JMC students in The Agency placed first in the National Student Advertising Competition and will compete in the 2026 finals later this month in Austin, Texas.

The Agency’s 2026 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team placed first in the NSAC District 9 competition in April in Kansas City. The district also gave the team a special Best Presentation award.  

As winners of District 9, the team advanced to the semifinals a week later, competing with 15 national district winners for a chance to become one of eight teams advancing to the NSAC finals in May. Members of the KU team were Beth Kamman, Ali Lopez, Brynna Burnett, Olivia Dondzila, Savannah Perea, Miles Lindley, Elise Heidrick, Quinn Mozena, Cole Dickey, Jackson Engle and Sally Green.   

On May 1, the team learned that it is one of the eight semifinalist teams selected to compete in the 2026 NSAC finals to be held during the American Advertising Federation’s ADAMERICA 2026 conference May 28-31 in Austin, Texas.  

This year’s 2026 NSAC client was the NFL. There were 103 nationwide college and university teams in the competition.   

The Agency is a student experiential learning organization at the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications.  The Agency is dedicated to developing and empowering visionary brands through a commitment to powerful ideas and storytelling.

A team from BarkleyOKRP recently presented to 50 students and faculty as part of the "We Are DMC" event.

The DMC Concentration hosted its second "We Are DMC" event of the year on April 22.  An elite team from the Kansas City marketing communications agency BarkleyOKRP in Kansas City presented to more than 50 students and faculty. The team brought some of its top account leaders and executive creative director to present a case study on a national account they recently landed.  They discussed their approach to a competitive pitch presentation and their process to research the brand and target audiences, etc. They also showed some of the creative elements that allowed them to win the account.

The Resource Center is working to determine its last day for equipment checkout. To make sure the center is supporting academic needs, it would like to gather information from faculty who may have projects or assignments requiring equipment during that time. If you have any finals week projects that will require students to check out equipment, please let Kerry Navinskey know. This information will help us set a checkout deadline that still allows students to complete their work without disruption.

Celebrate the hard work of our graduating seniors in Assistant Professor Megan Denneny’s capstone class during their final campaigns presentation for Yelp on May 11. Drop by the Clarkson Gallery between 1:30-4 p.m. to see the culmination of their 16-week strategic and creative journey.

Assistant Professor Steve Bien-Aime and Professor of Practice Pat Gaston will be co-directing an interdisciplinary one-year sports media seminar on Identity Construction within Sports and Media through the Hall Center.

Congratulations to Rim Chaif, who successfully defended her dissertation on April 27. Chaif's dissertation examined how gender shapes online health communication in infertility contexts through computational analysis of Reddit discourse across seven infertility communities. With two complementary studies, Chaif employed a multi-method computational pipeline integrating BERTopic modeling, GoEmotions classification, GPT-4 automated coding with Iterative Bidirectional Validation, a framework proposed in her dissertation, and supervised machine learning to analyze gendered patterns of framing, emotional expression, information-seeking, community engagement, and social support provision. The following faculty members served on Chaif's committee: Yunwen Wang, Hong Vu, Steve Bien-Aime, Glenn Adams and Yvonnes Chen, chair.

Professor of the Practice and Interim Chair of the DMC concentration Matt Tidwell presented his research "Priming the Pump: Does proving simulation information before a classroom simulation provide a better learning experience?" at the 2026 annual conference of the Marketing Educators Association on April 18 in San Diego, California.

Assistant Professor Yunwen Wang was recently invited to serve as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Games. A recognized expert in social and mobile health technology, and computational social science, Wang will manage submissions focusing on human-computer interaction, user experience and games for health. As the world’s largest technical professional organization, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Wang’s new role for the journal reinforces IEEE’s integration of social science perspectives into technology studies. 

• JMC alum Mark Mears recently released his second book, “LOVE@WORK: Creating Communities of Purpose and Belonging for Revolutionary Growth in New World of Work?”
• JMC alum Vanessa Phouthavong is associate media manager, paid search at VML.
• JMC alum Brooke Rubin is an HR coordinator at Mylo.

The Resource Center student team will be hosting “Paws and Relax” as a pre-finals event on Thursday, May 7. It will be outside on the front lawn with dogs from the Lawrence Humane Society who are a part of the Mass Street Mutts program. These dogs are all available for fostering or adoption — and of course pets and play time. Snacks, drinks, sidewalk chalk, and yard games will be part of the event, as well as easy access to foster applications and the humane societies item wish list for anyone who would like to donate or take a pup out of the shelter for the summer. Donations will be accepted for the shelter. Most needed items include the following: dog and cat food any brand and size, soft dog treats, peanut butter, cat and dog toys, and blankets and towels.

Jobs

Internships and student jobs

Cheers to Careers podcast: Tim Dwyer, (above), director of content strategy and optimization for direct to consumer at ESPN, was a recent Cheers to Careers guest. 

Cheers to Careers with Tim Dwyer

J-TECH
Drop in times Spring 2026

These are your guaranteed time to get help from the JBar Associates:

JMC 300 / Infographics
Tuesday, May 5 1-4 (Final)
Thursday, May 7 1-4 (Final)
Monday, May 11 9-12 (Final)
Tuesday, May 12 11-2 (Final)

Portfolios - any class

Monday, May 4 1-4
Wednesday, May 6 2-4
Monday, May 11 2-4
Tuesday, May 12 9-11
Wednesday, May 13 1-4
Thursday, May 14 Portfolio 9-12
Friday, May 15 Portfolio 9-12

JBar closed stop day (Friday, May 8)

There is still time to get your portfolio entered! The JMC School is launching a Student Portfolio site to highlight exceptional undergraduate work. This is an opportunity to showcase your work to employers and community partners, increase your professional visibility, and publicly document your growth and experience. Submit your portfolio here for the showcase - the deadline is May 15. 

Scott Reinardy
Interim Dean

Mugur Geana
Interim Associate Dean
Research & Faculty Development

Lisa McLendon
Interim Associate Dean
Student Success

Calendar

• May 6: Donuts with the Dean, 9-10 a.m., Stauffer-Flint lobby
• May 8: Faculty and staff meeting, lunch and awards, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Clarkson Gallery
• May 16:JMC School Recognition Ceremony, 8:30 a.m., Lied Center
• May 17: KU Commencement, 10:30 a.m., David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium

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

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university’s programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and procedures and is the Title IX Coordinator for all KU and KUMC campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY. Reports can be submitted by contacting the Title IX Coordinator as provided herein or online and complaints can be submitted with the Title IX Coordinator or online.

© The University of Kansas. 2025.