PRSSA students pose for a photo during their PR Crawl last Friday. | Photo courtesy of Eryn Templeton.

KU PRSSA students visited multiple public relations organizations last Friday as part of the club’s PR Crawl. The students stopped by Lockton, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and Trozzolo Communications Group, giving them an up-close look at corporate, agency and nonprofit public relations.

KU Study Abroad is hosting a Global Internships Virtual Info Session Series running from Nov. 17-21. Registration is required for the virtual sessions. Study Abroad offers Summer Global Internships in 40+ locations around the world. Scan the QR code or follow this link to register. 

Emergency fund application: Current JMC students experiencing a financial emergency can apply for one-time grants up to $500. The funding does not have to be repaid. Information about what qualifies as an emergency and the application can be found here. 

KU has additional resources through the Emergency Aid Network. If you are experiencing an unexpected financial hardship or crisis, aid may be available. Emergency aid can take the form of food pantries, housing assistance, grants, loans, services, or other student resources. Students can review the emergency grant application guidelines here. If you have questions or need guidance, you can contact the network at emergencyaid@ku.edu.    

Have you enrolled in Spring classes yet? All current students have now reached their enrollment appointment window and have had the opportunity to enroll, barring any enrollment holds. JMC advisors are available for appointments in person or online. Schedule your appointment through JayhawkGPS. Drop-in advising is also available Monday-Friday from 12:30-4 p.m. in 117 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Enroll in your classes now! 

Ron Lugo, an Iowa Tribe member, is pictured. | Photo by Rebekka Schlichting. 

Assistant Professor of the Practice Rebekka Schlichting released the YouTube series “Baxoje Basics” this past month. Her episode “In Honor of Pete Fee” captured the last interview with a revered elder of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, who passed away on Nov. 3. Over the summer, Schlichting interviewed and filmed many members of her tribe—the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. New episodes are released weekly. Read the full press release here.

Sports Commentator and JMC alumnus Nate Bukaty visited with JMC 330 (Sports Media in the 21st Century) students last week. Bukaty shared audio of his interview with Wilt Chamberlain as part of KJHK and detailed the importance of research before an interview and of never burning a bridge. He also discussed the importance of attitude and effort to navigate the professional world successfully.

Nate Bukaty speaks to JMC 330 last Thursday. | Photo by Evan Riggs.

Professor of the Practice Stephen Wolgast's study finds that the Marion County Record raid created 'shared press distress' among fellow journalists. To learn more about what the raid meant to other journalists, Wolgast and Nick Mathews of the University of Missouri conducted in-depth interviews with 19 working Kansas journalists. Read the full news release. 

Assistant Professor Jeff Conlin, Assistant Professor Vaibhav Diwanji, Professor Patricia Gaston and Professor Hyunjin Seo were speakers at the Science Communication Workshop at the Kansas Union on Nov. 14. The workshop brought together KU faculty, researchers, and communication professionals to share strategies, expand networks, and develop collaborative approaches for communicating science and research more effectively.

Stephen Wolgast.

Assistant Professor Melissa Greene-Blye recently attended the Indigenous Journalist Association board strategic planning meeting, where she was named co-chair of the association's education committee. She will support the association's ongoing education programming and initiatives while working to expand future educational opportunities for students and early-career journalists.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Megan Denney and to Professor Yvonnes Chen for their individual Rapid Response Awards. Their proposals address current and important topics with significant social impact: The Tylenol-Autism controversy for Denney, and AI Chatbots and information accuracy for Chen. A $3,000 Faculty Seed Grant was awarded to a proposal submitted by Chen and Assistant Professors Judy Watts and Yunwen Wang. This proof-of-concept study "advances the didactic-based menopause education by situating FHH and the patient-provider communication in a narrative that balances the benefit and risk profile of MHT for perimenopausal women." The pilot data will provide support for proposals targeting external funding opportunities available in 2026 and 2027. 

Associate Professor Alyssa Appelman shared research findings with professional copy editors through ACES: The Society for Editing.

Master's student Hana Khan will give her thesis defense on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 9 a.m. Khan’s presentation topic is “Prompting for Progress: Exploring Prompt Engineering Across Education, Journalism, and Computer Science." The meeting information is available here.

Students are welcome to attend the Public Relations Student Society of America fall summit on Friday, Nov. 21, at Mid-America Regional Council, 600 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, Mo. The event is 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and will feature presentations and one-on-one coaching sessions featuring industry leaders from across the KC area. Cost is $20 for students, $25 for others, including PRSSA members. Registration is open to the first 25 people. Register here. 

KU Study Abroad and Global Engagement, in partnership with the KU School of Business, will be hosting a Study Abroad Alumni Reception on Thursday, Nov. 20, from 4-6 p.m. The event will feature food, prizes and a special guest speaker to celebrate study abroad alumni. The event is open to all KU students, faculty, and staff, though students will get priority for food and door prizes.

Internship and student jobs

Job opportunities

JMC alum Jonathan Kealing, chief network officer at Institute for Nonprofit News, was a recent podcast on Cheers to Careers. Watch the full episode.

Missed Friday's in-person Fresh from Max workshop? No worries, join us on Tuesday for our virtual session. Please reserve your spot. 

We will be looking at: 

Premiere (Beta) - Object masking: You can use this to put text behind an object within a video. You can also use it to create special lighting features within sections of a video. 

InDesign - Flex layout, InCopy editing: Flex Layout moves content around using media intelligence without you having to resize. You can use it to change a design from vertical to horizontal automatically. InCopy is a way to share a page so collaborators can edit copy but not design. Amazing for copy editors!

Photoshop - Generative Upscale: Helps improve the quality of smaller/low-resolution images. Great for archival images!

Illustrator (Beta) - Turntable: Generates 3D creations from 2D art. 

Two JMC alums were inducted into the Kansas Press Association Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame and two into the KPA Kansas Photojournalism Hall of Fame on Thursday at the Sunflower Nonprofit Center in Topeka. Mark McCormick, a New York Times best-selling author and former reporter, editor and columnist for his hometown Wichita Eagle, was added to the newspaper hall, and Elon Torrence, a longtime Associated Press newsman, was inducted posthumously. J.B. Forbes, who worked in Topeka and Parsons, Kansas, before joining the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a long career, was inducted into the photojournalism hall. Perry Riddle, a former photographer at the Topeka Capital-Journal, was inducted posthumously.

Mark McCormick is inducted into the Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame. | Photo by Steve Rottinghaus.

Emily Johnson (j’22) has been named the Investigative Reporter of the Year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas. Read more. 

Alumni Job Updates

Scott Reinardy
Interim Dean

Mugur Geana
Interim Associate Dean
Research & Faculty Development

Lisa McLendon
Interim Associate Dean
Student Success

Calendar

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

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