REPORTER MURPHY
CONGRATS CLASS OF
2021!
SUMMER 2021
+ THE SCHOOL PLANS FOR ITS NEXT 100 YEARS + COMMUNITY JOURNALISM: BLACK ON CAMPUS
CONTENTS MURPHY
REPORTER SUMMER 2021 DIRECTOR Elisia Cohen
EDITOR
Amanda Fretheim Gates
DESIGN
Jeanne Schacht
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Katie Dohman, Gayle Golden, Jess Jurcek
PHOTOGRAPHY PROOFREADER Katie Dohman
ALUMNI RECORDS Kaylee Highstrom
2021-2022 HSJMC ALUMNI SOCIETY BOARD MEMBERS Kelli (Theiler) Brady, president Michael Schommer, secretary Alexa (Trussoni) Cushman Riham Feshir Maggie Habashy Mukhtar Ibrahim Suzy (Hart) Langdell Shreya Mukherjee Jenni Pinkley Karen Schultz Emme (Drews) Strauss
The Murphy Reporter is published semiannually by the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication for alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends of the school. 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. This publication is available in alternative formats upon request. Direct requests to murphrep@umn.edu
FEATURE
THE NEXT 100 YEARS……. 4 1 NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR 2 AROUND MURPHY HALL 4 FEATURES
The Next 100 Years................................................. 4 Send Us Stories......................................................9 Access U: Black on Campus................................14 ANDY KOSIER
Regina McCombs, Patrick O’Leary
10 EVENTS
2021 Senior Celebration.......................................10
20 TEACH
Faculty News......................................................... 20
22 LEARN
Grad Student News...............................................22 Meet a Grad Student.............................................24 Undergrad Student News......................................25 Meet a Student......................................................26 Class of 2021................................ inside back cover
27 ALUMS
Alumni Spotlight.................................................... 27 Why I Give............................................................ 28 Alumni News......................................................... 29 In Memorium......................................................... 31 Alumni Board update............................................ 32
CONNECT WITH US! facebook.com/umnhsjmc twitter.com/umn_hsjmc instagram.com/umnhsjmc youtube.com/umnhsjmc U of MN Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication Alumni Cover photo of Minh Phan and Genevieve Benson by Patrick O’Leary Correction: On page 27 of our Winter 2021 issue, we misspelled Lynda McDonnell’s name. We regret the error.
NEWS FROM THE DIRECTOR
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
14). Training students to cover difficult stories, to work with others who have different backgrounds and life experiences, is a vital part of the Hubbard School experience. The College of Liberal Arts and the University anticipates it will welcome its most diverse class in its history this fall, with up to 35 percent of first-year students from BIPOC communities. A first-year class that reflects the diversity of the state of Minnesota (and the globe) allows the School’s programs to provide a clear pathway to diversifying the available talent pool for the professional industry. Our commitment to supporting every student who enters Murphy Hall is strong; Hubbard School students continue to have the best retention and graduation rates at the University. It is also true that there is work to do to ensure that inequities caused by the pandemic do not disrupt students’ higher education goals. We take great pride in working to eliminate equity gaps and providing scholarship opportunities and support to all of our students to ensure their continued success. We also have more work to do in building an inclusive pipeline, preparing students to move from classrooms to professional careers. In 2021, the School received collegiate approval to hire its first-ever employer-relations and internship placement coordinator. We will leave no opportunity underdeveloped, and are open to working with agencies, media organizations, non-profit and corporate partners to strengthen the relationship between student communities and the professional communities that we serve, not only in Minnesota, but also globally. The School always strives to provide mentors through its mentoring program and, more recently, professional role models and supportive sponsors through our Cowles Fellows program. As we move forward with our renovation plans, and as we continue to build out our excellent faculty and staff, we look to our talented and dedicated alumni for support, insight and guidance. Never hesitate to reach out to me to share your thoughts, connections and stories. And we hope to see and hear from many of you in 2022 as we celebrate our 100-year anniversary (p. 9) with in-person events, storytelling moments, and other special activities. While last year was a challenge for us all, this next year is full of opportunity. We’re ready. Sincerely,
Elisia L. Cohen, Director
PHOTO BY CHRIS COOPER
A WISE ALUMNA OF THE HUBBARD SCHOOL, Michele Norris (B.A. ’85), has advised students: “Write your future in pencil…Be prepared. Plan for the future. But also be ready to pivot if a new opportunity comes your way, or if you discover something that was not part of the master plan—makes your heart sing and your mind buzz with possibilities.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hubbard School had a five-year program review. At the time, there were some needs that were clearly pressing: We wanted to build a faculty that was as diverse and inclusive in its intellectual work and expertise as our student population. We also knew that our facilities needed to be upgraded to meet the demands of modern multimedia news and content production for journalism and strategic communication. On the heels of our 2019 successful accreditation visit, we began to identify ways to reimagine the future of the School and build its facility to meet the needs of current and future students. Last renovated in 1999, our facilities were enhanced in the early days of the digital revolution (just as streaming music content on shared platforms such as Napster was all the rage), but had not been envisioned for podcasting or news and information sharing on modern social media platforms. The five-year strategic planning process allowed us to prepare for our digital future and helped us pivot during the pandemic with agility. We transformed our learning plans and discovered how teaching can leverage the latest in digital audio-visual technology for our classrooms and library spaces. When thinking about the future of Murphy Hall (see p. 4), we didn’t necessarily plan to dramatically change the footprint of the lower level. But, because of the pandemic, our minds buzzed with possibility: students working more closely with remote professionals, engaging more creatively in group projects and team-based learning when together, and moving more nimbly to shoot on location across campus and into our Murphy Hall studios. Thanks to the generosity of the Hubbard family, we toured KSTP to see their recent studio renovations and work with their engineers to consider what was possible for Murphy Hall. We also secured Regents approval for a $4.2 million renovation that will ensure our lower-level spaces undergo significant changes to help our physical infrastructure match the ambitions and possibilities for learning we see in our future programs. The past year has also marked a time of civil unrest and racial reckoning within our community. As you will see in this issue, our students worked closely with the University of Minnesota’s Black community to tell important stories through the Brovald-Sim community journalism class (p.
AROUND MURPHY HALL
TWO NEW FACES JOIN THE SCHOOL
Rich McCracken
Craig Flournoy
THE HUBBARD SCHOOL is pleased to welcome two new full-time faculty members to the team for Fall 2021. RICH MCCRACKEN joins the School as a lecturer in strategic communication. McCracken is a 20-plus-year marketing professional and recently served as the Director of Account Management at Haberman, a full-service marketing agency in Minneapolis. His practice has spanned from brand building to integrated campaign analytics, with special emphasis in the health and wellness spaces, including national recognition for his success in tobacco control and prevention. His professional passion starts with solving complex business challenges and coaching teams to ensure they have a strong, strategic foundation for any marketing and communications initiative. McCracken graduated with a
business degree from Miami University (Ohio) and received his MBA from Augsburg University. He hails from Liverpool, England, and continues to be devoted to both Liverpool Football Club and bland food. “I’m thrilled to get back to the classroom and provide students with real-world tools and inspiration as they embark on their career journey,” McCracken said. “I’m honored to join this uber-talented group and look forward to helping students leverage their curiosity, shape their critical thinking, and spark their confidence to make a positive difference in the world.”
CRAIG FLOURNOY joins the School as a Cowles Fellow and lecturer in journalism. His journalism career bridged Louisiana and Texas, where he was an investigative reporter at the
Dallas Morning News for 22 years. His journalism was honored with more than 50 state and national awards, including the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for “Separate and Unequal,” a series documenting pervasive segregation and starkly unequal conditions in the nation’s vast system of federally subsidized housing. In 2000, he left the newsroom for the classroom, earning a doctorate in Media and Public Affairs from Louisiana State University. An award-winning journalism professor at Southern Methodist University from 2002 to 2014, Flournoy taught at SMU’s Dallas campus, as well as in London, before taking a position as a journalism professor at the University of Cincinnati from 2014 to 2021. His research interests include exploring disparities in white and black press coverage of the Civil Rights Movement. He looks forward to joining the Hubbard School to help students produce journalism that makes a difference.
STUDENT-RUN AGENCY MOVES TO HUBBARD SCHOOL BACKPACK, THE UNIVERSITY OF
Minnesota's student-run ad/PR agency plans to expand its successful model of training students to work with external clients. The expansion starts by moving the Backpack headquarters from the College of Liberal Arts’ Office of Institutional Advancement (CLA/OIA) to the Hubbard School, with a goal of continuing to build Backpack as an independent student-run agency and recognized student organization. Director Elisia Cohen, Backpack Senior Adviser Jennifer Johnson, Hubbard School professional faculty, and Board of Advocates Chair Jorg Pierach (B.A. ’89) will work with CLA/ OIA to create a seamless move and assume primary leadership roles in the organization. Backpack started as CLAgency 2
MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
eight years ago, as an effort to provide professional experience and portfolio samples for CLA students. During the first six years, its only client was CLA and student opportunities focused on creating content for the departments within the College of Liberal Arts. In 2018, CLAgency reorganized to include external clients, and soon after rebranded as Backpack. This provided more meaningful opportunities for students and more connection with brands and services inside and outside of the University. During 2021-2022, nearly 30 students will receive more than $68,000 in stipend support for their training and work with external clients. The Hubbard School hopes to sustain this program to support the agency’s training and professional development
programs with fundraising to match the income it receives from external client partnerships. The vision for Backpack won't change: A model for young professionals to gain valuable experience while providing clients with valuable work. It will continue to be student-run, with leadership and communication tools changing each semester, composed of a diverse set of majors and minors. Students will use their skills to collaborate and provide meaningful, people-centered communications to reach a Gen Z audience. If your small business or nonprofit is interested in learning about ways the Backpack agency can offer strategic communication services, contact Jennifer Johnson at joh02016@umn.edu.
AROUND MURPHY HALL
INTENT, ACTION, ACCOUNTABILITY LAST FALL, THE SCHOOL PARTNERED
with The Coven, which was founded by Hubbard School alum and adjunct fellow Alex West Steinman (B.A. ’11), to launch a “community pulse” assessment initiative. The Coven team interviewed 206 Hubbard School students and 38 recent alumni through virtual focus groups to “unearth and elevate actionable ideas for building programming at the Hubbard School that engages all students and creates a sense of belonging.” The Coven also conducted three 60-minute sessions with BIPOC students. The study found that students long for more in-classroom representation from experts who share their experiences, applaud programming that addresses broken systems, and are searching for more diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) content in the classroom. The Coven provided the Hubbard School with a wealth of comments, suggestions and ideas on how to build a stronger, more inclusive School moving forward. The report to the School identified several strengths, as well as opportunities to improve to enhance student feelings of inclusion and belonging in the School. ❚ Students repeatedly praised the school’s mentorship program for connecting them with high quality mentors and exciting professional opportunities. ❚ Students appreciate the School’s regular, accessible events that inspire collaboration and offer visible representation that provide different perspectives and encourage networking. ❚ Students’ professional ambitions are supported. As one student noted, “You have the opportunity to learn from people who have had the experience that hopefully you’ll have in the future....I really do feel supported by Hubbard.” ❚ Students report positive peer
interactions and feedback, a supportive climate in the School and openness to growth: “All of the professors I have know and accept the state that the J-school is in... most are willing and apt to change that. When getting feedback and dialogue in class, they tend to be really receptive.” There were also several areas identified for growth as the School moves forward. BIPOC students feel at home when they see themselves reflected in faculty, fellow students, and the professionals they aspire to be. Students emphasize the importance of infusing classroom curriculum and materials with diversity and representation, making it an ongoing and authentic part of the day-to-day classroom
the university's liberal education requirement in this area. There is opportunity to build on in-classroom guest speakers, event panelists, and content to infuse diversity into the Hubbard School experience. The School is seeking additional diverse professionals working in the field to teach in the School from their positions of professional expertise. There is an opportunity to help students prepare to navigate post-graduation careers. BIPOC students expressed concerns about fitting into agency culture and navigating the journalism field as a person of color. The School hopes to develop more partnerships, such as the BIPOC PR Career Explorer project, to create more opportunities for career exploration. Expansion of paid internships with diverse media organizations and
BIPOC students feel at home when they see themselves reflected in faculty, fellow students, and the professionals they aspire to be. experience. The School is continuing to develop relationships with diverse Twin Cities professionals and utilizes fellowships to strengthen the faculty and curriculum. Students want to be included in conversations with, for, and about programming and DEI efforts. The School plans on launching a student board program to engage students in the School's program development. Students support DEI classroom content that is substantial, culturally aware, and not optional. The School continuously reviews syllabi and curriculum to ensure content is relevant and in line with our accreditation standards related to diversity, equity and inclusion. The School recognizes there is growing demand for coursework in the intersecting areas of race, justice and power in media. The School will continue to offer courses that meet
KATZ PROMOTED FOLLOWING THE
recommendation of the faculty of the Hubbard School and the College of Liberal Arts, its Dean and the Provost, the University of Minnesota Regents voted to promote SHERRI JEAN KATZ to the position of associate professor with tenure this past May.
internships is also of interest. Though the School has hired several standout faculty over the past several years who are positioned as leaders in the School and are noted for their inclusive excellence and work with students, the School recognizes that it generally struggles to attract robust applicant pools, particularly for its professional position openings and faculty issues. The School plans to work with the College’s first Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to ensure that it is using all available strategies for recruiting outstanding professionals and faculty. The College and the School also continue to provide professional development opportunities to help faculty create inclusive and supportive classroom climates for dialogue, knowledge-sharing, perspective-sharing and learning. HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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B U I L D I N G
Updated Sevareid Library space
New study areas and group rooms
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
F O R
T H E
F U T U R E
The NEXT
The School kicks off a capital campaign to renovate Murphy Hall.
IN 2022, DURING THE SCHOOL’S CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, MURPHY HALL TURNS 82. The building, named for William J.
100 RENDERINGS COURTESY OF CUNINGHAM
Years
Murphy, publisher of the Minneapolis Tribune, who in 1918 bequeathed a portion of his estate to the university for “the establishing and maintaining of a course of instruction in journalism,” is the longtime home base for journalism, mass and strategic communication students. Its classrooms, hallways, and gathering spaces are often listed amongst the fondest alum memories. Murphy Hall has stood the test of time. And now it’s time for it to serve the next century of journalists, communicators and researchers. The power and influence of digital media in our connected world are on full display, every day. Through media technologies unimaginable just a decade ago, the reporting of stories, sharing of information, and expression of ideas are shared rapidly, and globally, like never before. Journalist, media strategist, advertising creative director, broadcaster, and podcaster are livelihoods that hold great potential. And they speak with voices of even greater responsibility. For 100 years, the Hubbard School—and Murphy Hall—has prepared students to enter the media landscape of their time equipped with knowledge, determination, and a sense of responsibility. Hubbard School alumni have gone on to accomplish amazing feats in their fields, leading in communities and industries in Minnesota and around the world. Now, as digital media transform news, information, entertainment, business and nonprofit strategy, the School is once again poised to shape the future and build off the successes of the past 100 years. HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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CAREER READINESS BUILT IN The new spaces will prepare students with: ❙ Enhanced access to career counseling, including assistance with job interviews ❙ Access to 1:1 coaching, student services support, and resources to complete their degrees and launch their careers ❙ Assistance with students’ development of core career competencies and learning how to articulate and translate them into the language of employers ❙ Training and experiences, including internship opportunities, job shadowing, mentorship, and more ❙ A “Professionals in Residence” program in the School where media professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs can serve as role models to mentor and educate our students on career opportunities
The renovation will include three new lab spaces (top) and a more friendly Gopher Way (bottom). Room visualization shown is a shell; labs will continue to provide each student a computer and have screens that support hi-flex classrooms, with some learners or presenters engaging with the class remotely.
“Murphy Hall is legendary. What I learned in Murphy Hall changed the course of my career. And while it was a state-of the-art building when I was there in the ’70s, it needs to be state of the art for students in the 2020’s and beyond. Combined with its stellar faculty, a new Murphy Hall can continue to graduate sought-after journalists and communicators.” —Scott Meyer, alum and adjunct instructor
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
WITHIN THESE WALLS
Murphy Hall bridges the legacy of the past with the promise of the future. Transforming Murphy Hall’s digital and instructional labs and broadcast studio to promote transparency, collaboration, and mobility will continue to drive the innovation that fuels the skills, education and excellence the School provides. Murphy Hall was last renovated in 1999, when new lab spaces were a perfect response to the digital media boom happening at that time. Now, two decades later, both the technology and how we teach and learn has again changed, and the School is rising to meet that moment while also forecasting for the future. New state-of-the-art laboratories and learning spaces will increase flexibility and enable wireless 5G technology to enhance media production and distribution, and will allow students, faculty and professionals to collaborate in new ways. A converged physical media and classroom hub (integrating classroom, digital studio, and huddle spaces) and a virtual hub, will foster new connections between the School’s student media projects and classrooms, tying this all into a common hybrid virtual and physical space for the first time.
WHAT’S TO COME IN 2022
To meet the demands of 21st century digital innovations, the School will expand the Sevareid Library and lab space from a digital resource center to a working digital innovation hub, where student teams conduct digital media research, develop digital tools and business plans to innovate and collaborate in creating the future of journalism and communication strategy under the guidance of the School’s professional fellows and faculty. This new innovation hub will: ✖ Combine face-to-face experiential learning and virtual learning lab spaces in support of our integrated strategic communication programs ✖ Update our modest studio space to allow integration of production and instructional lab spaces, and support data visualization and remote production work
AND BEYOND: MODERNIZING MURPHY HALL While the lower-level renovations are in the works, here’s a peek at some of the upgrades the School hopes to integrate in the next several years. ❙ Renovate and expand Sevareid Library and Digital Resource Information Center into the Hub: Integrate access to the library from wings including a mobile multimedia lab, a video broadcast studio, control room, a direct-to-Web podcast studio, and project huddle space. Enhance Sevareid library digital collections, subscription services and access to Adobe software for all students. ❙ Build two integrated design-to-dissemination labs ❙ Remodel faculty “neighborhoods” to cluster faculty offices, classrooms, and experiential learning spaces in line with pre-professional training needs and faculty areas of expertise ❙ Establish a research “neighborhood,” including state-of-the-art focus group, psycho-physiological, and mobile facilities ❙ Create a laptop lounge and provide free laptop checkout for students in need ❙ Update equipment in our 144-seat auditorium to support hi-flex, simultaneous in-person and remote learning ❙ Update the Heggen Room and the Murphy Hall Conference Center to allow for simultaneous in-person and remote event activities (planned for Fall 2021) ❙ Update The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law facility and expand its programmatic offerings
✖ Integrate existing digital media and library services to support the School’s Sevareid collection The School also hopes to develop a professionally managed, integrated, and connected digital platform that will: ❚ Publish the strongest student work from our multimedia journalism courses and link to student and community publications that feature students’ work
❚ Create a signature web portal where media professionals, executives, entrepreneurs, and others can see the talent and professionalism of our students
❚ Offer cross-digital social media and Web promotion of student clubs and organizations like The Minnesota Daily, Radio K, The Wake, and other student activities and groups’ media content
“How glorious it is that journalism students have had a home, a hall of their own for decades and decades. Murphy Hall remains a critical touchpoint for all of us, whether physically or in the stories we tell of our time spent within its walls and the people we met there. And how exciting to think about Murphy re-tooled and reimagined for future scholars and practitioners.”
“There are so many things I’m looking forward to in the renovation, among them, not irritating my colleagues trying to teach next to me with the volume of the video I’m playing in class, fewer distractions for students from other people walking into the lab, and easier access to equipment checkout. But the thing I’m happiest about has no impact on me personally, and that is room for students to study, socialize and comfortably hang out in the building. It will bring a much more collegial feeling to the School when there are spaces for students to bond with each other outside the classroom.” —Regina McCombs, Senior Fellow
“I’m eager to work with students in a space that reduces distractions beyond the classroom and increases engagedlearning options within their reach.” —Gayle Golden, Senior Lecturer
“I’m especially excited about the upgrade to our broadcast studio. We’ll give students essential experience in an updated on-air environment that allows them to interact with and interpret content for audiences. This will even more effectively prepare them for positions in professional newsrooms, which continue to show great interest in our graduates.” —Scott Libin, Senior Fellow
-- Deborah Hopp (B.A. '75)
❚ Integrate opportunities for digital-first training that HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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“Professional journalists are the warriors of our time. Our SJMC is vital to educating journalists who will uncover and communicate the truth without bias. Our country and our world need them more than ever. My SJMC experience has given me the opportunity to spend my entire 50-plusyear career working in my chosen field. How many college graduates can say that? I am grateful beyond measure.” —Carol Pine (B.A. ’67)
“My career in journalism began more than 50 years ago in the basement of Murphy Hall, where a bunch of us produced the Minnesota Daily. It was an exciting time, and I could not be more thrilled that Murphy Hall will now be equipped to train new generations of journalists in the years to come.”
showcases students’ production and publication experiences so that they graduate with a portfolio of digital work they can highlight to prospective employers and companies
❚ Provide a landing site for Backpack (see p. 2), campaigns courses, and American Advertising Federation competition teams to showcase their work for clients
CONNECTING WITH THE COMMUNITY
The unparalleled opportunities provided by Minneapolis-St. Paul offer the School the opportunity to connect with the media industry, non-profit sectors, and other industries to be a driving force in preparing our diverse student body for the professional media market. Local advertising and public relations firms, broadcasters, news, and related public interest organizations seek leaders that reflect Minnesota’s increasingly diverse population. These experiences offered to Hubbard students
—Tom Gjelten, donor
prepare them to be professionally prepared and capable of working anywhere in the world. From COVID-19 to the fight for racial equality, recent crises highlight the importance of educating the next generation of professionals to help improve communication and community reporting. We have a responsibility to prepare these students by providing them with the right environment for learning and discovery while helping them secure hands-on, real world experiences. Perhaps even more importantly, we have a duty to give these students the tools they need to be successful upon graduation and long after they’ve said goodbye to Murphy Hall (see sidebar). The School is a leader in providing deep student experiential learning opportunities through partnerships with Twin Cities and Minnesota non-profit and commercial media. Training future professionals to provide ethical, timely, and accurate journalism and communication strategy in service to communities is more important than ever.
“There’s no question that journalists are playing an even more pivotal role in our country and the world. Supporting the much-needed renovation of Murphy Hall is critical. Our Hubbard School students will have a state-of-the-art training ground and launch pad that will ensure they can compete and thrive once they formally enter the profession. This infrastructure upgrade is exciting and I’m hoping that my fellow alums join me in showing their support through a contribution of any level as we kick off these next 100 years!” —Jill Braaten (B.A. ’91)
“I came to Murphy Hall “fresh off the boat” from Beijing, China in 1988. The first encounter with the U was at Murphy Hall where the New Student Orientation took place. Murphy Hall became a favorite spot during my graduate studies at the School. It was there I was invited to my first-ever Thanksgiving feast at the residence of Professor Emeritus Edwin Emery. I spent most of my time on campus, if not all, in the Murphy Hall. It was there I attended lectures, joined group discussions and sought professors’ advice during the office hours. It was there I advanced the critical thinking, concise and precise writing, and gained the confidence in myself. I am excited for the Murphy Hall renovation and share the vision of supporting the School in its next 100 years. Future students will reap the benefits from the modern facility and a curriculum that is globally oriented while grounded by the community.” —Jane Burk (M.A. '90)
SUPPORT THE NEXT 100 There will be many ways to support the future of Murphy Hall. Want to give now? Visit z.umn.edu/SupportMurphyHall
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
The Hubbard School Turns
100!
The Hubbard School is celebrating 100 years as a University of Minnesota department in 2022. The School has an entire year of activities, special events, giveaways, and storytelling planned. And we want to hear from you! Do you have a favorite memory, class, quote from a professor, or photo from your time in Murphy Hall? Do you remember a moment that reflects on the history and character of the students, faculty, and staff of the School? Do you have a story on how your current success was inspired by the School? Send it to us and we’ll consider it for our #Hubbard100 stories in 2022 or for upcoming issues of the Murphy Reporter.
HERE’S HOW TO SEND YOUR STORY:
Go to z.umn.edu/HubbardStories and share your story with us Email your story to murphrep@umn.edu Or, fill out the form below and send it to: Murphy Reporter 106 Murphy Hall 206 Church Street, S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455 NAME: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ EMAIL: ___________________________________________ GRADUATION YEAR: _____________________________________ SHARE YOUR MEMORY: ______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________
✃
______________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ * The School reserves the right to edit submissions for length and to comply with University policies. HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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2021 SENIOR CELEBRATION THE SCHOOL SAFELY CELEBRATED ITS GRADS ON MAY 14, 2021.
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
After an unusual year, the senior class of 2021 was able to celebrate their accomplishments in person and with all the joy that they deserved.
Gracie Stockton
Director of Graduate Studies Matt Carlson with Director Elisia Cohen
Darian Leddy HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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(clockwise from top left): Nathanael AshtonPiper; Samantha DeLeon; Asma Sifaoui, Jada Jesberg; Christina Harisiadis, Jamie Traynor and Molly Fahey with Mark Jenson; Jasmine Bradford; and Dylan Miettinen with Gayle (G.G.) Golden
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
Emma Chekroun
Tina Phan
PHOTOS BY PATRICK O'LEARY AND REGINA MCCOMBS
HATS OFF TO THE FUTURE
HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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ACCESS
U
BLACK ON CAMPUS Senior Lecturer Gayle Golden reflects on the student experience.
FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, THE BROVALD-SIM COMMUNITY
To view the students’ work, visit accessu. sjmc.umn.edu/ blackoncampus/ To support the Brovald-Sim Community Journalism class, visit z.umn.edu/ brovaldsim
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Journalism class has covered a different campus community. Of all years, 2021 seemed like the right time for the class to focus the semester on Black communities on the Twin Cities campus. The nearly 20 students who gathered on Zoom in January were eager to do what other Brovald-Sim Community Journalism classes had done on campus for disability, addiction, rurality or nontraditional status: create a news site that identifies a “hidden” campus community and report deeply on it through sustained engagement, a large survey and stories that gave voice to its members. Black students at the University of Minnesota make up just 7 percent of the undergraduate population. They were underrepresented and undercovered. But anxiety loomed large. For one thing, the pandemic had dispersed campus communities. How would students connect meaningfully with Black students through Zoom, phone or 15 minutes of masked, distanced encounters? Other concerns ran deeper. Most of the non-BIPOC students in the class— most of the class—felt they had no right to report on Black student groups. They wondered if they could even ask the right questions. Or whether their mere presence would cause harm. The class’ diversity fellow, Marissa Evans of the Los Angeles Times, minced no words in response to that anxiety. “Only white journalists could have the privilege of saying they cannot cover a community,” she wrote in an email to the class, referring plainly to her experience as a Black journalist. “Journalists of color in general are sometimes subject to covering topics they feel uncomfortable or uneducated in, but the assignment and keeping employment often has to outweigh that discomfort...The mission and vision of this class is to push advanced students in the School to do journalism with impact that raises awareness, accountability and open-mindedness. Covering the Black student experience on campus and in the Twin Cities is an opportunity to fulfill that mission.” AccessU: Black on Campus is a testament to the students’ decision to face their fears and do that hard work. The students read articles from experts, discussed approaches, and listened to Black journalists about
MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
how to report with empathy. When they started the reporting work, they took care of each other at every turn. They created and stuck to a common mission that felt authentic: “To do reporting that centers the experiences, voices and stories of Black communities on the Twin Cities campus.” Editor-in-chief Jasmine Snow leaned into the hard work of contacting key Black student groups to tell them about the project. As a Black student, she plowed important ground for non-Black students in the class and helped create a manual to guide students through sensitive issues. The class was incredibly grateful for her efforts, which made everything possible. The AccessU model (supported by the Brovald-Sim Community Journalism Fund) builds on a principle that community journalism begins where people live and what they care about. Students start with simple news and views stories. They move on to profiles. Only later come issue stories, in this case drawn from a survey sent to undergraduates that showed the University’s attempts to address racial inequalities didn’t resonate with students. Another story analyzed, and interviewed people about, the numbers behind Black faculty and students (see p. 15). Early in the semester, students said they wanted to avoid writing just about Black trauma, which had resonated through the year’s protests of George Floyd’s murder and police brutality reflecting wider systemic racism. They wanted to reflect Black joy too, through depictions of students’ passions and pursuits: Black fashion designers, musicians, inspiring educators, aspiring actors and passionate leaders. The multimedia team created a Humans page featuring photographs with people expressing who they are in their own words. But Black trauma was never far. The Chauvin trial dominated the end of the term. Daunte Wright was fatally shot in Brooklyn Center, Minn. Only then did the full lessons of community coverage emerge. Relying on our list of survey respondents who agreed to be interviewed, we were able to report what Black students were thinking during the trial and after the verdict. The work was powerful and important. What began out of fear ended with a lesson in listening and reporting. No one had to parachute in when the story hit. They were already there with empathy. That’s community journalism.
THE NUMBERS ON BLACK FACULTY AND STUDENTS TELL THE STORY Too few chances for tenure; isolation, exhaustion and a slow pace for change. BY JESS JURCEK
What is the numerical reality of being a Black student or faculty member at the University of Minnesota? Imagine a small party of 14 people. The whole party represents the undergrad student population; just one person would be Black. For faculty, imagine a larger party, this time of 33 people. All 33 represent the total faculty at the University; only one partygoer would be Black.
That reality has not changed much in years. According to data from the University’s Office of Institutional Research, Black undergraduates in 2020 made up about 7 percent of total undergraduates. Black faculty, on the other hand, represented 3 percent of total faculty in the same year. Behind these percentages, students, staff and faculty say, are problems with the campus climate and with recruitment efforts. Black faculty, staff and students do not always feel welcome or supported on campus, making it difficult to both attract and retain them at the University.
THE PERSISTENTLY LOW LEVEL OF BLACK FACULTY In the past decade, the percentage of Black faculty fluctuated significantly, particularly between 2011 and 2015 when Black faculty decreased by nearly 20 percent. Since then, the numbers have climbed above where they were at the beginning of the previous decade. However, the
“Through the lectures, class discussion and readings, I knew to approach community journalism by detaching myself from my expectations and biases. I knew it was important to be a blank page and let your sources be the one to hold the pencil.” —Tina Nguyen
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total number of Black faculty on campus is still very small, as well as elsewhere in the United States. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 6 percent of faculty in higher education in 2018 were Black. Anthony Scott, president of the University’s Black Faculty and Staff Association, points to systemic factors such as the tenure process as a reason for the fluctuating numbers and persistently low level of Black faculty. It is simply harder for Black faculty to make tenure than it is for other faculty, he said. One reason, he said, is that in general Black faculty get fewer research opportunities and have a harder time finding tenured faculty to serve as their mentors. “If you don’t have someone pushing for you to make tenure,” Scott said, “then it probably isn’t going to happen.” The difficulty of making tenure and lack of support for Black faculty is common across primarily white institutions in the United States. A 2017 study by researchers from Loyola University Chicago and North Carolina State University called “Recruitment without Retention: A Critical Case of Black Faculty Unrest” found that Black faculty consistently report feeling undervalued by white colleges, tokenization, and being recruited for work on diversity and inclusion efforts. According to the authors of the study, diversity and inclusion work does not hold the same level of credibility as traditional research fields, like physics or biology, making it harder for the Black faculty doing this research to gain recognition for their work, an important step in achieving tenure. Nicola Alexander, interim associate dean for undergraduate education, diversity and international initiatives in the College of Education and Human Development, said that Black faculty and faculty of color can be asked
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to serve on committees more than white faculty because there are “To fewer faculty of color. learn about this “You end up doing a community’s trauma is lot of service work,” she important, but it shouldn’t be said. “And service work is valued, but it is not the only thing we report on…. as highly valued as In my future reporting endeavors, research.” The extra I will be sure to look not only for time that faculty of trauma stories within underserved color spend on service work takes away from communities, but stories of joy the time and energy they and typical life, too.” can contribute to the kind of —Shannon Doyle peer-reviewed and published research that helps secure recognition, funding and tenure in academia. Furthermore, Alexander said, success in academia is often assessed on a white, male-driven standard that may undervalue the impacts of service or qualitative diversity research and work. “We typically reward service work and teaching work with rhetoric and research with funding,” Alexander said. Issues with retention and recruitment apply to staff as well, Scott said. In his 15 years at the University, he said that he applied for at least a dozen positions and made it to the third round of interviews in many of those cases, just to be turned down. No Black men were hired in any of those instances, he said. “You think, OK, it’s so hard for me to move into the developmental opportunities that I want here, so why am I going to stick around?” Scott said. Recently, however, Scott was promoted to a
leadership role. He thinks the timing of his promotion has something to do with the murder of George Floyd and the recognition around racism and the lack of racial diversity that institutions like the University have since faced. There are still very few Black staff in leadership across the University. According to Anise Mazone, the director of the Multicultural Student Engagement Office and previous president of the Black Faculty and Staff Association, Black staff make up 17 percent of “labor” jobs like custodial and dining services, but less than 3 percent of administrative roles. Having such small populations of Black staff and faculty, Alexander said, can make people feel iso“As lated. Reaching a “critical a class, we had to mass” of Black staff and faculty can be very attuned to the fact that make it easier to people were already fatigued and both attract and under significant stress because of COVID retain people, and distance learning. Adding the trial of but the University is not there Derek Chauvin and the police killing of Daunte yet. Wright to this already stressful mix meant that While Scott we had to walk a fine line between reporting says there is the important issues that needed to be still a lot of work the University reported and being sensitive to the could be doing to emotional state of the communities diversify its hiring and we were covering.” make tenure less diffi—Eric Servatius cult for Black candidates, he also said that since Joan
Gabel was appointed president of the University in July 2019, there has been a small shift towards greater support of diversity in hiring initiatives. Still, Scott said, “it’s difficult as a Black person on campus when you don’t feel valued as a member of the University community.”
THE ISOLATION OF BEING A BLACK STUDENT
Black representation in faculty and staff matters to students, Scott says, and is part of the reason that Black student enrollment is also low. Limited Black representation in faculty and staff can compound feelings of isolation for Black students. “Think about how exhausting it is to be in a classroom where a lot of times you’re basically othered, unintentionally by a lot of students, but sometimes maybe not so unintentionally,” Mazone said. In 2018, the Board of Regents addressed these concerns in its resolution on diversity in undergraduate education. The resolution calls for greater efforts to recruit students from Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools, better evaluation of student recruiting methods, reduced four- and six-year graduation rate gaps for students of color compared to white students, and better recording and monitoring of the enrollment and graduation rates of locally represented ethnicities, including East African. Since the resolution was passed, Mazone said, the gap in four-year graduation rates between white and Black students shrunk by more than 50 percentage points. Part of this improvement, Mazone said, has come from paying better attention to and working to increase students of color’s “touchpoints,” or moments
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throughout a immediate option for him when he graduated high think community student’s school. “In Black people’s communities, I feel journalism means meeting, undergradulike there has to be more resources to help hearing and learning the voices of ate career kids go to these schools, especially a school when they like this,” he said. those you’ve never had the chance or connect opportunity to know…. I don’t think I will MORE ACTION, LESS TALK directly with ever forget this class because it taught me Some students, like Kilgore, say the advisers, not only how to be a better journalist, but I University talks about its commitment to faculty or diversity more than it demonstrates that other staff. feel like I’m more empathetic and critical commitment through actions to increase One with how I see the world and I move diversity on campus. This tracks with results example within it.” from the 2021 AccessU: Black on Campus is the Martin —Samantha DeLeon survey, which found that about two-thirds of Black Luther King, Jr. respondents and over half of total respondents think Program (MLK Prothe University’s response to racial diversity is more gram), in which Mazone words than action. Kilgore said he thinks it is odd that says that all students of color the campus is not more diverse, especially given the in the College of Liberal Arts are now automatically diversity in the city of Minneapolis, which is about 20 enrolled. Although this is how the program was origipercent Black, compared to the undergraduate populanally designed, it was temporarily switched to an opt-in tion at 7 percent Black. format, which Mazone said hurt the students of color Mazone often hears from students who are surwho did not have the social capital to know that the prised to arrive at the University and find less diversity program existed in the first place. than they expected. However, she says that she does Robert McMaster, vice provost of the Office of not understand where students’ notions that the UniUndergraduate Education, said that improving the versity will be racially diverse come from. “They have campus climate for students of color is a combination all been here for a campus visit,” she said. “When they of efforts across the University, including programs walked across the campus, they did not see a whole like the MLK Program, as well as hiring more faculty of lot of students of color.” color and targeting recruitment efforts at specific MinThere are certainly pockets of diversity across nesota high schools. “Bit by bit, we’re putting pieces of campus, Mazone said. There are some classes and the puzzle together,” he said. programs where students of Despite recent improvements in graduation rates color are in the majority, and efforts by the University to improve campus “The such as the Multiclimate, Black students continue to make up a small biggest shift in my cultural Center minority of the total student population. for Academic According to Mazone, these low numbers are not view of community journalism Excellence only explained by the campus racial climate but by the was the transition from assuming (MCAE), the Twin Cities racial climate, too. Recent police killings of I was being exploitative in trying to President’s Black people in and around the Twin Cities make some do this work to thinking that I can be of Emerging prospective students think that the University is not a Scholars safe place for them to be, she said. service...There is no reason white reporters Program, Furthermore, Mazone said, among some popcan’t learn to be better, do better, and and the ulations, the University does not have a welcoming make themselves useful doing the kind MLK reputation but rather is seen as an elite, wealthy and a of coverage that can actually make Program. white space. If prospective students come from a high Mazone said school where they had few opportunities for college a difference for marginalized it’s important preparations, like ACT prep, or did not have a mentor communities.” that students of who encouraged them to apply, it is unlikely that they —Jessica Jurcek color seek out those will end up at a four-year university like the University of spaces to find support. Minnesota. “If you have one foot in and one Shemarr Kilgore, a fourth-year journalism and foot out, you never fully feel like you belong here, then transfer student, did not think the University was an 18
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more than likely you’re not going to do well,” she said. Another space on campus where Black students are represented in higher numbers is athletics. In 2020, nearly 16 percent of the University’s student-athletes were Black. Across the entire Big Ten conference in the same year, 14 percent of student-athletes were Black, according to the NCAA Demographics Database. Black students tend to be overrepresented in athletics departments across the Big Ten. The University of Maryland—the Big Ten school with the highest Black student population at 11.5 percent in 2019—University of Minnesota, Rutgers University, Ohio “I think State University that this will and Purdue University stick with me: this idea all have that community journalism a higher isn’t just covering one sole percentage community. It’s about the of Black student-athmany that make up letes than the one.” they do —Sophia Zimmerman Black students. Requests for student-athlete data from other Big Ten universities were not fulfilled in time for this story. Although athletics data suggest an over-representation of Black students on athletics teams at the University of Minnesota, Mazone says that Black students at the University have better access to support resources than their peers at other Big Ten universities. Mazone belongs to a network of multicultural student affairs professionals across Big Ten schools and said that in general, the other schools have less money and offer fewer programs focused on diversity than the University of Minnesota. Kilgore said that the University does offer him valuable resources and that he “loves being here.” At the same time, he said he is disappointed in the way that the University’s support for Black students often is in response to a traumatic event, like the murder of George Floyd last summer. “Why weren’t you doing more for these students before this happened? It shouldn’t have to take something tragic like that for you to make a change,” Kilgore said.
Students Say
Below and in the circles on previous pages, Access U students contemplate their semester covering the Black campus community. “When this class decided it would dedicate a semester’s worth of coverage to Black communities on campus, we did not do so lightly. It took hours of discussion and forethought before we made the choice, fully understanding the amount of work we had ahead of us to make our coverage as equitable and accurate as possible—as well as the context in which we would be launching the site, including the demographics of the class and the timeline of events in Minneapolis. The discussions and repercussions we were seeing following the murder of George Floyd and subsequent unrest were nothing new, really, but instead were things with which white systemic consciousness was being forced to reckon. We aimed to take advantage of that reckoning by using the space we had available to tell stories for and with Black people on campus. “Personally, I have come from and have lived in predominantly white spaces my whole life, and over time, I’ve realized how easy it is to do more talking than walking when it comes to the nittygritty of good, “representative” reporting. You don’t have to do much “diversity and community” reporting to be considered as having done “a lot of good work” by the industry standard—even less so when your audience is majority-white or just generally removed from the community you’re intending to cover. Because our intent was to focus exclusively on the stories and voices of Black people on campus, we didn’t have to worry about or compromise for white audiences who would potentially feel excluded in our coverage. As a result, we were able to do much more honest and in-depth coverage.” —Jasmine Snow, Editor-in-Chief
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FACULTY NEWS Colin Agur
COLIN AGUR published “Mobile
netware, social graphs, and the reconfiguration of space,” along with Salvatore Babones of the University of Sydney, in New Media & Society in April 2021.
VALÉRIE BÉLAIR-GAGNON published
the book Journalism Research That Matters with Nikki Usher (University of Illinois) under Oxford University Press. The book provides a comprehensive overview of the most pressing and exciting areas for journalism research, from news and data literacy to changing news audiences to shifting business models for news. It includes contributions from academics and journalists to understand the most pressing problems facing the news industry today, and it provides a blueprint for overcoming the research-practice gap.
DANIELLE BROWN’s research on
media bias and protest coverage was featured in Nature. The article covers findings from several of her research projects, including analyses of the 2020 civil rights protests in Minneapolis.
MATT CARLSON published the journal article “Conjecturing fearful futures: Journalistic discourses on deepfakes,” co-authored with Karin Wahl-Jorgensen, in Journalism Practice. RUTH DEFOSTER was quoted in a
Minnesota Reformer story “Data show racial bias in reporting from popular Twin Cities crime media network,” and by Nieman Lab in “How mainstream media failed the Atlanta shooting victims.”
GAYLE GOLDEN was appointed to the Women’s Faculty Cabinet, which is a 20
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small group reporting to the Provost that foregrounds issues related to women and gender equity through recommending policies, sponsoring events and working with faculty and deans to improve equity, diversity, and campus life for everyone at the University of Minnesota.
JISU HUH was named as new Senior
Associate Editor for the Journal of Advertising. As the flagship journal of the American Academy of Advertising, the Journal of Advertising is ranked No. 1 in Communication and No. 12 in Business. Huh’s collaborative work with her former Ph.D. advisee, Dr. Alex Pfeuffer, has recently been published in the International Journal of Advertising. The paper, titled “Effects of different sponsorship disclosure message types on consumers’ trust and attitudes,” examined the effects of different types of online sponsorship disclosure messages on consumers’ trust in the sponsored product reviewer and attitudes toward the reviewer and the sponsoring brand. The findings of this study address the problem of increasing sponsored electronic word-of-mouth and diverse and confusing disclosure practices around the world.
MARK JENSON led two sections of Jour 4263: Strategic Communication Campaigns. Each section worked on a project for a real-world client, Target and Fox Sports North, and made final presentations in April 2021 (see page 25). JANE KIRTLEY conducted two
webinars/lectures for the U.S. State Department through the U.S. Speakers program, including a 30-minute lecture through the U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 10, 2021, helping to promote a free
press and engage with stakeholders who educate young Cambodians on media literacy, including the few active independent media outlets and NGOs. She also delivered the keynote address for the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, for journalists in Minsk, Belarus. The one-hour lecture was an overview of journalism in U.S. society.
SCOTT LIBIN completed the Freedom Forum Power Shift Project’s Online Workplace Integrity Workshop. This update on the program’s virtual version was for those already certified to lead Workplace Integrity training in person. In February, Libin was interviewed and quoted at length in the Star Tribune’s “Rash Report” on the role of video in the U.S. Senate’s impeachment trial of former President Trump. SCOTT MEMMEL was the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) 2021 Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award recipient for his dissertation titled “Pressing the police and policing the press: The history and law of the relationship between the news media and law enforcement in the United States.” The award is the highest honor bestowed on student scholarship, recognizing the best dissertation in the field of mass communication research.
Valerie Belair-Gagnon
Danielle Brown
Matt Carlson
Gayle Golden
REBEKAH NAGLER is a co-investigator
on a four-year R01 grant recently funded by the NIH’s National Institute on Aging. The research team, which includes School of Public Health associate professor Sarah Gollust and faculty members at Johns Hopkins University’s schools of medicine and public health, will be testing messaging strategies to reduce breast cancer over-screening in older women.
Jisu Huh
SCHOLARSHIP & ENGAGEMENT
Mark Jenson
AMY O’CONNOR, along with
Jane Kirtley
Scott Libin
Rebekah Nagler
Amy O’Connor
graduate students Renee Mitson and Cory Gilbert, had a paper published in Corporate Communications: An International Journal, titled “Hometown advantage? Exploring the relationship between location, CSR/CSI behaviors, and stakeholders behavioral intentions.” The paper was based on data collected at the Driven to Discover Research Facility at the Minnesota State Fair.
HYEJOON RIM, along with collaborators Moonhee Cho (University of Tennessee) and Katie Haejung Kim (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities), received a 2021 Page/ Johnson Legacy Scholar Grants from the Arthur W. Page Center for the project “Understanding CSA from the perspectives of public relations professionals and employees: An application of a co-orientation model.” Rim, along with co-authors, also published “Theoretical insights of CSR research in communication from 1980 to 2018: A bibliometric network analysis” in the Journal of Business Ethics. ADAM SAFFER, along with co-authors, published “Interlocking among American newspaper organizations revisited: ‘Pressure from the top’ and its influence on newsroom and content” in Mass Communication & Society. This piece was a multi-year, AEJMCfunded research project. Saffer, in
Hyejoon Rim
Claire Segijn
Adam Saffer
collaboration with a former graduate student, also published “Networks of international public relations efforts: The case of Latin American organizations’ connections to U.S. agents” in the latest issue of Public Relations Review.
CLAIRE SEGIJN was awarded the
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Emerging Scholar research grant and the UMN Seed Grant to study chilling effects due to corporate surveillance, together with Joanna Strycharz from the University of Amsterdam. In the first project, they examine the differences between the United States and Europe in light of the difference in privacy regulations. In the second project, they study how people experience chilling effects due to corporate surveillance in everyday life. The projects offer great opportunities for students as well. In Spring 2021, they worked together with three undergraduate students through the Dean’s First-Year Research & Creative Scholars Program and with HSJMC Ph.D. candidate Eunah Kim on a related project.
CHRISTOPHER TERRY published a piece on the FTC and the regulation of social media influencers in The Journal of Law and Policy. He also made conference presentations to the Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy on social media regulation and the Federal Communications Bar Association on minority ownership policy. BENJAMIN TOFF’s article “All the News that’s Fit to Ignore,” published in Public Opinion Quarterly (with Antonis Kalogeropoulos), received the 2020 Kaid-Sanders Best Political
Communication Article of the Year Award at this year’s International Communication Association’s annual meeting.
Benjamin Toff
Christopher Terry
Marco Yzer
MARCO YZER was accepted to the
President’s Initiative for Student Mental Health (PRISMH) program task force. He was selected for his expertise and passion for improving the mental health of our students. His service on the PRISMH task force will be key in establishing and improving services, programs, policies and academic practices that position the University of Minnesota as a national leader in understanding the ecosystem of mental health, using a public health approach grounded in data, practice, and research. The task force is charged with understanding available resources and creating a platform to highlight those resources. This very tangible outcome highlights that while PRISMH itself is not a mental health service, the initiative exists to illuminate and improve access to the landscape of mental health resources across the University system. In addition to this platform, the PRISMH task force is also charged with making recommendations at the structural level across the UMN system to address gaps and improve resources.
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GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS
Maral Abdollahi
MARAL ABDOLLAHI presented two
papers at the International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA) conference as the lead author: “How real is virtual? Can virtual influencers compete with humans?” and “What determines consumers’ attitudes toward synced ads in different contexts? Examining mood, relevance, and creepiness as underlying mechanisms.” She was also one of the two recipients of the ICORIA Grant 2021. In March, she presented a paper at the American Academy of Advertising (AAA) conference as the lead author, titled “Evoking empathy, seeking solidarity, or aspiring normalcy: Which appeals better to SMI followers during the pandemic?” She also received the 2021 American Academy of Advertising Student Travel Grant.
JONATHAN ANDERSON workshopped
the paper “The Paradox of Public Records Litigation: An Empirical Analysis” at the 2021 Media Law and Policy Scholars Conference in January. He was also invited to participate in the Systematic Content Analysis of Litigation EventS Open Justice Eunah Kim Research Workshop in May.
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Jonathan Anderson
Clara Juarez Miro
JONATHAN ANDERSON, MARISA ERICKSON, INES GUANCHEZ, and CLARA JUAREZ MIRO presented their
of her papers were accepted for presentation at ICORIA 2021 in June, including “Intentional ad-viewing to support video creators on digital video-sharing platform” with Professor Jisu Huh. Kim received the American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Graduate Student Scholarship and presented two of her first-authored papers at AAA in March: “I’m watching this ad so you can make more money that you deserve!: Voluntary ad-viewing on YouTube,” and “Consumer responses to gender-targeted advertising: Computational research analyzing the 2020 Super Bowl Commercials.”
paper “Critical information needs and local news deserts: Considerations for future research” at the International Communication Association conference in May.
ROWAN MCMULLEN CHENG will present
her work “Distributed newsrooms: The place and relationships of news production,” at the Cardiff Future of Journalism Conference September 23-24, 2021. She also presented her work “Busking the news: Metajournalistic discourse and author-audience relationship on Substack” at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Conference August 4-7, 2021.
EUNAH KIM was
selected as one of the recipients of the International Conference on Research in Advertising (ICORIA) Grant, and two
EUNAH KIM and ASMA SIFAOUL,
along with Assistant Professor Claire Segijn, presented “When realizing that Big Brother is watching you: How informing consumers affects synced advertising effectiveness” at ICORIA 2021 in June.
NICK MATHEWS earned the No. 1 top student paper in the Journalism Studies Division of the International Communication Association for the second consecutive year for his paper “Weekly newspapers and the community caretaker role.”
He also won the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) No. 1 top paper in the Open (Faculty) Category of the Mass Communication and Society Division for a paper with colleague Christopher Ali from the University of Virginia titled “Informational, infrastructural and emotional labor: The extra work in a news and broadband desert.” For the third consecutive year, he earned the AEJMC top student paper in the Community Journalism Interest Group for his paper titled “Print imprint: The connection between the physical newspaper and the self.” He also had a new publication in Journalism Studies based on the aforementioned research titled “The community caretaker role: How weekly newspapers shielded their communities while covering the Mississippi ICE raids.”
CLARA JUAREZ MIRO and JONATHAN ANDERSON had a paper accepted at
the Future of Journalism Conference in the United Kingdom titled “Correcting disinformation: Journalistic practices during the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections.”
Asma Sifaoul
Nick Mathews
CLARA JUAREZ MIRO published an
article in the Annals of the International Communication Association journal titled “Who are the people? Using fandom research to study populist supporters.” She also presented her research at the University of Minnesota Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Global Change’s Democracy Under Threat in Times of Populism and Racial Nationalism Conference in March.
MICHAELE D. MYERS, along with Jay D. Hmielowski (University of Florida) published “Laugh, but don’t seek: A re-assessment of the gateway hypothesis” in the International Journal of Communication.
Michaele D. Myers
SARAH KAY WILEY was named a
Rowan McMullen Cheng
Knight News Innovation Fellow at Columbia University. Her project “Big Tech philanthropy: The dynamics of charitable partnerships between Google, Facebook, and news Organizations” researches news organizations’ relationships to the giving and training networks of major technology firms. She also published “The grey area: How regulations impact autonomy in computational journalism” in Digital Journalism.
Sarah Kay Wiley HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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MEET A GRAD STUDENT: DANFORD ZIRUGO
Zirugo found the Hubbard School matched his research interests.
❙ INTERVIEW BY AMANDA FRETHEIM GATES for me. But as I have mentioned, all the following professors (not in any ranking order): Colin Agur, Giovanna Dell’Orto, Jisu Huh, Jane Kirtley, Claire Segijn, and Benjamin Toff with whom I have taken classes have inspired me because I have managed to come up with either a conference or journal paper from their classes. This has been possible because of the manner in which they deliver their courses and their flexibility in allowing students to explore their interests and make them fit into their courses. This is not to mention the great feedback.
Danford Zirugo is a Zimbabwean doctoral student who, as a journalism studies scholar, is interested in discourse and journalism practice in post-colonial societies. Zirugo is also a product of the Erasmus Mundus program through which he acquired a dual M.A. in Journalism, Media and Globalization from Aarhus University in Denmark and City, University of London, where he specialized in financial journalism. Previously, Zirugo has worked as a journalism lecturer in Zimbabwe. Q Why did you choose to attend the University of Minnesota? A First, the fact that this is an R1
University was of great interest to me. Second, my research interests and those of some of the professors in the department. Third, the funding support to students is also great, from assistantships to conferences, to research and other fellowships. Fourth, the research output from the faculty members was also inspiring.
Q What have you found to be some of the best features of the Hubbard School Ph.D. program? A Hubbard is such a great journalism
school with great professors and there are so many great things to talk about. Out of these great things, what I have found outstanding to me is the research aspect and the high level of support it gets from the department. This includes the research we do for class papers and the presentations we 24
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Q What parts of your current research projects excite you most? A I am excited with research that I have
do, which I can call some kind of “mini conferences.” They are really helpful for students. The support for research is so great that whoever takes advantage of it, they will benefit a lot.
Q What Hubbard School professors have inspired you in your work, and why? A I would say all the professors I have
taken classes with have inspired me to write an article even in areas I never thought I would be interested in. In fact, of all the classes I have taken so far, I have managed to come up with a paper that has at least gone under review (yes, getting a paper under review is an achievement worth celebrating). In terms of journalism studies, I would say these journalism studies professors: My advisor, Matt Carlson, whose work I have followed since my days as a master’s student, and Valerie Belair-Gagnon’s work, have been of great inspiration. Working with them has been a great opportunity
done into areas I never really thought I would venture into, like freedom of expression and journalism, journalism and new media or news media and immigration, as well as doing a quantitative conference paper—thanks to Claire Segijn’s quantitative methods class; she is a great professor because I have always considered myself a qualitative person. The most interesting aspect has been to see these papers move from a class paper to a publication or a conference paper.
Q What advice would you give to someone considering graduate school? A I would say choosing the school
that matches your research interests is really great. Prospective students should also decide what they want to get out of the program, which I think is also of great importance in choosing a graduate school. Once in, I would say write, write, write. This is not just for the sake of publications. The most important aspect of it is that through writing, your advisor and professors can easily see your strengths and weaknesses, which helps them determine how best they can assist you.
LEARNING
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT NEWS Kian for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and Mina for the Kansas City Star. The annual program provides pre-internship training in business and data reporting, digital media and editing, and places emerging journalists in more than 50 newsrooms, from community-based nonprofits to the nation’s top media companies. Seoyeon Bae
SEOYEON BAE and ELLIE STIMMEL
received the Mulhollem Cravens Leadership Scholarship, which combines the hands-on experience of a summer internship with an internship reflection course, enhanced career coaching, and alumni mentoring opportunities.
SEOYEON BAE, DYLAN MIETTINEN and GRACIE STOCKTON were
named three of the President’s Student Leadership Gracie Stockton & Service Award recipients. Bae received the Donald R. Zander Alumni Award for Outstanding Student Leadership, while Miettinen and Stockton both received a President’s Student Leadership and Service Award.
MADELINE DENINGER, MICHAELA KING, ANNA KOENNING and MADI MAHLEN participated in virtual
internships with El Independiente, a Spanish-language newspaper in Spain. This was a unique opportunity for journalism students with Spanish language skills to be published.
JONAS DOMINGUEZ, AVA KIAN, and FARRAH MINA all received a Dow
Jones News Fund internship for summer 2021. Dominguez works for Central Connecticut Communications,
FARRAH MINA received the Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) Award and was honored at the University of Minnesota Equity & Diversity Convening in May 2021.
GENEVIEVE BENSON, ISABELLA DICICCO, BRYNN JASICKI, ANNA KELTNER, TYRESE LEVERTY, SAUL MYHRE, MINH PHAN and IRELAND SWEENEY
were inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Alpha Delta Sigma Honors Society. Students have to achieve a certain GPA overall and in strategic communication courses and they need to be a student member of AAF.
After months of conducting research, developing strategy, creative executions, a multi-touchpoint media plan, and building close friendships along the way, the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team won Best Team Presentation (REANNA ABRIAM, BRYNN JASICKI, ANNA KELTNER and TYRESE LEVERTY), and Best Presenter (TYRESE LEVERTY) and placed second in the competition. The NSAC team competed in the District 8 competition on Saturday, April 10, after developing a strong approach and plan for the client, Tinder. The NSAC team was led this year by three senior student leaders who served as Co-Presidents: GENEVIEVE BENSON, JOHN CRONIN, and MINH PHAN. Project Manager was sophomore MAYLEE MOORE.
Farrah Mina
The Jour 4263: Strategic Communication Campaigns (Section 001) class partnered with Target to help launch the Ulta Beauty at Target project. Four teams made their final presentations to the client via Zoom on April 28, 2021. The Target client for this project was Gloria Delgadillo (B.A. ’05), who is now a Director of Communications - Merchandising at Target. Delgadillo said, “It was incredibly energizing to see the creativity and confidence in their final presentations. The students’ work was impressive and inspiring, and I can only imagine the impact they will have on our industry.” Another section (005) of the course worked with Fox Sports U on a project for the Big Ten Network. This year the challenge was to increase the television viewership of Big Ten Hockey on the Big Ten Network. The four teams made their final presentations on April 27, 2021, to Big Ten Network teams and Fox Sports U. Cati Hance, manager of Strategic Partnerships at Fox Sports, said, “The Spring 2021 partnership was a great value for us at FOX Sports University + Big Ten Network. The students’ commitment and hard work were evident. The final product the students prepared was quite impressive, and it was a great experience getting to witness the engagement from the class all semester to build a final product they can be very proud of.”
HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
25
LEARNING
MEET A STUDENT: SYDNEY MULLANEY Mullaney brings a bit of the Hubbard School to Team USA.
❙ INTERVIEW BY AMANDA FRETHEIM GATES Junior Sydney Mullaney made the national curling team in the spring of her senior year of high school, which is why she decided to come to the University of Minnesota. With the national training center located in Chaska, Minn., and the workout facility and trainer located in Eagan, Minn., going to college in the Twin Cities made good sense. Q Why did you decide to pursue strategic communication? What interests you about the major? A When I was younger, I told my
parents I wanted to be in advertising. Over time, advertising became marketing, and as I was applying to colleges, I recognized that I was much more interested in brand imagery, and specifically digital elements, such as social media presence, in corporate communications. Thus, the strategic communication major in the Hubbard School fulfills my exact interests with its broad coverage and modern approach to advertising and public relations.
Q Why did you decide to double major? How will they complement each other? A I have always been very interested
in and passionate about politics and history, so coming out of high school, a political science major was the obvious choice. As I began to think about what I wanted as a career after 26
MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
college, that’s when strategic communications jumped out at me. Both majors focus heavily on the media’s influence. Many of the courses I’ve taken so far in both majors play off each other. A strategic communication background prepares you for success in politics just as a political background supplies you with necessary context for advertising and public relations.
Q What minors, internships, or activities are you pursuing outside of your majors? A Outside of my major, I am a
member of the CLA Student Board. As an event officer, I was able to get experience organizing virtual events during the pandemic, and as a member of the external relations committee, I have gained experience in social media strategy and content creation. Serving on the board and experiencing its processes is giving me a glimpse into the workings of the political world. I have also had the opportunity to participate in Honors Nexus experiences that force me to step out of my comfort zone and build relationships to create my network. This summer I am getting political experience working as a business liaison intern for a Minneapolis City Council candidate, and I am also holding the position of marketing intern for USA Curling to get more experience in the strategic communication field.
Q What is your dream job? A In all honesty, I have many
versions of a dream job: lawyer and politician are among them, but for right now, I’d say it is to be the President of Corporate Communications for the Boston Red Sox. I
grew up an avid Red Sox fan. My dad and I went to many games every season and tying my love for sports into a career path I find inspiring would certainly be a dream.
Q You curl for Team USA. What do you love about the sport? A My favorite thing
about curling is the community. Moving away from home and traveling all the time for competitions makes it hard to rely on family, but curling has given me a new one and the bonds we share are special because the situation we are in as full-time students and full-time athletes is incredibly unique. My time at the U has truly taught me that I am capable of much more than I realize. My first semester at the U, I competed every weekend except two and missed two weeks of classes, twice—once when competing in Scotland and again when I went to China. In addition, I took incredibly interesting classes, did very well in them, and made lasting connections with professors. Even though the school itself doesn’t recognize my athletic pursuits, there are amazing staff and professors who believe in my Olympic dream and are willing to help me get there. At the U, your experience truly is what you make of it and if you can find the right people and capitalize on the opportunities that excite you, the options are limitless.
My time at the U has truly taught me that I am capable of much more than I realize.
ALUMS
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: BAO ONG
From the Pioneer Press to the editor of Eater, Ong employs rigorous reporting to tell stories from the dining scene.
❙ BY KATIE DOHMAN (B.A. '03) BAO ONG (B.A. ’04) HAD BEEN LIVING,
writing and going to school in New York City for more than a decade when in April of 2020, he moved to Queens. He could see Elmhurst Hospital down the street from his new home—“the epicenter of the epicenter” of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had also just taken up his heftiest masthead mantle yet, just a mere six months prior to his move—editor of Eater New York, directing several reporters and the website, and easily eating out on the town four to five nights a week. “Part of me actually thought I was going to slow down or get a break, but the news never actually stopped,” he said. “If anything, there was so much more to cover, not only on the COVID front, but people were so creative. They didn’t stop opening popups and experimenting to stay alive and I wanted to write stories about the underdogs and cool, interesting things restaurateurs were doing. There were even more stories to tell during the pandemic, and I think my news background helped a lot, because it wasn’t just about how food looks on a plate or how it tastes. We’ve been digging into stories people might not think are food stories, such as how restaurants in Chinatown are responding to a rise of anti-Asian hate.” Far from fluff, he said, dining and food coverage (as well as other lifestyle topics) employ and need rigorous reporting. “That I learned,” he said, “back at the Pioneer Press class.” After finishing Newswriting and Reporting early on in his major, Ong began soaking up every opportunity he could, connecting with the Asian American Journalist Association and interning at the Asian American Press in St. Paul. Gayle (G.G.) Golden’s newly formed internship hybrid class at the Pioneer
“Make the most of every opportunity. It’s a small world. If you work hard, and work smart, people will notice.”
Press gave him a shot at daily newspaper work. His exposure to then-food critic Kathie Jenkins flipped a switch. “I thought, ‘Wait! You can write about food for a living?’” He thought perhaps if he worked hard enough and stuck around, he’d have a chance to inherit her job someday. And he did land full-time reporting work there, covering education. After working for the Pioneer Press, he headed to New York, without a job. He enrolled at the French Culinary Institute—“That was expensive, I don’t necessarily recommend it for people who want to go into food writing,” he said—and eventually interned for famed restaurant critic Gael Greene. Then came a fellowship at Columbia for the Master of Arts program—where he did a thesis related to Minnesota-based Spam—and interning on the metro desk at the New York Times. There was another chance: A sidewalk smoke-break meeting with another Hubbard School alum, the late
David Carr, who introduced Ong to food critic Sam Sifton. Freelance, a spot on the Bon Appetit staff, and Time Out New York rounded out his experience before his hire at Eater. He emphasized that it was his steadfast connection to good reporting that got him here. But it was also ambition. “Make the most of every opportunity. It’s a small world. If you work hard, and work smart, people will notice,” he said. And though the industry continues to change, he said there’s always room for strong writing and reporting. “A good story is a good story. APM Reports is great journalism. Buzzfeed just won its first Pulitzer. There’s nothing that replaces good journalism, and people with the skills find the stories. And you know, there are and were a lot of things about journalism that aren’t or weren’t so great, even in the heyday, so if I were someone just embarking on this career, I wouldn’t focus on the negative side of things as much as focusing on the reporting and writing skills. I still feel hopeful.” HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
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WHY I GIVE
WHY I GIVE: KASISOMAYAJULA “VISH” VISWANATH The graduate alum uses giving as a way to pay it forward. BY KATIE DOHMAN (B.A. ’03)
To support the Hubbard School, visit z.umn.edu/ hsjmcgive
28
“I OWE EVERYTHING TO MURPHY HALL,” said Vish Viswanath (M.A. ’86, Ph.D. ’90). “I arrived there from India as a new international student, completely lost, to a completely new system. I am a beneficiary of the tremendous generosity—from scholarship and mentorship from faculty at the time, to social support of my fellow classmates.” Today, he holds a whole paragraph’s worth of titles at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, another paragraph’s worth of awards acknowledging his work, and oversees a lab of up to 20 people, researching diversity and equity in regards to health communications, documenting the relationship between communication inequalities, poverty and health disparities, and knowledge translation to address health disparities. That is to say, exactly the kind of work the world needs as it works to make sure everyone gets reliable, critical health care information coming out of a global pandemic. So, Viswanath has a full schedule. Still, he carves out time to give back to the Hubbard School, sharing not only financial donations but also consulting on other projects around the School. Why? He feels it incumbent upon him after his experience at the School that allowed him to advance his own career, from professor at Ohio
MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
State University to a scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to his multiple-hat-wearing role at Harvard. Because he was a recipient of donor generosity when he was a student, Viswanath wants to pay it forward. “I am grateful for the foundation I received during my stay there,” he said. “Minnesota has graduated some of the most illustrious in the field . . . incredible, smart, careful, hard working people. I was a part of that history and a beneficiary of that movement, and that experience allows me now to do the kind of work I am doing.” He is quick to play down his contributions—to funds like the Journalism and Mass Communication Fund, the Donald M. Gillmor Memorial Fellowship fund, the Dan Wackman First-Year Graduate Student Research Award fund and Hazel Dicken-Garcia Graduate Fellowship fund, to name a few—characterizing them as “a ripple with a pebble I throw in the water.” But his hope is that wherever and whenever he provides a financial contribution or an intellectual one, it demonstrates solidarity with the School and the intellectual framework it imbued him with. Viswanath points out that while large contributions are wonderful and necessary, his feeling is that every bit matters. “It accumulates over time, and collectively can make a huge difference in the life of a student who you may not ever meet,” he said, adding that it is still extremely meaningful. “It’s not only that somebody will benefit from scholarship today, but over time—even decades later—we will all benefit from that investment in an individual.” He points out that one of the most important factors in having a happy life is having meaning or purpose, and giving allows for that. “It doesn’t always have to be money. There are other ways to volunteer your time, too, even from a distance.” “People forget the land grant tradition is exactly founded on the principle that people in that state benefit from access to higher education and contributions to their state,” he said, acknowledging that not only has the U given back to the state but it’s also been successful at educating people like him. “The School and the University have made a difference in countless lives, and been a part of history. It makes me grateful and proud to do my part to continue that legacy.”
ALUMNI NEWS
ALUMNI NEWS
ABBY AMUNDSON (B.A. ’21) joined Epsilon as an associate account manager. HEATHER ARNTSON (B.A. ’05, M.A.
’09) is now director of digital marketing at OMG, Inc.
LUKE BEHRENDS (B.A. ’04) and his
team at Words From the Woods, his ad agency in Maine, won 12 awards at the Maine Ad & Design Show across eight different categories.
JESSIE BEKKER (B.A. ’17) is now a
second-year student at Saint Louis University pursuing dual degrees in law and health care administration. She returned to school after two years as the health reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where, speaking with the health industry leaders and patients suffering from the pitfalls of the healthcare industry in the U.S., she found a passion for innovation in health care.
EMMA CAREW GROVUM (B.A. ’09) joined News Product Alliance as program director. VICTORIA CLOUSE (B.A. ’21) is an account leadership intern at broadhead. LAURIE DENNIS (M.A. ’96) pub-
lished her first novel in 2020. The Lacquered Talisman is a work of historical fiction set in 14th-century China. This is the first in an intended series on the founding of the Ming Dynasty, published by Earnshaw Books in Hong Kong/Shanghai. In her years at Murphy Hall, Laurie was a reporter for The Minnesota Daily and worked with her advisor, Chin-Chuan Lee at the China
Times Center for Media and Social Research from 1989-92.
MCKENNA EWEN (B.A. ’09) was named Video Editor of the Year for the second consecutive year by the White House News Photographers Association. Ewen works at CNN. PRECIOUS FONDREN (B.A. ’20) is a 2021-22 New York Times fellow. JULIAN GREEN (B.A. ’21) is an intern
with Minnesota Public Radio.
JIM HAMMERAND (B.A. ’07) is the editor of Journey, the travel magazine published by AAA Washington for its 1.2 million members in the Pacific Northwest. He was previously managing editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal—a top-performing market for the American City Business Journals chain—where his team’s analysis of the Seattle region’s homelessness crisis won a national SPJ Delta Sigma Chi award for public service journalism. Hammerand previously worked for the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, the Faribault Daily News, ABC News and the Minnesota Daily. AMY HASLERUD (B.A. ’21) is a media intern at True Media. CONNOR HUSSEIN (M.A. ’21) joined Colle McVoy as an assistant media planner. EMILY JAMES (B.A. ’21) joined Monogram as a product designer. BRETT JOHNSON (Ph.D. ’15) received the University of Missouri’s President’s Award for Excellence:
Early Career, Humanities and Social & Behavioral Sciences for his efforts to advance the understanding of the role of journalism in democracy. In May, Johnson was also promoted to associate professor with tenure.
AUDREY KENNEDY (B.A. ’20) joined Axios Twin Cities as a lifestyle reporter. LYNETTE LAMB (M.A. ’84) published Strokeland, A Memoir: My Husband’s Midlife Brainstorm and Its Ambivalent Aftermath.
JOCELYN LANDWEHR (B.A. ’21) joined
Fast Horse as part of its Integrate Program.
ANDY MANNIX (B.A. ’09), along
with other Star Tribune colleagues, won the Investigative Reporters & Editors “Investigations Triggered by Breaking News” award at the group’s annual data journalism conference in May for their coverage of Minneapolis police after the death of George Floyd. Mannix and colleagues also took home the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for their coverage of the death of George Floyd.
SEND US YOUR NEWS!
Get a new job, write a book, win an award, join a board, or do something else really cool? We want to know about it! Write to murphrep@umn. edu with your name, news and graduation year and we’ll consider it for the next issue.
HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
29
ALUMNI NEWS
LINDSEY (WARRINER) MCGUIRK
(B.A. ’10) accepted a position at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., as a communications professional.
LARISSA MILLES (B.A. ’21) is the
morning producer and reporter at CBS 3 Duluth/KBJR 6 in Duluth, Minn.
JENNI PINKLEY (B.A. ’97) won first
place during the National Press Photography Association’s Best of Photojournalism contest in the Online Visual Presentation - News and Issue category for “The siege, evacuation and destruction of a Minneapolis police station” in the Star Tribune. She also received honorable mention in the same category for “One Week in Minneapolis” from the Star Tribune.
MARGARET POTTS (B.A. ’21) joined
Electric Advertising as a social content strategist.
CHELSEA REYNOLDS (Ph.D. ’17) was
tenured and promoted to the rank of associate professor at California State University, Fullerton.
GRACIE STOCKTON (B.A. ’21) joined
CALLING FOR NSAC ALUMS TO BE JUDGES! The American Advertising Federation (AAF) is working to build their list of potential judges for next year’s NSAC
KSTP as a content desk editor.
competition and would like
CHLOE TOWNSEND (B.A. ’21) is a
in this great opportunity.
social media intern at Xerxes Global.
EMMA VIK (B.A. ’21) joined Highway
to engage more NSAC alum Reach out to AAF if you’re interested.
29 Creative as a junior account coordinator. She was previously a social media intern for Highway 29.
The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) posthumously honored Hubbard School alum STEVE KOPPERUD, who died in October 2020, as an Honorary Board Director for his service to the animal food industry over his 35-year career. This is the first time AFIA has presented this honor. According to AFIA: “Kopperud served as the senior vice president of legislative affairs
C.J. SINNER (B.A. ’08) won several Awards of Excellence from the Society for News Design 2020 Best of Digital News Design competition for her data journalism work with the team at the Star Tribune.
at the AFIA for more than 20 years and as a
BRIANNA SISLO-SCHUTTA (B.A. ’21)
to providing information on the vital role ranchers
joined BerlinRosen as a digital advocacy account coordinator.
ALEXANDRA SMITH (B.A.’ 19) joined
KSTP-TV as a news producer.
ELIZABETH STAWICKI (B.A. ’88), legal counsel at the Office of the Legislative Auditor spoke about the role of 30
journalists in exposing government corruption in a virtual conference in May, titled “Role of a Prosecutor in Proceedings against Journalists,” co-produced by Regional Dialogue, an independent, international organization, and Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor General’s Office.
MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
government affairs consultant for almost 15 years, before semi-retiring in 2019. He founded the Animal Industry Foundation, now the Animal Agriculture Alliance, in the 1980s as a forum for producer and industry organizations, dedicated and farmers play in promoting animal welfare and act as a unified voice for agriculture in advancing positive animal welfare policy to the public and other industries.” In honor of this award, AFIA made a donation to the Steve Kopperud Scholarship in Business or Technical Reporting fund held by the Hubbard School.
PHOTO BY STEVE SCHLUTER, MINNEAPOLIS STAR, SEPTEMBER 1980, REPUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION OF THE STAR TRIBUNE
IN MEMORIAM
JIM KLOBUCHAR, 1928-2021
Jim Klobuchar (B.A. ’50) was born in Ely, Minn. He came to the University of Minnesota and graduated with a journalism degree. He wrote for the Associated Press, and then in 1961, he joined the Minneapolis Tribune as a sportswriter, covering the Minnesota Vikings. After a short time at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, he returned to the Star Tribune to write a general public-interest column until 1995, when he retired. He wrote several times each week about Minnesota culture, sports and politics, and he was voted the nation’s “outstanding columnist” in 1984 by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. During his career, he wrote more than 8,400 columns. He also wrote 23 books, and taught journalism at both the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas. He was a long-time adventurer, biking all over the world and climbing the Matterhorn eight times, and Kilimanjaro five times. Donations may be directed to the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School, where a scholarship has been established in his name. give.umn.edu/giveto/klobuchar
MICHAEL ANDERSON, 1945-2021
Michael Hugh Anderson (B.A. ’68, M.A.’74), age 75, passed away after suffering a heart attack on June 20, 2021. Anderson, of Arlington Virginia, formerly of International Falls, Minn., was born on Oct. 28, 1945. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Hawaii/East-West Center, Honolulu, and a B.A./M.A. in Journalism/Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota. As a Peace Corps volunteer, he was an English teacher and a journalism lecturer/trainer in Malaysia. At the University of Minnesota, he was an instructor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and Information Services Coordinator for the College of Education. His media experience included reporting stints on daily newspapers in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, and serving as editor-in-chief of the Minnesota Daily when it was the world’s largest college newspaper. He began working for the U.S. State Department in 1981 and served in many South and Southeast Asian countries. He retired in 2011 and was continually active in volunteer and philanthropic activities in Washington, D.C. A long-time philanthropic supporter of the School, he participated in the School's campaign planning process and had a fervent desire for the School to continue to develop programs and opportunities for students to develop a clear understanding of the importance of mass communication to international affairs, and the relationship between a free press and democracy. A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. (visitation 10 a.m.) Sept. 16, 2021, at Atonement Lutheran Church in New Brighton, Minn. Donations can be made in Anderson's honor to the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication Fund. Donations made in his memory will support student participation in education abroad and related international programs. z.umn.edu/MikeAndersonMemorial
HUBBARD SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM AND MASS COMMUNICATION
31
GREETINGS ON BEHALF OF THE ALUMNI SOCIETY BOARD! ❙ BY KELLI (THEILER) BRADY, BOARD PRESIDENT M.A. STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION, 2014 WHAT CAN I SAY AFTER A YEAR OF TWISTS AND TURNS, ups and downs? It
was a year like no other in so many ways, and yet, our alumni and other journalism and communication professionals really delivered for Hubbard School students this year. A cornerstone of the board’s work, the Mentor Program, matched more than 50 students with working professionals in the field. While the pandemic threw many challenges at all of us, there was an unintended upside; our board was able to (virtually) connect dozens of stellar industry folks from across the country with our students, broadening their sights even further than in years past. Thank you to all mentors in the program this year; our students needed you more than ever to navigate what’s ahead for them. The alumni board is saying goodbye to five members this summer: Nicole Garrison, Allison Kuznia, Tim Nelson, Jennifer Sorenson and Tanya Wright. The board and students of the Hubbard School thank you for your dedication
INTERESTED IN MENTORING? Each year the School matches up to 80 students with professionals in the local industry. These relationships lead to networking opportunities for students, and for mentors it's a great way to scout talent. The program only requires one hour per month of your time, November through April. Each student is matched with a professional who has a job in a field that is of interest to the student. Mentors don’t have to be local; virtual mentorships work well, too.
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MURPHY REPORTER ❙ Summer 2021
to the school and continue to cheer you on as your careers take you higher and higher. With departures come new faces! We are delighted to welcome three new members to our board: ALEXA (TRUSSONI) CUSHMAN (B.A. ’06), Industry Marketing Director: Healthcare and Life Sciences, MuleSoft; SUZY (HART) LANGDELL (B.A. ’06), Group Account Director at Fallon; and SHREYA MUKHERJEE (M.A. ’07), Chief Strategy Officer, MSLGROUP (part of Publicis Groupe). Their diverse professional backgrounds will continue to add new ideas and perspectives to the board for years to come. Welcome! As I head into this exciting role as President of the Board, I’d like to send a heartwarming thank you to Karen Schultz, past president. Your guidance and intuition have laid the foundation for a successful year ahead. And finally, if you are a working professional in the Twin Cities (and beyond) we’d love to have you as a mentor in our program this Fall. Students in the Hubbard School are studying for careers in journalism, communications, advertising and public relations, and would love to soak up your wisdom and experience.
Alexa (Trussoni) Cushman
Suzy (Hart) Langdell
Shreya Mukherjee
Visit Z.UMN.EDU/ The mentorship is not an internship, nor is it intended to lead to a job at the mentor’s workplace. It is simply a chance to talk candidly, to learn about life after college, and to begin that transition from college life to the “real world.” Successful pairings may take a tour of a mentor’s workplace; work on resume writing; talk about job search planning; review portfolios or critique tapes; and network with other matches or professionals. Visit z.umn.edu/HSJMCalumni to find out how to volunteer.
HSJMCALUMNI to find out how to connect with the School.
CLASS OF 2021
Congratulations to all of our Hubbard School graduates! We are #UMNProud of the work you did during the pandemic. We wish you the best in your future endeavors. Visit our virtual commencement page at hsjmc.umn.edu/Class-2021 Ph.D. Graduates Michaele Myers Weijia Shi M.A. Graduates Cory Gilbert Landon Graham Hanjie Liu Yansheng Liu Haoyi Lu Ran Ma Asma Sifaoui Le Wang Nicole Zhang Health Comm BA/ MA Brianna Cichon Professional Master’s Graduates (Cohort 15) Christine Boisjoli Jasmine Bradford Robert Brecher Sarah Brown Sara Danzinger Meredith Dwyer Benjamin Gilbertson Mary Hoff Claire Huber Connor Hussein Ciara Kohlhagen Taehui Park Harley Pierce Ramsdell Jennifer Scholte Undergraduate Class of 2021 Michael Achterling Nur Adam Abbigale Amundson Nathanael Ashton-Piper Donna Baeck Emma Baier Jarrett Ballard Logan Balsaitis Johan Barreiro Zachary Batia Megan Becken Kathryn Beehler Mark Bendele Genevieve Benson Ni Cheallachain Evan Berg
Sonja Bergum Meghan Bishop Heidi Boaz Emma Boller Rafael Buettner-Salido Emma Bute Anna Butler Andrew Byrd Maddie Caldis Samantha Caldwell Anna Casey Nathan Caspar Cheng Chang Rita-Marie Chediac Emma Chekroun Jasmin Chou Chloe Chumbler Ellissa Cleveland Victoria Clouse Paige Comer Kara Condon Megan Connor Shoshana Craven Jacqueline Crawford John Cronin Taylor Crotty Emma Culbertson William Cushman Derek Dalrymple Mackenzie LDavisynn Samantha De Leon Madeline Deninger Ellie Dewing Jonas Dominguez Claire Doty Shannon Doyle Paige Dresow Joseph Duggan Megan Dunn Aidan Eastlee Reece Economides Zyon Edwards Haley Eidenschink Hunter Ellis Morgan Elmi Grace Enfield Rebecca Engelking Elizabeth Erdmann Ama Essiomley Payton Faber Molly Fahey Nathan Fein Jenna Frank Sonia Franzen Mariah Friberg Sienna Gambino
Sofia Garduno Macy Gill Andrea Giulan Brooke Glass Zane Goedderz Udita Goel Emily Goldstein Catherine Gonnella Anna Gordon Dinneen Graff Dayne Gramoll Julian Green Rachel Greenstein Angela Grill Lev Gringauz Megan Gryzwa Jacob Gustin Sofia Haan Natalie Hahn Denasia Hamilton Emma Hanson Christina De Guia Harisiadis Lucee Hart Sophia Hartford Joshua Hartman Amy Haslerud Austin Hassel Rachel Hatcher Collin Haws Maria Hayden Jianyi He Tessa Hedberg Alexa Heller Jessica Helman Samantha Hendrickson Tiffany Hepola Madeline Hillman Lily Hinshaw Brynne Hitten Paul Hodowanic Brent Hoerauf Sophia Holien Jordan Holt Aysha Holtz Petra Holtze Melody Huttner Miranda Hynnek Hannah Ihekoronye Georgia Ingwell Emilee Jacobson Emily James Brynn Jasicki Jada Jesberg Chloe Johansen Cassandra Johnson-Jennings Caitlin Johnson Elizabeth Johnson Elynn Johnson Margaret Johnson Maria Johnson Sydney Johnson Anna Keck
David Kehr Joseph Kelly Anna Keltner Laura Kerwin Abbigail Kiesau Hannah Kil Matthew Kim Michaela King Edward Kirchoff Brandon Kirkland Claire Kirscht Lauren Klemstein Ryan Kratochwill Logan Krenik Jack Krieger Alyssa Kueppers Katherine Lagoon Alysse LaMond Jocelyn Landwehr Olivia Lange Christian Larson Julia Larson Nathan Larson Sophina Larson Avery Larsson Sydney Laumeyer Darian Leddy Jungmin Lee Sarah Lefor Isabel Leininger Grace Lembke Ashley Lentsch Duncan Lester Tyrese Leverty Rachel Liou Jeffrey Liss Josh Livon Natalie Lozinski Ashlee Lundin Marcus Luther Jansoper Ly Madi Mahlen Haddy Maki Aisha Malim Lewis Mansfield Matthew Martinson Addie Marzinske Cynthia Maya-Arrieta Hannah McCurley Ashley McKee Tiana Meador Jacob Mechler Luke Meinert Madeleine Melloy Alissa Meredith Sara Michael Allie Micka Dylan Miettinen Austin Miller Larissa Milles Rachel Mills Farrah Mina Hannan Mohamed Jane Moore
Madison Moroder Rebecca Most Megan Navratil Maggie Nesbit Huyen Nguyen Tina Nguyen Kristin Nielsen Emily Nutter Brendan O’Brien Nolan O’Hara Meredith Oechler Lucas Olson Willem Olson Hannah Olund Hallie Osmon Kyra Osmon Sam Palca Megan Palmer Grace Parshall Mikaela Pavlicek Natalie Paynter Danielle Pederson Emma Pelc Madalynn Personius Alice Peterson Carly Peterson Madison Peterson Minh Phan Tymia Phathachack Benjamin Philbin Emily Pofahl Margaret Potts Madelyn Pritzl Aaron Propson Junjie Qi Yolanda Qiu Angela Rancone Audrey Rauth Ulisses Regalado Grace Reiners Kathryn Richner Mackenzie Roberts Sierra Rodero Jessica Rooney Tyler Rooney Sydni Rose Taylor Rosenzweig Wyatt Roth Benjamin Rotzien Peter Rundquist Natalie Ryder Kalie Sagan Kasey Salazar Charles Saylor Graham Schneider Taylor Schroeder Eric Servatius Nadia Shaarawi Elsie Shartin-Folkert Bri Sislo-Schutta Ariel Skow Easton Smiskey Collin Smith Kailee Smith
Mikayla Snyder Shanley Sokolowski Katherine Solie Dane Sorensen Amie Stager Charles Steensland Hailey Stein Natalie Steine Gracie Stockton Alexander Strangman Liza Stringham Savannah Stuttgen Katherine Swartzer Ireland Sweeney Jessica Taylor Isabel Teitelbaum Erica Teixeira Camille Thate Addison Thomas Afton Thompson-Witt Trevor Thompson Katherine Tortorella Chloe Townsend Jamie Traynor Rachel Tuschl Quynh Van Olivia Vertin Adam Vick Anastasia Vladykina Yoko Vue Paige Waller Elana Warren Jasmine Webber Kia Weekes Jon Wells Tiffany Welty Katelyn Wermus Kyle Wetzel Madeline Wichterman Isaac Wilkowske Ashley Williams Erin Williams Erin Wilson Skylar Wolfe Mitch Wright Caitlin Yang Brandon Yee Stacy Yuan Emily Zavadil Megan Zentner Abbey Zepper Xingyu Zhou *This list was created by the College of Liberal Arts in April 2021. Changes or updates may have occurred since then, but every effort was made to ensure its accuracy.
REPORTER MURPHY
Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication College of Liberal Arts University of Minnesota 111 Murphy Hall 206 Church St. SE Minneapolis, MN 55455
facebook.com/umnhsjmc twitter.com/umn_hsjmc instagram.com/umnhsjmc youtube.com/umnhsjmc U of MN Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication Alumni
36TH ANNUAL SILHA LECTURE The First Amendment and Diversity: A Marketplace Failure Featuring: S. Jenell Trigg, Lerman Senter PLLC Oct. 26, 2021 at 7 p.m. Coffman Memorial Union Theater, East Bank Free and open to the public Billions of people use social media platforms and have access to a 5,000-plus-channel streaming and broadcasting universe, yet citizens are less informed than ever before. Can we change this? Diversity in the media by itself is not enough to elevate and reinvigorate the national conversation. But without welcoming disparate and even antagonistic voices, how can we hope to mitigate polarization and advance the core purposes of the First Amendment?
For more information on these events, visit hsjmc.umn.edu/news-events/events
