A student shows off a plate of desserts at the Cake Picnic on Nov. 19. | Photo by Evan Riggs.

Students, faculty and staff gathered in the Stauffer-Flint Hall lobby last week for a cake picnic. Faculty and staff brought a variety of desserts for attendees to sample and then vote on for best-tasting and best-looking dessert.

Best Tasting: Heath Bar cake by Assistant Professor Megan Denneny.

Best Looking: Pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting by Assistant Professor Elizabeth Cox.

View more photos, videos and recipes here. 

Attention December graduates! As you prepare to complete your degree requirements, the JMC-School is interested in learning about any internships and/or relevant part-time jobs you have held as a KU undergraduate student. This information is useful to us in many ways. It informs us on the depth and breadth of opportunities you have pursued, helps us identify awareness or service gaps, and provides perspective on the necessary skills and competencies you use to complete your work. Please consider taking a few minutes to complete this reporting form.

Ellen Kuwana is pictured wearing an "edit" shirt with JMC 553 students. | Photo courtesy of Lisa McLendon. 

Science writer and editor – and KU graduate in biology – Ellen Kuwana visited Lecturer Gerri Berendzen’s JMC 419 and Professor of the Practice Lisa McLendon’s JMC 553 classes last week to talk about her editing career. She also discussed various writing-related AI tools and their potential uses and caveats. 

Students in JMC 640 (Campaigns in Digital Marketing Communications, Advertising and Public Relations) will present to their assigned companies before the end of the semester. Lecturer Lisa Lowen’s class will present to the authors of The Simple Road Toward Financial Freedom on Thursday, Dec. 4, from 6-8 p.m. in Stauffer-Flint 303. Assistant Professor of the Practice Alex Treaster’s class will present to the Cosmosphere on Wednesday, Dec. 10. The exact time and location are TBD.

Students are pictured in Scotland last summer. | Photo courtesy of Cal Butcher. 

Interested in studying abroad in Scotland? The first informational meeting for the Study Abroad in Scotland program will be on Monday, Dec. 1, at 5 p.m. in the Clarkson Gallery.

JMC School hosting professional development sessions: Professional activities are important resume builders as well as great introductions to what media professionals do. The School of Journalism and Mass Communications will be offering a special initiative during Spring 2026 semester for up to 20 freshman and sophomores. Participants will be selected to attend professional development sessions and supervised professional activities related to their majors in the School. Watch your email for more information on this and how to apply. Students who complete the courses and activities will receive a cash award.   

Advertising competition deadline is Jan. 7: JMC students are welcome to enter the American Advertising Federation advertising awards competition. The deadline to submit entries is Jan. 7, 2026. More information is available here.

Professor Teri Finneman is featured in East Wing Magazine for her co-edited book about first ladies and her recent appearance on the American FLOTUS podcast. 

Assistant Professor Margarita Orozco and Assistant Professor Steve Bien-Aimé co-authored a new study in Sport in Society. The project was a comparative media analysis of the kidnapping of Luis Manuel Díaz, father of Colombian soccer player Luis ‘Lucho’ Díaz. Drawing on thematic analysis of 156 news articles from Colombia’s El Espectador and the UK’s The Guardian, the paper examines how the incident was framed in relation to Colombia’s peace process, political trust, and the symbolic role of sport. The findings reveal that both newspapers portrayed Díaz as a unifying national figure whose suffering became emblematic of Colombia’s broader struggle with violence and reconciliation. Read the paper.

Assistant Professor Sarah Cavanah co-authored a study that was featured by the Center for Scholastic Journalism, housed at Kent State, which also funded the study. Read more.

Professor Teri Finneman and JMC student Essy Siegel appeared last Friday on KLWN radio to discuss why local news matters. Finneman discussed the same topic recently for the Kansas City Oasis group.

Assistant Professor Steve Bien-Aimé co-authored a chapter, “Digital Media Technologies in Sports Media: Issues in Media Production, Representation and Consumption,” in the new Routledge Handbook of Digital Technologies in Sport, Exercise and Physical Education.

Professor Teri Finneman received a grant from the North Dakota Newspaper Association to continue her oral histories of North Dakota journalists.

JMC alum Payton Enzbrenner, event coordinator at Outlyr, was a recent guest on Cheers to Careers. 

Internship and student jobs

Job opportunities

Plan ahead to get your work done with the JBar! These will be the only times JBar associates will be available to assist you. 

Drop-in Times for the end of the semester:
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1-4 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1-4 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 8, 1-4 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 10, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 11, 1-4 p.m.

300 infographic drop-in times:
Monday, Dec. 1, 1-4 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 4, 1-4 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 1-4 p.m.

NFL legend and Kansas native Barry Sanders attended last week’s Kansas Press Association Kansas Newspaper Hall of Fame induction ceremony to witness the induction of a friend and JMC School alumnus, Mark McCormick. McCormick is a New York Times best-selling author and former reporter, editor, and columnist for his hometown Wichita Eagle.

Erin McDaniel, director of communications for the City of Newton, was selected as the 2025 Kansas Communicator of the Year by the Kansas Association of Public Information Officers.

Alumni Job Updates

Barry Sanders (left) and Mark McCormick (right) are pictured at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. 

Scott Reinardy
Interim Dean

Mugur Geana
Interim Associate Dean
Research & Faculty Development

Lisa McLendon
Interim Associate Dean
Student Success

Murrel Wesley Bland died Nov. 17 at age 84. Read his obituary here. 

Calendar

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

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