student,” Popkova said. The job didn’t end with syllabus planning. Dell’Orto and Popkova also organized a three-day conference in April 2012 that brought together scholars, human rights practitioners and journalists from the U.S. and Europe to talk about journalism and immigration. Each conference participant was invited to submit a scholarly article about journalism and immigration issues, which — alongside scholarship produced by students in the Reporting at Southern Borders graduate seminar — were collected in a book-length anthology. Because Popkova enrolled in the course she helped design, her study “Liking Stories: Readers’ Comments on Online Immigration Articles for The New York Times and The Guardian,” also appears in Dell’Orto’s book, “Reporting at the Southern Borders: Journalism and Public Debates on Immigration in the U.S. and the EU,” published by Routledge in October 2013.
tion occurs before the student is involved with the research process. This type of guided learning can assist young scholars in bolstering their publishing records, but it can also leave them ill-prepared to generate independent research hypotheses. At SJMC, there is considerably less hand-holding. “We teach how to marry theory with method so grad students can actually build their own research programs,” said Huh. The School hopes its new curricula will help emerging scholars formulate research questions around their broader research interests, which could span boundaries between research traditions. COLLABORATION IS KEY In 2013, a number of research groups organized or reorganized to provide graduate students with opportunities to produce original scholarship. Among them are two Communication Research Groups (CoRe Groups for short), as well as collaborative projects spearheaded by Lewis and assistant professor Brendan Watson. “The overall objective is to bring faculty and students together to talk about research ideas, share in terms of research activities we’re working on and get feedback on ideas that we’re considering,” said Jennifer Ball, assistant professor and co-director of the Advertising and Public Relations CoRe Group. The research groups make a point to put student work in the limelight. Faculty members play a fundamental role in teaching theory and methods during graduate seminars, but they expect students to get their hands dirty with data outside of the classroom. “This is where the learning really happens,” said Rebekah Nagler, assistant professor and co-director of the Health Communication CoRe Group. Yzer, Nagler’s co-director, agrees. “[Faculty] don’t need to be too present,” he said. “We need to support students and step in to provide advice. But the idea is that it’s not just a seminar with a different context.” Faculty leaders hope the SJMC community will think of the research groups as scholarly workshops in which colleagues help each other brainstorm and finesse ideas. An unwritten rule of academic workshops is that no one member’s input has inherent clout. “I don’t try to assert my opinion or my feedback as having any more value than the students’ opinions,” Ball said.
Students of all levels of curricula are invited to participate. Doctoral candidates help less-seasoned students fine-tune their research. “It is beneficial for all involved because we are able to leverage the diverse range of ideas, knowledge and skills from everyone in the group into one project,” said master’s student Susan LoRusso. “For those of us who are newer in the program, it is really an opportunity to learn from those with more experience.”
tions CoRe Group met twice in fall 2013 to establish research goals and pitch research projects. Ball, co-director assistant professor Hyejoon Rim and the five active CoRe student members will spend early 2014 reviewing research proposals. They hope to develop these proposals into conference presentations for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference — a “must attend” event for future scholars — held in Montreal in August 2014.
The Advertising and Public Rela-
The Health Communication CoRe
Two Research Specialities Come Together to Create New Research She’s already landed a job as an attorney at one of the Twin Cities’ leading legal teams, but that doesn’t prevent M.A. and J.D. dual-degree student Cassie Batchelder from pursuing scholarly endeavors. She and her adviser, associate professor Amy Kristin Sanders, are penning a paper about Twitter accounts and trademark protection for a special issue of Communication Law and Policy. Their research examines whether Twitter profiles that parody professional accounts violate certain aspects of the First Amendment. “The law has not evolved in that area yet. Cassie and I are willing to dive in and argue what the law should be,” Sanders said. Although legal research is typically conducted by a single author, Sanders believes firmly in collaboration between veteran and novice scholars and makes a point to coauthor at least one journal article with each of her advisees. “Partnerships help build confidence. It eases young scholars into what it means to be a researcher,” she said. Batchelder initially approached Sanders about her idea this fall, but was unsure whether it was relevant. “You don’t always know if you have a legitimate idea or if it’s not worth pursuing,” Batchelder said. “So I was so excited that Dr. Sanders was excited about this project.” Neither student nor teacher had the topical expertise to develop this project on her own. Batchelder’s interests lie in commercial speech and strategic communication while Sanders focuses on First Amendment theory. Their specialties intersect in this research. “The complementary perspectives are what it’s all about,” Sanders said. It doesn’t hurt that Sanders has an established publishing record. “I know I can rely on her, and that’s what makes me excited about working with her,” Batchelder said.
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Professor Daniel Wackman with Ph.D. student Jiyoung Han in Wackman’s office
Adviser Becomes Mentor Throughout his decades-long tenure, professor Daniel Wackman has served on his fair share of thesis and dissertation committees. His advisees, such as University of WisconsinMadison professor Dhavan Shah, have gone on to be prolific mass communication researchers. Wackman’s track record lets him make quick calls about whether research projects are worthwhile. So when then-master’s student Jiyoung Han approached Wackman with a thesis proposal in fall 2010, he gave her his gut response: “This is really interesting. It’s not gonna work!” he said. But Han had faith in her idea to examine the effects of partisan news coverage on support for President Obama’s jobs bill, and Wackman had faith in Han’s intellect. Despite other faculty members’ warnings, she pursued her project with his wary support. In the ensuing months, Wackman asked Han to run a series of pilot tests to support her hypotheses. He made her defend every step of her research design. “You can’t fall back on bad methods, and that’s where I really pushed her,” Wackman said. “It was really hard and exhausting,” Han said. Wackman’s tough love approach pressed Han to produce quality arguments. In spring 2011, she defended her thesis with glowing reviews from her committee members. “That affirmed everything that I told her,” Wackman said. “This has driven her farther, and now she’s a real strong Ph.D. candidate.” “During that semester he challenged me a lot, but occasionally he told me ‘You’ve grown a lot.’ That makes me feel like I’ve really achieved something,” Han said. She presented her thesis research at the International Communication Association conference in London in June 2013. She and Wackman are currently editing it for publication.
Group met throughout fall semester to discuss research goals. Five student members are currently analyzing data about media and health behaviors provided by the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey. In December, students submitted abstracts based on 14 Murphy Reporter FALL 2013
the dataset to the Kentucky Conference on Health Communication. Watson, Lewis and doctoral students Sarah Cavanah and Rodrigo Zamith presented their paper, “Are Demographics Adequate Controls for Cell Phone-Only
Coverage Bias in Mass Communication Research?” at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research conference in Chicago this past November. Watson currently oversees three master’s students on a project about political advertising and Internet searches during the 2008 presidential election. Student reception of the collaborative research environment has been overwhelmingly positive. “I’m essentially a sort of parasite,” Cavanah said. “I just hope whatever knowledge I suck out of the group I can put back into the wider world of research later on.” Master’s student Jordan Dolbin said faculty and fellow students help her understand her role in the research process. “As a first-year master’s student with zero research experience, it is nice to experience how a research project progresses from start to finish,” she said. Faculty hope students continue to spread the word about how research groups improve their work. “That’s by far the most important aspect of these groups: They create a culture of research,” said Yzer. Chelsea Reynolds is a Ph.D. student at SJMC.
Northwest Newspaper President Receives Casey Award On Oct. 29, 2013, School of Journalism & Mass Communication director Al Tims presented David Lord, former president and CEO of Seattle-based Pioneer News Group, with the Ralph D. Casey/Minnesota Award at the Inland Press Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.
David Lord receives the Casey Award from SJMC director Al Tims
The award, named after SJMC’s first director, honors a person in the newspaper industry who is community-focused and a leader in the field. PHOTO COURTESY BETH NOLAN, INLAND PRESS ASSOCIATION
In 1991, Lord became president and CEO of Pioneer News Group, which owns 25 community newspapers throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah. Lord retired in 2008 but continued to serve as vice chairman until 2012. Today, he serves on the board of directors for Pioneer, started by James Scripps in 1974. Prior to working in newspapers, Lord was a lawyer, serving both as a deputy prosecuting attorney in King County, Wash. and with Ferguson and Burdell, a Seattle law firm that specializes in business litigation. While working at the firm, Lord did work for Pioneer Newspapers and got to know members of the Scripps family well. Lord and the Scripps family gained mutual trust and respect, and when Pioneer was looking for a new president in 1991, the family asked Lord if he would be interested in the position. “David was hesitant,” said Jim Copacino, Lord’s brother-in-law and co-founder and executive creative director of the Seattle advertising agency copacino + fujikado. “He wasn’t sure he had the right background for it, but he ultimately decided to do it because it was a challenge and he was ready for that.”
“David always advocated for a journalist’s ‘right to know’ and stuck up for journalistic principles.”
At Pioneer, Lord flourished. “He was a fabulously wonderful addition,” said Susan Wood, Scripps’ daughter, who served as chairman of Pioneer while David was vice chairman. Under Lord’s leadership, Pioneer enjoyed great success and continued to grow. Lord was a strong leader and made smart strategic decisions for the organization, especially when it came to online content. In 2006, when many newspaper groups were putting all of their content online, Lord knew that this model wouldn’t work for Pioneer. “That was a risky decision at the time,” said Mike Gugliotto, current president and CEO of Pioneer. “But David knew that we couldn’t put everything online and then charge for it on the newsstand. It really has saved us and our readers know what to expect.” In addition to his position at Pioneer, Lord became a leader in the newspaper industry and served on boards at the Associated Press (AP), the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), the American Press Institute (API) and the PAGE Cooperative.
He also served a number of roles at Inland, including president and chairman. Of his work on these boards, Lord is lauded as a leader and is highly respected. “David is extremely intelligent and is not afraid to speak his mind,” said John Snyder, board secretary of the PAGE Cooperative. “When David says something, you often think afterward, ‘I wish I had said that,’” said Gary Pruitt, president and CEO of the AP. Many who have worked with Lord on boards mention his ability to make fact-driven decisions. “He forms an opinion based on facts only, but is also respectful and willing to listen to the other side,” said Mike Reed, CEO of GateHouse Media. “He is always very professional in that he listens to all sides, but still only is persuaded by facts.” Throughout his career, Lord proved to be a strong advocate for community newspapers. “Dave will always be known as a community newspaper executive who won respect of the big company CEOs in our industry,” said Donna Barrett, president and CEO of Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. “He belonged at the table and they knew it. As a result, community newspapers were heard and taken into consideration at the highest levels of organizations such as he NAA and AP. For this, [myself] and other community publishers will be forever grateful.” Lord was also a strong advocate for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. “On the NAA and AP boards, David always advocated for a journalist’s ‘right to know’ and stuck up for journalistic principles,” said Pruitt. Lord is known as not only a leader in the business world, but also as great fun. “We all have a better time when David is in the room,” said Barrett. “He doesn’t try to impress anyone, but he’s very impressive,” said Pruitt. “He’s a really admirable guy.” Murphy Reporter
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SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER
SJMC students embark on life-changing experiences before their senior year. BY SARAH HOWARD
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Dow Jones News Fund Intern and SJMC senior Megan Ryan (left) at the Journal News in White Plains, NY with fellow intern Crystal Jones from Penn State.
OPPOSITE PAGE: PHOTO COURTESY OF MEGAN RYAN. THIS PAGE, LEFT: PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF HARGARTEN. RIGHT: PHOTO COURTESY OF MATT HERBERT
Take long afternoon naps. Catch up on daytime TV. Go shopping with friends. These are all pretty typical activities for college students on their summer break, right? Not for these SJMC students who used their summer vacation to embrace career-changing opportunities. National News Project = Confidence After years at the Minnesota Daily and internships at the Star Tribune and MinnPost, Jeff Hargarten got the chance to have his work showcased on the national level through News21, an annual news project out of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Hargarten was one of 26 students from 12 universities to create “Back Home,” a project that explores the tribulations of post-9/11 veterans. The project began in January 2013 with a weekly video-conferenced seminar led by Leonard Downie Jr., former executive editor of the Washington Post. Work on story ideas and assignments began immediately. Due to his strong background in data journalism, Hargarten was assigned to the four-person Veterans Suicide Team and was tasked with gathering veteran suicide data and stories (see the work at backhome. news21.com/article/suicide). “We dove right into the story and started reporting and gathering data,” Hargarten said. When students arrived in Arizona in May, it was right to work with 10 hours a day spent in the Cronkite School’s newsroom for 10 weeks. “We put so much time into this project,” Hargarten said. Hargarten’s main objective was a comprehensive database of veteran suicides by
state. “This was data that had never been collected at this level,” Hargarten said. Since its publication in early September 2013, the data — scrollable and searchable by state (see it at backhome. news21.com/interactive/suicide-interactive) — has been picked up by reddit and national news organizations. On top of gathering the veteran suicide data, Hargarten traveled to Houston to speak with veterans at Camp Hope, a facility for post-traumatic stress disorder recovery, and to Dallas to speak with mothers of veterans who had committed suicide. “They just break down,” he said of speaking to the mothers. “The sadness you feel for them is just a fraction of the trauma they feel and what they go through every day. Especially as we deal with a lot of numbers and data, talking to people helps humanize it. It helps you remember that every one of these numbers is a story.” Now that Hargarten is back in Minnesota and set to graduate in May, his experience at News21 has provided a new level of confidence to his writing and reporting. “This project definitely put things in perspective,” he said. “Small deadlines used to stress me out and now I know a lot of creative ways to find information and communicate with people and how to find the right people to talk to. I definitely have a new confidence in reporting.” Niche Interest Leads to National Title Matt Herbert has paired his journalism major with an unconventional minor: conservation biology. So the senior, set to graduate in December 2013, had his magazine internship sights set on one place: National Geographic’s Traveler magazine, based in Washington, D.C. “I’ve
always had an interest in the outdoors and conservation, so I’ve always been drawn to National Geographic.” Herbert began looking for summer internships in January 2013 and was drawn to “Nat Geo.” A combination of his minor, his digital and video production skills and his work at the Minnesota Daily made him one of six interns chosen. Herbert found out he got the job in April via email while sitting in Publications Editing class in Murphy Hall. “The world stopped,” he said. “I was so excited but couldn’t show it because I was in class!” Finding out about a summer internship in April meant that Herbert had to move a lot of plans around. “I had other things lined up for the summer, but couldn’t turn down National Geographic.” The South Dakota-native found lastminute housing in Washington, D.C. and headed to the East Coast on an Amtrak train in May. “I had only been to D.C. once before and really had to get my bearings,” he said of his arrival. At the magazine, Herbert was put to work as an editorial research and blogging intern for Intelligent Travel, the magazine’s travel blog. Herbert wrote three blog posts a week, including an in-depth post marking the 125th year of National Geographic that highlighted the biggest travels in the organization’s history. “It was a really fast-paced environment,” Herbert said. “I learned a lot about writing high-quality and legitimate articles quickly. My editor was really patient and showed me how to speed up my writing and condense articles while keeping the writing to a high standard.”
Left: Jeff Hargarten (center) with News21 fellows Greg Cohn (left) and Mauro Whiteman in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s newsroom. Right: Matt Herbert (center) with Dereck and Beverly Joubert, filmmakers, conservationists and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence.
In many cases, Herbert would be writing about places he’d never been. “It was a challenge,” he said of writing about the unknown. “You just really have to find as many sources as possible and do your research. I learned a lot about the research process and making sure facts are correct.” Now a senior, Herbert has brought his experience from Nat Geo back to Murphy Hall. “I have a more clear goal in mind of what I want to do,” he said. “I’m definitely asking more questions in class. It gives you more confidence, to know that you have clips at a national publication and have seen that operation from the inside.” National Internship Leads to New York As a sports reporter at the Minnesota Daily and an intern at the Star Tribune, junior Megan Ryan had a lot of clips and a good start to a sports reporting career. Which is why the Dow Jones News Fund (DJNF) Intern Program was the perfect opportunity for Ryan. “This was my chance to do something different but still keep a sports focus,” she said. But being accepted to the DJNF is no easy feat. Students must pass a test as part of the application to the prestigious program. If accepted, interns are placed at newspapers around the country. In December 2012, Ryan received word that she would be spending the following summer as a sports copy editing intern at The Journal News in White Plains, NY. “I have spent a lot of time doing sports reporting, but never sports copy editing,” Ryan said. “Going into the internship, I was excited to learn both sides of sports writing — the reporting and the editing.” At a workshop in Lincoln, Neb. in late May, Ryan got to meet and train with nine
other DJNF sports copy editing interns from around the country. For 10 days, Ryan dove headfirst into copy editing training. “It was really intense and I definitely learned a lot,” she said of the experience, which also included newspaper editors as guest speakers. “They would teach us everything from ethics to sports reporting to how copy editors can help reporters. It was really helpful. You learn so much you didn’t know you were doing wrong!” On June 1, 2013, Ryan headed to New York to spend the summer in White Plains, about 30 minutes outside of New York City. “There were a lot of unknowns,” Ryan said of arriving in the city, subletting from strangers and going without a car. “But I figured it out. You have to sink or swim. I learned a lot about myself and my ability to be independent.” Working Wednesday through Sunday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., Ryan was on the sports copy desk, editing stories, writing headlines, pulling photos, writing photo captions and cutting stories for space. Ryan was the only intern in the sports team and worked alongside six sports copy editors and eight news editors. The internship left Ryan, who is now assistant sports editor at the Daily, a more confident and well-rounded journalist. “I have improved as a writer and my grammar and AP style skills are so much stronger,” she said. Ryan also gained a stronger understanding of the “macro level” of journalism. “I saw what it takes to get a good story and when the potential for a good story is missed,” she said. “It has allowed me to understand the difference between a front page story and an inside story. It’s important to not miss the big picture.”
Internship Leads to Job Offer During his junior year, Ben Fleischman was paired with Liz Gray, senior strategist at Olson, as his mentor through the SJMC Alumni Society Board’s Mentor Program. Little did he know the pairing would set the direction for his early career. “She took me around Olson and I really got to know a lot of people there,” Fleischman said. So when it came time to apply for Olson’s O-tern program, Fleischman had a leg-up. But that didn’t mean the application was easy. “It was daunting,” Fleischman said of the initial process, which included answering questions via Twitter and creating a one-second video. Fleischman’s application garnered attention and in March he had a phone interview followed by an in-person interview — which was a bit unconventional. “They played pranks on me during the interview,” Fleischman said. “It was to test how you handled yourself and if you could keep your composure. I held my own, and they were impressed.” Fleischman was offered the job in late April. As an O-tern, Fleischman worked on brand strategy, which included a lot of research on brands and companies, as well as working with fellow interns on a Discover Boating campaign for the National Marine Manufacturers Association (see the work at discoverboating.com). “That campaign really helped us own something and immerse ourselves in the whole process,” Fleischman said. “You’re not really selling a product, but a lifestyle, and that was fun.” As the internship progressed, Fleischman was given additional duties and responsibilities and wrote strategy for bigger and bigger clients like Bauer and the Minnesota State Lottery. “You really have to prove yourself once you’re in,” he said. Fleischman quickly took his skills into the classroom. “I used to be a follower, but realistically if you want to be successful, you have to tackle things head on and be more of a leader,” he said. Now that Fleischman has graduated, he’s been offered a full-time position with Olson. And his mentor will continue to be close by. “Liz sits across the hall from me!” Fleischman exclaims. “Her guidance has been so valuable, I’m lucky to have her.” Campaign Leads to NYC Internship
Connor McCarthy (seated, right) with fellow 2013 mcgarrybowen interns.
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To land an internship at mcgarrybowen in New York City, Connor McCarthy created a campaign about himself, starting with a video that opens with University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler. “There’s no
doubt Connor McCarthy is the best applicant for this intern job you’re going to get,” Kaler said. Talk about high endorsement.
For the application, “they have you put together a project that demonstrates why you would be the best fit for the agency,” McCarthy said. McCarthy set out to sell himself, creating videos, as well as a Tumblr titled “McCarthy for Intern.” That gained the attention of mcgarrybowen, whose clients include Disney, United Airlines and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. News came in April that McCarthy had gotten the internship. “I figured this would be a perfect place to [get] a feel for agency life,” McCarthy said. And being located in New York City “gave me a chance to test whether I would want to start my career on the East Coast or . . . find a more local agency and stay in Minnesota.” As an account management intern, McCarthy worked on United Airlines’ “Flyer-Friendly” campaign and was able to work across traditional, digital and social platforms. McCarthy worked with creative and media teams to build creative rotations for in-airport advertisements, as well as some competitive analysis. And his work was made public. McCarthy recalls a moment when he saw that there were multiple stories online about United’s new campaign. “Seeing the work that I did out in public and all around the Internet made [the work] well worth it.” On top of the United campaign, McCarthy worked with eight fellow interns on developing brand campaigns for Canada Dry and 7UP and presented the work to the global chief strategic officer. “We were able to show off all of our hard work from the summer and the client seemed very pleased with the end result,” he said.
“I learned a lot about attention to de-
PHOTO COURTESY OF DEVAN GRIMSRUD
McCarthy, now a junior, had been an international marketing intern for Crayola in the summer of 2012 and would often visit Crayola’s agency mcgarrybowen. There he was encouraged to apply for the agency’s summer internship program.
Devan Grimsrud (fourth from left, back row) with her study abroad group in Granada, Spain.
tail, multi-tasking and patience,” McCarthy said of his internship experience. “I’ve always had employers who stressed that they need someone who is detail oriented. I always took it with a grain of salt until I interned at mcgarrybowen.”
“It was definitely a culture shock,” Grimsrud says of comparing the United States to Spain and Morocco. “In Morocco, the way that women are treated and portrayed is a lot different,” she said. “I’m glad I experienced it, but it can be disturbing.”
Studying Abroad Provides Personal and Cultural Insights
The three-week experience focused on journalism and interviewing skills, but also incorporated art history and the history of Islam and Christianity in Spain. “It was all integrated,” Grimsrud said. “It was great to learn about the history of the place we were and why what we’re studying was a big deal and why it’s changing the world. It made me look at people and the things I see in the U.S. differently.”
For some, studying abroad helps them see the world and learn about different cultures. For others it helps them focus in on a career path. For SJMC junior Devan Grimsrud, it did both. During May 2013 Grimsrud traveled to Spain and Morocco with a group of 14 students and SJMC assistant professor Giovanna Dell’Orto to examine the role of journalism on immigration issues in the Mediterranean. “I wanted experience in reporting and to experience different cultures,” Grimsrud said. While in Spain, the students met with journalists from the Associated Press to hear about immigration and how the issue is reported throughout Europe. In Morocco, the students had to be more cautious. “We had to be careful with the questions we asked” Grimsrud said of the atmosphere in the constitutional monarchy.
On top of exploring the culture, Grimsrud discovered her career ambitions. Students chose a topic related to immigration and had the three-week course to report. Grimsrud explored a story about what the United States is doing to intervene in immigration issues in the Mediterranean, especially the organizations that help people immigrate legally and partner with the U.S. “I was wondering about the reasoning behind the U.S.’s intervention, whether we’re trying to stop the immigration or help it happen,” she said. While she enjoyed working on the article, the experience taught Grimsrud that reporting was not for her. “One of the reasons I wanted to go on this trip was because I was debating journalism or strategic communication,” she said. “Through this experience, I learned that I don’t want to be a reporter, but I’m glad that I experienced it and can carry the skills that I learned with me.”
Fleischman (second from right) with his fellow O-Terns at OLSON
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MINNESOTA JOURNALISM CENTER EVENTS
Reddit Co-Founder Shares Entrepreneurial Advice
Alexis Ohanian encourages students and community members to “Make the World Suck Less”
Alexis Ohanian Ohanian with bswing president Jen Alstad
Ohanian with Shilad Sen (center) and Kevin Schaul (right)
PHOTOS BY MARK VANCLEAVE
On Thursday, October 24, 2013, more than 300 people gathered at the Bell Museum of Natural History on the University of Minnesota campus for a talk by Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of the news aggregate site reddit. Ohanian is traveling to 75 universities for a book tour to promote “Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed.” Ohanian shared his journey with Internet and data start-ups, which began when he was a student at the University of Virginia in 2005. The theme of Ohanian’s hourlong talk? Start-ups can make the world “suck less” and entrepreneurs no longer need to “ask permission” to get started. “There are no limits. You don’t have to ask permission,” he said of the tech start-up world. “Start-ups are happening around the country, not just in Silicon Valley.” To prove his point, Ohanian shared the stage with two Minnesota data and technology entrepreneurs. Shilad Sen is a professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. and a Ph.D. graduate of the University of Minnesota. Kevin Schaul is a senior at the University of Minnesota majoring in computer science and minoring in journalism who focuses on ways to use data to help tell stories. Both talked about their experiences with starting new technology applications, as well as the successes and failures of their entrepreneurial enterprises. “Entrepreneurs have ideas, and then execute them,” Ohanian said. “Execution is everything. And with execution comes failure. And that’s OK.” Following his talk, Ohanian met with guests to sign copies of his book and to interact. “I love meeting everyone and hearing people’s ideas,” he said. “It really is inspiring.” The event was co-sponsored by the Minnesota Journalism Center, the University of Minnesota’s Social Media and Business Analytics Collaborative and local research and design firm bswing. More photos and a recording of the event are at z.umn.edu/sjmcreddit. –S.H.
State of Investigative Journalism
Washington Post associate editor shares tales from 30-plus years of investigative journalism
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After Luxenberg spoke, two panelists joined the conversation. Brad Schrade is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Star Tribune and Kathryn G. Nelson is a freelance journalist doing investigative work abroad. All three emphasized the importance of data journalism in investigative reporting. “If you have data skills, newsrooms will want you for investigative pieces,” Schrade said. Nelson shared some of her experiences with reporting abroad and shared stories of international investigative freelance reporters who are put in dangerous situations for very little pay or recognition. In regards to digital advances, all three agreed that the skills behind investigative reporting are still the same. “Technology is never the answer, it is only the tool,” Luxenberg said. The conversation was moderated by SJMC faculty member Chris Ison. –S.H.
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PHOTOS BY SARAH HOWARD
On October 3, 2013, the Minnesota Journalism Center welcomed Pulitzer Prize-winner Steve Luxenberg, head of the investigative team at the Washington Post and author of the award-winning book, “Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret,” to speak about the state of investigative journalism and its role in the digital world. “Every reporter is an investigative reporter because they’re trying to get to the bottom of things,” Luxenberg said, refuting the idea that investigative journalism is enterprise reporting, because it takes more time and isn’t necessarily breaking news. Luxenberg said the mindset around investigative journalism has changed, largely due to The Drudge Report. “That changed the game,” he said. “Before Drudge, you wouldn’t publish anything before you were finished with the reporting. Now, you publish as it happens.”
1: Steve Luxenberg. 2: Chris Ison. 3: Brad Schrade. 4: Kathryn G. Nelson
MINNESOTA JOURNALISM CENTER EVENTS
MJC Connects Journalists from Europe to Minnesota Murrow Fellows learn about international and local issues
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PHOTOS BY SARAH HOWARD
On Nov. 1, 2013, the Minnesota Journalism Center and the School of Journalism & Mass Communication welcomed 13 European journalists as part of the Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists. Programming focused on issues of immigration and social media and drew on both the academic University of Minnesota community as well as Twin Cities media professionals. On Friday, the Fellows, who hailed from Poland, Germany, Cyprus, Lithuania, Finland and more, met with SJMC assistant professor Giovanna Dell’Orto and discussed her research on journalism practices at EU and U.S. borders. Then the group visited the Immigration History Research Center and toured its archive caverns. To finish the day, the Fellows were paired with Twin Cities professionals — from Minnesota Public Radio, Twin Cities Public Television, MinnPost, the Star Tribune, KARE 11, as well as the Centers for Victims of Torture and the Federal Reserve — for job shadowing. “I loved meeting the journalists,” said Dhiraj Sabharwal from Luxembourg. “You get a lot of insights that way.” On Saturday, the group attended the Society of Professional Journalists’ JournCamp, a daylong training that allowed the Fellows to meet with Twin Cities journalists. Over the weekend, the group explored Twin Cities cultural opportunities — including a Native American Pow-Wow, the Mall of America and a Minnesota Timberwolves game. “I didn’t know much about Minneapolis before coming here, but it’s filled with arts and culture,” said Johanna Vehkoo of Finland. On Monday, the group visited Murphy Hall to meet with faculty and students. Assistant professors Shayla Thiel-Stern, Brendan Watson and Seth Lewis shared their research on changing news technologies and journalistic practices. Then the Fellows visited with 150 students in Jour 1001: Introduction to Mass Communication, sharing their experiences of working for European news organizations. Monday also included a discussion with two Twin Cities media professionals who specialize in social media and web analytics: Christopher Spong, who has run Target’s social media Twitter, Instagram and Vine channels, and Mark Price, managing partner of M Squared Group. Lastly, associate professor Amy Kristin Sanders shared her research on social media and the law. After leaving Murphy Hall, the Fellows had dinner with host families. Their last day in Minneapolis was Election Day. The Fellows met with Minneapolis City Clerk Casey Carl, who explained ranked-choice voting and the intricacies of city elections. Then the group received a tour of Minnesota Public Radio and met with managing director of regional news Chris Worthington, director of public insight journalism Linda Fantin and senior editor for visual news Regina McCombs. The last stop was a tour of the State Capitol. Prior to their visit to Minneapolis, the Fellows were in Washington, D.C. to learn about the United States’ media scene. Following their trip to the Twin Cities, the group traveled to San Francisco for more local programming. SJMC is among nine journalism schools across the country to participate in the program. Made possible through a partnership with the Minnesota International Center and the U.S. Department of State, the program has brought more than 1,000 foreign journalists to the U.S. since 2006. –S.H.
1: The visiting journalists with staff from SJMC and the Minnesota Journalism Center. 2: Canan Onurer of Cyprus learns about immigrant communities at the Immigrant History Research Center. 3: SJMC faculty member Seth Lewis answers a question from Johanna Vehkoo of Finland. 4: Erdem Günes of Turkey learns about the Minneapolis electoral ballot. 5: MPR’s Chris Worthington speaks with the fellows. 6: The group of fellows outside of the State Capitol in St. Paul. 7: Przemyslaw Henzel of Poland poses for a photo with Occupy protesters.
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MINNESOTA JOURNALISM CENTER EVENTS
Partnered Events The Minnesota Journalism Center partners with national organizations to bring training and events to the Twin Cities.
July 12-13 Society of News Design iPad/Tablet Quick Course Two days of intensive coding and application development inspiration were the hallmarks of the Society of News Design’s iPad/Table Quick Course. Chris Courtney, developer for the Chicago Tribune’s news application team, and Yuri Victor, news app designer for washingtonpost.com, led the discussion. The event also included a panel of professionals from MPR, MinnPost and Best Buy, as well as two workshop trainers, providing insights into the evolution of tablet design.
APhotoADay.org Geekfest 2013
September 6-8
NATPE Student Career Fair
The virtual community of photojournalists at aphotoaday.org convened in Murphy Hall for their annual in-person gathering. The two-day event included speakers on visual composition, business marketing, visual techniques and other topics. SJMC student and Murphy Reporter photographer Mark Vancleave shared his thoughts: “I learned what it’s like when your first big gig is photographing Sarah Palin’s book cover, how to survive nearly seven years working as a photojournalist in China and how to market myself in a world where we are competing with an ever increasing backdrop of visual noise. Most importantly though, I was inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of everyone else that showed up, for their craft but also for learning from each other. It ignites a creative flame you can only get when you lock such an eclectic and dedicated bunch of novice students and seasoned professionals together in Murphy Hall for the weekend. It’s a great example of the kind of learning that SJMC can foster outside of the classroom for students.”
October 12
On October 12, 2013, 125 students from nearly 20 universities gathered at the Coffman Union Theater to hear from a panel of local professionals who shared their stories and advice about working in the broadcast industry. Panelists included Jordan Austin, associate producer, Fox Sports North; Michael Crusham, market president, MSP Cluster, Clear Channel Media + Ent.; Jason DeRusha, host, WCCO-TV/CBS; Andrew Ecklund, founder & CEO, Ciceron; David Gillette, correspondent/producer, KTCATV/PBS; Charlean Hunter, master control operator, KSTP-TV/ABC; Paula Peden, general manager, WUCW/CW; Vineeta Sawkar, senior video host/ reporter, Star Tribune; and Boua Xiong, reporter, KARE/NBC. The workshop also included a mock job interview and a station tour of KSTP-TV, plus a job fair co-sponsored by the Minnesota Broadcasters Association.
November 2
Society of Professional Journalists’ Journcamp This day-long boot camp of skills training featured breakout sessions covering data visualization and coding, narrative storytelling, digital media apps and copyright law. The day kicked off with a keynote from Monica Guzman, technology journalist with the Seattle Times, who discussed ways to engage a self-informing public.
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“Traditional Advertising is Dead”
Speaker showcases the importance of user and brand experience in advertising On Nov. 14, 2013, SJMC welcomed Jonathan Hoffman as the keynote speaker at its annual Fall Forum event for the Professional M.A. in Strategic Communication. Hoffman is the president of experience design at Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), based in Chicago. In this role, he creates campaigns at the intersection of media and technology to help create a better value exchange and user experience for people and brands. Hoffman has also recently launched Zero Dot, a six-person unit out of SMG dedicated to branded content. Nearly 100 current and former students of the program, as well as members of the professional community, gathered in the West Wing of the Campus Club at Coffman Memorial Union to hear Hoffman speak about how advertising and creativity is changing and how brands need to include their users in their advertising to create a value exchange. “The brand means nothing if people don’t connect with it,” Hoffman said. “And advertising isn’t the only way to do that.” Hoffman spoke about how brands can resonate with the next generation of consumers, who he says “don’t hear or see” current advertising. “We need to figure out how to connect with the next generation and that probably won’t be with a commercial,” he said. “Thinking only about creative is dead,” said Hoffman. “Traditional advertising is dead. We’re moving toward user-generated content. We need to connect all of the dots to connect with the audience.” Hoffman offered this insight for strategic thinkers: “We need to go from making people want stuff to making stuff people want.” Prior to his role at SMG, Hoffman was the chief creative officer at Campbell Mithun and executive creative director at Leo Burnett. The Strategic Communication M.A. forums work to connect current students and alumni of the program not only with one another but also with national and local strategic communication professionals. –S.H.
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PHOTOS BY MARK VANCLEAVE
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1: Jonathan Hoffman. 2: Anahita Ahrar. 3: John Eighmey, director of graduate studies for the Professional M.A. in Strategic Communication, Hoffman and Strategic Communication M.A. program director Steve Wehrenberg. 4: Alison Johnson. 5: Reshma Kapadia. 6: William Dunder and David Rausch. 7: William Defiel and Joshua Cramer. 8: Nearly 100 attendees fill the West Wing of the University of Minnesota’s Campus Club.
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EVENTS
Do You See Change?
see change
Conference allows for creative discovery and innovation
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What do you see when you mix designers, photographers, inventors and visualists for two days? Well, you see change. And that’s exactly the goal of See Change: The Power of Visual Communication, which gathers luminaries from across the visual spectrum to innovate and explore. The fourth annual conference opened the evening of May 21, 2013 with a keynote from Brian Collins, chief creative officer of New York City-based COLLINS, whose clients include Coca-Cola, BP, Microsoft and Hershey’s. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Fortune and Fast Company, which named him one of five American Masters of Design. “As designers we need to move from communicating content to creating it,” he said. “We need to move from designing objects to designing systems.” Day two of the conference began with a warm-up from Marcela Lorca, movement director of Minneapolis’ Guthrie Theater. Throughout the day, leaders in the fields of design, photography, creativity and videography took the stage at the theater in Coffman Memorial Union to share, collaborate and teach. Speakers included Carl DeTorres, founder of multidisciplinary design studio Carl DeTorres Graphic Design; Sven Seger, chief creative officer of FutureBrand; Guillermo Nagore, managing creative director at SY Partners; Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton, food publication gurus at Canal House Cooking; photographer Jim Fiscus; Jorg Pierach, president and creative director at Fast Horse; Aaron Doering and Charles Miller from the Learning Technologies Media Lab at the University of Minnesota; Geoff Warner, founder of architecture firm Alchemy and creator of weeHouse; and Jason Sondhi and Ivan Kander of Short of the Week. See Change began with an endowment from former SJMC faculty member R. Smith “Smitty” Schuneman and his wife, Pat. SJMC alumna and former Schuneman student Mary K. Baumann and AIGA Minnesota’s Brent Stickels were recruited to act as program directors, along with steering committee members Steve Bickel, Joe Duffy, Michael Hart, Will Hopkins, Daniel Jasper and Steve Niendorf. Support for the event is provided by SJMC adjunct instructor Jerry Broeckert, as well as SJMC, the Minnesota Journalism Center, AIGA Minnesota and the University of Minnesota College of Design. –S.H.
SAVE THE DATE
See Change May 14-15, 2014 www.seechangeconference.org
EVENTS
356 attendees 14 speakers
5 event spaces
PHOTOS BY RYAN SANDBERG
MAY14-15 see change 2
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co-directors Murphy Reporter
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EVENTS By Cassie Batchelder Photos by Bill Kelley
Silha Lecture Highlights Link Between Pentagon Papers and the Obama Administration’s Treatment of Leaks Leading First Amendment lawyer James C. Goodale believes President Obama should take a lesson from a page in American history—the Pentagon Papers case—and rethink his approach to conflicts between national security and the First Amendment. Goodale, the author of the new book Fighting for the Press: The Inside Story of the Pentagon Papers and Other Battles, delivered the 28th Annual Silha Lecture on Oct. 16, 2013 at the University of Minnesota’s Cowles Auditorium. “All of a sudden in the last six months, all of the issues in that case have come to life and have been part of the news cycle,” Goodale, the former vice chairman of The New York Times who served as the Times’ general counsel during the Pentagon Papers litigation in 1971, said. Goodale has also been a partner in Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York City, served as chairman of the Committee to Protect Journalists, and taught at Yale, NYU and Fordham law schools. Goodale shared stories of the litigation surrounding the Pentagon Papers case and his thoughts on recent conflicts between national security and the First Amendment during the lecture, titled “The Lessons of the Pentagon Papers: Has Obama Learned Them?” The lecture and a question-and-answer session drew an audience of more than 300. A book signing followed the lecture. The Pentagon Papers case holds two important lessons, according to Goodale. First, government officials “ignore the First Amendment at their peril.” Second, the public “should not buy claims of national security made by the government hook, line and sinker.” Goodale began by providing an overview of the Pentagon Papers case, New York Times Co v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), and the circumstances surrounding it. The Pentagon Papers were a classified 47-volume 26 Murphy Reporter FALL 2013
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history of American relations with Vietnam. Daniel Ellsberg, a military analyst, believed the American people needed to see them, and so he shared them with various newspapers around the country. The government tried to stop the Washington Post and The New York Times from publishing, leading to the case that reached the Supreme Court. “It’s a case for the ages,” Goodale explained, “because unless the government can show directly, immediately and irreparably that harm will happen to national security, then the government loses.” He explained that the government failed to meet this heavy burden. The Supreme Court allowed the publication of the Pentagon Papers to go forward, providing American citizens with more information about relations with Vietnam than they had ever seen before. Goodale emphasized that the Pentagon Papers’ lessons remain relevant today. He discussed this year’s revela-
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EVENTS tions about the NSA surveillance programs and the Obama administration’s prosecution of leakers. He also noted that the Obama administration has indicted seven individuals for leaking classified information. All previous administrations put together had indicted just three. The subpoena of New York Times reporter James Risen, indictments of leakers such as Edward Snowden and the possible indictment of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange all contribute to Goodale’s concerns. These events have “created an atmosphere of fear in Washington, which has made it very hard for the press to gather news and write stories,” Goodale explained, citing a recent report from the Committee to Protect Journalists. He offered opinions about many of the recent cases of reporters and leakers facing legal trouble. “In every instance that I know about, President Obama has chosen to favor national security over the First Amendment,” Goodale said. “But isn’t the lesson of the Pentagon Papers just the reverse?” Goodale concluded that “President Obama has not learned the lessons of the Pentagon Papers.”
Goodale’s hope is “that there will be some real debate . . . and . . . both sides of the aisle can see the issue with national security.” Presently, he said he does not “see any end in the First Amendment fracas that Obama has geared up. He has ignored the First Amendment at his peril.”
A video of the lecture is available on the Silha Center website at silha.umn.edu. Silha Center activities, including the annual lecture, are made possible by a generous endowment from the late Otto Silha and his wife, Helen.
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5 1: James Goodale. 2: SJMC graduate students Brett Johnson, Cassie Batchelder and Alex Visades. 3: Goodale signs of copy of his book for John Borger, partner at Faegre Baker Daniels. 4. (L-R) David Reimann, Alice Reimann, Gordon Barnett, Helen Silha, Johnny Reimann, Goodale, Stephen Silha, Jane Kirtley and John Reimann. 5: Goodale addresses the crowd in the Cowles Auditorim.
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UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT NEWS Megan Ryan was named the 2013 recipient of the Big Ten Conference William R. Reed Memorial Award. The award goes to a student journalist from one of the Big Ten campuses who best exemplifies the spirit, ideals and dedication to the Big Ten and intercollegiate athletics that Reed, who served the Big Ten for more than 20 years, was known for. Ryan is a sports reporter for the Minnesota Daily, and she has served as a sports clerk for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and assisted with the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s sports coverage. Mitch Skinner placed second in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program Radio Broadcast Competition. Skinner is the managing editor and host of Radio K’s Culture Queue. Skinner will advance to the National Broadcast News Championship in June 2014. Minnesota Public Radio News received a 2013 National Edward R. Morrow Award for its news website. The submission included work done by SJMC students as part of the “Teaching the World in Minnesota” series, published and produced in partnership with MPR News. To see the project, go to z.umn.edu/sjmcmpr. The Alliance for Women in Media’s Minnesota chapter (AWM-MN) has launched a student-led affiliate, aimed at advancing the impact of women in the media and allied fields. It allows students to be mentored by AWM-MN board members. Kathleen Hansen will serve as the faculty adviser. SJMC has launched Magazine Club, which aims to help students understand the state of the magazine industry and have access to internships. The group will form connections to the Minnesota magazine community through the Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association, which has also launched a student chapter. The group was founded by SJMC Ph.D. student Chelsea Reynolds. Gayle “G.G.” Golden will serve as the faculty adviser. SJMC students Charlie Weierke and Ross Acampora have resurrected U Broadcast as Ski-U-Media. The group will broadcast news programming and will provide resources for broadcast students. SJMC faculty member Dana Benson will serve as the faculty adviser.
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Curriculum Update from the Director of Undergraduate Studies While a national debate rages over the future of journalism education (for example, see bit.ly/17NrJV9), SJMC has been quietly inventing its curriculum for the 21st century. The School continues to seek opportunities for students and faculty to embrace and take full advantage of the media community in which the University is situated, while ensuring that students are getting a rigorous, quality experience both inside and outside the classroom. After two years of planning and effort by regular and adjunct faculty, students and advising staff, the brand new professional strategic communication track undergraduate curriculum has launched. Last spring saw the first offerings of a new course on Administrative Law and Regulation for Strategic Communication, a new course on Account Planning, and significantly revised courses covering Evaluative Research in Strategic Communication, Professional Writing for Strategic Communication, Media Planning and Media Design. This fall the final two new courses have launched: Doug Spong, president of Carmichael Lynch Spong, led the new course on Management for Strategic Communication, and two digital media specialists, Michelle Gross of Ackmann & Dickenson and Dan Mandle of Colle+McVoy are teaching sections of the new Digital Media in Strategic Communication class. The new curriculum has been embraced by students and faculty alike. Journalism and strategic communication track students were joined by students from around the university in the spring of 2013 to create an “app” for the Weisman Museum (see sjmc.umn.edu/studentwork/apps.html). The course, led by adjunct Camille LeFevre, was so successful that it was offered again in the fall of 2013, this time focusing on the Goldstein Museum of Design on the St. Paul campus. Photojournalism students spent May term 2013 in Red Wing, Minn. to capture a week of activities and daily life in a special topics offering titled “Odyssey in Photojournalism: An iPad Portrait of a Minnesota Town.” Adjunct faculty Mike Zerby and David Husom led the group and helped create a magazine publication as a final product. For the 2013-2014 year, the members of the Undergraduate Committee are focusing their attention on a major overhaul of the broadcast/multimedia/convergence curriculum. Part of the goal is to open the existing courses to more students, all of whom need and want experience with these types of storytelling and content creation. Committee members are also drawing on the expertise of broadcast news professionals from around the country to ensure that the courses specifically focused on broadcast news meet the demands of the new environment. Finally, for fall 2014, SJMC will be launching two new courses: one in the professional journalism track – Introduction to Interactive and Data Journalism – which will be a new prerequisite for the advanced course on Database Journalism and a second course intended for anyone from around the University titled Digital Games, Sims and Apps: Storytelling, Play and Commerce. We expect heavy demand for that new service course, with a potential upsurge in interest in SJMC. All of these examples point to the ongoing efforts of SJMC to stay ahead of the debate and ensure that our undergraduates are getting the very best education that prepares them for positions of leadership in the new media marketplace. –Kathleen Hansen, director of undergraduate studies
GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS Ruth DeFoster presented “Civility vs. Gun Control: The Emergence of a Media Meme in Coverage of the 2011 Tucson Shooting,” a paper she coauthored with former faculty member Catherine Squires, at the National Communication Association annual convention in Washington, D.C. Xiaofei He presented her paper “Fear Appeals in Promoting Cervical Cancer Screening Information: An Analysis of Public Service Announcements on YouTube” at the 2013 CDC National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media in August 2013. Heewon Im has been awarded the 2014 Ralph D. Casey Dissertation Award. Her dissertation examines effects of direct-to-consumer prescrip-
tion drug advertising on patients’ medication regiment adherence behaviors. Joan O’Fallon, a professional M.A. in strategic communication student, was awarded the 2013 Brand Champion Award on May 15, 2013 at the annual CONNECT Conference, sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. O’Fallon is the director of communications for the PolkBurnett Electric Cooperative. Natalie Olsen and Bob Larson both had articles in the top 20 most-read articles of Communication Law & Policy. Olsen’s article, “Re-Defining Defamation: Psychological Sense of Community in the Age of the Internet” was co-authored with
associate professor Amy Kristin Sanders. Larson’s article is titled “Forgetting the First Amendment: How Obscurity-Based Privacy and a Right to Be Forgotten Are Incompatible with Free Speech.” Tanya Ryan received promotion to associate professor and was granted tenure at Winona State University. Ryan has all-but-dissertation status. Anna Popkova, Tanya Ryan, Wooyeol Shin, Soojung Kim, Jiyoung Han and Rodrigo Zamith presented at the International Communication Association’s annual conference in London in June 2013.
Curriculum Update from the Director of Graduate Studies
Graduate Students Excel at AEJMC
In the past couple of years, the Graduate Affairs Committee (GAC) has been working hard on a range of issues associated with the mission, scope and curriculum of the academic M.A. and Ph.D. programs. The work began with a faculty retreat in September 2012, when the SJMC graduate faculty came together to have an extended discussion about the current state and future of graduate program.
The 2013 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, held August 7-11, 2013 in Washington, D.C., was attended by 17 M.A. and Ph.D. students from SJMC, many of whom were awarded Top Student Papers for their work. Cassie Batchelder, Stephen Bennett, Sarah Cavanah, Ruth DeFoster, Tom Ernste, Jiyoung Han, Xiaofei He, Elizabeth Housholder, Heewon Im, Brett Johnson, Soojung Kim, Ben Miller, Natalie Olsen, Chelsea Reynolds, Wooyeol Shin, Yoshi Suzuki and Rodrigo Zamith presented research and participated in scholar-toscholar (poster) sessions. The conference also included a University of Minnesota social where current students got the opportunity to meet and mingle with alumni of SJMC’s graduate program.
Based on the outcome of this discussion and in line with the SJMC’s aspirational identity and goals, our graduate program mission statement has been revised to reflect betterfocused strategic future direction, which is to train students to become leaders in the social scientific study of mass communication and to prepare students for academic and professional careers in a global media environment. Within this philosophical framework, we have redesigned the graduate curriculum in the following ways: • To better orient and socialize students into the mass communication field and future careers, we have established a new pro-seminar in Mass Communication, team-taught by all graduate faculty members. • To better streamline our core course offerings while emphasizing our strong focus on theory education, we have reconfigured the theory course requirement by converting the previous two-track system to one integrated introductory Mass Communication Theory and Research course and incorporating theory elements into all elective graduate seminar courses.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SARAH JACKSON
• To better educate our students to be fluent in both quantitative and qualitative methods while keeping the graduate education delivery efficient and effective, we have combined methods courses into a smaller set of core courses.
Current and former SJMC graduate students at AEJMC
• To further strengthen the interdisciplinary nature of our program and continue our efforts to increase inter-department and inter-college collaborations for graduate education, we have added requirements for additional theory courses and at least one methods course outside SJMC. Following these basic curricula changes, the GAC is currently redesigning our elective seminar course offerings and developing new seminar courses that are innovative and more responsive to the changing environment and students’ needs. –Jisu Huh, director of graduate studies Murphy Reporter
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FACULTY NEWS GAYLE “G.G.” GOLDEN has been appointed to the board of the Minnesota Magazine and Publishing Association, as well as the Senate Educational Policy Committee at the University of Minnesota. KATHY HANSEN attended the International Educators Workshop sponsored by the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) from Nov. 4-8, 2013 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She met with faculty, students and administrators and attended classes to update information for SJMC students interested in a study abroad semester with DIS. JISU HUH has been named the new associate editor of the Journal of Advertising. Her three-year appointment begins in January 2014. Huh, along with Denise E. DeLorme, Leonard N. Reid and Junga Kim, published “Korean Americans’ Prescription Drug Information Seeking and Evaluation and Use of Different Information Sources” in the Journal of Health Communication. JANE KIRTLEY appeared on a panel “The New Media as an Advocate for Human Rights Reform in Colombia” on May 14, 2013, at the 14th Annual Conference on Legal & Policy Issues in the Americas. Kirtley participated in the Global Workshop on Data Uses and Impacts held in London May 30-31, 2013. On Sept. 23-24, 2013, Kirtley participated in the Media Law Resource Center’s London conference titled, “International Developments in Media Libel, Privacy, Newsgathering and New Media IP Law.” Kirtley was a panelist at the Professional Ethics in National Security Law and Politics conference on Oct. 4, 2013 in Philadelphia. She appeared on Panel 1, “Journalists and National Security Reporting: The Ethics of Leaks.” Kirtley appeared on two panels at the University of North Carolina on Oct. 24, 2013.The panels were both titled “The Case of the Cuban Five: Justice or Injustice?” On Nov. 8, 2013, Kirtley appeared on a panel titled “Online Liability and Procedure Issues” at the Ad IDEM/Canadian Media Lawyers Association 2013 Annual Conference in Vancouver, BC. Also at the conference, she prepared a short paper, “Ten Notable Developments in U.S. Media Law, 2012-13” and presented it during a roundtable presentation titled “The Year in Media Law.”
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Kirtley conducted a workshop on legal ethics and social media for law students at the Media Freedom and Information Access Clinic at Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn. On Nov. 15, 2013, Kirtley served as the principal speaker for “Global Privacy and Advertising Developments,” a panel at the Practising Law Institute’s 2013 Communications Law in the Digital Age conference in New York. On Nov. 21, 2013, Kirtley appeared on a panel for the University of Minnesota Undergraduate Political Science Association following the viewing of the documentary “We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks.” SETH LEWIS had a 2012 publication named Outstanding Journal Article of the Year in the Journalism Studies division of the International Communication Association. “The Tension between Professional Control and Open Participation: Journalism and its Boundaries” was published in Information, Communication & Society and explores the tension between professional control and open participation in the news process. Lewis has secured an advanced book contract with Routledge to edit “Boundaries of Journalism” with Matt Carlson of Saint Louis University. Lewis published “Open Source Journalism: Toward New Frameworks for Imagining News Innovation,” in Media, Culture & Society with Nikki Usher of George Washington University. On Sept. 9, 2013, Lewis presented “The Boundaries of Hacker Journalism in a Time of Big Data” at the School of Social Sciences at Södertörn University in Stockholm, Sweden. On Sept. 10, 2013, Lewis gave two presentations at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.The first was titled “Hacker Journalism:Toward a Conceptual Understanding of a Phenomenon in News and Media.” The second was titled “Data + Journalism:Trends, Implications, and Opportunities.” On Sept. 12, 2013, Lewis participated in the research workshop “Understanding public participation: Journalism and democracy in a digital age,” funded by the Dutch Science Foundation at Cardiff University in Wales.
REBEKAH NAGLER presented her co-written paper “Prevalence and Framing of Health Disparities in Local Print News” at the American Public Health Association Annual Conference in Boston. Nagler published “Adverse Outcomes Associated with Media Exposure to Contradictory Nutrition Messages” in the Journal of Health Communication. AMY KRISTIN SANDERS contributed a chapter to “Social Media and the Law: A Guidebook for Communication Students and Professionals,” edited by Daxton Stewart and published by Routledge. Her chapter is titled “Obscenity, Sexting & Cyberbullying.” Sanders, along with 2013 M.A./J.D. graduate Holly Miller, had “Revitalizing Rosenbloom: The Matter of Public Concern Standard in the Age of the Internet” accepted for publication in a special edition of the First Amendment Law Review dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the New York Times v. Sullivan decision. Sanders was one of a dozen leading media law scholars invited to participate in the University of Georgia Law Review’s symposium on New York Times v. Sullivan. Her article, “Fast Forward 50 Years: Defining Public Plaintiff Status after New York Times v. Sullivan,” will appear in the spring issue of the Georgia Law Review. In October, Sanders spoke at the Minnesota Association of Government Communicators annual conference titled “Devices in Crisis.” Sanders spoke at the Society of Professional Journalists’ national JournCamp, held in Minneapolis, Minn. in early November. Her talk, “Copyright Law in a Copycat Era,” addressed the complications news organizations face when using user-generated content. Emeritus faculty member R. SMITH “SMITTY” SCHUNEMAN was inducted into the Ohio Communication Hall of Fame on Monday, Feb. 25, 2013 at the fifth annual Schuneman Symposium on Photojournalism and New Media. The Ohio Communication Hall of Fame was established in 1993 by the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University. Schuneman is an alumnus of Ohio University and a benefactor of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
FACULTY NEWS Adjunct instructor DOUG SPONG received the 2013 PRSA Gold Anvil Award for Lifetime Achievement in Public Relations. Spong, who is the founder and president of Carmichael Lynch Spong, is the first Minnesotan to receive the award, which honors a public relations professional whose work has significantly advanced the field’s practice and standards. SHAYLA THIEL-STERN has been awarded the Kappa Tau Alpha Chapter Adviser Research Grant of $550. Thiel-Stern will use the grant to study how young people use visual mobile technologies to communicate and articulate identity.
BRENDAN WATSON presented multiple papers at AEJMC and the International Communication Association 2013 conferences. He also presented “Are Demographics Adequate Controls for Cellphone Only Coverage Bias in Mass Communication Research?” at the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research conferences. The paper is co-authored with assistant professor Seth Lewis and SJMC Ph.D. students Sarah Cavanah and Rodrigo Zamith.
MARCO YZER coauthored “Inducing Fear as a Public Communication Campaign Strategy,” which was published in Public Communication Campaigns. Yzer co-authored “Reasoned Action Theory” in the second edition of The SAGE Handbook of Persuasion: Developments in Theory and Practice. Yzer co-authored “Affective and Executive Network Processing Associated with Persuasive Anti-drug Messages,” in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Faculty Research Spotlight JISU HUH
Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies Ph.D., mass communication, University of Georgia
By Sarah Howard
FOCUS:
Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising, advertising effects, advertising trust
Tell us about what you’re working on right now.
My research focuses on how pharmaceutical advertisers use mass media and effects of such advertising. Right now I’m focused on the emerging phenomenon of prescription drug advergames, where pharmaceutical companies create games to educate consumers on their products and health-related information. I’m looking at both the learning and marketing outcomes of these games. What are consumers learning? Do these games help advertisers? In what specific ways? Should these games be regulated?
What have you found so far about the impact of advergames?
There seem to be some differences in terms of learning outcomes. When the information is presented in a game situation, people’s learning of FDA-required drug information tends to be lower than website or print ads. The consumer may be paying more attention to the game itself instead of the information. Next, we’ll add eye tracker measurements to actually see what parts of the games people are focusing on, in comparison to other types of direct-to-consumer advertising seen in websites and print ads. It’s possible that these games could be really useful and instructional, but it needs to be done carefully because a lot of advergames currently target youth, particularly with unhealthy snack products, and children may gain a brand affinity through these games without being informed of the health risks. Similar effects may be possible for the prescription drug category.
What have you discovered about trust in pharmaceutical advertising? If advertising wants to function as a source of consumer information, it must be trusted. I have done research on people’s trust of various forms of advertising and what kinds of sources are more or less trusted. My research examines both message and consumer characteristics influencing consumers’ trust of ads in online and offline environments. Consumer trust is a more important issue in the online communication context because there is a higher risk and uncertainty involved. Consumers can use a lot of different cues to determine trust, for example, is there enough information about the information source? How recent is the information? Who owns the website? Who wrote the information? Is there explicit commercial intent behind the website? In some cases you can’t even tell who the source is and, in those situations, consumers’ trust in the website would be much lower.
How do people trust companies versus personal connections? There are two different types of trust. People’s trust in a company tends to be calculative trust. It’s based on your own calculations, economic considerations and your past experiences with the company. People’s trust in their family or friends is relational trust. It’s based on your relationship with that person. You feel these people have your best interests in mind and really understand you. These two different types of trust operate differently in today’s viral, user-generated media environment, generating many interesting research questions. Murphy Reporter
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ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES SJMC ALUMNI SOCIETY BOARD UPDATE I am very excited to be part of the 30th anniversary of the SJMC Alumni Board Mentor Program. This year we matched more than 50 students with a talented, diverse group of Twin Cities professionals. I know I speak for the entire alumni board when I say we feel a great sense of pride in helping carry out this exceptional program. As we look ahead to 2014, the board is focused on finding different ways to contribute to SJMC. We are currently exploring ideas to better leverage the large database of talented alumni volunteers gathered last year. Ideas under consideration include a junior job shadow program and the possible creation of additional paid internships for SJMC students. Also, have you connected with your fellow alumni on LinkedIn? There’s SJMC and industry-related news, as well as job opportunities. Be sure to connect with us by going to z.umn.edu/sjmcalumnilinkedin. The SJMC Alumni Board continues to be engaged with the school and the alumni network. I’m proud to lead this group and represent a very talented group of accomplished alumni. –Chad Haldeman (B.A. ’08) SJMC Alumni Society Board President
TELL US WHAT YOU’RE UP TO We want to hear what you’re doing to stay busy. New book? Win an award? Job change? Keep SJMC and your fellow alumni updated. Email sjmc@umn.edu with your updates. Please include your name and graduation year. 32 Murphy Reporter FALL 2013
HEATHER (PRENEVOST) ARNTSON (B.A., ’05; M.A. ’09) is a senior digital marketing specialist at General Mills. Previously, she held roles at Carmichael Lynch as a senior brand sociologist and Fallon as a connection planner. CHRISTIAN BETANCOURT (B.A., ’06) is a digital marketing specialist for Securian Financial Group/Minnesota Life. Previously, Betancourt served as the digital marketing manager for McNally Smith College of Music. JIM BOWDEN (B.A., ’55) has published “Don’t Lose This, It’s My Only Copy,” under his pen name Greenfield Jones. The collection of short stories was published by Ink Brush Press. DAVID CARR (B.A., ’81) has joined Boston University’s College of Communication as the first Andrew R. Lack Professor, named for the Bloomberg Media Group chairman. The professorship focuses on the analysis of new business models for journalism. Carr will continue in his role as media columnist for The New York Times. STEVEN DORNFELD (B.A., ’69) has been chosen as a 2013 Mondale Research Fellow by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. An accompanying grant will help fund research for an article for Minnesota History magazine. Dornfeld, who also writes for MinnPost, is a former reporter and editor for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Tribune. DAN GORE (B.A., ’91) has joined the University of Minnesota Alumni Association as the vice president of communications. Previously, he served as director of strategic marketing for E Group and as president of Creative Matters. JIM HAMMERAND (B.A., ’07) is now digital editor at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, where he reports breaking news online and manages online features and social media. Hammerand served as law and finance reporter at the publication since 2010.
the customer experience. Larson was previously president and CEO of Jostens, Inc. NANCY SMILER LEVINSON (B.A., ’60) has published “Moments of Dawn: A Poetic Memoir of Love & Family, Affliction & Affirmation,” a free verse narrative of her journey through many years of caregiving for her husband with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as her own battles with breast cancer. SCOTT MEYER (B.A., ’04) has been named the interim director of communication for the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts. Meyer, who was a founding partner and chairman of Mona Meyer McGrath (later Mona Meyer McGrath & Gavin), has served the University in a number of capacities over the past few years, including as interim chief executive officer of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and interim head of University Relations. WILLIAM PETERSON (B.A., ’05) is a corporate email marketing manager at U.S. Bank and was named one of Direct Marketing News’ 40 Under 40 for 2013. REINA (WOODRUFF) PORRITT (B.A., ’11) was named a finalist in Ragan’s PR Daily Awards for PR Rookie of the Year. Porritt is the public and media relations coordinator for the Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul RiverCentre and Roy Wilkins Auditorium. LOU RAGUSE (B.A., ’05) is an anchor-reporter at WIBV in Buffalo, N.Y. In June 2013, he was awarded General Excellence of Individual Reporting, Best Enterprise Reporting, Best Continuing News Coverage and Best News Series by the New York Associated Press. He was also awarded Outstanding Hard News Story by the New York State Broadcasters Association.
LIALA HELAL (B.A., ’09) has been named a digital-first reporter at MPR News. Previously, she covered Dakota and Scott counties for the Star Tribune.
SADA REED (B.A., ’03; M.A., ’11) was awarded the Sports Communication Interest Group’s Top Student Paper award at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference in August 2013. Reed is a doctoral student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
TIM LARSON (B.A., ’01) has been named the vice president of global customer excellence for Polaris Industries. A new role within the company, the position focuses on the optimization of
CHRIS RUEN (B.A., ’04) has published “Freeloading: How Our Insatiable Hunger for Free Content Starves Creativity.” The book explores realworld consequences of digitization for today’s
ALUMNI NEWS & NOTES musicians, indie record labels and fans with an emphasis on practical solutions. While a student at the University of Minnesota, Ruen founded the student magazine The Wake. SELA SAR (PH.D., ’06) is an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s College of Media in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising. Previously, he was at Iowa State University. ALEC SCHIMKE (B.A., ’11) was promoted to director of media & lacrosse relations for the Minnesota Swarm. At 24, he is one of the youngest sports media directors in the country. ROBERT E. SHELDON (B.A., ’70) was awarded the 2013 Tex Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award by the San Antonio Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. The award is presented for outstanding leadership in the field of public relations. Sheldon is the past-president of both the Minnesota and San Antonio chapters of PRSA. JENNY SILGEN (B.A., ’05) has joined Target Corporation as a senior process lead in facilities management communications. Previously, she was an account manager at Strother Communications Group in Minneapolis. CYNTHIA LUECK SOWDEN (B.A., ’76) has published her third book, “Ride Minnesota: 23 Great Motorcycle Rides in the North Star State.” The book includes maps and photos of the routes, which Sowden traveled with her husband via motorcycle, as well as recommendations for hotels and restaurants along the way.
DON STACOM (B.A., ’79) won the New England First Amendment Coalition’s inaugural FOI Award for investigative reporting of misconduct and corruption inside the New Britain, Conn. police department. He is a reporter with The Hartford Courant. KARINE MICHAEL STALLINGS (B.A., ’97) was recently promoted to director of internal communications for Time Warner Cable. She is responsible for managing the telecommunications company’s intranet content and enterprise-wide functional news announcements. RAMA TUNUGUNTLA (M.A., ’78; PH.D., ’82) has retired after a 30-year career at Grambling State University in Louisiana. Since 2009, he has served as acting dean of the College of Professional Studies. Previously, he served as head of the Department of Mass Communication for 17 years. K. VISH VISWANATH (PH.D., ’90) received the Dale Brashers Distinguished Mentor Award, which recognizes significant contributions in the field of health communication through mentorship of and advocacy for the discipline and its members. DARCY ZIMBRICK (B.A., ’99) has launched Zimbrick Communications, a St. Paul-based consultancy that works with entrepreneurs, authors and small business owners and thought leaders to tell their story and connect them to people through planning, marketing, public relations, communications and media.
MINNESOTA DAILY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION UPDATE The Minnesota Daily Alumni Association congratulates Minnesota Daily account executive Ashley Gilles and sports editor Dane Mizutani, the fall semester recipients of the MDAA Scholarship. The scholarship awards Daily staff members based on their operational excellence and contribution to the Daily, academic merit and financial need. Each semester, we have several qualified applicants and it’s always difficult to choose just two! Thank you to everyone who applied. This semester, we also held a resume workshop session with Daily staff. We had a great turnout of students, as well as alumni willing to help out! We are working to plan our annual Spring Fundraising Event, which helps to fund scholarships and continued development of Daily staff. To learn more about MDAA events, visit mndailyalumni.com or you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. –Lindsey Shirey (B.A. ’05), MDAA president facebook.com/mndailiyalumni @mndailyalumni The Minnesota Daily Alumni Group
SCHOOL NEWS
Jillian Ryks (B.A. ’13) Joins SJMC’s Student Services Office In fall 2013, the SJMC Student Services office welcomed alumna Jillian Ryks as a student personnel coordinator for the undergraduate program. Ryks serves as a first point of contact for the student services office, answers questions, assists with the needs of students, communicates student servicesrelated news to students and helps administer the admissions and scholarship processes. Ryks is a 2013 graduate of SJMC in the strategic communications track. As an undergraduate, she served as an ambassador in the College of Liberal Arts and as a program assistant lead for CLA First Year Experience, a new course required for all incoming CLA students. Ryks has also worked as an office assistant for the assistant dean of CLA student services. “I had a great experience as an undergraduate in SJMC and loved the faculty I worked with,” said Ryks. “I also really enjoyed my student work experiences in student services, so this position is a perfect marriage of the two.” “We are excited about the extensive University of Minnesota experience she will bring to the position, as well as the fresh insights she can provide to our work with students,” said student services coordinator Rebecca Rassier. Murphy Reporter
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DONOR REPORT
WHY I GIVE
Following the passing of an emeritus faculty member in early 2013, the Donald M. Gillmor Memorial Fund was created. Here, donors share why they give in honor of Gillmor. You can donate at z.umn.edu/gillmorfund.
“Don Gillmor was more than an important influence in helping me develop my life’s course and calling; he was an inspiration. This was true not just for myself. The contributions he made, both to the School of Journalism & Mass Communication and to the study of media ethics and law, are interwoven throughout the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of other former students. I give to the Donald Gillmor Endowment Fund so that his legacy continues to inspire.” -Ellen M. Mrja (M.A., ’78) Professor, Department of Mass Media, Minnesota State University, Mankato “Prof. Gillmor had a strong impact on my career choice. I was a print major, but he encouraged me to choose broadcasting, predicting that there would be more opportunities in television. Now, journalism is changing faster than ever. We need more Don Gillmors to teach young journalists professional standards, especially in the mushrooming world of social media. Students need more guidance in navigating the complexities. They need someone like Don Gillmor, who had great intellect, integrity and devotion to excellence in journalism. Those are the qualities that made a mark on my life and so many others. That’s why I gave and will continue to support the Gillmor Fund.” -Judith Moen (B.A., ’77) Talk show host and news reporter
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Scholarly Impact Dear friends,
It is the time of year to extend our heartfelt thanks for the many ways you are helping our students. Be it through financial gifts for scholarships and fellowships, supporting our highly acclaimed Sevareid Library, serving as a mentor or perhaps assisting a student intern, we are grateful to have you as such generous partners in our work of educating the next generation of communications leaders. Recently, I had a chance to visit with some of our international graduate students and I was impressed and excited about their vision for their work – some here, others with an intention to return to their home countries helping preserve and foster a free press. International students bring an essential different perspective to the work. The School’s international prestige and acclaim reflect positively on Murphy Hall. Over the generations we have seen former students leading the press industry in nearly every continent on the globe. Our graduate alumni lead important educational institutions throughout the world (as seen on page 8), serve in the halls of legislatures and make their mark on business and economic industries. And why does this matter to our school and our students? Simply put because our world is more globally connected than ever before and our students need to know the subtleties of the cultural and legal differences they may encounter in their career pursuits. Whether graduate students pursue the private sector or become leading scholars, their time spent in Murphy Hall brings another level of nuance and complexity to the work of the School. Their interactions with faculty on research projects as well as their interactions with undergraduates help all “boats rise,” as the saying goes. The accomplishments of all of our students and the highly engaging research seen in Murphy Hall are impressive. But most of all, I am constantly impressed by your generous support and endless enthusiasm for the work of the School and our students. Mary Hicks Director of External Relations College of Liberal Arts 612-625-5031 hicks002@umn.edu
IN MEMORIAM Virginia (Menning) Buterbaugh (B.A., ’42) passed away April 5, 2012 in Kent, Wash. at the age of 91. She worked at the Minnesota Daily and was a member of Theta Sigma Phi. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn., she married William Buterbaugh and moved to Seattle in the early 1950s and became part of the Ballard Cannon Advertising Agency. Buterbaugh continued to work there into her 70s, despite the group eventually merging into other agencies. She loved creating winning advertising copy. A widow since 1978, she had three children: William, Sandra and Judith, as well as five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Nancy Moher (B.A., ’55) passed away on June 17, 2013. Born in Minneapolis, Minn., Moher began her career as a copywriter, becoming the editor of the Rexall national drug store “Family Almanac” in California. After marrying Robert Paul Moher, the couple eventually settled in Fort Worth, Tex. A longtime member of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), Moher served as a charter member of the organization’s Tarrant County Branch, as well as the first newsletter editor for St. Bartholomew Catholic Church. Until age 75, Moher also served as the editor of “Friend of a Friend,” the newsletter of the Friends of the Fort Worth Library. She is survived by her husband, son Steven Michael Moher; daughters Susan Marie Moher and Karen Joan (Larry) Anfin; and five grandchildren. Lester I. Strouse Jr. (B.A., ’44) passed away in June 2013 at the age of 91. Born in St. Paul, Strouse attended University High School (before it merged with Marshall High School) and went on to the University of Minnesota to study journalism. He left college during WWII to join the army, where he was chosen to study French and join the intelligence corps. He served for a time in the Philippines before returning to the Twin Cities to finish his degree. Strouse worked for the Mankato Free Press and United Press International before following his father, Lester Sr., into the life insurance business. Strouse worked for more than four decades as an agent for Northwestern Mutual Life, coming face-to-face with the state’s most important business and government leaders, including former state Attorney General Warren Spannaus, Judge Leonard Keys and others. Strouse and his wife Joan (B.A. ’49) lived in St. Paul when it was segregated and played a significant role in integrating city schools in the 1960s, he as an activist and she as a
leader in the Democratic Farmer Labor Party and League of Women Voters. They moved to Rancho Mirage, Cali. in the 1990s, but continued to take an interest in Minnesota civic affairs. Strouse is survived by his wife and children Lester, Elizabeth, Chuck and Thomas, as well as seven grandchildren. Robert Wold (B.A., ’49) passed away on Aug. 10, 2013 in Irvine, Calif. He was 87 years old. Wold was born in Minneapolis, Minn. and graduated from Southwest High School. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946. Following graduation from the University of Minnesota, he worked for WBBM Chicago, then Campbell Mithun in Chicago and Minneapolis, where he was a key creative director behind the iconic 1950s “Land of Sky Blue Waters” sales campaign for The Hamm’s Brewing Company. In 1962, he moved to California to join NW Ayer, later Ayer Jorgensen McDonald, and by 1965, had been promoted to vice president and manager of the firm’s Los Angeles office. Wold went on to create The Robert Wold Co., later renamed Wold Communications, which built and operated satellite ground stations and mobile uplinks, now commonplace tools of the industry. As part of handling the Hamm’s account at Campbell Mithun, Wold annually set up a network of 40 radio and television stations in the Upper Midwest to carry Minnesota Twins games each season. These efforts evolved to find cost-effective means of distribution for his clients’ sports rights and Wold found his marketplace niche came from his ability to introduce broadcasters to satellites and technically minded satellite providers to the world of entertainment production and distribution. Wold Communications is credited with several “firsts” in the emerging use of satellite technology in the 1970s, including the first use of a domestic communications satellite for a live television program and the first worldwide business videoconference. His company made headlines in May 1977 through the real-time satellite delivery of the four Frost-Nixon interviews to an independent network on 165 U.S. television stations. By the mid-1980s, the company had offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington and more than 150 employees. Wold sold the company in 1989, and in 2001, was inducted into the Society of Satellite Professionals International Hall of Fame. He is preceded in death by his first son Robert John, who died in 1981. He is survived by his ex-wife Mary, son Peter, daughters Mary and Molly, as well as six grandchildren.
Please note: In the Spring 2013 issue, we published the obituary of the incorrect Virginia (Menning) Buterbaugh. We regret and apologize for the error. Murphy Reporter
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Murphy Reporter School of Journalism & Mass Communication College of Liberal Arts University of Minnesota 111 Murphy Hall 206 Church St. SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 facebook.com/umnsjmc twitter.com/umn_sjmc U of MN School of Journalism & Mass Communication Alumni
YOU’RE INVITED! SPRING SHOWCASE 2014 April 30, 2014 McNamara Alumni Center 5 p.m. All students, alumni and friends welcome See student work Honor donors Celebrate alumni achievements RSVP at z.umn.edu/springshowcase2014