Director's Note

We celebrated the School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s 100th anniversary with several events in April. It was wonderful to see so many students, alumni, families, and friends over the course of three days in Iowa City.

We kicked off the celebration with the Storytelling Across Media exhibition and scholarship/awards reception. The exhibition included student work from across the SJMC curriculum and provided an opportunity to celebrate student success.

Storytelling Across Media exhibition and scholarship/awards reception

On the same night, we presented the Professional Advisory Board Distinguished Service Award to Kevin Grothe for his longstanding support of the Event Management Certificate program.

The centennial celebration continued with the 2024 SJMC Hall of Fame luncheon and induction ceremony. Dana Roberson, Jane Singer and Mark Shapiro were inducted into the Hall of Fame as recognition of their excellence, integrity, and accomplishments in their fields.

Hall of Fame Inductees from left to right Dana Roberson, Jane Singer and Mark Shapiro

We capped off the celebration with the 100^th anniversary dinner. The weather and the company made for a perfect night as we reflected on the past, present, and future of SJMC. It was an honor to be surrounded by so many people who care about journalism and mass communication education and the role of our school in creating the next generation of great journalists, strategic communicators, and storytellers.

100th Anniversary Dinner and Celebration

We’ll continue to share photos, videos, and stories from our 100^th anniversary with more to come throughout the year.

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

Melissa Tully, Director

Faculty News

Professor Meenakshi Gigi Durham planned and co-facilitated the Global Mentoring; Strategies for International Faculty Success webinar with Associate Provost and Dean for International Programs Russ Ganim.

Assistant professor Sang Jung Kim earned a $12,500 award from the Iowa Initiative for Artificial Intelligence and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She'll use this award to build a machine learning classifier that identifies extremist symbols in news articles.

Assistant professors Alex Scott, Bingbing Zhang, and Sang Jung Kim organized and hosted the 2024 Visual Media Symposium: The State of Visual Evidence.

Graduate Student News

Munachim Amah published Covering the Distant Other: Discursive Construction of the Makoko Community in Nigeria as ‘Venice of Africa’ in Journalism Practice. He also received a 2024 Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the Council on Teaching and the John F. Murray Outstanding Doctoral Teaching Award from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Katy Biddle received the Rita Subramanian Research Award from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Michael Davis successfully defended his dissertation, “Seeking a New Mission: Journalists Leaving the Field for the Nonprofit Sector.” Congratulations, Dr. Davis!

Patrick Johnson received the Carl J. Nelson Research Award.

Frankline Matanji received the John F. Murray Outstanding Doctoral Research Award from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. 

Ugochukwu Madu received an ISAB Recognition Award for his service on the International Student Advisory Board (ISAB) and commitment to enhancing international student experience. He also received the Student Impact Grant for his research on sickle cell disease misinformation in Nigeria.

Undergraduate News

The School of Journalism and Mass Communication presented the inaugural Outstanding Achievement in Writing Awards. The award winners were Jami Martin - Trainor (1^st place), Campbell Wood (2^nd place), and Parker Jones (3^rd place). Jordan Barry and Virginia Russell received honorable mentions.

Jami Martin-Trainor and DEO Melissa Tully

Ainsley Shird won a University of Iowa Mental Health Champion award. She is the founding President of the Green Bandana Project student organization.

DITV team at the IBNAs from left to right: Jayce Bertrand, Jordan Tovar, Cara Dulin, Brady Behrend, Ashley Weil, Johnny Valtman, Carson Ramirez and AJ Reistetter

Daily Iowan TV students won several individual report awards and team awards in the Student TV categories at the Iowa Broadcast News Association (IBNA) awards. They swept the team awards with first place Overall Excellence, Best Newscast and Best Sportscast. Johnny Valtman, Ashley Weil, Samantha Bielema, and Michael Merrick won first place individual awards.

DITV team at the Upper Midwest Emmys from left to right: Coach Charles Munro, AJ Reistetter, Johnny Valtman, Ashley Weil, Carson Ramirez, Cara Dulin, Max Von Gries and Jordan Tovar.

DITV students had a great showing at the Upper Midwest Emmy Foundation's Student Production Awards. They received three crystal pillars. The team won Best College Newscast. Cara Dulin won Best College News Story and Michael Merrick won Best College Sports Program with the support of the sports staff.

Natalie Dunlap won the Digital Media Student Gracie Award for podcast host. She hosts Above the Fold, The Daily Iowan podcast.

Nonprofit Leadership and Philanthropy Certificate

The Nonprofit Leadership and Philanthropy (NLP) certificate stands at the forefront of preparing undergraduates for careers in the nonprofit sector, offering a specialized path for journalism majors as an additional area of study. It equips students with the essential knowledge, skills, and perspective needed to make an impact within the extensive network of over 1.4 million U.S. nonprofit organizations. Journalism majors find that their talents in research, writing, editing, and communication is highly valuable in various nonprofit roles. These positions often demand the proficiency to distill and disseminate intricate information clearly, connect with a broad range of audiences, and champion meaningful causes. To explore how the NLP certificate can complement your academic journey and support your timely graduation, please reach out to jenifer-vick@uiowa.edu.