UNC Hussman’s Class of 2025 outstanding graduates 

Editor’s note: This story has been revised to correct the school’s erroneous announcement of the 2025 recipient of the John Robert Bittner Award for Outstanding Graduating Senior in Journalism. 

Aisha Baiocchi is the 2025 John Robert Bittner Award for Outstanding Graduating Senior in Journalism. 

Shelby Swanson, who was originally announced as the Bittner Award recipient, is the 2025 winner of the school’s prestigious Furman Bisher Medal. Swanson served as sports editor at The Daily Tar Heel, participated in the Sports Journalism Institute and co-founded the UNC student chapter of the Association for Women in Sports Media. She also earned first place in the 2023-24 Hearst Feature Writing Competition. Following graduation, Swanson will intern with The Minnesota Star Tribune on the sports desk. 

—

UNC Hussman faculty and staff have named five outstanding Class of 2025 graduates representing different areas of the school. This year’s recipients are Aisha Baiocchi for journalism; Lauren Langley for advertising and public relations; Paul LeBlanc for the master’s program in digital communication; Chelsea Durante for the residential master’s program; and LaRisa Anderson-Horne for the school’s doctoral program.

 “The Class of 2025 is an incredibly talented and accomplished collection of students spanning the disciplines and degree programs at UNC Hussman,” said Raul Reis, dean of the school. “To be selected by our faculty and staff as an outstanding graduate among such an impressive group is a high honor and testament to the excellence of these individuals.” 

Learn more about the outstanding graduates below. 

Aisha Baiocchi
 

Aisha Baiocchi was named this year’s John Robert Bittner Outstanding Graduating Senior in Journalism. 

Baiocchi joined UNC Hussman in her sophomore year, inspired by her work at The Daily Tar Heel and a deep commitment to community and service. “I learned how impactful of a vehicle journalism could be for both,” she said. That commitment shaped her time at Carolina, where she explored the power of journalism as a tool for accountability and connection. 

Over four years at The Daily Tar Heel, Baiocchi held multiple roles including writing for the University Desk, covering protests and labor and culminating in her leadership reviving the DTH’s Special Projects Desk as editor. She said being able to do dedicated community-oriented investigative journalism meant the world to her. 

Baiocchi credits her growth to experiences like Associate Professor Ryan Thornburg’s data journalism class, which sharpened her investigative skills, and her honors thesis work advised by Assistant Professor Erin Siegal McIntyre.  

“The program has equipped me with the tools, skill sets and connections I need to continue to pursue journalism as a form of community service and care,” she said. “It also introduced me to so many possibilities of reporting and storytelling I did not know were possible.” 

Baiocchi also cited her participation in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Student Project in 2023 as a meaningful experience in her journey. 

“A lot of my work at The Daily Tar Heel, the work for which I think I earned this award, has been very critical or skeptical of the University. To win this award, to me, proves that my criticality and investigative impulse is really understood as a labor of love, as something that is difficult, but needed,” said Baiocchi. “Good investigative journalism is driven by an investment in community. It is an honor for that work and that commitment to be recognized.” 

Baiocchi will join The Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, D.C., as a reporting fellow next year. 

Lauren Langley 

Lauren Langley was named this year’s Lois and H.C. Cranford Outstanding Graduating Senior in Advertising and Public Relations. 

 When Langley filled out her UNC Hussman application, she remembers reflecting on why she wanted to study advertising and public relations. Since then, her experiences with UNC Hussman professors and the other relationships she built sparked excitement, creativity and inspiration to learn as much as she could. 

Langley served as a teaching assistant for UNC Hussman and for the Kenan-Flagler Business School. She worked for the Kenan-Flagler global programs team and has traveled to Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Spain and South Africa during her time at Carolina.  

She held many positions including vice president of communication and vice president of community service for Carolina Women in Business; representing UNC Hussman as a senator in the Undergraduate Student Senate; and serving as commissioner to the Provosts’ Advisory Committee, which consisted of the student body vice president and approximately five other students who advised the Provost on issues facing the student body. 

Following graduation, Langley will use funds from the school’s John Sweeney Experience Award to intern with The rAVe Agency in Orlando, Florida, and work the InfoComm technology trade show. In the fall, she will begin working with EY as a consultant for financial services organizations.  

“Being recognized twice by UNC Hussman as the John Sweeney Experience Award winner and the Lois and H.C. Cranford Outstanding Graduating Senior in Advertising and PR Award winner has been an incredible honor,” said Langley. “Through my time at UNC Hussman, I’ve seen just how many talented students fill these halls. To be recognized as a standout student by my professors is an incredible vote of confidence as I prepare to step out and enter the professional world. I want to say thank you, not only for these recognitions, but for your belief in me and constant support over the past four years.” 

Paul LeBlanc 

Paul LeBlanc was named this year’s Outstanding M.A. in Digital Communication Graduate. 

LeBlanc was drawn to the program the second he learned about it. Through this program, he was able to receive a UNC Hussman education without leaving his job or his community. 

LeBlanc said one his greatest achievements while at UNC Hussman was his thesis, which focused on a rural news desert. 

“I was able to bring my undergraduate professor, Dr. Richard Landesberg, a UNC alum himself, onto my thesis committee, which made the experience even more meaningful,” said LeBlanc. “His guidance, combined with the mentorship of my UNC advisers, helped me explore how communities navigate the collapse of traditional local journalism.” 

The MADC is designed for working professionals to continue their education, and LeBlanc will continue to work as a communications specialist for Amazon after earning his master’s degree. He is excited to carry the lessons he learned at UNC Hussman into his professional field. 

“There were so many instances throughout this program that reaffirmed I was in the right place,” said LeBlanc. “It’s rare to find a community that’s both intellectually challenging and personally supportive, but that’s exactly what I found here. I will miss it a lot.” 

Chelsea Durante 

Chelsea Durante was named this year’s Outstanding M.A. in Media and Communication Graduate. 

Durante entered the program in a less conventional way than others. She is an active-duty Army Major and public affairs officer, and she accepted a spot in Advanced Civil Schooling that allows officers to attend graduate school while remaining on active duty. Being part of a dual-military couple, Durante moved to Chapel Hill with their 15-month-old daughter while her husband stayed in Washington as an active-duty Army Major in the field of military intelligence. 

While at UNC, Durante volunteered with the UNC ROTC and developed her thesis, with a focus on what responsible AI integration could look like in military communication. 

Durante has accepted her next assignment in Washington, D.C., and she will be assigned to the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and Staff (OCJCS), Public Affairs. She will attend a required professional military education course at Fort Belvoir before beginning work with the OCJCS public affairs team at the Pentagon. She is excited to have her family back together after so much time apart. 

“Being about 10 years older than most of the other students from my cohort, I spent the last two years in awe of their determination and skills compared to the academic performance I was demonstrating at their age,” said Durante. “Over the last 14 years I’ve spent in the Army, I have an endless list of leaders and experiences that developed my work ethic and professional skills along the way, so I feel like I am not alone in this accomplishment.” 

LaRisa Anderson-Horne 

LaRisa Anderson-Horne was named this year’s Outstanding Ph.D. in Media and Communication Graduate. 

Anderson-Horne was inspired to pursue her Ph.D. because of how her family pushed her to imagine possibilities beyond what she could readily see.  

Anderson-Horne earned many awards during her time at UNC Hussman including the Southern Futures Emerging Scholar Award in 2021, the William Francis Clingman Ethics Award in 2022 and the Margaret Blanchard Dissertation Support Award in 2024. She also won the First Place Student Paper Award for her master’s thesis from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. 

After graduation, Anderson-Horne will join the University of Utah as an assistant professor in the Department of Communication. She will also be a 2025 affiliate cohort member of the Discovery, Inquiry, Speculation and Optimism network. 

“I would like to thank all those who thought well enough of me to nominate me for this award,” said Anderson-Horne. “I was truly in shock! My cohort is mighty in their own ways, and I am so excited for all of us. Also thank you to Dr. [Rachel] Mersey for making this award possible through her generosity.”