Dear alumni and friends,
This week, we welcomed our students and faculty back from spring break, and we're all feeling refreshed and ready to take on the last half of the spring semester. Next week, we'll celebrate 41 years of our college's establishment. On April 2, 1985, the School of Journalism became the College of Journalism; in the early 90's, we added "Mass Communications" to our name, and in 2001, we began a new era, moving from Avery Hall into our own building and our forever home at Andersen Hall.
Join us in celebrating 40+ years of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications on Thursday, April 2, by sharing a favorite memory from your time at the college on social media with the hashtag #CoJMC41Years or tag the college in your post. If you're not on social media, feel free to share your memories here.
Speaking of celebrations, the voice of Husker men's basketball for the last 16 years, alum Kent Pavelka ('71), has called a historic season, and alumna Margaret Holman ('73) was honored with the prestigious Ralph Chamberlain Award and has thoroughly established her fundraising legacy in her retirement. Congratulations to John Knicely ('74) and Kevin Kugler ('94), who will be inducted into the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame this August and to our recent Huskers on the Move.
Congrats to our Huskers who won six awards in the Broadcast Education Association's Festival of Media Arts and three Creative Nebraska Awards from the Nebraska Chapter of the American Advertising Federation and to our 2026 Perry Photo Challenge winners, including Makayla Maxon, who won the $5,000 grand prize with her photo essay "Hands to Feathers: Rescuing Raptors Across Nebraska."
Check out Assistant Professor Brian Petrotta's study on the underrepresentation of women's games in sports betting coverage and Associate Professor Dane Kiambi's research on Ticketmaster's crisis communication failures in the chaos of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket sales.
Our Student Advisory Board is selling CoJMC-branded t-shirts, sweatshirts, and more, order by March 31. See some of the stories our students are writing— Kevin Artiles Fernandez, an Unlimited Sports student, did a profile on Assistant Professor and Director of Esports Ryan Tan; Colton Knott wrote a feature on the esports program for The Daily Nebraskan; Student Lead for the Nebraska News Service Levi Baker spotlighted the UNL Bateman team's campaign; Ellie Volk wrote about her experience working at the Masters Tournament for the Nebraska Quarterly, and Danny Berg told the story of Husker basketball player Sam Hoiberg finding his passion for broadcasting for The Daily Nebraskan.
Register for this year's Nebraska Press Women Conference, "Communicating in the New Now," on April 25 at Andersen Hall, and don't forget to mark your calendar for The Daily Nebraskan's 125th Anniversary Reunion next September.
I look forward to the rest of the semester and encourage you to reach out to me with any questions about the college. Thank you for staying connected, for your continued support and for being such an integral part of our college's growth and success.
Sincerely,
Adam
