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Announcing the Spring 2025 Dean's List

Regan Widergren — Thu, 22 May 2025 17:45:29 +0000

Announcing the Spring 2025 Dean's List Regan Widergren Thu, 05/22/2025 - 11:45

CMCI students who have completed at least 12 credit hours of ɫ��ֱ�� course work for a letter grade in any single semester and achieve a term grade point average of 3.75 or better are included on the dean’s list. They receive a notation on their transcript and a letter from CMCI Founding Dean Lori Bergen. Congratulations to all honorees!

Lucia Abdelwahed
Kit Achar
Karynna Agena
Quinn Ahrens
Lucy Alagna
Kelli Alexander
Max Altman
Alyssa Alvarez
Trinity Alvord
Bridgette Anderson
Ella Anderson
Sofia Anerousis
Lila Angelopoulos
Vicky Angelova
Josh Archie
Liliana Arguello
Annie Armstrong
Remy Arnold
Jake Arriola
Leah Axelrode
SJ Bacallao
Roxanne Bachana
Emily Badeaux
Alexia Bailey
Mason Bailey
Kaylee Baker
Loren Baker
Owen Balboa
Kayla Baldobinos
Maddie Baldwin
Tyler Bales
Emilie Barbattini
Katie Barcroft
Jenna Baro
Jackson Basch
Ellena Bassoukos
AnnaBauer
Aden Baumgarten
Klaire Bautz
Katie Baxter
Taylor Beamer
Juliana Beans
Ryan Beebe
Kayla Beebower
Chase Beloff
Logan Benson
Carolina Benun
Parker Berkheimer
Tommy Berman
Sam Berry
Adrianna Bhan
Tommy Bittner
Katie Bixler
Miley Black
Sophia Bobier
Lauren Bogdan
Anvitha Bompalli
Matthew Boothroyd
Sarah Boothroyd
Jack Boruchov
Joshua Botnick
Grace Boyea
Norah Brady
Bella Branz
Antonio Bravo
Elizabeth Brechtel
Mateo Brenes
Audrey Brice
Logan Brinker
Samantha Brouhard
Eva Bruce
Ryan Bruins
Tessa Buchanan
Renee Buchenroth
Juliana Buck
Ashley Budy
Harper Bunn
Griffin Burrows
Parker Burt
Ella Buss
Tawfiq Byard
Noelia Caballero
America Cabral
Emma Cain
Haely Callahan
Lourdes Camarillo
Carli Camens
Carson Campbell
Abby Cannon
Evan Caplan
Rhiannon Cargo
Sarah Carleo
Jessie Carlin
Mitchell Carswell
Madison Cashin
Kathryn Castanoli
Mia Castro
Zachary Chagnon
Izzie Chan
Connor Chase
Jesus Chavez
Hayden Chedid
Avery Childs
Angelina Christos
Megan Chung
Madi Ciampi
Malaya Cimino
Abi Clayton
Cash Cleveland
Kay Clifford
Annalia Clifton
Avery Clifton
Emme Clymer
Morgan Coffin
Jacqueline Cohen
Blair Coldrick
MacKenzie Cole
Sarah Connor
Breah Conradson
Ainsley Coogan
Connor Cook
Georgia Cook
Sophie Coombs
Diego Cordero
Kyndal Corkins
Jennifer Corley
Gilberto Corral
Maddy Corzine
Lucas Coulter
Emily Couto
Bailey Craig
Elizabeth Cropper
Finn Crowder
Gavin Crowson
Charlotte Croy
Kaylie Cunningham
Kelajanae Curry
Lilly Curry
Tess Curry
Lauren Curtiss
Dana Cutti
Liz Cutting
Teresa Da Silva
Clara Dailey
Abikael Daniel
Katherine Davis
Maddie Dawson
Monse Diaz
Jacob Dilling
Sydney Dobriner
Connie Dolati
Luke Donis
Emily Doskow
Sydney Dossa
Sean Dougherty
Daniel Doupe
Averie Dow
Kayla Drumke
Emma Dudley
Wyatt Duesenberg
Beckett Dumo
Hannah Duthie
Ryan Duval
Ryan Dye
Ansley Edelbrock
Camryn Eickenberg
Riley Eisenstein
Molly Elert
Jenny Ellis
Libby Emery

Sophie Englezos
Alex Ervin
Felix Estes
Nate Evans
Elena Exenberger
Sofia Faraci
Jenna Farber
Jessica Feenstra
Liam Fehlau-Barton
Mimi Feingold
Emmy Fettner
Alyssa Field
Trent Finnegan
Carolyn Fish
Maddie Fisher
Aidan Fliszar
William Flockton
Joe Fogler
Ethan Fong
Hayley Forstot
Rhen Fowler
Aiyana Fragoso
Devin Friedman
Isabelle Friedrich
Carolyn Fuller
Alexia Funk
Liam Gallagher
John Galloway
Jacalyn Gamble
Bailee Gammel
Colter Gansmann
Claire Ganz
Emma Garavaglia
Tova Garfield
Prestin Garman
Kendall Garrido
Carly Gelfand
Callie Gendolfe
Max Genther
Emily Gesseck
Megan Elisabeth Gessner
Sydney Giardino
Orion Gibbs
Daniel Giberson
Tegan Gie
Lauren Gillespie
Graham Givan
Kate Gladheim
Mark Goetzler
Matthew Golden
Samantha Goldin
Max Gong
Silvana Gonzalez Ceballos
William Gooch
Julia Goodman
Max Goodman
Maxx Goodman
Salem Goodman
Ana Gordon
Richard Gorman
Abby Graham
Chloe Graham
Nora Graham
Cj Grandi
Mia Graziano
Alyssa Green
Elijah Grice
Erica Griffiths
Asher Grinsztein
Caitlin Grossman
Rio Groves
Olivia Gryson
Kaitlyn Gunter
Leila Gurland
Robyn Gusek
Owen Guzik
Darien Gyselen
Ella Hack
Trey Haggarty
Paxton Haines
Caroline Hallett
Alsa Halquist
Nate Hankins
Mackenzie Hanlon
Audrey Hansen
Kaylee Hansen
Eden Harari
Greta Harder
Elspeth Harkey
J.T. Harland
Wilson Harper
Maeve Harrington
Ella Harris
Kelly Hartigan
Nick Haseman
Josie Hayes
Madison Hays
Grace Heligman
Stevie Hemans
Isabella Hernandez Jeppesen
Allyson Hernandez
Emily Herrmann
Anna Herth
Carter Hessen
Jason Hetzel
Kainoa Hiatt
Tyler Hibri
Cassidy Hill
Grace Hilliard
Patrick Hillmeyer
Thomas Hinton
Hannah Hoffman
Jimmy Holda
Dylan Hommes
Kenadee Hood
Jordan Houten
Samantha Hruska
Ainsley Hubert
Jane Hulse
Ellie Hultgren
Wyatt Humble
Caitlin Humphrey
Drew Insco
Maren Jacobson
Emma James
Alana Jenks
Aaron Jensen
Annika Jobanputra
Andy Johnson
Jamison Johnson
Oliver Johnson
Neda Jonaitis
Marley Jones
Gianna Jordon
Max Julian
Laura Jumper
Taylor Kahn
Nina Kanavati
Divya Kandala
Chase Kanger
Caroline Karp
Peyton Karp
Bailey Karraker
Peri Kay
Matthew Keane
Megan Keenan
Charlotte Keller
Emma Kelly
John Kelly
Mira Kelly
Charlotte Kendall
Riley Kenny
John Kerklo
Josh Kesner
Amy Kibort
Meika Kinsey
Myra Kirk
Marin Kirkman
Skylar Kisiel
Avery Kissinger
Kayla Klein
Isaac Kliska
Leia Kliska
Spencer Klomp
Kendall Knudsen
Oliver Kochenderfer
Maggie Kocher
Davin Kontny
Rian Korb
Claire Kraft

Julia Kramer
Riley Krane
Ella Krelovich
Carey Kronhart
Oona Krukowski
Maria Kuhn
Samuel Kurtz
Brayden Kurzawa
Matt Kushel
Alex LaMotte
Amy Labontu
Ruby Laemmel
Ella Landry
Jeffrey Lange
Sydney Lannin
Gabi Larocque
Drew Lasky
Daniel Laverty
London Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence
Camille Leach
Aubrey Leneweaver
Ava Leonard
Rae Leonovich
Brian Leuthold
Claire Levitt
George Lewis
William Lewis
Jasmin Lin
Isabelle Lingo
Mia Lioudis
Alexander Lipka
Owen Lockwood
Luke Lommatzsch
Leif Lomo
Skyler B Longerbone
Deborah Loseke
Katelyn Love
Stella Lowery
Anna Lynch
Abigail Macha Astorga
Hannah Magee
Maxwell Majors
Mel Malloy
Kea Margolis
Isabella Marquez
Ella Marrufo
Andrew Marsh
Jillian Martellaro
Stella Martens
Maggie Marusin
Carolyn Mason
Jake May
Alden Mazur
Nick McCarthy
John Mcdermott
Riley Mcdermott
Sheila Mcdonnell
Delaney Mckernan
Emori Mcquigg
Ashley Mead
Sam Meldner
Alex Melvin
Ella Melvin
Gabby Mendoza
Keala Mermel
Maya Merta
Aiden Meyer
Jackson Meyer
Kristee Mikulski
Vera Milam
Brooklyn Miller
Clementine Miller
Creed Miller
Logan Nicole Miller
Morgan Miller
Kendall Millward
Ally Milton
Samantha Mims
Macy Mohlenkamp
Camryn Montgomery
Gigi Montgomery
Jayla Montoya
Clare Moore
Theo Moot
Adrien Morlet
Joe Morris
Mia Mosebrook
Lexi Moyers
Gabriel Mrochek-Moore
Eva Muise
Clare Murphy
Kailey Murphy
Lia Murphy
Rue Murray
Aahana Nandy
Corey Neumeier
Danielle Nguyen
Rebecca Niewood
Tatum Novak
Lila Nuttle
Julia Maria Nyberg
Rory O'Flynn
Maggie O'Brien
Nora O'Connor
Brinley O'Neill
Gabriella Olson
Kellen Olson
Sofia Olsson
MariaJoan Olugbode
Karina Opalski
Alexandra Organa
Annika Ort
Max Osterman
Cate Ousey
Emmett Owenby
Josie Pachla
Lauren Palmer
Katy Parks
Jackson Parrish
Giovanna Pascucci
Haley Patterson
Frankie Patton
Cassidy Payne
Sienna Peck
John Penney
Jaclyn Pereira
Kennedy Perez
Quetzal Peterson
Bell Piccirillo
Evan Piekos
Alexandra Pollard
Zoe Polzin
Ashley Pomeroy
Elizabeth Pond
Daniel Potochnik
Izzy Poulios
Ivy Powell
Gavin Poxson
Bradley Pratt
Dylann Pratt
Addisson Pribble
Grace Ptak
Taylor Pulley
Jaden Quinn
Noor Rajpal
Mia Ramundo
Ella Rapp
Maya Raulf
Madelyn Ray
Rachel Ray
Kuba Raymond
Alex Redding
Cameron Reed
Molly Reed
Katrina Reghitto
Katie Reuter
Brody Rhodes
Leslie Rivera
Rida Fatima Rizvi
Eliza Roberts
Isabel Robison
Kate Robson
Kate Rogers
Audrey Rolstad
Brynna Roscoe
Jenna Rose
Eli Rosenthal
Sam Russo
Emme Rutherford

Catherine Rutman
Jessica Ryanczak
Tanvi Sabharwal
Amelie Sadler
Madde Salter
Jack Samet
Gabriela Sampson
Anya Sanchez
Kayla Sanchez
Kevin Sanchez
Milan Sasaki
Kate Schaefer
Bella Schaffer
Jackson Schalow
Christopher Schilling
Gavin Schleich
Addie Schneider
Samuel Schneider
Jaimie Schoenke
Tyler Scholl
Sydney Schrader
Abbie Schreiber
Teagan Schreiber
Emerson Schroeder
Erin Schwaninger
Aubrey Schwartz
Ben Schweiger
Ella Scolnick
Grace Scott
Madeline Scripp
Olivia Scussel
Mayla Seliskar
Max Shaffer
Krish Shah
Julia Sharkowicz
Natalie Sheehan
Mackenzie Shelswell-White
Jenna Shenbaum
Daniel Sher
Amanda Sherter
Ryan Shigley
Cody Shoelson
Teva Shonfeld
Kennedy Shorett
Zoe Showalter-Flowers
Anika Siethoff
Jordan Sigel
Harrison Simeon
Abby Sinberg
Hailee Singer
Leo Singer
Abby Sinno
Emily Sloboda
Marie Slotnick
Ryan Smith
Lucy Snow
Joe Solari
Matt Solari
Sevi Solari
Sailor Sorensen
Lainey Sparks
Jessie Spires
Matthew Spivack
Hayden Spracklin
Allie Stamper
Bella Stamper
Emma Stanfill
Lola Stanley
Nick Starr
Ashlin Stasswender Swasey
Katie Stephens
Sarah Stern
Blake Stiewe
Schaefer Still
Zoe Stillman
Ava Stoller
Mary Strasser
Aliza Strear
Natacha Suarez
Mae Sweetland
Leah Szabo
Sophie Szabo
Harper Tagg
Ben Tal
AJ Tannenbaum
Jack Tannenbaum
Annie Tanner
Miguel Tanner
Natalie Tapia
Hailey Taylor
Morgan Elizabeth Taylor
Sarah Taylor
Cecelia Tecu
Jordan Teicher
Caleb Thomas
Emma Thomases
Asia Tippetts
Brooke Tolstoi
Grace Toomey
Zohair Toor
Clio Torrance
Alexa Tovar
Elizabeth Travia
Carlos Trigo Beyer
Sarah Trunsky
Ricky Tuka
Jazzy Tung
Carson Turk
Zoe Turner
Emma Tutaj
Katelyn Tyree
Jesse Uzansky
Christian Valentino
Jade Valentino
Allie Van Ness
Kade Van Steenvort
William Vander
Michael Vanner
Celia Vargas
Wyatt Vattano
Alessandro Villalpando
Holden Vincent
Kiara Rose Wade
Jada Walker
Mantrez Walker Walker
Queena Wang
Lauren Ward
Ashley Warren
Ryder Ryder Watkins
Luke Watson
Leila Watters
Liam Watters
Tayte Webster
Ellery Weil
Jenna Weil
Sam Weingart
Sami Weinstein
Morgan Weiss
Sophie Wendt
Samuel White
Tess White
Ella Whittall
Elle Whittier
Riley Wiener
Triny Willerton
Jackson Williams
Mars Williams
Trevor Williams
Delaney Willing
Sammie Jean Willoughby
Georgia Wilson
Liv Wilson
Emma Winkelbauer
Nils Wolf
Lily Wright
Ty Wurtz
Chloe Yearous
Ashley Yi
Fnan Yonas
Hannah Young
Lily Young-Stallings
Arwyn Zaleski
Emma Zande
Emma Zawatski
Rachel Zing
Jack Ziporin
Chase Zobrist
Vega de la Vega

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2025 William W. White Outstanding Seniors

Regan Widergren — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 17:46:43 +0000

2025 William W. White Outstanding Seniors Regan Widergren Tue, 04/29/2025 - 11:46

Each year, the CMCI student with the highest GPA in the class receives the William W. White Outstanding Graduate Award.

Sarah Carleo, Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design

After graduating, Sarah will work as a public relations assistant for Next PR, in Colorado Springs.

Graduating from college represents proof of growth. CU has been a tool to stretch myself, and I think I’ll carry a lot of that in the future.”

Meet Sarah

Additionally, each department in the college chooses an exemplary student whose academic merit, professional achievement and service to CMCI. These students are recognized as William W. White Outstanding Seniors.

Celia Frazier, Department of Journalism

Celia is a finalist for Report for America, which she hopes gives her additional opportunities to do local journalism that makes an impact.

Getting to know people and their work so intimately is a reminder of how complex the world is, and how important it is that we have journalists to help the public understand this complexity.”

Meet Celia

Andrew Johnson, Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design

After graduating, Andrew will return to BBH USA, in New York, in an account management and client services role.

I remember the first night I attended an Ad Club meeting—I finally felt like I found something I was passionate about. I left the meeting and called my mom immediately, and told her ‘Mom, I found out what I want to do with my life.’”

Meet Andrew

Ruby Laemmel, Department of Media Production

Adventures are one of Ruby’s biggest sources of inspiration for documentary and other projects, so she plans to travel internationally after graduation. Mexico, Japan and Costa Rica are all on her list.

At CU, I surrounded myself with bright and lively people. Spending time with my herd was never dull; someone was always laughing. In the past year, I have grown tremendously, and I cannot thank the people closest to me enough for their endless love and support.”

Macy Mohlenkamp, Department of Communication

Macy has spent the last year as an undergraduate intern with the communications team at CU Athletics team, and hopes to stay on as a communications associate.

Six months before I started my internship, I had been extremely nervous about what I was going to be doing after graduation. But once I was in that press box, I felt so much more sure of myself.”

David LaPaglia, Department of Information Science

David’s CMCI experience in three words: Grow. Discover. Experience. After graduation, he will be joining the Makse Group, an IT consulting company, as a technology consultant.

The information science department ignited a passion within me to discover the truth around us—a curiosity I will carry into my future.”

Rachel Zing, Department of Media Studies

Rachel’s CMCI experience in three words: Busy. Transformative. Fun.

College is a great time to figure out what you like, both academically and in extracurriculars. There’s no shame in trying a bunch of different things until you find what actually brings you joy.”

William W. White Outstanding Seniors are chosen by department faculty to recognize academic merit, professional achievement and service to the college.

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The case was closed, but one reporter never stopped asking questions

Joe Arney — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:48:35 +0000

The case was closed, but one reporter never stopped asking questions Joe Arney Thu, 04/10/2025 - 09:48

By Iris Serrano
Headshot of Laura Crimaldi courtesy The Boston Globe

In February 2021, 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her apartment in Canton, Massachusetts.

Her death was ruled a suicide until Laura Crimaldi, a reporter with The Boston Globe, started digging into her past—including her history with Matthew Farwell, then a police officer.

Her relentless pursuit of the truth resulted in “Secrets and Lies,” which led to the case being reopened and Farwell being charged in Birchmore’s killing.

To recognize her tenacity and dedication, Crimaldi was recognized as this year’s winner of the prestigious Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting, handed out each year by the journalism department of the College of Media, Communication and Information at ɫ��ֱ�� and the Denver Press Club. Judges gave special mention to both Alabama Media Group and The Arizona Republic for their entries.

“Laura was able to show how police broke trust with that young woman,” said Chuck Plunkett, a judge in the contest and director of the capstone CU News Corps in CMCI. “It was just a good mix of dogged reporting with great enterprise writing and great narrative writing.”

In what one of her editors called a master class in investigative journalism, Crimaldi listened to friends and relatives who weren’t satisfied with the official explanation of Birchmore’s death. She also filed nearly 100 public records requests and reviewed extensive court filings and police reports as part of her work, while “spending a lot of time knocking on doors to reach her family and friends directly.”

“It bothered me that there were people who had the authority and the means and methods to get to the bottom of this, and they just didn’t seem too interested in doing so,” Crimaldi said. “And by using my superpower, which is to put things in the newspaper, I could make a difference. I wanted to do that.”

“It was just a good mix of dogged reporting with great enterprise writing and great narrative writing.”

Chuck Plunkett, director, CU News Corps

Together with Yvonne Abraham, a columnist at the Globe, she authored a 15,000-word report that painted a picture of how Farwell groomed Birchmore—who was more than 10 years younger than him—while she was a 15-year-old enrolled in a junior police academy.

“If it hadn't been for Laura, there wouldn't have been the deeper investigation,” said Plunkett, also an assistant teaching professor at the college. “That culture would have perpetuated, and more young people, more Sandra Birchmores, would have been victimized.”

Judges who reviewed entries remarked on the significance and impact of her work.

“The story of Sandra Birchmore's killing makes me sick to my stomach—outraged,” said Ben Markus, an investigative reporter for Colorado Public Radio and judge for the contest. “That is a testament to the Boston Globe’s dogged reporting, without which a police officer might never have been charged with her murder.”

Another judge, John Ingold, praised the dedication and time that went into the reporting.

“This entry is an extraordinary example of what can happen when journalists refuse to give up. It is a reminder of the impact that quality journalism can have,” said Ingold, a reporter for The Colorado Sun.

About the Nakkula Award

The Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting honors the late Al Nakkula, a 46-year veteran of the Rocky Mountain News, whose tenacity made him a legendary police reporter. This year, nearly 40 national media outlets submitted entries to a panel of five judges: Ingold; Markus; Brian Malone, a Colorado-based documentary filmmaker; Vicky Collins (Jour’80), publisher of Bucket List Community Cafe; and Plunkett.

Each year, Nakkula contest judges look for stories that meet the highest journalistic standards, help readers understand complex issues and solutions, show a commitment to community, and bring about societal change. The competition is sponsored by the journalism department at CMCI and the Denver Press Club, and has been awarded annually since 1991. More on the Nakkula Award.

Laura Crimaldi has won this year’s Al Nakkula Award for her investigative reporting into the circumstances around the killing of a woman by a police officer—a death that was originally determined as suicide.

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CMCI names its first endowed professor

Joe Arney — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:13:55 +0000

CMCI names its first endowed professor Joe Arney Tue, 04/08/2025 - 04:13

By Joe Arney
Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18)

She’s done pathbreaking research in technology ethics and internet law, has been featured in The Washington Post and NPR, and does extensive public scholarship as an outspoken expert on social media.

So, it’s no surprise that when it came to naming its first endowed professorship, the College of Media, Communication and Information turned to Casey Fiesler.

“When we created CMCI, we were energized by the vision of a college where we would study and teach not just a set of related disciplines, but the areas where those disciplines come together,” said Lori Bergen, CMCI founding dean. “Casey is a model for that. Her ethical and legal perspectives on important questions surrounding technology help us make sense of complex problems. And she is able to break down those complicated problems in ways that help the public ask more thoughtful questions about the platforms and tools they use each day.”

More: Building a better ‘bionic pancreas’

In July, Fiesler, an associate professor of information science at CMCI, will be named the William R. Payden Endowed Professor. The honor recognizes the demonstrated, sustained national reputation she has brought to her discipline, and comes with an annual research budget to continue her important work in social media platforms and online communities, education, and generative A.I.—especially from an ethics standpoint.

“She is able to break down those complicated problems in ways that help the public ask more thoughtful questions about the platforms and tools they use each day.”

Lori Bergen, founding dean

In fact, she’s created a public syllabus—consisting of her social media videos and select texts and other websites—to help others start thinking about the ethics of A.I. It’s still in beta, so to speak, but has attracted attention, including from teachers searching for relatable, approachable perspectives on these complex issues.

“Considering how much admiration and respect I have for everyone in the college, I’m beyond honored to be recognized,” Fiesler said.

The position comes with a small stipend, which Fiesler was interested in using to attract well-known speakers for guest talks—to expose students to great researchers—and to be able to pay student researchers for their contributions to her work, such as a grant-funded pilot project to create educational content on A.I. that’s delivered over social media.

“If that goes well, I’d like to be able to keep it going beyond the grant,” she said. “And if we were to do so, it would be important to make sure we’re fairly compensating our students for the work they do.”

Fiesler said she also attributes the successes of her research to collaborative work, particularly with the graduate students she’s worked with at the college. One of her former students, Shamika Klassen (PhDInfoSci’24), said having Fiesler for an advisor during her doctoral work “was like having a celebrity for a parent.”

“When I mention her name, people would say, ‘Oh, Professor Casey on TikTok,’ or ‘I watched her videos on YouTube when I was applying to graduate school,” said Klassen, now a user experience researcher at Google. “Casey is a testament to what public scholarship can be, in addition to being an incredible advisor and advocate of me and my work.”

More: Questions about A.I.? Let’s Chat

The endowed professorship was made possible through a donation from Joan Payden, a co-founder of the Payden & Rygel investment management firm, in memory of her brother, William Payden (Jour’57). Bill Payden was known for his curiosity, as he was a journalist, college professor, sports fan, cinephile, pianist, world traveler, and collector of aviation memorabilia and classic cars.

The family also created the Payden Faculty Excellence Award, which recognizes excellence in teaching and research or creative work, and the Payden Teaching Excellence Grants, which are awarded to faculty to support innovative teaching endeavors, such as new interdisciplinary courses, revamped classes that support enhanced student engagement, or to purchase resources or training to improve teaching and the student experience.

Casey Fiesler, whose perspectives on law and ethics in technology have given her national cachet, has been named the William R. Payden Endowed Professor at the college.

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Courting justice

Joe Arney — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:34:51 +0000

Courting justice Joe Arney Fri, 04/04/2025 - 13:34

By Joe Arney
Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18) and Nandi Pointer

Ask any of her students how they prefer to get their news, or search for recommendations, or learn about their favorite TV shows, and Sandra Ristovska will tell you that they go on TikTok.

If you go

What: Justice by Video, a full-day collaborative workshop exploring the roles research and policy can play in creating standards and safeguards around how video and photos are used in legal proceedings.

When: Friday, April 25. The public is invited to a screening of Incident, a short, Academy Award-nominated documentary, at 3:30 p.m. Panel discussions featuring the filmmakers and experts will follow.

Where: Richard Jessor Building, Room 155, 1440 15th St., ɫ��ֱ��. Advance registration not required.

Yet their educations—from the time they first set foot in a grammar school classroom—have focused on textual literacy, with almost nothing devoted to how video and photos are analyzed.

“We just assume that everybody intuitively knows how to understand images, because we don’t have to teach you an alphabet, or grammar,” said Ristovska, associate professor of media studies at the College of Media, Communication and Information. “But we know from research that people can watch the same image and arrive at a vastly different understanding about what that image says or does.”

More: Bringing student activism to TikTok videos

That’s fun when we’re overanalyzing a plot twist in Severance. But Ristovska’s work centers around what happens when videos make their way into a courtroom, where interpretations can influence a person’s guilt or innocence.

According to one estimate, video appears in about 80 percent of criminal cases, but no guidelines exist for how video can be presented as evidence in court. And that’s also the case for deepfake videos or media created by generative artificial intelligence.

“Anybody who’s seen a legal document knows they’re standardized—if it doesn’t look a certain way, it’s not going to be admissible in court,” Ristovska said. “But when it comes to video, different courts have different guidelines and understandings about what’s admissible.”

Ristovska has been an important contributor to scholarship in media and the law. At a daylong event later this month, she’ll help steer the conversation around these topics while taking the wraps off the Visual Evidence Lab, a new lab at CMCI that will advance her work in this area.

The workshop, Justice by Video, will bring together judges, attorneys, journalists, and scholars from the humanities, social sciences, law and STEM to develop new avenues for research and potential policy proposals around how to ensure justice is best served. She hopes focusing some of the leading thinkers in this area—and encouraging cross-disciplinary discussion—lays the groundwork for establishing consistent guidelines around visual evidence.

Ristovska’s personal history plays a role in all this, too. Growing up in what is now Macedonia during the Yugoslav Wars, she still recalls how footage from the fighting upset her parents—even if she was too young to understand the news bulletins interrupting her evening cartoons. As part of her graduate school work, she went on to study how footage from civilians and activists made its way to the United Nations’ criminal tribunal, in The Hague.

“I realized the law was an important place to be asking questions about video evidence,” she said. “Some of the citizen footage in the tribunal wasn’t verified through the person who shot it, which had never been the case before. And this footage was both establishing the truth in court while constructing a historical memory about the wars.”

Cross-disciplinary expertise

Sandra Braman, a professor of media and information at Michigan State University, said she is particularly excited about participation in this event because of the range of expertise involved, including practicing judges as well as legal scholars and researchers from across the social sciences.

Braman has twice served as a visiting professor at CMCI, and is considered among the leading scholars in digital technologies and their policy implications. She was impressed with the agenda, which includes small group discussions intended to stimulate cross-disciplinary discussion and a detailed reading list to review beforehand.

“Usually, when you go to the first conference of its kind, it’s just a chance to gather and talk generally about the topic,” Braman said. “Sandra has put together a very structured set of tasks that are actually very hard questions to guide us on visual evidence.”

Roderick Kennedy, who retired from the New Mexico Court of Appeals after serving as its chief judge, will be part of an afternoon panel discussing the issues raised by Incident, a documentary of a police shooting in Chicago and the role security footage plays in creating a narrative explaining what happened.

Kennedy and Ristovska met through his work with the American Bar Association. Ristovska presented a series of webinars on video evidence and deepfakes to members. They also collaborated when she was a guest editor of an issue of The SciTech Lawyer last winter that took a deep dive on these issues.

Kennedy said video evidence presents similar challenges that he would see with eyewitness testimony throughout his career. Memory is unreliable, he said, as witnesses become suggestible when asked to remember details or are affected by the pressure to have a definitive answer for investigators.

“You have a single viewpoint, but it’s overlaid with other memories that can change things, and is subject to interpretation every time you recall it and restore it,” he said.

‘A vertical learning curve’

A video won’t change its memory under pressure, but how it’s captured and edited can influence the way a jury interprets what happened. And while footage from police body cams or the smartphones of bystanders may get the most attention, Kennedy said the issue crops up elsewhere—even police interrogations. He shared a case involving a pathologist whose findings in a homicide were influenced by hearing a woman confess to the crime on camera.

Her confession, however, was preceded by an exhausting, seven-hour police interrogation. And because we’ve been conditioned to believe videos show reality—without considering how they were framed, trimmed, slowed down or otherwise edited—they have significant potential to mislead jurors.

“That’s the power of video,” Kennedy said. If you only show a jury the last minute or so of that interrogation, “all you see is a mother saying she killed her baby.”

The workshop isn’t just about editing techniques that may introduce doubt. Invited experts also will discuss deepfakes, an emerging challenge for courts that must catch up to the technology. Kennedy said judges and lawyers “have almost a vertical learning curve” when it comes to the technology.

“You have to learn the language of the technology experts before you can accuse somebody of using a deepfake,” he said. “And the experts aren’t taught how to speak legal, or the legal rules for putting their expertise in evidence.”

One thread of Braman’s research on information policy is the history of facts themselves.

“Our social orientation around facts provides the context within which we think about evidence,” she said. “And though we are talking a lot today about A.I. and the problem of deepfakes, the question of the authenticity and validity of digital information in general actually first arose as soon as the internet became available to the general public. We need to solve this problem yesterday.”

Ristovska said she hopes members of the public attend to watch Incident and start thinking about video as a communication tool that is overdue for guidance.

“We’re not going to solve all the challenges around how people see video—we can’t do that with any type of evidence,” she said. “But I hope we can develop research-based guidelines that promote consistency, fairness and equality in the use of video as evidence.”

Video evidence appears in 80 percent of criminal cases, but a lack of consistent guidelines means there’s no standard for how media are presented in court. A workshop led by CMCI faculty may change that.

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A body camera strapped to the chest of a police officer. Video appears in about four of five criminal cases, but no standards governing video exist in the U.S. justice system—and the problem is growing more complex, thanks to generative artificial intelligence.

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The next generation in the newsroom

Hannah Stewart — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 23:07:13 +0000

The next generation in the newsroom Hannah Stewart Tue, 03/25/2025 - 17:07

Networking with industry professionals has been one of the highlights of Roch's time in CMCI, whether it's through student organizations or college events. Photo by Jack Moody (StratComm'24)

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

From his office, Chuck Plunkett can sometimes hear conversations from the conference room next door.

Often, it was a voice he came to recognize—his student, Lincoln Roch.

“I was impressed at his skill at working the phones,” said Plunkett, an associate teaching professor of journalism. “Every now and then, I would wander over and just chat with him about his technique.”

Plunkett has worked in newsrooms nationwide, so knows what he’s talking about when it comes to telephone techniques. But that’s not the only reason he expects Roch to succeed as a journalist.

“I noticed right away that he had a lot of skill as a reporter, and a lot of drive. And you need both of those to be a successful journalist,” he said.

Roch has already found success after transferring into CMCI’s journalism program just last fall. He previously attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, but after two years in their program, craved a change.

Roch estimates he spent at least 10 hours on the ground following McMillan and her opponent, Woog, as they spoke to undecided voters. Photo by Lincoln Roch; originally appeared in The Colorado Sun.

“CU was really the only place I considered transferring to—I grew up in Louisville and wanted to be close to home and friends,” Roch said. “I really love it here. I didn’t realize how many opportunities this school provides that I couldn’t get before.”

He quickly got to work integrating himself into the campus community—joining student media outlets like Sko Buffs Sports and the CU Independent, as well as the club freeskiing team. He also picked up a sports media minor and began internships at multiple publications, including the Daily Camera and Estes Valley Voice.

Roch’s passion for journalism goes back to his days contributing to Monarch High School’s student newspaper. In addition to covering general school news, he also wrote stories about the 2018 government shutdown and journalism’s role in preserving democracy, sparking a passion for political reporting.

His big break into the field came last fall, when he heard about PTA president-turned state representative candidate Jillare McMillan’s campaign for the District 19 seat. This was one of the most closely watched—and tightest—races in the 2024 state elections, and she ultimately lost to the Republican candidate, Dan Woog. But it was an unforgettable experience for Roch, who was looking for a dynamite story for his class with Plunkett.

“I thought, ‘This is just like Kamala Harris and what happened with her.’ But this woman has no campaign infrastructure. This woman is starting with no political experience, no staff, no money, and less time to pull this off,” he said. “So I pursued it, and it just kept getting more interesting.”

Soon, he learned that the new candidate, McMillan, was a Mormon endorsed by Planned Parenthood, and her campaign manager was a ɫ��ֱ�� junior. Her opponent was a Republican interested in renewable energy, who had previously held the District 19 seat but lost it in 2022.

Roch said covering the District 19 race was the hardest he ever worked on a story. Photo by Lincoln Roch; originally appeared in The Colorado Sun.

“It was so fun to write and especially being on the ground, I probably spent 10 hours literally following them while they knocked on doors,” Roch said. “That’s the hardest I’d ever worked on the story because I wanted to tell just how unique of a story it was.”

With a little help from Plunkett, who is also the director of CU News Corps, Roch contacted politics editor Jesse Paul from The Colorado Sun—who worked with Plunkett at The Denver Post—to publish the story. Seeing his story on the front page of what he considered to be the “gold standard of journalism in this state” was an exciting moment for Roch, and one that reinforced that this was the profession he wanted to do for “the rest of my life.”

After receiving an email from student media director Vicky Sama about submissions to the Hearst Feature Writing Competition, Roch submitted his story for consideration and ultimately received an honorable mention for his reporting.

“I see him working with other students and mentoring them, helping them navigate the world of journalism in these really tough times,” said Sama, an associate teaching professor of journalism. “So there’s something to be said about his passion and commitment to the profession. I think that’s admirable.”

This recognition helped, in part, to motivate him to further his involvement with CU journalism. Together with some other students, Roch pushed to reestablish the ɫ��ֱ�� chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

“We all wanted an opportunity to, outside of classes, network with professional journalists and learn from them,” Roch said. “Each week, we’re going to try and bring in someone and have them share their insights, put on some workshops, talk about ethics and teach people how to improve their skills.”

As part of the effort, he connected with the SPJ Colorado president and helped organize the first three meetings.

“Lincoln has meant a lot to the program—he’s very much a significant contributor,” Plunkett said. “It kind of felt like a full-circle thing to now be teaching the next generation of Jesse Pauls and to see Lincoln, a definite contender for a future job in a newsroom like the Sun, making a connection with Jesse.”

Junior journalism student Lincoln Roch is making a splash on and off campus. He’s joined multiple student media organizations, held a handful of reporting internships and recently, received recognition in the Hearst Feature Writing Competition.

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Making a play for Denver

Joe Arney — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 21:49:57 +0000

Making a play for Denver Joe Arney Fri, 02/14/2025 - 14:49

Radio 1190’s return to the AM band after the pandemic was a labor of love, as classes of dedicated students committed to bringing the station back to the halls of ɫ��ֱ��.

In just the last year, the station—formally known as KVCU 1190 AM—captured numerous awards for radio reporting, while growing its news team and listener base.

Now, 1190’s mix of student-curated music and news is getting play in a much bigger market.

On Thursday, the student-run station returned to Denver, where it can be heard at 92.9 FM on translator K225BS.

“If there’s one question we’ve kept answering again and again over the last few years, it’s ‘When are you going to be back on the air in Denver?’ If there’s another, it’s, ‘When are you going to be on the FM?’” said Iris Berkeley (Jour’01), the station’s general manager. “We’re looking forward to making up for lost time.”

The station’s journey since the pandemic forced it into automated programming hasn’t been a straight line. After a year as an online-only station, it returned to AM in February 2023.

Jack Armstrong (StratComm’24), who served as news director before graduating in the winter, said building up the staff involved pitching the station to student volunteers, which he did by visiting classes and asking for opportunities to speak.

More: Tuned to creativity

Now, more than 100 regular student participants contribute to the station, which offers news broadcasts each weekday during the academic year, daily student-curated music programming, and a revamped website featuring news, blogs and podcasts showcasing student-created visuals and music.

Another part of 1190’s success has been philanthropy, especially from the Stewart Family Foundation, which has supported a number of projects at ɫ��ֱ�� and the College of Media, Communication and Information. Unsurprisingly, the foundation—which honors the legacy of Colorado broadcast pioneers Lila and Bill Stewart, who owned and operated Longmont’s KLMO until 1998—has been a key supporter of Radio 1190.

“We wouldn’t be at this point of celebration if it weren’t for the generosity and benevolence of the Stewart Family Foundation … as well as our friends and partners in ɫ��ֱ�� Student Government and the College of Media, Communication and Information,” said Berkeley, who was involved with 1190 as a student. “Thank you for believing in the power of student media.”

The next step for the station’s volunteers, like Juanita Hurtado, a junior majoring in journalism and the current news director, is to ensure students’ contributions help them stand out when they graduate and look for work.

“We want to make sure students develop not only the skills to earn them jobs, but also awards that prove to recruiters the quality of their work,” Hurtado said.

It’s a vision she shares with Armstrong.

“I have a very distinct goal—that when people see Radio 1190 on a resume, it will attract recruiters,” Armstrong said. “We do have some national distinctions already, but I want to get to the point where people get an interview or a callback because Radio 1190 has that recognition.”

The student-run radio station has re-entered the Denver market on the FM band.

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Announcing the fall 2024 dean's list

Regan Widergren — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 14:38:04 +0000

Announcing the fall 2024 dean's list Regan Widergren Sun, 01/12/2025 - 07:38

Lucia Abdelwahed
Kit Achar
Shea Ackman
Lucy Alagna
Kelli Alexander
Ava Alms
Bridgette Anderson
Bryce Andrews
Sofia Anerousis
Vicky Angelova
Josh Archie
Jack Armstrong
Remy Arnold
Grace Atencio
Emily Badeaux
Rebecca Badeaux
John Baggs
Alexia Bailey
Elizabeth Baker
Loren Baker
Owen Balboa
Bella Baldecchi
Maddie Baldwin
Emilie Barbattini
Katie Barcroft
Tomas Barrientos
Ellena Bassoukos
Alyssa Bauer
Katie Baxter
Enya Bayaraa
Taylor Beamer
Lily Becker
Emily Beckwith
Ryan Beebe
Kayla Beebower
Savy Behr
Haya Ben Essa
Carolina Benun
Parker Berkheimer
Adrianna Bhan
Charlie Bickham
Thomas Bischoff
Tommy Bittner
Katie Bixler
Rylee Blake
Kenna Blank
Miranda Bleau
Carley Blim
Riley Blomstrand
Sophia Bobier
Anvitha Bompalli
Jack Bond
Sophia Books
Sarah Boothroyd
Hailie Borges
Jack Boruchov
Grant Bowditch
Sarah Brady
Elizabeth Brechtel
Mateo Brenes
Hannah Brennan
Audrey Brice
Logan Brinker
Erin Brinkman
Ava Brittelli
Katie Brooks
Samantha Brouhard
Addison Brower
Emily Brown
Lili Brownell
Benjamin Browning
Ryan Bruins
Morgan Bruun-Jensen
Rachel Bryant
Tessa Buchanan
Juliana Buck
Ashley Budy
Fatima Bugaighis
Harper Bunn
Ben Burleigh
Griffin Burrows
Brooke Bursteen
Parker Burt
Ella Buss
Noelia Caballero
Sophia Caldwell
Isabelle Calvanese
Carly Cambareri
Mackenzie Campbell
Abby Cannon
Sarah Carleo
Jessie Carlin
Clara Carlsson
Kaitlyn Carpenter
Juliana Carpinelli
Kelley Carr
Mitchell Carswell
Alexa Carter
Madeline Caruso
Madison Cashin
Kathryn Castanoli
Mia Castro
Zachary Chagnon
Izzie Chan
Jack Chandler
Jesus Chavez
Hayden Chedid
Avery Childs
Angelina Christos
Madeeha Chughtai
Megan Chung
Tanner Clark
Avery Clifton
Emme Clymer
Morgan Coffin
Jacqueline Cohen
Blair Coldrick
MacKenzie Cole
Sydney Coleman
Sophia Collins
Sarah Connor
Scott Connor
Breah Conradson
Ainsley Coogan
Georgia Cook
Jennifer Corley
Susie Cormack
Gilberto Corral
Maddy Corzine
Bailey Craig
Grace Crawford
Elizabeth Cropper
Gavin Crowson
Charlotte Croy
Eryn Cryer
Kelajanae Curry
Tess Curry
Evan Curtiss
Lauren Curtiss
Dana Cutti
Liz Cutting
Emma Czohara
Ella Elisabeth D'Orazio
Olivia D'onofrio
Maayane Dadon
Clara Dailey
Ava Dallal
Abikael Daniel
Lacey Daniell
Hannah David
Gabriella Davis
Katherine Davis
Sasha Davison
Weston Deaton
Hunter Dee
Lily Delgado
Ryan Dial
Zach Dial
Ben Dickson
Jacob Dilling
Sydney Dobriner
Campbell Dokken
Connie Dolati
Lexi Dolsak
Eric Donjuan
Emily Doskow
Sydney Dossa
Wylie Douglas
Daniel Doupe

Aspen Doust
Averie Dow
Brady Dowd
Veronika Drab
Baylee Drevno
Noah Drewes
Michael Drozd
Vaughn Duby
Jean Duffy
Hannah Duthie
Mattia Echchaibi
Ansley Edelbrock
Camryn Eickenberg
Jenny Ellis
Ryan Ellis
Libby Emery
Sophie Englezos
Felix Estes
Morgan Evans
Nate Evans
John Ewald
Ellie Exenberger
Reed Ezor
Sophie Faust
Trent Finnegan
Maddie Fisher
Katie Flecca
Aidan Fliszar
William Flockton
Joe Fogler
Hayley Forstot
Ellie Foster
Rhen Fowler
Helena Fox-Mills
Celia Frazier
Cayden Friedman
Isabelle Friedrich
Colette Gagliano
Evanie Gamble
Jacalyn Gamble
Bailee Gammel
Lydia Gammon
Katelyn Gardner
Prestin Garman
Audrey Geer
Carly Gelfand
Hannah Giacomin
Ellie Gianola
Tegan Gie
Peyton Gildersleeve
Lauren Gillespie
Marin Gloor
Max Goldin
Samantha Goldin
Arlie Goldman
Max Gong
William Gooch
Julia Goodman
Max Goodman
Salem Goodman
Keira Gould
Abby Graham
Chloe Graham
Nora Graham
Cj Grandi
Edson Graycar
Erica Griffiths
Leila Gurland
Darien Gyselen
Ella Hack
Marin Hackney
Max Hagen
Paxton Haines
Alisa Haley
Aedan Hall
Alsa Halquist
Norah Hampford
Roxie Hampton
Nate Hankins
Mackenzie Hanlon
Carson Hanna
Justin Hansen
Eden Harari
Greta Harder
J.T. Harland
Maeve Harrington
Myla Harris
Sabrina Harris
Alex Hartman
Kate Hartman
Nick Haseman
Ethan Hatch
Josie Hayes
Keeley Haynes
Madison Hays
Grace Heligman
Stevie Hemans
Sam Hengehold
Will Henrickson
Mel Henry
Carson Henthorn
Anna Herth
Jack Hertzenberg
Carter Hessen
Chloe Hessinger
Kainoa Hiatt
Tyler Hibri
Antonia Hidalgo
Cassidy Hill
Grace Hilliard
Norah Hively
Sophie Hodgson
Hannah Hoffman
Johnny Hoisington
Sam Hokkanen
Mira Hougen
Donavon Houston
Owen Houtakker
Emily Howard
Ava Howe
Hannah Howell
Samantha Hruska
Haley Hubbard Godfrey
Wyatt Humble
Caitlin Humphrey
Daniela Hunt
Reese Illston
Helen Ingle
Greyson Ittig
Max Jacobs
Reed Jacobs
Maren Jacobson
Emma James
Lauren Jeffrey
Alana Jenks
Aaron Jensen
Annika Jobanputra
Mia Jochamowitz-Endersby Chikhani
Andy Johnson
Carter Johnson
Casey Johnson
Liv Johnstad
Teegan Johnstone
Max Julian
Taylor Kahn
Ryan Kalin
Faith Kaplan
Peyton Karp
Bailey Karraker
Peri Kay
Vivian Keegan
Samantha Keenan
Rachel Kennedy
Rowen Kennedy
John Kerklo
Ella Kest
Amy Kibort
Hannah Kijner
Angela Kim
Andrew Kingsepp
Julia Grace Kirk
Skylar Kisiel
Charlotte Kleinert
Miles Klingbeil
Ava Knopping
Will Kopp
Julia Kramer
Riley Krane
Ella Krelovich
Katie Krochalis

Carey Kronhart
Maddie Krozek
Oona Krukowski
Maria Kuhn
Samuel Kurtz
Matt Kushel
Alex LaMotte
David LaPaglia
Amy Labontu
Ruby Laemmel
Mia Lafayette
Raymond Lamlein
Ella Landry
Skyler Landry
Jonas Larson
Simon Lauritzen
Daniel Laverty
London Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence
Camille Leach
Juliette Leclercq
Lou Leclercq
Ava Leonard
Claire Levitt
Maya Levy
Jackson Lewis
Kara Liguori
Kya Lini
Mia Lioudis
Alexander Lipka
Leif Lomo
Skyler B. Longerbone
Lauren Lopez
Deborah Loseke
Linus Loughry
Janie Ludington
Anna Lynch
Zhehuang Ma
Taylor Madden
Mel Malloy
Emelia Mantz
Ella Marrufo
Jillian Martellaro
Stella Martens
Jackson Martin
Daniel Mattie
Maya Matus
Jake May
Alden Mazur
Audrey McClure
Matthew McGovern
Maddy McManus
John McDermott
Joey McDonald-Picolli
Fiona McGinnis
Tanner McIntosh
Sophie McKeown
Oliver McKinney
Jordan McPhee
Emori McQuigg
Sam Meldner
Alex Melvin
Ella Melvin
Gabby Mendoza
Nicholas Merl
Keala Mermel
Jackson Meyer
Julia Meyer
Leah Meyer
Olivia Meyers
Kristee Mikulski
Greta Milan
Clementine Miller
Creed Miller
Ellen Miller
Maggie Miller
Morgan Miller
Skylar Mills
Ally Milton
Samantha Mims
Amanda Mitry
Macy Mohlenkamp
Camryn Montgomery
Jayla Montoya
Jack Mooney
Clare Moore
Madison Moss
Mg Moulton
Lexi Moyers
Trevor Mueller
Brad Munson
Ally Murphy
Clare Murphy
Lia Murphy
Rue Murray
Addie Myers
Jacob Myers
Aahana Nandy
Presley Nemecek
Corey Neumeier
Hailey Newsum
Rebecca Niewood
Maggie O'Brien
Nora O'Connor
Emma O'Donovan
Brinley O'Neill
Gabriella Olson
Sofia Olsson
MariaJoan Olugbode
Karina Opalski
Alexandra Organa
Annika Ort
Max Osterman
Alina Ouligian
Emmett Owenby
Addison Paquin
Harley Parsons
Lauren Paschke
Giovanna Pascucci
Frankie Patton
Maya Paustenbaugh
Cassidy Payne
Madelyn Payne
Alicia Payrits
Sienna Peck
Kai Pelleriti
Caroline Pellerito
Tia Pepper
Quetzal Peterson
Amy Phillips
Rachel Pilik
Gibran Pillai
Valerie Pineda
Timothy Pivero
Macy Place
Jessica Plotkin
Ryan Podber
Katharine Polep-Sawyer
Brady Pollard
Ashley Pomeroy
Elizabeth Pond
Erika Port
Bradley Pratt
Dylann Pratt
Molly Precourt
Anna Prendergast
Addisson Pribble
Trevor Price
Grace Ptak
Jaden Quinn
Noor Rajpal
Mia Ramundo
Reece Randall
Olivia Randazzo
Andrew Rauber
Maya Raulf
Marissa Rauzi
Pauline Rawson
Rachel Ray
Quentin Rebholtz
Alex Redding
Cameron Reed
Molly Reed
Katrina Reghitto
Sebastian Gray Reid
Alexandria Reilly
Skyler Reneberg
Katie Reuter
Ella Revivo
Maddy Reynolds

Conner Richardson
Lauren Riley
Tessa Ring
Emma Ritter
Eliza Roberts
Ryan Robine
Berkley Robins
Aidan Robinson
Caniya Robinson
Justin Robinson
Michael Robinson
Isabel Robison
Kate Rogers
Audrey Rolstad
Avery Romig
Jenna Rose
Maddie Rosen
Alison Rosenbaum
Miki Rosenberg
Eli Rosenthal
Sam Russo
Emme Rutherford
Jay-Henry Ryan
Tanvi Sabharwal
Jessica Sachs
Joaquin Salinas
Luke Samiee
Charlotte Sample
Yahir de Jesus Sanchez Diaz
Anya Sanchez
Kayla Sanchez
Lydia Sarbacker
Tori Sarver
Milan Sasaki
Sophie Savage
Isaiah Saya
Riley Schermerhorn
Francesca Schiavitti
Gavin Schleich
Addie Schneider
Jaimie Schoenke
Tyler Scholl
Teagan Schreiber
Emerson Schroeder
Erin Schwaninger
Jonah Schwartz
Grace Scott
Olivia Scussel
Paige Searl
Mayla Seliskar
Iris Serrano
Max Shaffer
Ruby Shapiro
Julia Sharkowicz
Shubham Sharma
Natalie Sheehan
Jenna Shenbaum
Daniel Sher
Amanda Sherter
Lauren Shindler
Kennedy Shorett
Zoe Showalter-Flowers
Anika Siethoff
Matthew Silver
Olin Silverman
Harrison Simeon
Finley Simon
Leo Singer
Abby Sinno
Ryan Sklover
Emily Sloboda
Marie Slotnick
Chloe Grace Smith
Marlee Smith
Ryan Smith
Jake Snedeker
Lucy Snow
Ava Soares
Matt Solari
Sevi Solari
Sailor Sorensen
Lainey Sparks
Jessie Spires
Emma Stanfill
Lola Stanley
Rylie Stark
Reese Starr
Ashlin Stasswender Swasey
Alexander Stein
Katie Stephens
Zoe Stillman
Braden Stirrett
Ava Stoller
Mary Strasser
Aliza Strear
Elizabeth Suffian
Lucy Suja
Daniel Sullivan
Olivia Sullivan
Livi Sweeterman
Miles Swope
Sadie Symonds
Leah Szabo
Harper Tagg
Miguel Tanner
Sarah Taylor
Cecelia Tecu
Mandi Thoman
Emma Thomas
Emma Thomases
Sage Thompson
Leslie Tingley
Grace Toomey
Zohair Toor
Clio Torrance
Rylie Trager
Katy Tran
Eliza Travelstead
Eduardo Trejo Trinidad
Clara Trezise
Ricky Tuka
Jazzy Tung
Emma Tutaj
Katelyn Tyree
Zoe Usher
Jesse Uzansky
William Vander
Celia Vargas
Sydney Venetsanopoulos
Téa Giselle Villarreal
Holden Vincent
Chloe Walsh
Liam Walsh
Elsa Warlick
Ashley Warren
Luke Watson
Aaron Wechsler
Noelle Weeger
Jr Weeks
Jenna Weil
Sami Weinstein
Holly Weiss
Morgan Weiss
Sophie Wendt
William Wetzel
Regan Widergren
Owen Wiggans
Jackson Williams
Trevor Williams
Jake Williamson
Molly Williamson
Delaney Willing
Sammie Jean Willoughby
Liv Wilson
Emma Winkelbauer
Amanda Winslow
Ty Wurtz
Chloe Yearous
Ashley Yi
Hannah Young
Arwyn Zaleski
Emma Zande
Emma Zawatski
Julia Zentmyer
Elsie Zerega
Mingwei Zhou
Matt Zimmermann
Rachel Zing
Jack Ziporin
Calvin Zuschlag
Vega de la Vega

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Tuning out the news? Journalism experts empathize

Joe Arney — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 18:13:31 +0000

Tuning out the news? Journalism experts empathize Joe Arney Wed, 01/08/2025 - 11:13

By Joe Arney

If you’ve taken a holiday from the news after Election Day, you’re not alone—an Associated Press poll released late last year found about two-thirds of U.S. adults were limiting their consumption of political and government news.

Experts from the ɫ��ֱ�� said the troubling trend is probably driven by a combination of exhaustion and how the media covered the presidential and down-ballot campaigns.

“Even if you feel that, from a civic standpoint, you need to be more engaged, you can’t live your whole life in that hyper-excited space all of the time,” said Elizabeth Skewes, an associate professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information. “I think we need to breathe again. Yes, the next Trump presidency will affect our daily lives—but breathlessly reading every story doesn’t help.”

That wasn’t the tack many Americans took in Donald Trump’s first term. In his campaign and through the early years of his presidency, the “Trump bump” in ratings and circulation gave new life to legacy media outlets. But that faded as his presidency waned, and hasn’t recovered even as he prepares to be inaugurated.

“First of all, we’ve had nine years of this coverage, and it’s never stopped,” Skewes said. “Then, we’ve been through COVID, and we’re exhausted. I think people will eventually re-engage with the news, but I expect it will be at a lower level.”

Reverting to an established pattern

That’s something Skewes, a former staff and freelance reporter, knows quite a bit about: Some of her earliest research looked at how the media covered U.S. presidential campaigns, especially since no one—the public, the candidates, even the reporters—liked it.

Sound familiar?

“For quite a few election cycles, we’ve heard about how journalism should do this better,” she said. “But the media tend to revert to pattern—to covering whatever the outrageous thing of the day is, and the legacy media will never be able to do that as well as things like social media or podcasts, because they have less responsibility to be factually correct.”

To survive, news organizations should focus on building audience, Skewes said, instead of chasing chaos. They can do that not by focusing on being first, but on providing accuracy, context and clarity in an age of confusion.

In other words, not by breaking the news, but by putting it back together.

“We need to keep fact checking, but also cover all the other stuff—those governance stories, where quiet decisions have a huge impact on our lives—instead of just the latest thing Trump said that is too weird to believe, like trying to buy Greenland,” she said. “Instead of letting that grab the headlines, we need serious outlets to look behind the scenes and ask what’s happening while we’re distracted with the latest unbelievable thing Trump says.”

For Mike McDevitt, a professor of journalism at CMCI, everyone has an obligation to follow the news on a regular basis—though, he said, “I sense it’s healthy for people to tune out” a polarizing figure like Trump.

“But a related interpretation to what’s happening is that if people have internalized politics as entertainment, then it’s understandable if they tune out for more appealing types of entertainment,” said McDevitt, a former editorial writer and reporter.

The long game of retraining readers

Getting consumers to understand that, though, is a long game, Skewes said—one that will play out against the deeper-pocketed tech industry and the social media giants.

“We need serious outlets to look behind the scenes and ask what’s happening while we’re distracted with the latest unbelievable thing Trump says.”

Elizabeth Skewes, associate professor, journalism

“I don’t know how we get to the point where most of the public realizes, ‘I’m just getting stuff that is basically Twinkies for the brain, and I need to find more reliable places to get news, because accurate information matters,’” she said. “That’s a long play. We’ve got to retrain people to understand the difference between news and content.”

It’s a long game, but we’ll have to find answers quickly, because the economics of the news business continue to flounder. In 2024, 130 newspapers closed their doors, according to the Local News Initiative from Northwestern University. That’s more than two newspapers disappearing each week.

And when reporters are no longer there to ask probing questions and search for the truth—well, it puts a new spin on a bad news day.

“When people aren’t paying attention to the media, the media aren’t paying attention to the thing—and that’s when you see real changes to federal, state and local policy that dramatically change things,” she said. “Without that accountability, it’s easier to do the wrong thing.”

For all those warning lights, Skewes is hopeful that the longer-term future will be less chaotic and more civil than she expects to see in the next four years.

“I love politics—I covered it, grew up with it—and I’m more hesitant now to even say something offbeat the political world, because I don’t know how other people are going to respond,” she said. “But I think most Americans are tired of everything being so fraught. I really do believe that, eventually, things will calm down.”

The industry needs to play a long game to re-engage readers as political and business model challenges mount.

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Ad blitz: CMCI alumni sweep student awards at Denver One Club

Joe Arney — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 15:58:49 +0000

Ad blitz: CMCI alumni sweep student awards at Denver One Club Joe Arney Mon, 01/06/2025 - 08:58

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

Oliver Pollock is proof that ideas can come from anywhere.

One night, as he was drifting off to sleep, two words popped into his head: “mayo moisturizer.” He grabbed his phone, opened the notes app and wrote it down. The next day, he wrote a pitch centering the idea and presented it to his campaign team.

They loved it. And so did judges at this year’s Denver One Show competition, who awarded the campaign Best of Show and a gold medal at the award show. But “Moisturize Your Meal” wasn’t the only winner—in fact, ɫ��ֱ�� swept the student category, with 12 CMCI students earning recognition.

“It felt amazing,” Pollock (StratComm’24) said. “We stayed up in the studio multiple nights grinding these campaigns out: making videos, scripts and everything as real as possible. Being recognized is so fulfilling.”

An important component of CMCI classes is hands-on project work done on behalf of real-world clients and brands, giving students access to professionals and challenging them to apply their lessons in creatively solving problems. Pollock and the other strategic communication students completed these campaigns for various classes, including a portfolio course where students are tasked with taking briefs from real life clients—such as Kraft Foods, Velveeta, Dove and NotCo—and creating campaigns.

It’s important for students to develop relationships with their peers and professors alike when taking these portfolio classes. That’s why they’re usually taught by professors with agency experience, like Jeff Gillette, an assistant teaching professor who worked in advertising for more than 15 years.

Over the course of the semester, after rounds of ideation, feedback and refinement, students submit their campaigns to the Young Ones Student Awards, a national awards competition run by The One Club for Creativity. Since the college was formed in 2015, nearly 40 student projects have claimed national awards from One Club; this year, four campaigns received merit awards: “The Beauty Inside,” “Dove’s Real Beauty Database,” "Mac Couture" and “Cheese-mation.”

“I was happy for the students because it means they will have something that will help them in their job hunt and career,” Gillette said. “In the future, we want to push students and ourselves to turn these national merits into medals. At the Denver show, I was impressed that we swept the show."

Finding inner beauty

For “The Beauty Inside,” students removed the branding from packaged bars of Dove soap, opting to instead showcase artwork to the inside of the box for buyers to find.

Coco Loomis (StratComm’24), who worked on “Mac Couture” and “The Beauty Inside,” said she enjoyed working on the Dove campaign “because it was completely driven by the art direction. One day, someone said ‘beauty’s on the inside,’ and suggested we take that literally. It was so amazing to take conceptual ideas and put them into play.”

Both "Mac Couture" and “Cheese-mation” leaned on nostalgia to promote Velveeta and its “La Dolce Velveeta” campaign. “Mac Couture” reimagined noodle necklaces made by kids in arts classes and as luxury symbols. Cheese-mation went a step further.

“We were just coming up with as many ideas as possible and thought about how we all grew up with Wallace and Gromit,” said Mateo Perez-Lara (StratComm’24). “While we were working on it, we heard about a clay shortage that threatened the studio, and we saw this shortage as a way for Velveeta to come in as a hero to save clay animation.”

Of those three campaigns, “The Beauty Inside” and Cheese-Mation also won silver awards at the local Denver Awards. Loomis was also part of a gold-winning team, with Pollock, for NotCo. Pollock was also on another Dove team, the “Dove’s Real Beauty Database”.

“It’s cool because now I’m working on Dove in my job with Edelman, in New York,” Pollock said. “In school, I was an art director, and now I’m a copywriter—so it’s a little different, but there are definitely similarities.”

Loomis, an art director at Highdive, in Chicago, echoed this sentiment, saying that opportunities to compete in competitions like One Show through CMCI prepared her and her classmates for the real world.

Like in the professional world, competitions like the One Show are key for students looking to boost their resumes and prove their worth. According to Gillete, agencies and individuals alike compete to gain recognition and attract potential clients.

“Similar to agencies, students competing help CU become known as a school that can educate our students at a high level,” he said. “And if we’re known as a school that wins awards and does really good work, that helps with recruitment.”

As the only participant still in the Denver area, Perez-Lara—who just completed an internship with Fortnight Collective—was the only one of the award winners able to make it to the October awards show.

“It was a lot of fun. Being able to win something as a student and be in the spotlight was magical,” said Perez-Lara, who’s looking to work in major advertising hubs when his internship concludes. “I was fortunate enough to be with really smart, creative people, and it wouldn’t have been possible without a great mentor like Professor Gillette. I love the whole strategic communication community we were able to work with, as well.”

Best in Show: Moisturize Your Meal

Denver One Show: Best of Show
Denver One Show: Gold

Olivia Bransford
Andrew Elliott
Oliver Pollock

Gold: Picture Perfect Partying

Denver One Show: Gold

Charlotte Garrett
Coco Loomis
Oliver Pollock

Silver: Dove Beauty on the Inside

Denver One Show: Silver
The One Club Young Ones: Merit

Alexis Bayani
Charlotte Garrett
Coco Loomis
Dahlia Nin

Silver: Dove Real Beauty Database

Denver One Show: Silver
The One Club Young Ones: Merit

Charlotte Garrett
Kelly Haworth
Oliver Pollock
Dahlia Nin