Year in Review

For the second consecutive year, journalism majors Chloe Franklin ’24 and Naomi Washington ’24 attended the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Convention & Career Fair, a multi-day event featuring panel discussions, workshops and lectures where journalists discussed current trends in the news media, as well as the importance of the Black press. Assistant Professor of Strategic Communications Karen Lindsey accompanied the students to Birmingham, Alabama.

Tony Weaver, associate dean of the School of Communications and professor of sport management, was named a Faculty Administrative Fellow by President Connie Ledoux Book tasked with providing strategic leadership and support for the academic and curricular development of Elon’s National Campus locations.

Associate Professor of Cinema and Television Arts Vic Costello completed the third edition of “Multimedia Foundations: Core Concepts for Digital Design,” a comprehensive textbook that highlights the skills necessary to be an effective modern storyteller. Published by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, the publication features chapters from Professor of Strategic Communications Qian Xu and Senior Lecturer in Journalism Kelly Furnas.

Following an all-star caliber season with the Burlington Sock Puppets, sport management major Kenny Mallory Jr. ’25 was named Appalachian League’s Humanitarian of the Year for his contributions in the community. During the summer, Mallory conducted a SURE research project with Assistant Professor of Sport Management Khirey Walker, examining athlete-coach mentorship and relationship expectations in a Burlington youth baseball league.

Several Elon Comm faculty members attended the 106th annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference held in August in Washington, D.C. During the conference, faculty contributed to conversations and programming examining corporate social advocacy, education, freelancing and gig economy, social issues, and technology. Pictured (from left) are faculty members Israel Balderas, Karen Lindsey, Vanessa Bravo, Amanda Sturgill, Hal Vincent and Shannon Zenner.

As part of her on-campus Distinguished Scholar Award Lecture, Professor of Strategic Communications Vanessa Bravo discussed the strategic communication processes governments in countries such as Mexico, El Salvador and Costa Rica – Bravo’s native country – try to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with their diaspora communities.

Associate Professor of Journalism Amanda Sturgill launched her “Unspun” podcast, which   examined media literacy and the methods newsmakers use to be deceptive. Since the podcast’s mid-September start, Sturgill has published 30-plus episodes, addressing topics such as “Why journalists do a bad job moderating debates” and “How do search engines work?”

Cara Lucia, associate professor and chair of the Department of Sport Management, received a $5,000 grant from NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation for her research project, “Exhibiting Allyship for RecHers.” As part of her research, Lucia set out to interview approximately 30 male-identifying professionals working in campus recreation to understand the gaps of how men and women perceive allyship in the workplace.

Daniel Haygood, professor of strategic communications, and Lorraine Ahearn, assistant professor of journalism, presented at the annual American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA) conference held in Columbus, Ohio. Haygood discussed two topics related to his research in media history, while Ahearn shared her research on mainstream white newspapers seeking to soften northern memory of slavery a generation after the Civil War.

Journalism major Madison Powers ’24 presented findings from her reporting assignment covering the migration crisis on the United States-Mexico border as part of a journalism panel in October at the Pulitzer Center’s national meeting in Washington, D.C. Powers, who traveled to the border on a fellowship grant from the international journalism foundation, profiled families with children who were fleeing violence in their home countries and became stranded at the Texas border amid the worsening migration crisis.

A quartet of communication design majors, accompanied by Assistant Professor of Communication Design Shannon Zenner, attended the 2023 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Design Conference in mid-October in New York City. Jessi Jennings ’24, Garett Hozza ’24, Ryan Margaret Lee ’24 and Clay Burns ’25 attended workshops, presentations and keynote speeches fostering education, professional development and insights into the field of graphic design.

Liam Dupas ’26, Aaron Chan ’26 and Julien Dupas ’26 received a 2023 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Award of Excellence for their micro documentary, “The Inspirational Story of Finn Curran-Ng’asi.” The project explores the Elon student’s journey from gaming, vaping, smoking and generally unhealthy habits to transforming his life through calisthenics and weight training. The award was presented in October at the BEA On-Location conference.

Led by Associate Professor of Sport Management Young Do Kim, a team of sport management majors continued Elon’s success in the Sport Marketing Association Conference’s Case Study Bowl, advancing to the 2023 event’s final round. Samantha Fisher ’25, William Haynes ’24, Cierra Hopson ’25 and Nicholas Ullian ’24 competed against teams representing 22 universities and earned the university’s fourth finals appearance since 2018.

Hosted in partnership with NC AUVSI, the university’s third annual Elon Drone Day attracted approximately 175 attendees, vendors and industry professionals interested in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and the expanding drone industry. “I am excited that it has turned into a way to connect drone pilots, enthusiasts, industry professionals, as well as students, with what is happening in the industry,” said Senior Lecturer Randy Piland, who organizes Drone Day. “This year’s event was our biggest turnout ever, and we continue to see increased interest.”

The fourth installation of the Women Influencers in Sport (WINS) Forum was held Nov. 10 and featured an insightful panel discussion centered on the theme of “A PowHERful Era: Leading with Boldness.” Participants included Sherí Barros of the American Cancer Society, Elizabeth Motta of World Wrestling Entertainment, and Jennifer Strawley of Elon University. Assistant Professor Karen Lindsey moderated the hourlong conversation.

Assistant Professor of Journalism Alex Luchsinger traveled to the Bay Area in November to chronicle the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, producing content for Asharq News, a multiplatform Arabic news service that partners with Bloomberg Media. The international event drew 21 world leaders from the Pacific Rim and attracted nearly 30,000 attendees.

Members of The Sport Experience cohort, a sport management immersive semester offered at Elon’s new Charlotte campus, organized a December book drive in collaboration with the Charlotte Knights to support Promising Pages, a Charlotte-based nonprofit organization that distributes books to underserved children. The drive was held in conjunction with the minor league baseball team’s Light the Knights Festival.

As part of their interdisciplinary Study USA course, The Presidential Campaign Starts Here: The First Primaries, 11 Elon University students received a firsthand look at this year’s presidential primaries in South Carolina and New Hampshire. For nearly three weeks, Assistant Professor of Journalism Israel Balderas co-led the student group, visiting small towns, crowded arenas, and notable landmarks – both formal and informal. As New Hampshire primary results rolled in, students Emily Fenimore ’25 (second from right) and Cailey Cetani ’24 (far right) appeared live on Scripps News, joining hosts Del Walters and Maritsa Georgiou for a five-minute interview.

As part of the Interactive Project for the Public Good course, this year’s Interactive Media cohort traveled to Barbados to support Barbados Red Cross and Lifelong Skills Training Inc. During the course’s weeklong stay in the Caribbean, students gathered multimedia content and assets to reinvent the organizations’ respective online presences, building websites, creating video projects, and developing media branding campaigns.

Avery Sloan ‘25, a journalism major, was named a Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow, a prestigious fellowship program that selects and finances talented journalists to report on critical and underreported stories. As part of her investigative reporting project, Sloan traveled to northern Europe this summer to examine an underreported policy in Denmark that leaves released inmates with crippling debt to the state.

As part of this year’s The Fellow Experience, 34 students in the Communications Fellows program participated in a 10-day trip in January to Florida, touring communications companies, meeting with industry professionals, and exploring what their future careers might look like. The experience was led by faculty and staff members Hal Vincent and Alison Doherty. Pictured are first-year Communications Fellows Colin Dorroh ’27 (left) and Olivia Edwards ’27, sharing a laugh on Jan. 18 while touring the WESH television studio.

During Winter Term, a group of Elon students spent 18 days immersing themselves in the film industry in Los Angeles and the vibrant energy of the renowned Sundance Film Festival. Led by Assistant Professors Kai Swanson and Matthew Blomberg, The Film Festival Experience: Hollywood & Sundance course offered students insight into the history and culture of the mainstream film industry and the independent film markets across the globe.

In recognition of National Girls & Women in Sports Day, Elon Sports Vision featured a crew entirely staffed by women for its Feb. 4 broadcast between the Elon women’s basketball team and Campbell University. In total, 16 females held on-air and production roles during the broadcast, which closely resembled an initiative hosted annually by FOX Sports.

The Student Professional Development Center hosted the Communications and Sport Management Meet and Greet on Feb. 29, bringing together several regionally based employers and frequent participants, including the Burlington Sock Puppets, Golin, Luquire, McKinney, SportsMEDIA Technology and WGHP FOX 8.

Elon News Network, Phi Psi Cli yearbook and Colonnades Literary & Art Journal all won Best of Show awards on Feb. 24 from the North Carolina College Media Association. More than a dozen students were honored in the individual categories at the association’s annual conference, which was held this winter at High Point University.

Assistant Professors of Sport Management Alex Traugutt and Khirey Walker accompanied five students to the Applied Sport Management Association Conference held in Knoxville, Tennessee. The three-day conference regularly attracts the top college students interested in sport management, and Lena Gunn ’25, a strategic communications and media analytics double major, earned the top prize in the conference’s Undergraduate Research Competition. Pictured are Gunn (left) and Traugutt.

Elon News Network won a slew of awards from the national Associated Collegiate Press during the association’s conference held March 7-9 in La Jolla, California. Elon News Network’s website, www.elonnewsnetwork.com, earned an Online Pacemaker award — the nation’s highest award for a student media website. In addition, ENN won Best of Show awards for news reporting, diversity/equity/inclusion reporting and digital newsletter. The Pendulum, ENN’s student newspaper, also won first place in the People’s Choice Award, voted on by attendees of the national convention.

During the AAF Triangle’s American Advertising Awards gala recognizing the best in advertising from Central and Eastern North Carolina, Live Oak Communications captured a Gold ADDY Award in the Cross-Platform Integrated Brand Identity Campaign category, as well as a Best of Show award in the chapter’s student division. Additionally, communication design and Spanish double major Matt Newberry ’24, Assistant Professor of Communication Design Rebecca Bagley and Live Oak Communications all earned Gold Awards at the inaugural AEJMC Festival of Visual & Interactive Media contest, held as part of AEJMC’s Southeast Colloquium.

Associate Professor of Strategic Communications Kathleen Stansberry was selected as a 2024-26 Data Nexus Scholar. During her term, Stansberry will work to build the capacity of Data Nexus, a university initiative to enhance student learning of the knowledge and skills required for working with data.

Associate Professor of Sport Management David Bockino released a new book, titled “Game On: How Sports Media Grew Up, Sold Out, and Got Personal with Billions of Fans.” Published April 1 by the University of Nebraska Press, it is the first comprehensive, general audience history of the sports media industry.

Elon students collected a total of nine awards in the Broadcast Education Association’s 2024 Festival of Media Arts. Max Wallace ’26, Brendan Antrosiglio ’23 and a student group in the Interactive Media graduate program all earned second-place awards. In total, the BEA digital media and broadcast competition received more than 1,885 entries, representing 300 colleges and universities.

Members of elondocs received behind-the-scenes access to Durham’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, considered one of the world’s premiere showcases for nonfiction cinema. Accompanied by Nicole Triche, associate professor of cinema and television arts, a half-dozen students attended four days of film screenings, panels and social engagements where they interacted with filmmakers and networked with industry professionals.

Marcus Yam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, presented an on-campus lecture April 1 titled “From conflict, to mass shootings, to environmental stories: How to engage folks with an open heart and sensitivity.” Sponsored by the National Press Photographers Foundation, Yam’s visit is part of the foundation’s Morris Berman Lecture Series that brings visual journalists to journalism programs across the country.

A contingent of Elon students, faculty and alumni attended April’s International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals in Luxor, Egypt, providing media coverage for one of the world’s most prestigious programming competitions. Ryan Kupperman ’25 (pictured, from left), Isabel Gouveia ’24 and Donelle Leak ’25 produced video and social media content, while Elon Comm faculty members Amanda Sturgill and Randy Piland joined several alumni supporting the event’s media coverage.

After more than a decade of research, Daniel Haygood, professor of strategic communications, published an article in American Journalism delving into the history of Tel Ra Productions, a prolific sports production firm that has long fallen off the radar of public awareness. The article concentrates on the company’s premier program, “TeleSports Digest,” which Haygood considers to be a forerunner of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”

Britt Mobley ’24, a strategic communications and outdoor leadership and education double major, received a Fulbright grant to teach English in the Czech Republic. At Elon, Mobley was an Odyssey Scholar and a Communications Fellow, and served as the Student Government Association student body president.

Assistant Professor Israel Balderas penned a May op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle that examines the implications of two subpoenas issued by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu earlier this year. Balderas argued that Chiu’s subpoenas, which demand confidential editorial information from U.S. News & World Report about its “Best Hospitals” ranking methodology, represent a clear threat to press freedom and the First Amendment.

Samantha Katz ’24, a cinema and television arts major, earned the top prize in a college film contest sponsored by the Greensboro Alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Katz created a moving seven-minute documentary highlighting Evainna W. Ross, founder of the Black Suit Initiative, a leadership and community engagement nonprofit organization for middle and high school young men.

Accompanied by alumnus Jay Light ’12 and comedian Fahim Anwar, students in Assistant Professor Kai Swanson’s Comedy Writing course in Los Angeles put their comedic chops to the test at The Nitecap, a popular venue for both up-and-coming and established comedians.

Lauren Winslow ’27, a sport management and strategic communications double major, was a recipient of a student scholarship from Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA), a national accrediting body that promotes and recognizes excellence in sport management education.

Alex Chadwick ’24, a cinema and television arts BFA major, was awarded a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship for post-graduate study. An aspiring filmmaker, Chadwick is an MFA Screenwriting Fellow at the American Film Institute Conservatory, widely considered one of the prestigious film schools in the world.