School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Director's Note

We’re starting the spring semester by saying farewell to longtime SJMC faculty member, Steve Bloom. Professor Bloom retired in December after more than 30 years in SJMC. You can read more about Steve and his new book here. We’re wishing Steve all the best in his retirement.

We are also welcoming Associate Professor Jamil Marques to SJMC. Dr. Marques is teaching courses in global media and political communication. He is a Journalism Studies and Political Communication scholar. We’re excited to have Jamil joining us.

Zeynep Tufekci (middle) with members of the University of Iowa Lecture Committee

We had our first major event of 2025 with our Li Chen Distinguished Lecture given by Dr. Zeynep Tufekci. In partnership with the University of Iowa Lecture Committee, Dr. Tufekci visited Iowa and discussed misinformation and lack of trust in institutions. Dr. Tufekci is an opinion columnist at the New York Times and professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University.

Iowa Summer Journalism Workshop 2024

Although it may be hard to believe, summer will be here before we know it! We are excited about our 2025 Iowa Summer Journalism Workshops for high school students. The camp will be held from July 13 to 17 and will feature nine workshops, including several new offerings. The camp is a great opportunity for high school students to explore journalism and media production and to get a taste of college life on the University of Iowa campus. SJMC faculty members and area professionals teach the hands-on courses in graphic design, reporting and writing, photography, broadcast, and social media news. Registration is now open. If you’re interested in supporting the program, learn more about sponsorship opportunities here.

If you have a story to share, please send it to sjmc@uiowa.edu.

Melissa Tully, Director

Faculty News

David Dowling and Kyle Miller (PhD SJMC 2017) published Advocacy and Activism in Sports Podcasts: Expanding Journalistic Roles in Media and Communication.

Jamil Marques joined the editorial board of the International Journal of Press/Politics.

Melissa Tully coauthored Effects of a News Literacy Video on News Literacy Perceptions and Misinformation Evaluation published in Media and Communication.

Bingbing Zhang published Understanding Government Public Opinion: How Conspiracy Mentality and Policy Issue Concerns Shape Government Performance Evaluations in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research and Biased processing of political fact-checks on social media: testing the effects of user comments and partisan worldview on misbeliefs and political candidate evaluation in Internet Research.

Graduate Student News

Javie Ssozi and David Dowling published Defying Uganda’s morality police: the grammar of social media protest images in Communication, Culture, and Critique.

Munachim Amah will participate in the Center for Social Science Innovation Dissertation Completion Program this semester.

Undergraduate News

Chicago Sports Media Experience Class

This winter term, 11 SJMC students participated in the Chicago Sports Media Experience taught by Wayne Drehs. As part of the class, students visited the Chicago Wolves, Marquee Sports Network, CHGO, Big Ten Network, and the Chicago Bulls. Students participated in a media job fair at United Center, covered a Bulls game and gained real-world experience in a major media market.

Phil Weston leading the Studio Lighting Photography Workshop

SJMC alum Phil Weston (BA1972) and SJMC professor Kevin Ripka offered a studio lighting photography workshop for students interested in portrait and tabletop photography.

Two students in the Event Management Certificate program were selected to be fall 2024 commencement speakers. Natalie Moningi spoke at the Tippie College of Business commencement ceremony and Lucie Brennan delivered the commencement speech for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Briana Bohling-Hall published Remembering Their Names in HUQUQ Journal. Briana examines the demographics and career-related categories of the journalists, followed by an examination of the countries with the highest number of arrests.

SJMC is accepting nominations for the 2025 Outstanding Achievement in Writing Award. The purpose of the award is to recognize high-quality writing by students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and to encourage and showcase such work. To be eligible for the award, the student must be a current undergraduate Journalism and Mass Communication major in good academic standing.