Dear CoJMC alum and friends,
Fall has arrived in Nebraska, bringing with it bright red sumac by the roadsides, farmers working long days to get in the harvest, and even October snow flurries. Our Homecoming Alumni Reunion on Oct. 4 was a wonderful time to reconnect with many of you. If you were unable to attend but would like one of our special tee shirts, please reach out via my email below.
I’m hoping you all received the Alumni Association’s quarterly magazine in September; in addition to a beautiful wrap honoring the university’s 150th anniversary, copies sent to CoJMC alums included a special “mini magazine” insert that we created to celebrate our own milestone. Again, if you didn’t receive a copy but would like one, let me know.
Now as our 125th anniversary year winds down, we are pleased to share the many activities in the college that are pointing us toward an exciting future.
We launched our News Lab course this fall, a fresh take on multimedia newsrooms, with three faculty members leading the way: Professors Jill Martin, John Shrader and Matt Waite. The Lab serves as a capstone course for our broadcasting and journalism majors, encouraging reporting and storytelling on any and all platforms. If you remember the days of The Journalist, Star City News, Nebraska News Service and Red Wire, you’ll appreciate how important these capstone classes are. We are experimenting with bringing it all together this year. As Dr. Larry Walklin would say, Stay tuned!
Our photojournalism students are preparing to travel to Rwanda over the winter break with Professor Bruce Thorson. This will be the second CoJMC Global Eyewitness trip to Rwanda; eight students traveled there with Thorson in May as well. This African nation is a focus for other units at UNL, which has allowed us to align our Global Eyewitness work more strategically. We are able to take advantage of campus expertise and connections, including the Rwandan students who are studying agriculture at UNL. Our own students and faculty have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of an area with repeated trips and access to campus partners. The result can be more insightful and impactful reporting. A spring 2020 multimedia showcase will provide students a chance to show and talk about their 2019 experiences in Rwanda.
In January 2020, the college will launch a depth report focused on climate change. Professor Joe Starita is leading the class, and has recruited students from across our campus for the experience. In addition to our own journalism, broadcasting, advertising and public relations students, majors from environmental studies, applied climate science, natural resources, meteorology/climatology, political science and more were selected from a pool of applicants. The group includes undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students. Joining Starita as faculty in this year-long depth report are Jennifer Sheppard, one of our newest Professors of Practice, and Lauryn Higgins, a recent graduate of our master’s program. The project will use recent extreme weather incidents in Nebraska as a springboard for a broader look at climate globally.
The annual Media Trip to New York City has become a tradition in the college since I first took students in 2006. This year, Professor Kelli Britten will lead the trip November 20 – 23. The trip has grown from 20 to more than 60 students, and has expanded to include visits to journalism and broadcasting outlets in addition to advertising agencies and public relations firms. Professor Britten has also partnered with Professor Jemalyn Griffin to add a second trip this academic year: a trip to Los Angeles is planned for spring break 2020. Providing exposure to large markets is significant to build confidence in CoJMC students; we want them to know that they will graduate with the skills and knowledge to live and work anywhere from their hometown to the biggest of cities.
Our AAF National Student Advertising Competition team has been selected from the largest pool of applicants to date. Led by Professors Britten and Patti Harney, and adjunct Professors Rich Bailey and Diane Krajicek, the team this year will tackle a case study provided by Adobe. They will begin research yet this semester, and move into high gear in January, planning a full blown campaign they will pitch in Kansas City in April.
Jacht, our revenue-generating student ad agency, has also selected a spring crew from over 90 applicants. This is the tenth year of operation for our unique hybrid of class and startup agency. Three faculty are working with more than 40 students at Jacht: Professors Katie Krcmarik as creative director, Alan Eno as director of media production, and Jemalyn Griffin as overall director. The students will present their work in a December event at their Haymarket location, with details to come. Just know that they have partnered with UNL’s Dairy Store to create a special 10th anniversary ice cream flavor!
PR students recently won first place nationally for their National Organ Donor Awareness Campaign (NODAC) project, part of a class taught by adjunct Professor Sheri Sallee. The award for their “Live On. Give On.” campaign was announced at the PRSSA International Conference in San Diego. Professor Sallee said, “I couldn’t be more proud of our students for the positive impact they made on campus to collect bone marrow swabs that enable matches benefiting patients battling cancer and for the team’s creative approach (via the iPhone health app) to increase UNL students’ ownership of being a registered organ donor.” Our PR students continue to have the opportunity to participate in another PRSSA program as well, the Bateman Competition. This year, Professor Bryan Wang will guide that team, along with Professors Jemalyn Griffin and Monique Farmer. We saw again with this opportunity a record-setting number of applications for the Bateman team.
The new sports media and communications major continues to grow rapidly, and this semester has seen the launch of a vibrant student organization, the Sports Media Club. Professor John Shrader serves as adviser to the club, and helps his student leadership team bring in guest speakers twice a month. Adding to the excitement is our new Roper Sports Reporter in Residence program. This initiative will bring working sports reporters into classes and club meetings to work with students on an on-going basis. The pilot program this semester includes Erin Sorensen of Hail Varsity and Mitch Sherman of The Athletic, both CoJMC alums and both great reporters who use digital platforms for sports storytelling. Thank you to Lynn and Dana Roper, whose gift helps propel new programs like this.
The support of our alums is so important to our current students and to the future of our college. I hope our update for the months ahead will inspire you to offer your expertise and time in classes or with clubs, share any internships or job opportunities, or consider gifts through the NU Foundation for scholarships, student travel or our new student emergency fund, to continue this incredible momentum. With Thanksgiving soon upon us, I am grateful for all of you!
Amy
