Lester Holt. | Photo courtesy of NBC. 

Lester Holt, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and anchor of “Dateline NBC,” has been selected to receive the 2025 William Allen White National Citation. The award, which recognizes individuals for outstanding journalistic service, comes from a vote of the trustees of the William Allen White Foundation, which is named in honor of White.

Holt will accept the award in person on Thursday, April 10, in the Kansas Memorial Union to celebrate William Allen White Day. He will give an address at 3 p.m. in the Kansas Union Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public, but space may be limited.

In 2024, Holt was named the “most trusted television news personality in America” by the Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll after topping the previous list.

University Daily Kansan hiring newsletter editor: The University Daily Kansan has refreshed its semi-weekly newsletter, “Catching Up with the Kansan,” and is now accepting applications for the Newsletter Editor position. 

This role consists of curating an informative column that highlights the Kansan’s daily content every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. We encourage passionate storytellers to create a mock-up newsletter via Google Doc to submit by Feb. 7th at 4 p.m. All submissions should be sent to this form. Subscribe to “Catching Up with the Kansan” to get an idea of what our refreshed newsletter looks and sounds like.

Online master’s degree students in Professor of the Practice Angie Hendershot’s Marketing Research course met with communications and marketing leaders at the Professional Volleyball Federation on Tuesday. The students will conduct research to address the marketing challenges and opportunities of this growing women’s sports league with teams across the country.

Apply for the Kappa Tau Alpha Scholarship: The deadline to apply is Feb. 1. Send a letter of reference and a 500-word essay to kappataualpha@missouri.edu. The essay should discuss how the Kappa Tau Alpha scholarship will benefit you, including relevant aspects of financial need or status as a first-generation college student. Include details about your career goals in journalism and mass communication and explain how they fit with KTA’s focus on Knowledge, Truth and Accuracy. More details are available here. 

Feb. 15 deadline for Kansas Association of Broadcasters student awards: The Kansas Association of Broadcasters is accepting entries for the 2025 Student Broadcast Excellence Awards through Feb. 15. Enter here. 

Student photo highlights: View the best photos from Eric Thomas’ JMC 410 class so far this semester here.

Drop-in advising is available Monday through Friday from 12:30-4 p.m. in 117 Stauffer-Flint all semester. Stop by to get your questions answered.

KSPA seeking judges for Regional contests: Volunteer support enables KSPA to provide robust opportunities for journalism education in Kansas. Apply here. The contest schedule is as follows:

Associate Professor Carol Holstead judged the Illustrated Story category for the National Magazine Awards for the American Society of Magazine Editors. Also known as the Ellies, the awards are the most prestigious given to American magazines, and are adjudicated by magazine editors, creative directors and educators who are invited by the contest administrators. The judging took place at Columbia University in New York on Jan. 16. Holstead has judged the Ellies for a decade. 

Ph.D. student Rim H. Chaif and Assistant Professor Christopher E. Etheridge co-authored the research paper, “Misogyny was in the atmosphere: Feminist Perspectives on Social Media Use in the 2019 Algerian Pro-Democratic Demonstrations," which has been accepted for publication in Social Media + Society.

Associate Professor Carol Holstead

Two manuscripts co-authored by KU alum Dr. Muhammad Ittefaq, currently an assistant professor at James Madison University, Associate Professor Hong Vu, and other researchers from various institutions, have recently been accepted for publication in Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics and Health Communication. The first study, “Analysis of Public Opinion Polls About COVID-19 Vaccines: Theoretical and Policy Implications for Vaccine Communication and Campaigns to Address Vaccine Hesitancy,” aims to understand the relationships between information use and public perceptions of COVID-19 vaccination.

The second manuscript, “Framing a Global Pandemic: Journalism Cultures and Media Coverage of COVID-19 in China, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States,” examines how news media in these four countries covered COVID-19, highlighting the role of journalism cultures in shaping the ways journalists interpreted the global pandemic. Both studies were conducted as part of the Science/Environmental Communication Research Group.

Pizza and Politics in the Union: Join Lecturer Eric Thomas and Misty Heggeness, associate professor in the KU School of Public Affairs and Administration, for Pizza and Politics on Feb. 7 from 12-1 p.m. in Jayhawk Ink in the Kansas Union. All KU students are invited to learn about the evolving role of the wealthy in politics.

Internship and student jobs

Job opportunities

Future Creatives is kicking off again for the spring. Join us to create, learn and inspire each other. Enjoy interactive and hands on learning - get real demos from Heather and use practical projects to learn tools and equipment in a hands-on way. You will be able to immediately apply what you learn! Complete this form to join. 

The JBar in the Clarkson Gallery is open to help students on all their projects. We are currently moving hours around, but will be available this week:

Don't forget to also visit the JSchoolTech team at the Virtual JBar OR check out our tutorials. 

Alumni Job Updates

Ruth M. Benien died Jan. 6 at age 67. Read her obituary.

Calendar

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

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