News

Professor Emerita Ruth Christina Walden, of Ashburn, Virginia, passed away on April 6, 2022, surrounded by her husband and children. Ruth is survived by her husband of 50 years, Dennis Walden, and their two children, Matthew Walden, of Kensington, Maryland, and Rebecca Murphy, of Ashburn, as well as her four grandchildren: Joshua Murphy, Monica Walden, Jack Murphy and Victor Walden. Ruth also leaves behind a sister, Barbara Toll, of Greendale, Wisconsin, as well as extended family and friends who were very dear to her.

The journey Alex M. Sanchez’s family has taken to get to the United States has been anything but a direct path. Her grandmother was first forced to leave Europe for Central America during World War II, fleeing persecution for being Jewish. The Nicaraguan Revolution forced the other side of her family to later immigrate farther north to Mexico, and they ultimately crossed into the United States for better opportunities. As a journalist and a graduate student at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, Sanchez is using her developing video skills to share her family’s story in a documentary that she hopes will further the discussion of how the stories of immigrants and refugees are told. The project is one of three that received the Student Arts Innovation Grant, an annual Arts Everywhere award of $1,000 for select undergraduate and graduate students or $3,000 for a group. Other recipients of this year’s award are a group of students from the global studies department who are launching a digital publication and Daniel Dilliplane, who is creating an interactive and multisensory experience called “Sensing Bodies in Common.”

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and Chancellor Kevin M. Guskiewicz officially dedicated Carolina’s newest building — the Curtis Media Center — on Thursday evening. Located adjacent to Carroll Hall at the campus gateway facing Cameron Avenue, the nearly 13,000-square-foot, three-story building features a high-tech broadcast studio, a podcast studio, a makerspace and four state-of-the-art classrooms. The Curtis Media Center will host classes this summer.

by Barbara Wiedemann
Q&A with photographer and Morehead-Cain scholar Ira Wilder ’24, who attended the Carolina men’s basketball team’s iconic NCAA Final Four win over Duke on Saturday, April 2, and heartbreaking “just miss” loss in the national championship game against the Kansas Jayhawks on Monday, April 4, both at the Superdome.

Bradley Hamm ’96 (Ph.D.) led a panel discussion at the 2022 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium about legendary UNC Hussman scholar Donald L. Shaw ’59, ’60 (M.A.) and his unique and extraordinary approach to mentoring for a lifetime. Shaw, who died last year, is well-known for his work on seminal agenda-setting research. Lesser known were his efforts mentoring graduate students and young professors. Joining Hamm were Shaw’s former students Erin Coyle ’10 (Ph.D.), Sherine El-Toukhy ’12 (Ph.D.), Milad Minooie ’18 (Ph.D.) and David Weaver ’74 (Ph.D.).

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.

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media brings its powerful alumni network to bear each year with the HSAA Mentorship Program, pairing Hussman students with alumni mentors working in their fields of interest.

We are pleased to share that Raul Reis, dean and professor of the School of Communication at Emerson College, has been appointed dean of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, effective July 1. 

Ph.D. candidate Michele Meyer works with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media as senior director of research and methodologies. Founded in 2004 by Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis, the Institute works collaboratively within the entertainment industry to create gender balance, foster inclusion and reduce negative stereotyping in family entertainment media.

Picture 19th- and 20th-century kids who sold newspapers on the streets in American cities — referred to in slang as newsies. Now, picture one as female. That may not come naturally, but according to doctoral student Autumn Linford’s research, female newsies were not so uncommon, though obscured like many of the contributions women have made to journalism history. Linford, who has taught at Hussman as an adjunct professor, started her career as a local news reporter in her native Wyoming, at a regional newspaper where she covered everything from sports to local government. A desire to better understand journalism’s impact on society drew her to academia. Society’s impact on journalism, such as a devaluation of women’s professional contributions to the craft, became a focus of her academic work.