News

How do you navigate being the only journalist of color covering a game? How do you fight prejudice that a woman can’t write about sports? How do you build a network of other minority journalists to help you get ahead?
The Sports Journalism Institute program answers those questions and more during a nine-week training and internship program for female and minority college students interested in sports journalism careers — and this spring two UNC Hussman students will be attending.
Jeremiah Holloway ’22 and PJ Morales ’23 will attend the program designed to enhance racial and gender diversity in sports departments nationwide in May.

Trevy McDonald, UNC Hussman’s Scheer Term Associate Professor and director of diversity, equity and inclusion, teaches “MEJO 342: The Black Press and United States History,” which examines the foundations of Black media from the 19th century through the civil rights movement. “We look at U.S. history through the lens of the Black press. I contextualize what we’re studying with looking at what was going on in the country with regard to economic, technological and political forces at that time,” said McDonald, who has taught the class since 2013.

by Barbara Wiedemann
UNC Hussman graduates Alex Walkowski ’16 and Kelsey Weekman ’16 met at Carolina, fell in love in New York City, married in 2017 and just started new jobs as senior marketing manager at Albert and internet culture reporter at BuzzFeed News respectively. We caught up with them for Valentine’s Day 2022.

by Barbara Wiedemann
“MEJO 625: UNC Media Hub” was developed at UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media as an opportunity for students to work collaboratively and across platforms. Top students from various concentrations — generally seniors and graduate students only — work in teams of five all semester long to find, produce and market integrated multimedia stories with state, regional and even national appeal. 

y Barbara Wiedemann with Steve McGarry, AIA, Project Manager
Our new 13,000-square-foot Curtis Media Center (CMC), a three-story brick and glass beacon stretching 45 feet into the sky, will open in 2022. With double-pane, insulated exterior glass wrapping all of the fully daylit programmed spaces, the sparkling center is the first new building in the academic heart of campus since nearby Murray and Venable Halls in the Science Complex were dedicated in 2010. A cantilevered profile is both eye-catching and problem-solving. The Center widens from 2,717 square feet on the first floor to 3,600 on the second and third. The architecture maximizes space around an available (circa 1925) Phillips Annex “footprint” constrained by the complexities of elaborate underground water, storm, sewer, steam and chilled water utilities.

by Barbara Wiedemann
The National Humanities Center headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, welcomed 17 undergraduates to its inaugural National Humanities Leadership Council in January 2022, including UNC Hussman School of Media and Journalism junior Kevin Gomez-Gonzalez ’23. Participants were nominated by faculty from colleges and universities across the country. They’ll receive professional development and mentoring from leading scholars and other humanities professionals in a series of opportunities scheduled throughout the spring 2022 semester.

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.

Ava Pukatch ’22 didn’t even know she liked audio journalism until she joined Carolina Connection, UNC Hussman’s student-produced radio show and podcast platform. Then, she realized she loved it. She enjoyed the immediacy of the audio format and its smooth fit into Generation Z’s iPhone-always-in-hand habits. “Audio’s so accessible, and you can tell really good stories,” said Pukatch. “You can get really creative and tell stories in interesting ways.” Pukatch is one of about 25 students telling stories at Carolina Connection this semester, where they produce stories weekly that populate the Carolina Connection website, air every Saturday on local station 97.9 The Hill WCHL, and then get expanded on Carolina Connection’s podcast platform.

Autistic people don’t need to be fixed, they need to be included — that was the theme threading through 2014 graduate Eric Garcia’s Jan. 19, 2022, talk at UNC. “Essentially this book is part memoir, part reporting, part manifesto,” Garcia told Emily Jones, a librarian at the Health Sciences Library, during the webinar hosted by UNC’s University Libraries as part of the “Well Read” series, which brings Carolina-connected authors to campus.

Generation Z. South Asian immigrants. Spider-Man. UNC Hussman students discuss these topics and more in the podcast “Can You Hear Us Now: Inclusivity in the Media,” a project produced in the “MEJO 441: Diversity and Communication” course.