Alumni News
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Advertising News
Lacey Gilbert (MS ’11, advertising), vice president and strategy director of Leo Burnett advertising services in Chicago, has been named to Business Insider’s 2023 Rising Stars of Madison Avenue.
Gilbert, who joined Leo Burnett in 2020, has led award-winning campaigns like Beam Suntory’s “Bourbon… Read More
Journalism News
Erika Hayasaki (BS ’01, journalism), a writer and associate professor of literary journalism at the University of California in Irvine, won a silver Nautilus Book Award in Journalism and Investigative Reporting for her 2022 nonfiction novel Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity and the… Read More
Journalism News
Author Catherine Adel West (BS '02, MS '04, journalism), whose most recent novel, The Two Lives of Sara, was selected as the Arlington Heights Memorial Library’s 10th annual One Book, One Village community read, will share the story behind her book at “An Evening with Catherine Adel West” at Forest… Read More
Journalism News
Updated October 11:
“Unsettled: An African American Reflection on The Potawatomi Trail of Death,” an interactive performance co-presented by Nicole Anderson Cobb (MS ’16, journalism) in April 2023 at Allerton Park, was featured in The Christian Science Monitor.
The article, “Indigenous People’s… Read More
Advertising News
Shawn P. Fojtik (BS ’85, advertising), CEO of Control Medical Technology and Distal Access, has more than 150 pending and issued medical device patents with over 1 million patients safely treated in cardiovascular, women's health, cardiac electrophysiology, surgery, interventional oncology, and… Read More
Advertising News
Ronald E. Taylor (MS ’71, advertising; PhD ’83, communications, ICR), devoted scholar, teacher, and mentor, passed away at his home in Tennessee on September 11.
After receiving his PhD from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Taylor joined the… Read More
Journalism News
Jill Wine-Banks (BS ’64, journalism), MSNBC legal analyst, author, podcast co-host, and former prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, was one of five female lawyers to receive the 2023 Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award this summer.
The American Bar Association Commission on… Read More
Journalism News
Tim Schwab (MS '06, journalism), an investigative journalist based in Washington D.C., has written The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire, which will be published in November by Henry Holt (Macmillan).
Schwab's book investigates Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation… Read More
Advertising News
Georgia Schreiner (BS ’10, advertising) won the Media Planner of the Year at Ad Age’s Small Agency Awards.
Just one person was chosen for the media planner award, which recognizes candidates who have demonstrated a flair for bringing innovation to media planning, leveraged the vast media offerings… Read More
College News
Dave Kissel (BS ’85, journalism), global business lead at DDB, announced the worldwide advertising company was recognized as Network of the Year at the 2023 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is held annually in Cannes, France… Read More
Advertising News
Dani Jackson-Smith (BS '06, advertising), founder of the Cre8tors, a creative management agency rooted in culture and social impact, participated in a panel discussion, “REAL TALK: Pushing Creativity Outside Your Lane,” at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity held on June 23 in… Read More
Advertising News
College of Media alum Kevin Finke (BS ’92, advertising) was the keynote speaker on May 7 at the Senior 100 Honorary ceremony, which recognizes graduating seniors who exhibit academic success as well as a commitment to campus involvement and community service.
Media students who received the Senior… Read More
Journalism News
Tina E. Akouris (BS '94, journalism), a digital content editor at the Chicago Tribune, won the prestigious Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club for Best Sports Reporting in the large/online print newsroom category. Akouris won the award for coverage of the 50th anniversary of Title IX… Read More
Journalism News
The Illini Media Company will honor 10 inductees into the Illini Media Hall of Fame Class of 2023 during a ceremony on Saturday, April 29, in Chicago. Five of the inductees are journalism alumni from the College of Media. Illini Media, which oversees The Daily Illini student newspaper, WPGU 107.1… Read More
Journalism News
After a 24-year career at the Charlotte Observer, journalism alum Rogelio Aranda has become assistant news editor with the American Heart Association. He will continue to be based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In his new editorial role, Aranda will help to raise awareness around heart disease and… Read More
Journalism News
Update March 7, 2023:
Anderson Cobb facilitates workshop on her play about insurrection
Nicole Anderson Cobb (MS '16, journalism) recently facilitated a community workshop about her play Homegrown: An Insurrection Play, following a free screening at the First Mennonite Church of Champaign-Urbana… Read More
Journalism News
Award-winning alumna Demetria Kalodimos (MS ’83, journalism) has released a nine-part true crime podcast about a 1975 cold case murder.
Carol’s Last Christmas examines the murder of Carol Rofstad at Illinois State University in 1975. The podcast, which was produced by Kalodimos’ company, Genuine… Read More
College News
Kevin Finke (BS '92, advertising) received a University of Illinois Alumni Association Comeback Award, given to prominent and accomplished alumni who are invited to participate in various activities during Homecoming Weekend, with a focus on providing opportunities for honorees to interact with… Read More
ICR News
Institute of Communications Research alumnus Klaus Krippendorff (PhD '67), one of the most prominent researchers and scholars in the field of communications, passed away in early October at the age of 90. Krippendorff was an emeritus professor of communication who had taught at the University of… Read More
Journalism News
Melissa Wagner (BS '18, journalism), a public relations senior at Zebra Technologies, was recently recognized as a "Rising Star" in PRNEWS' Top Women Awards program.
Some of her accomplishments at Zebra include launching the company's first-ever Global Week of Service during the pandemic, which… Read More