Pictured above: KU alum Kevin Harlan.

KU alum Kevin Harlan, a sportscaster for CBS, Warner Bros., Discovery and Westwood One, has been named National Sports Media Association’s 2023 National Sportscaster of the Year. Harlan has been recognized three times with the national honor. He previously won in 2017 and 2019. Other Jayhawks honored by the NSMA were Brian Hanni, voice of the Jayhawks, as Kansas Sportscaster of the Year; and Guerin Emig of Sellout Crowd as Oklahoma Sportswriter of the Year.

The Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame display is located in Stauffer-Flint Hall. Photo courtesy of Steve Rottinghaus. 

Kansas Media Hall of Fame displays updated: The Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame and Kansas Broadcasters Hall of Fame displays have been updated with the Class of 2023 honorees in the Kansas Media Hall of Fame on the west end of the first floor of Stauffer-Flint Hall. The new Newspaper Hall of Fame class includes the following KU graduates: Lacy C. Haynes Professor of Journalism Patricia Weems Gaston, Bonita Gooch, Steve Haynes, Colleen McCain Nelson, Marjorie McLaughlin, Susanne Shaw, Vickie Walton-James and Katherine Klinkenberg White. William Allen Foundation trustees Sarah Kessinger and Susan Lynn, and Jeannie Eblen, a longtime supporter of student journalism and namesake of a scholarship given to KU journalism students, were also inducted into the newspaper hall.

Scholarship opportunity available: Kappa Tau Alpha, the only college honor society in journalism and mass communication, is awarding a $1,000 scholarship to students! You only need to submit a 500-word essay and a letter of recommendation. Deadline to apply is February 1, 2024. Apply today. 

Save the date for Donuts with the Dean: Stop by the Stauffer-Flint Hall lobby on Tuesday, Feb. 20 from 9-10:30 a.m. for donuts and a chat with Dean Brill, who will talk to students about the Career Fair Prep Workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 21 in the Clarkson Gallery and the Career Fair on Thursday, Feb. 29 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Long-term laptop check out option: The Journalism Resource Center has a new laptop check out option. Students with financial need or other extenuating circumstances may apply to check out a J-School laptop and power cord for up to one semester at a time. Eligibility requirements, terms of use and the application can be found here. For information about all equipment check out options, please visit https://journalism.ku.edu/journalism-resource-center.

Career and Internship Expo: The 2024 Career and Internship Expo for all University of Kansas students will be 1-4 p.m., Feb. 7, at the Kansas Union. The event helps students who are seeking internship experiences and employment after graduation. Over 140 organizations representing a broad range of business and industry, education, government and non-profits will be speaking with students from all majors. You can see which companies are attending here.

Sara Maloney, the Poynter fellow for The Eudora Times, is featured in this story of how student journalists are filling gaps in communities with dwindling news coverage. 

A study by Associate Professor Teri Finneman, Assistant Professor Vaibhav Diwanji, Assistant Professor Melissa Greene-Blye and recent graduate Chloe Martens analyzed newspaper advertising strategies from the Great Depression to see what one historic crisis can teach communicators about reaching people today. Their work was published in the Journalism History Journal. Read more in KU Today.

The Experimental Research Group will meet on Wednesday, January 24 at 3:00 p.m. This is a planning meeting for the spring 2024 semester. Undergraduate and graduate students and faculty interested in experimental research on media effects are invited to participate. The meeting is hosted by the Center for Excellence in Health Communication to Underserved Populations (CEHCUP), 2001 Dole Center for Human Development.

Associate Professor Mugur Geana's article "A Friendly Conversation. Developing an eHealth Intervention to Increase COVID-19 Testing and Vaccination Literacy Among Women with Criminal and Legal System Involvement" has been published by the Journal of Health Communication. The paper details the evidence-based development and pilot testing of a tailored eHealth application. The research was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (PIs Ramaswamy and Geana).

One of Professor Yvonnes Chen's community engaged projects, Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE), is featured in KU Today on Jan. 10. This piece showcased the critical role community-centered infrastructure played in responding to extreme heat last August. On-the-ground individuals in 19 communities mobilized to deliver water to vulnerable community members, including unhoused individuals and public transit employees. This infrastructure continues to help coalitions and participating organizations to identify and respond to unique needs in their communities. 

An online version of an article led by Assistant Professor Jeff Conlin was recently published in Health Communication. The study experimentally tested the effects of narrative conversion messages to increase attitudes and reduce resistance toward COVID-19 vaccination among a participant sample that was unvaccinated for COVID-19. Results showed that conversion messages led to significantly higher attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccination but failed to directly reduce resistance. However, further analysis revealed significant indirect effects of conversion message that reduced resistance to vaccination through homophily (perceived similarity to the author), and argument strength (believability and convincingness of the message) depending on whether participants were high or low in vaccine hesitancy. The study was supported by KU’s New Faculty Research Development Award. 

Associate Professor Teri Finneman will be on three panels at AEJMC related to news desert solutions, the future of academic publishing, and podcasts as public scholarship.

Internships and student jobs

Job opportunities

Student lab assistants will be available to help students with projects, provide classroom support and answer any questions in both Dole and Stauffer-Flint. Here are their hours: 

Stauffer-Flint
Sunday 1-5 p.m. (enter through doors closest to Wescoe)
Monday 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
Tuesday 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
Wednesday 8 a.m.-12 p.m., 1-8 p.m.
Thursday 8 a.m.-8 p.m.
Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Dole
Monday 11 a.m.-2:45 p.m., 4:15-8 p.m.
Tuesday 12-7 p.m.
Wednesday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Thursday 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

For updates on hours, tutorials, information and other content, be sure to follow our Instagram and TikTok @jschooltech 

Want to learn more about Illustrator? JST has some great new tutorial releases at https://jschooltech.org/category/illustrator/. 

Meet our labbies, see our hours and find tutorials geared to your specific needs all at https://jschooltech.org/. 

Need to get help from Heather (or just hang out and learn fun things with her), either take a peak at the Menu board on the JBar (hours updated weekly on Monday) OR make an appointment at https://calendly.com/halawrenz-1.

Alumni job updates

Calendar

William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications
journalism.ku.edu

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