Dear Alumni and Friends,
Campus is once again buzzing with the excitement of a new semester. While much of the fall semester is focused on fundamentals, in the spring we really get to push our more seasoned students in courses like Data Journalism, Advanced Videography, Advanced Audio Content Creation, Advanced Sports Data Analytics, Politics and the Media, Interactive Media Design, Digital Motion Graphics, Social Media Data Mining and Crisis Management.
To keep up with our exploding sports media and communication major, we are also teaching several electives this semester including Sports Photojournalism, Television Sports Reporting, Intro to Esports and Video Games and Society. The work our students do in these advanced and specialized courses, along with their capstone projects, will fill out their portfolios as they prepare for the job market.
We have a couple new faces around Andersen Hall this spring. Ahman Green (yes, Husker Football Hall of Famer Ahman Green) has joined the CoJMC as a lecturer in sports media and communication. Professor Green has more than ten years of experience in sports radio and TV broadcasting. Most recently, he’s been teaching and coaching esports at Lakeland University in Wisconsin. Professor Green will be teaching the Intro to Esports course this spring and working with me to build an esports arena in the Nebraska Union. I’ll have more on esports in next month’s newsletter.
Zach Franzen has also joined the CoJMC as our new alumni relations and events coordinator. Zach held previous event planning positions with the UNL Office of Research and Economic Development, Lied Center for Performing Arts and Del Ray Ballroom. You will likely be hearing quite a bit from Zach as his number one charge is developing robust alumni relations programing.
In 2022, for the second year in a row, we awarded over 300 undergraduate and graduate degrees. Read more to learn about a couple of our recent December grads, including our two Chancellor’s Scholars. This newsletter also highlights our new Bateman Case Competition Team, Nebraska Broadcasters Association Scholarship winners, Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellows and a visit from superstar alumna Jane Olson.
Sadly, I end this note saying goodbye to several CoJMC friends and alumni. Please take a moment to read about the incredible lives of Linda Beermann, Bob Moyer, Richard Chapin, Becky Albers, Lew Hunter and David “Fitz” Fitzgibbon.
Shari
