Alumni News

Journalism Prof. Gary Kebbel has retired after 10 years in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications, two as dean. As a faculty member, Kebbel was a grant partner with the Asian American Journalism Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association to embed a diversity reporter in the college for a year. He received grants from UNL and from the Stevens Initiative (run by the Aspen Institute) to create a global news class where his students talked weekly with students in Oman about world issues. He also created classes in mobile media and in social media event planning.

What a year! 2020 was filled with challenges and incredible accomplishments.

Our students covered the Iowa Caucuses and tracked political news coverage. They covered Covid-19 for the New York Times and used traffic patterns to provide local insight on the pandemic. They covered Husker Sports, even when they couldn’t attend the games. They dove even deeper into understanding climate change and received national attention for their coverage of the climate crisis. They worked on advertising and public relations campaigns for more than 50 university partners, community businesses and not-for-profit organizations.

When Shari Veil assumed the role of dean of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications in July 2020, she was determined to continue hosting alumni events despite the COVID-19 global pandemic.

The inaugural class of Nebraska Governance and Technology student fellows includes four students from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Alex Paun, Brandi Bue, Jasmine Alexander and Rafael Maschieri Bicudo will spend the 2020-2021 academic year researching the challenges of changing technology.