Director's Note

Now in my third year in the director’s seat, I can safely say that October is one of the busiest months in our SJMC calendar. We began the month with a visit from Maddie McCarron (BA 2022), our first professional-in-residence of the year and ended the month with Lucy Rohden (BA 2020), our second professional-in-residence and keynote speaker at the 2024 Iowa High School Press Association Fall Conference. The fall conference welcomed more than 750 students from 42 schools to campus for a full day of learning.

Maddie McCarron (left). Lucy Rohden (right).

We continued our 100^th anniversary celebrations with a professional advisory board alumni event in Chicago. It was wonderful to see SJMC alumni and board members making new connections over pizza in Old Town. We kept the celebration going in Iowa City as walkers in the homecoming parade and with an anniversary tailgate before the football game this past weekend. Several alumni stopped by to reminisce and discuss the future of journalism and mass communication education. Brian Lott (BA 1986) visited campus and penned a letter to the editor about the importance of his SJMC education and the values that we still hold today.

Chicago alumni event (upper left). Homecoming weekend (upper right, bottom)

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

Melissa Tully, Director

Faculty News

Assistant professor of practice Ty Rushing moderated a discussion about voting rights with author Ari Berman. This event was part of the Iowa City Book Festival.

Ty Rushing with author Ari Berman

Professor of practice Adam Kempenaar did a live recording of his podcast "Filmspotting" at the Refocus Film Festival.

Adam Kempenaar recording Filmspotting at the Refocus Film Festival

Professor Venise Berry screened the documentary "Racialism in the Media," based on her book of the same title, in collaboration with Refocus Film Festival and the Iowa City Book Festival.

Assistant professor Sang Jung Kim co-authored the article The effects of numerical evidence and message framing in communicating vaccine efficacy, published in the Journal of Health Communication.

Assistant professor Bingbing Zhang co-authored Tweeting, talking, or doing politics? Testing the influence of communication on democratic engagement published in Telematics and Informatics Reports.

Graduate Student News

SJMC and Comm Studies cohosted two social events for graduate students during October. The first was a trip to Wilson's Orchard & Farm. The second event was to attend a women's soccer game at the UI Soccer Complex.

SJMC faculty and graduate students at Wilson's Orchard

PhD student Javie Ssozi was awarded the Graduate College Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship.

PhD student David Lomoywara received a T. Anne Cleary International Dissertation Research Fellowship award.

Tessa Adams successfully defended her dissertation, "Stay Woke: Black Production and Reception Practices in the Alleged Postracial Era." Congrats Dr. Adams!

Undergraduate News

Heather Spangler, Tracy Hufford, and six Event Management Certificate seniors traveled to Las Vegas for IMEX, one of the largest international conferences in the events industry.

Heather Spangler, Tracy Hufford, and six Event Management Certificate seniors at IMEX in Las Vegas

Kevin Ripka and students in the Online News Association student group attended Mobile Me & You at Syracuse University. Mobile Me & You is an annual journalism and technology conference about storytelling on mobile media platforms.

ONA visit to Mobile Me & You

Alex Scott and a group of passionate student photographers attended the College Photographer of the Year awards at the University of Missouri. Recent alum Grace Smith (BA 2024) was Runner up for College Photographer of the Year and won awards in several categories. Emily Nyberg received awards in several categories as well. Congratulations to Grace and Emily!

SJMC students attend the College Photographer of the Year awards. (Photos by Kabedi Mutamba)

Students in Jeff Grisamore’s Content Marketing class traveled to the Chicago Art Institute for the release of professor Travis Vogan’s newest book, LeRoy Neiman The Life of America’s Most Beloved and Belittled Artist.

Jeff Grisamore's Content Marketing Trip to Chicago