Participants in the KU Native Storytelling Workshop visited the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum, a highlight of the weeklong workshop. | Photo submitted by Melissa Greene-Blye 

The William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications hosted the fifth annual KU Native Storytelling Workshop July 6-10 at Stauffer-Flint Hall, bringing in students from as far away as Alaska and as Lawrence to learn podcasting, writing, photography, multimedia, and social media content development from Indigenous media professionals. For the first time, all workshop instructors were recruited through the Indigenous Journalists Association. Sunnie Clachischiligi, IJA board president, was also in town for the workshop. Assistant Professor Melissa Greene-Blye is the creator and director of the KU Native Storytelling Workshop. She is an IJA Board Member and chair of the IJA Education Committee. Professor of the Practice Rebekka Schlichting co-directed the workshop.

Graduate Progarm Coordinator Jammie A. Johnson has been appointed to the Kansas City Kansas Community College Board of Trustees. | Photo submitted by Jammie Johnson

Graduarte Program Coordinator Jammie A. Johnson was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the Kansas City Kansas Community College Board of Trustees and was officially sworn in during the board's June 16 meeting.

JMC student Chris Lawing and 2026 JMC grad Jack Duarte filmed the Bales Choral Society spring concert performance of Mozart's “Requiem.” The university faculty and staff choir includes Bremner Editing Center Coordinator/Lecturer Gerri Berendzen and Senior Recruitment Coordinator/Impact Advisor Himee Kamatuka. The choir is open to any university faculty and staff.

Program Director/Senior Digital Media Trainer Heather Lawrenz has been selected by Adobe to be a leader of the Adobe Higher Education Faculty Community. She was one of 25 people selected for the role which will represent and support faculty around the world. Later this month, she and 14 other members of this group will  attend a summit in San Jose, California. The leadership role will allow her to build global connections with faculty peers across institutions and disciplines. It opens possibilities to partner with Adobe on campus events that will drive creativity and create real world impact in classrooms.

The JMC School welcomes the second cohort of Harding Fellows: Five new Fellows started “journalism boot camp” on July 13. The Fellows are U.S. Army officers training to take over editorship of various Army branch journals in a year’s time, and they will spend a year on campus earning master’s degrees.

The annual Academic Welcome is set for 12:30-2:30 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 23 at Stauffer-Flint Hall. Your attendance is encouraged to welcome new JMC students. 

J-School students have produced World Cup coverage for NPR affiliate KCUR as part of Lacy C. Haynes Professor of Journalism and Professor of Practice Patricia Gaston's sports journalism capstone class. Two students, Emma Noble and Naomi Sui Pang, were recently interviewed for the "Up to Date" program regarding Lawrence's embrace of the Algerian national team (starting at 4:50).

First-year doctoral student Hailong Peng received the First Place Moeller Student Paper Award from the Mass Communication & Society Division at the 2026 AEJMC Annual Conference for his study, “Thinking Deeply to Act Green: Examining Cognitive Elaboration and Environmental Risk Perception as Mediators of ChatGPT Use Intentions among University Students.”

Assistant Professors Sarah Cavanah and Tamar Wilner, along with Ashley Muddiman from Communication Studies, ran two sessions at the Thrive 2026 Conference at Liberty (Mo.) High School. The Thrive Conference is a summer enrichment program for high school students in the Liberty School District. The team did additional testing of the Making News experiential learning game, part of a effort to create media literacy modules that simultaneously raise students’ skills in detecting false news information without raising levels of cynicism about the news industry.

Distinguished Professor Hyunjin Seo’s research paper, “University-community partnerships for advancing digital inclusion among justice-involved women in the U.S.,” has been accepted for publication in journal Social Inclusion. This study examines how a university-community partnership co-designed and sustained an evidence-based digital skills program that promotes digital literacy and supports successful re-entry for formerly and currently incarcerated women.

• Caden Baird is a multimedia journalist at WIBW in Topeka, Kansas

• Ashley Brown Cook, CEO of Alpha Charlie Marketing, is the executive director at Wichita AeroClub. She recently received a Wichita Business Journal’s Women in Business Award.

• Jenni Carlson, sports columnist at The Oklahoman, was named Oklahoma sportswriter of the year by the National Sports Media Association.

• McKenzi Davis is communications strategist at Burns & McDonnell.

• Spencer Duncan is the mayor of Topeka, Kansas.

• Brendan Dzwierzynski is director of broadcasting for Washburn University athletics.

• Dayton Hammes is the associate director of student-athlete brand development and social media at Notre Dame.

• Amie Just, columnist for the Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star, was the runner-up in the third annual Billie Jean King Award for Excellence in Women’s Sports Coverage.

• Catherine Ke is an account executive at Epsilon, supporting the Nissan team.

• Jonathan Kealing is executive director of Investigative Reports & Editors.

• Jacob Kirsch is digital content manager at Jewish United Fund.

• Abigail Moore is junior paid media buyer at Native Digital in Kansas City.

• Tejinder Singh Sodhi, senior editor at Network18 Media & Investments Limited in India, was recently featured in the Singapore edition of International Business Times, highlighting his journalism career since graduating from the University of Kansas in 2013. Network18 Media & Investments Limited is India's largest media network, where he oversee editorial operations and news coverage across multiple regions.

• Ricky Smith is a content specialist for KU Alumni.

• Ellen Terhune is a regional support trainer, South Texas at Novo Nordisk.

• Laney Turner is a project manager at MMGY Global.

• Haley Wiaz, head of media innovation at Scale Marketing, recently received a Chicago Interactive Marketing Association Rising Star Award.

Jobs

Internships and student jobs

Scott Reinardy
Interim Dean

Mugur Geana
Interim Associate Dean
Research & Faculty Development

Lisa McLendon
Interim Associate Dean
Student Success

Former journalism professor Rick Musser

• July 19: Dean Judith Rosenbaum-Andre’s first day

• Aug. 21: JMC faculty and staff retreat, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

• Aug. 23: Academic Welcome, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

• Oct. 8: Career Fair, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Next Monday Memo

• August 24

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

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