News

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumni took home 29 awards in the recent National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) 2021 Best of Photojournalism awards. Jason Arthurs ’03, Andrea Bruce ’95, Claire Hannah Collins ’17, Andrea Patino Contreras ’16 (M.A.), Lauren Frohne ’10 (M.A.), Nancy Donaldson Gauss ’05, Alex Kormann ’19, Laura Morton ’06, Whitney Shefte ’07, Anna Clare Spelman (M.A.) ’17, Ray Whitehouse (M.A.) ’16 and Margaret Cheatham Williams ’11 all took home awards for their work.

The NC Media & Journalism Hall of Fame announces the induction of five game-changing industry leaders at its annual gala event on Friday, April 9, 2021, at 6 p.m. The gala will be held virtually via an online platform for the first time in its history, featuring musical performances by Mandolin Orange and Steep Canyon Rangers. Both celebrated bands have strong ties to North Carolina. Rebecca Darwin, Peter Gammons, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Torod Neptune and Judy Woodruff will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of the remarkable influence they have had in their respective fields of media and journalism.

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media Foundation welcomes its five newest board members — Eliza Hussman Gaines ’12 (M.A.), John Hood ’88, Bill Keyes ’75, ’18 (Ph.D.), Rochelle Riley ’81 and Dwight Scott ’85.

UNC Hussman is partnering with Lisa, her family, friends and colleagues to establish the program for health communication at UNC Hussman. We seek to establish an endowed professorship and an undergraduate health communication certificate program that provides funding for students and real-world learning experiences.

As Women’s History Month drew to a close, the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media reached out to three trailblazing women who have made their mark on the school — one as UNC’s first Black woman undergraduate and two as pioneering women faculty members, among the first at the school. We asked about their experiences at UNC Hussman, the women who motivated them and issues they saw still affecting women in academia and journalism. The stories of Karen Parker ’65, Jane Brown and Jan Yopp ’70 are individual, but in their reflections are threads of perseverance, female mentorship and a commitment to education woven into the stories of so many women who have left their mark on UNC Hussman.

People turned to local media for COVID-19 information. People worried about others’ health as much as their own. People wondered what settings didn’t require a mask. Those are just some of the insights that UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media researchers found that directly influenced how North Carolina’s governmental agencies disseminated pandemic information to the public. UNC Hussman Dean Susan King explored the research and its reach during the school’s virtual discussion “What Have We Learned About Audience Engagement in the Age of COVID?” on March 25, 2021, with W. Horace Carter Distinguished Professor Francesca Dillman Carpentier,  E. Reese Felts Jr. Distinguished Associate Professor Allison Lazard and Roy H. Park Fellow and Ph.D. student Rhyan Vereen.

A vibrant and collaborative interdisciplinary research culture at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media creates new knowledge, advances scholarship and helps reinvent media.

by Barbara Wiedemann
Amari Pollard, Roy H. Park Fellow master’s candidate at UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, knows lacrosse. She knows content creation in today’s media landscape. And she knows what it’s like to be a Black woman moving through majority white spaces. With ESPN’s new halftime spot on the ACC Network and ESPNU’s “Sound On with Tari and Amari,” Pollard is bringing those worlds together alongside Tari Kandemiri, another Black woman with knowledge and passion for the game of lacrosse. Together, the co-hosts are bringing a unique chemistry, humor and frankness — and a new point of view — to the sport through ESPN’s national coverage.

by Barbara Wiedemann
UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media alumnus Stacy Wall ’89, one of the industry’s most highly respected commercial directors and a generous supporter of the school via the Emma Lineberger Scholarship Endowment Fund, visited remotely with Professor John Sweeney’s sports marketing class earlier this semester from his Los Angeles office. We followed up with the awards-laden Adidas, Nike, Jordan Brand and ESPN creative hitmaker on a frank phone call with student Keyshawn Garrett ’22 about what it takes to navigate Carolina well and how to stay at the top of the directing game for over 32 years. 

UNC Hussman Roy H. Park Fellow Giulia Heyward ’21 (M.A.) will serve as a 2021–22 New York Times Fellow, joining a group of 33 fellows chosen from more than 3,000 applicants worldwide.Heyward will work as a reporter on The Times’ National desk during the yearlong fellowship. The fellows — The Times’ third fellowship class — represent 17 U.S. states, as well as Puerto Rico, Britain and Vietnam and will serve in a variety of beats and capacities across The Times’ New York, San Francisco, Washington and London newsrooms.