News

Valarie Anne Lauder, 95, of Chapel Hill, died from cancer Tuesday, June 15, at UNC Hospice in Pittsboro. Val, as she was called, worked as a journalist and writer throughout more than 75 years of professional life. She began at the Chicago Daily News during World War II and retired in 2011 at the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC, where she taught feature writing for more than 30 years.

The nation’s most prestigious student journalism awards competition has once again recognized the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media’s overall preeminence in the field. The Hearst Journalism Awards announced that UNC Hussman won its 2021 national championship, taking home $25,000 for the school’s first-place finish in the intercollegiate overall competition.

Four UNC Hussman journalists are competing as finalists in the Hearst Journalism Awards individual collegiate national championship finals in the fields of photojournalism, audio and multimedia. UNC Hussman has the most finalists among the 29 journalism students representing 20 universities from across the country. Nash Consing ’21 and Hope Davison ’22 are representing the school in the multimedia finals. Angelica Edwards ’22 is competing in the photojournalism finals and Charlotte Ix ’21 is in the audio finals.

Two UNC Hussman professors have received big University honors. Associate Professor Tori Ekstrand has been named the Caroline H. and Thomas S. Royster Distinguished Professor for Graduate Education, and  James H. Shumaker Term Professor Rhonda Gibson has been awarded a prestigious UNC research and study leave for spring 2022.

Twelve graduate students, six faculty members and various alumni will represent the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media May 27- 31, 2021, at the 71st Annual International Communication Association Conference, held in a virtual format. These scholars will participate in panel sessions and present authored or co-authored papers.
UNC Hussman faculty and student activities at ICA include:

by Barbara Wiedemann
UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media recognized six student standouts with awards and scholarships for their outstanding accomplishments this academic year. Valentina Arismendi ’21, Ashley Fox ’17, ’21 (M.A./J.D.), Giulia Heyward ’21 (M.A.), Natalie Rinehard ’21 and Jacob Rohde ’21 (Ph.D.) were five of approximately 390 UNC Hussman students among the nearly 6,300 Tar Heels to graduate this spring. A sixth, Elizabeth Baier ’20 (M.A.), graduated in December 2020, and took part in Carolina’s spring commencement ceremony.

Seven seniors graduated with honors or highest honors this spring from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media — Valentina Arismendi ’21, Molly Brice ’21, Megan Dennehy ’21, Miranda DiPaolo ’21, Anne Claire Foreman ’21, Alice (Sejin) Lim ’21 and Jake Schmitz ’21.

The Bloomberg Journalism Diversity Program will host its largest group of students in the program's history, with 50 students in the 2021 cohort. After having been put on hold in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's program, in partnership with UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, includes 30 participants in the United States. The UK program is in partnership with the Department of Journalism at City, University of London and includes 20 students.

“Barriers,” an interactive media project produced by UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media students recently earned top honors at the Horizon Interactive Awards.
The international competition recognizes the world’s best websites, videos, online advertising, print media and mobile applications.
“Barriers,” produced by students in Professor Pat Davison’s spring 2020 “MEJO 584: International Projects” class, documents citizens of the Central American country of Belize confronting climate change, pollution and development as they work to preserve their culture and natural environment, which includes the world’s second-largest barrier reef.

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media recognized outstanding faculty and staff contributions to the school this year with awards presented Friday, May 7, 2021, in a virtual school-wide meeting. Award nominations are sought and reviewed by a committee of former winners of each award, and the committees forward their recommendations to the dean. The awards have grown in recent years from two longstanding teaching awards to now four faculty awards recognizing innovation, teaching, service and commitment to students — and two staff excellence awards. Eight faculty and staff members were recognized this year, and all received a monetary award along with the honor.