Jargon - 2019

FALL 2019 | VOLUME LXXX

The

Power of Team

Collaboration & advocacy drive alumni, students and faculty to make a mark around the world and beyond Taylor Award winner Tom Jennings, ’85, (second from right), premiered his Apollo documentary in Monte Carlo this year

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS FALL 2019

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28

30

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

ALUMNI NOTES

FACULTY NOTES

JMC NEWS

ALUMNI

JMC NEWS

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04 News from Franklin Hall National awards, special guests, community partnerships

May 4 5oth events

O.J. trial spurred career moves

The university is building a year-long series of events around the commemoration

Tom Jennings, ’85, shifted from journalism to award-winning documentaries

07 Effie team wows Subaru Presentation at corporate HQ results in second place national finish

14 Vega, Khashoggi honored McGruder program celebrated 15th year

CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources’ host spoke to a packed hall

18 Florence sparked international passion Carolyn Robinson, ’87, M.A., ’14, found her calling while seeking an internship

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08 Stelter opens new Dix Lecture

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Students target childhood trauma Seminar developed campaigns to raise awareness

09 Media Ethics Dix gift supports discussion of critical issues

20 Internships were the key They helped Jinae West, ’10, find her way to NPR and NatGeo

22 ‘Creative and fearless’ Isaac Versaw, ’13, went to the Big Apple and never turned back

ON THE COVER: Tom Jennings, ’85, sits on a stage with other panelists during the premiere of “Apollo: Missions to the Moon” at the Monte Carlo Television Festival.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM JENNINGS, ’85

Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication 204 Franklin Hall, P.O. BOX 5190, Kent, OH 44242 Phone: 330-672-2572 | Fax: 330-672-4064 | Email: jmc@kent.edu www.kent.edu/jmc

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MANAGING EDITOR / KEVIN DILLEY ART DIRECTOR / ANNIE PIETCH, ’21 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR / LORIE BEDNAR, ’93 CONTRIBUTING EDITOR / CHRISTINA RUSS, ’10

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Reflections on service and career achievements The editing process for this edition of Jargon has been its usual pleasure. The efforts and accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni remain stellar. A few not-so-random observations: • For those who believe there aren’t great career options in our fields because some traditional workplaces are being transformed or some business models broken, I encourage you to read our alumni notes (page 28) for the range of positions in which our graduates continue to find fulfilling careers and promotions.

• Also note how many JMC graduates have workplaces in common: Networking remains a powerful career advancement tool, so keeping in touch with former classmates and colleagues has real value!

“ The efforts and accomplishments of our students, faculty and alumni remain stellar.”

• I was struck by how many of our stakeholders are working in collaborative teams, often employing cross-disciplinary skill sets or complementary knowledge. That’s a theme that cuts across stories in this issue.

• I also took note of how many of our alumni are working in positions that help to build a business, to build a community or to build a broader civil, democratic society. They serve something larger than themselves.

Few could serve as a better example of a life of service in those three realms than the recently deceased founder of Jargon, August (Augie) Quattrochi (see Obituary, page 29). His 98 years on this planet left it a better place. Augie got the ball rolling with Jargon as a student here in the early 1940s before he went off to WWII. He used his JMC skills in the Army Air Corps/Air Force as a public information officer.

After the war, he eventually found his longterm work home at GE Lighting, but also served in local government and was a longtime champion of United Way, even after retirement. He served at Kent State, too, heading the university’s alumni association in

the mid-1960s. His professional work was at such a level that he won our highest alumni honor, the Taylor Award, in 1965. A life welllived, indeed.

You also can read about the wonderful careers-in-progress of this year’s Taylor Award winners and Fast-Track winners. Each of them has some version of the business-communitysociety building in their work that Quattrochi had in his. They are fine role models for our current students, and we’ll do our best to get them in touch with students at Homecoming Sept. 20-21. We hope to see you, too!

Also of interest to many JMC graduates will be a year-long series of events planned around the 50th anniversary of the May 4, 1970 shootings, a seminal event in American history that still resonates powerfully on campus (see story, page 13). We are working to follow those long-term themes of InquireLearn-Reflect that have characterized our best impulses in the decades after the tragedy. The School’s home in 1970, of course, was in Taylor Hall, around which the events swirled out of control. And it was our journalism students, and alumni, and journalistic colleagues, who chronicled the events with words, photos, audio and video, seeking out truth and fact from the chaos. Some are still at work today trying to make sense of it all.

Please note: We have a national search under way for a new Director of the School this fall.

While I’ve enjoyed this “encore” directorship, we’re seeking a dynamic leader to take us into the third decade of the 21st Century. Send us your nominees!

Keep up the good work, and keep in touch.

JEFF FRUIT is a Professor and Interim Director of JMC. He also served as School Director from 2002-2012.

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JMC NEWS

NEWS FROM FRANKLIN HALL Kent State recognized in College Media Review Validating our students’ sustained excellence and leadership nationally in awards and competitions was an article in the journal of the College Media Association, College Media Review (Vol. 56, April 2019). The article’s dataset showed Kent State ranked third among 184 universities that received two or more national awards in major competitions from 2011-2016. (Carol Tarracina-Hartman and Robert G. Nulph, examined “communication practices and messages of universities and academic departments that promote these top college media outlets using social media tools.”)

Kent State Student Media recognized nationally Student Media continued its track record of excellence in national competition in 201819, again showcasing our students’ work as among the nation’s best:

POW! DMP students participate in stunt and pyrotechnic demonstration Digital Media Production students Anna Katsas, ’20, (top photo left) and Haylee Holt, ’20, take part in a practice scene demonstration during a workshop for the Production Safety and Set Protocol class in October, 2018. The purpose of the new class is to show students what goes into TV and film project sets and to teach them to be aware of their environment at all times.

PHOTOS BY KAM BOLATI, ‘19

• In the SPJ Mark of Excellence contest, six JMC students won first place in Region 4, including: NATHANIEL BAILEY in feature photography; CARTER ADAMS in breaking news photography; ANNA HUNTSMAN in TV breaking news reporting; VALERIE ROYZMAN in non-fiction magazine article; CAMERON HOOVER in sports writing; and DANI WATTS in photo illustration. All six advanced to national competition; Hoover won first place nationally in sports writing and Watts was a finalist (top 3) in photo illustration.

• A Magazine – top-four finish for Magazine of the Year, CMA Pinnacles • Uhuru, ACP Pacemaker, winner, feature/ general interest magazine • Luna Negra, ACP Pacemaker, winner, literary/arts magazine • KentWired, ACP Pacemaker, finalist, online journalism • KentWired, CMA Pinnacle Award, Honorable mention, Website of the Year

• TV2, CMA Pinnacle Award, Second place, Newscast • Student Media was named “Best College Media PR/Marketing Program” in the country at the College Media Business and Advertising (CMBAM) 2019 convention.

Student Media also brought home nine other national awards.

• A Magazine, AEJMC, First place, Design

• “Pop!” a film by Ben Kemper and produced

by KSUIF, topped 100,000 views on YouTube within a couple of months of launching on that channel.

• TV2, CMA Pinnacle Award, Second place,

• Alyssa Standen, former KSUIF

• Fusion, AEJMC, First place, General Excellence

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Sportscast

president, won a BEA Award of Excellence,Experimental/Animation for her senior film, “Forgive Me.”

Advertising, PR teams take national honors Student teams also excelled in class-related national competitions.

• Two advertising teams were semifinalists in the national Effie Collegiate Competition. One of the two was a finalist and finished second overall following a presentation at client Subaru’s national headquarters. (see story, page 7)

JMC NEWS

• Two public relations teams earned Honorable Mentions in the national 2019 Bateman Competition. Only 18 of 66 teams entered earned that honor.

JMC senior one of five selected for international trip JMC senior Christiana Ford was selected as one of five students nationwide to participate in the National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) all-expenses paid reporting trip to China during November 2018.

Ford is a multimedia journalist at WILX-TV in Lansing, Michigan.

BSR named best online radio station in NE Ohio Black Squirrel Radio was named “Best Online Radio Station 2019” in the Best of Cleveland contest by readers of Cleveland Scene.

Programs making connections in the region Kent State Day at the Cleveland International Film Festival provided faculty and students an opportunity to showcase the digital media production program.

Faculty member Stephanie Danes Smith’s class supported a not-for-profit organization in Trumbull County with a campaign to address the prevalence of childhood trauma. (please see story, page 15) JMC sponsored the 12th YouToo Social Media Conference in Franklin Hall in conjunction with the Akron PRSA Chapter.

A grant renewal from Media in the Public Interest allowed JMC students working with faculty members Sue Zake and Jacquie Marino to produce stories for the Ohio News Connection, a news service reaching 127 radio stations, 44 print and online outlets and seven television stations throughout Ohio and border states.

First graders show their multimedia talents in Franklin Hall visit Supported by the GAR Foundation, first graders from St. Barnabas School in Northfield, Ohio, created a newspaper, First Edition, during the 2018-19 school year. Professor Jacqueline Marino mentored the teachers, while Professor Jan Leach spent a day working with teachers and students at their school. In March, the students and their teachers visited the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where they learned from faculty and student media leaders in the newsroom (above), classrooms and studios of Franklin Hall and spent time with students at Black Squirrel Radio (below), TV2 and other places. The students also stopped by the Reinberger Children’s Library Center for a special session with Illustrator-inResidence Will Hillenbrand. PHOTO BY AUDRA GORMLEY, ‘19

JMC students win 8 of 9 Knight scholarships JMC students won eight of nine John S. Knight scholarships from the Akron Press Club for a total of $40,000. The John S. Knight Memorial Journalism Fund Inc. annually awards scholarships to college journalism, public relations and communication students.

The Akron Press Club was founded in 1971 to promote a free press and serve local journalists and public relations professionals.

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JMC NEWS

Control room gets upgrade Installation of a new switcher in the Television Studio control room in summer 2018 was the most significant upgrade since the facility opened in 2007; it enabled reconfiguration of the control room to current professional standards and opened opportunities for broader use and more effective instruction.

Hagedorn photo program has new focus The Hagedorn photography program was recast to reflect the changing role of photography and photography-related curriculum in the College of Communication and Information. Changes include broader collaboration with the School of Visual Communication Design; more inclusive faculty and staff participation in selection of student scholarship awards; and improved program administration. (see story, page 25)

(TOP) PHOTO BY KEVIN DILLEY / Participants and faculty in JMC’s Center for Scholastic Journalism summer workshop gather for a photo in Franklin Hall. (LEFT) PHOTO BY JOHN BOWEN / Students practice 360 immersive video

Student Media amps up innovation Student Media FlashLab launched to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, including the first Student Media FlashLab Innovation Pitch Contest. The contest awarded $1,000 to four students: CARTER ADAMS (first place), NATALIE MEEK (second place) and ANNA KATSAS and CAMERON GORMAN (third place). The winners also received seed funding to launch their ideas.

JMC students among top in annual SPJ Ohio contest Kent State University JMC students were recognized in July as winners of the annual Ohio’s Best Journalism Contest.

The Kent Stater/staff (HENRY PALATTELLA, Fall 2018 editor) was named the Best College Newspaper with judges calling it an “outstanding college publication.”

“The content was interesting to read and topical for its audience base. The page design did not waste space and lent itself to quality photos and appropriate headlines,” the judges said. “Editing was well done and each was sculpted well. Anyone on this publication’s team could easily walk into a newspaper job and hit the ground running.”

Students taking top honors for stories on KentWired.com were: VALERIE ROYZMAN, BEN ORNER, ANNA HUNTSMAN, ANDREW ATKINS and CAMERON HOOVER.

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Top high school journalism faculty take the innovative track Twenty-three high school journalism teachers from 16 states learned about a wide range of innovative concepts in media as part of a workshop sponsored by JMC’s Center for Scholastic Journalism. The sessions, from July 14 – 20, were for those who want to get ahead of the curve and help their students improve their newspapers, websites, yearbooks and broadcast outlets.

The group was chosen from a large pool of applicants who wanted to attend this all-expenses-paid, immersive, hands-on experience. Each teacher had at least five years experience advising student media and was already comfortable with the basics of content, technology, law and ethics. They explored data reporting and visualization, audience engagement across all platforms, 360 immersive video, podcasting, digital verification techniques,

solutions journalism and other ways to take their students to the next level.

Presenters included MANDY JENKINS, general manager of The Compass Experiment at McClatchy; KEVIN NECESSARY with Tasha Stewart, WCPO in Cincinnati; SARA CATANIA, the Solutions Journalism Network; JAN LEACH, School of JMC; RACHEL DISSELL, The Plain Dealer; SCOTT BOGONIEWSKI, Interim Director of the School of Digital Sciences; MIKE REILLEY, SPJ digital trainer; and AMANDA RABINOWITZ, WKSU. Professor CANDACE PERKINS BOWEN directed the workshop, along with assistant director JOHN BOWEN; MARK GOODMAN, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism; and SUE ZAKE, faculty adviser for the Kent Stater.

JMC NEWS

Teamwork, innovation drive CCI team to second place in national ad competition Effie Collegiate challenges college students to create marketing campaign for Subaru An interdisciplinary team of Kent State students took second place nationwide for their efforts in creating a marketing campaign to reinvent the car-buying process for Millennials and Gen Z. The competition, Effie Collegiate, is modeled after the professional competition of the same name, calling on the next generation’s advertising, marketing, design and communication students to work on real world business challenges. Subaru served as the client, sponsoring this year’s challenge, and hundreds of teams responded.

The second-place team was made up of four students in the College of Communication and Information (CCI): ASHLEY HEILMAN,’19 (advertising), NOAH LEWCHENKO, ’19 (advertising), ABBY PETERS, ’19 (advertising) and KELSEY VELEMIROVICH, ’20 (visual communication design). Judges called their entry an “industry changer” and an idea that taps “into the already established behaviors of the target audience.”

As national finalists, they had the chance to present at Subaru’s Camden, New Jersey, headquarters. They were also given a behindthe-scenes tour of the facilities.

“We had one week to make this huge presentation that we would be giving to the Subaru team along with their advertising agency, Carmichael Lynch,” said Heilman. “Noah and I were able to fly out to present, and Abby and Kelsey worked from their locations to help us in building the presentation. “… Even though we only got second place, Effie and Subaru still provided us with some awards. … We got a small Effie Award, which is what people win when they win actual Effies in the industry. It’s really amazing to say that I now have an Effie!”

A second team of students earned the distinction of being one of six semifinalists in the same competition; team members included: GRACIE DURHAM, ’19 (communication studies), RACHEL RICH, ’20 (visual communication design) and KATIE STUDNICHA, ’19 (visual communication design).

Both teams worked on competition entries as part of Advertising Practicum, a course taught by Associate Lecturer WENDY WARDELL. “There aren’t words to express how proud I am of all the students in the practicum class,” she said. “They voluntarily enroll in a class that has the same rigor they’ll see professionally. There is no other collegiate competition like Effie Collegiate – it demands all the things that are demanded by professionals down to the attention to detail of editing their entry for specific word counts. Every student in the class puts in so much time and effort.”

Velemirovich called the class and competition a “one-of-a-kind experience” that, as a VCD major, got her out of her “design bubble.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASHLEY HEILMAN / Kent State students Noah Lewchenko, ’19, and Ashley Heilman, ’19 pose for a picture after winning second place in the Effie Collegiate competition at Subaru’s New Jersey headquarters. The students were part of an interdisciplinary team that also included CCI students, Abby Peters, ’19, and Kelsey Velemirovich, ’20.

She completed a design internship this summer and said she was able to apply skills she developed by working on the project.

In addition to reinforcing future career goals, students learned lessons in collaboration by working in multidisciplinary teams representing three of CCI’s schools: Journalism and Mass Communication, Communication Studies and Visual Communication Design.

“The teams really gelled and each team member brought specific skills to the group effort,” Wardell said. “Both teams did quantitative and qualitative research, and both teams discovered a really strong insight that drove their entry.”

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JMC NEWS

Telling truth in an age of alternative facts CNN’s Brian Stelter delivers inaugural David and Janet Dix Media Ethics Lecture at Franklin Hall in February

D

“muscle memory” so you can write and report on news no matter what the deadline or the pressures.

In his lecture, “Telling the Truth in the Age of Alternative Facts,” Stelter also encouraged students to find the one thing they were more passionate about than anyone they knew and really dive into it. He advised writing constantly to build up what he called

One such example he gave of how that advice worked for him was when he was called in to the CNN studio early in the morning after Anthony Bourdain, himself a CNN host, died by suicide. That early training allowed him, Stelter related, to write the obituary, to deliver the news of a friend and colleague’s passing despite being in a state of shock. “I could do it in my sleep,” Stelter said, “and that only comes from the repetition of doing it over and over again…Be

elivering his remarks to a packed FirstEnergy Auditorium, CNN’s chief media correspondent and anchor of the weekly program “Reliable Sources,” BRIAN STELTER talked about the current media environment and delivered 11 keys for ethical journalism in the “fake news” era.

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performing acts of journalism every day…so you are ready to go.”

After the lecture, Stelter took questions from the audience in a lively session moderated by Professional-inResidence and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist CONNIE SCHULTZ. Also recognized that evening were David and Janet Dix whose generosity has endowed the annual lecture series.

The Dix Media Ethics Lecture further enhances the Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s role as a national leader in conversations around core media ethics issues.

PHOTO BY AUDRA GORMLEY, ‘19 / CNN’s Brian Stelter shares a light momemt with moderator Connie Schultz, a JMC professor, during the inaugural Dix Media Ethics Lecture in Franklin Hall in February.

JMC NEWS

Supporting our watchdogs Dix family creates speaker series to combat attacks on media After 50 years in the newspaper business, DAVID DIX has seen firsthand how hard journalists work.

And witnessing U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated “unjustified” attacks on the media made the former Record-Courier publisher feel “anguished,” and he wondered what he could do to counter it.

Dix asked School of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) Professor JAN LEACH to speak at a Kent Rotary Club program regarding issues confronting the media in the current political climate. During her presentation, he began to consider how he could make a more impactful, and positive, difference.

That consideration led him and his wife, Janet, to create The Dix Media Ethics Lecture Series. Established in 2018 through a gift of $100,000, they worked with the School and with Foundation Relations in the Division of Institutional Advancement to fund an annual lecture on campus featuring nationally prominent speakers discussing critical issues in media ethics, further enhancing the school’s national reputation as a leader in the field.

“We need a strong press and media that reports the news and acts as a watchdog for the American people and keeps our democracy functioning as it should. The role of ethics in accomplishing this is very important.”

The inaugural lecture in February 2019 featured Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent and anchor of the weekly program “Reliable Sources.” His topic: “Telling the Truth in an Age of Alternative Facts.”

“We’re not perfect and I know that,” Dix said. “The media is not perfect but it’s not for a lack of trying.”

Dix said he was compelled to act because “Trump’s repeated attacks on press freedom and his questioning of its pursuit of truth,” is a threat to democracy.

PHOTO BY SUSAN ZAKE / Janet and David Dix listen to Brian Stelter’s lecture in Franklin Hall in February.

“I think the topic of ethics is evergreen, and I hope the endowed speaker can be an exciting event that interests students,” Dix said.

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JMC NEWS

“I don’t know what Trump has planned but it worries me when he attacks the media,” Dix said. “(The media) really is the watchdog of not just what he is doing but really of any president.”

Dix began work at the Record-Courier as a summer intern in 1967 and served as publisher from 1974 to his retirement in 2017. The newspaper was started in 1898 by his grandfather and great-grandfather. Dix also published weekly area newspapers and served on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio News Media Association.

Dix said that although it is hard to predict what the media will be like in 50 years, ethics will always be a concern for journalists.

“It’s always going to be an issue, whether we’re being truthful, whether we’re endeavoring to get at the truth of the story,” Dix said. “I think that most journalists I know do have a sense of ethics. Even at the RecordCourier, as small as we were, I felt people were pretty dedicated and they really wanted to do a good job. And it wasn’t just for the paper; it was for the public, the readers.”

Dix grew up in Kent and has always felt loyal to Kent State University and JMC. His mother, Helen Westcott Dix, was one of the first editors of The Daily Kent Stater and the first winner of the Taylor Award, JMC’s highest alumni honor. Dix’s father, Robert C. Dix, served for many years on the Kent State Board of Trustees.

JANET DIX, David’s wife, is a counseling psychologist at Western Reserve Psychological Associates. She received her bachelor’s degree in English, her master’s degree in higher education and her doctorate in counseling psychology – all from Kent State.

“I’ve always felt close to the school of journalism,” he said. “We had a tremendous talent pool. And the reason we did was our proximity to the school of journalism here.”

Dix said he annually supports university programs with modest gifts adding that his family’s passion for volunteer work and giving back is what continues to inspire him. “(My parents) really believed in giving back to the community; I found that (to be) the most rewarding thing psychologically. If I am doing something to make the community better, then it’s something worthwhile,” Dix said.

PHOTO BY SUSAN ZAKE / Janet and David Dix listen to Brian Stelter’s lecture in Franklin Hall in February.

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JMC NEWS

“ (My parents) really believed in giving back to the community; I found that (to be) the most rewarding thing psychologically. If I am doing something to make the community better, then it’s something worthwhile.”

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SECTION HEADER

One purpose, immense impact The ties that bind JMC alumni to Kent State and the future of media are long-lasting.

This year, more than 250

of you made gifts to support Student Media as part of Philanthropy Week in April, and the William Sledzik Scholarship in celebration of a beloved professor.

Individual gifts starting at $5 make the difference.

No gift is too small. Choose the initiative you’d like to support, whether it’s a JMC organization, a student group, global initiative or student scholarship.

www.kent.edu/ SupportCCI JARGON | FALL 2019 1

JMC NEWS

University plans dozens of events for 50th observance of May 4th Events began in July and will continue throughout the school year 4th massacre within national and international contexts, we aim to capture the leadership and collective action of students during the late 1960s and early 1970s and how their increased activisms have historically and currently pushed their nations toward change. MORE INFO: www.kent.edu/pas/conference

More than 60 programs, exhibits, speakers and special events are planned for the year-long observance leading up to the 5oth commemoration of May 4th in 2020. The following is a selection of those events. Stay updated with additions and changes, at www.kent.edu/may4kentstate50 Thursday, Aug. 1, 6:30 p.m.

SARA ABOU RASHED COMMUNITY KEYNOTE A community keynote will be presented as part of the Voices for Change Educators Summit. These evening sessions are free and open to the public; registration is required. The August 1 keynote will feature student activist, poet, and artist Sara Abou Rashed.

Afterward, David Hassler, director of Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, will lead guests in contributing to a community-created poem for the 50th Commemoration of May 4, 1970, using the Wick Center’s Thread poetry app.

Friday, Sept. 6, 10 a.m.

FIRE IN THE HEARTLAND FILM SERIES Fire in the Heartland: Kent State, May 4th, and Student Protest in America is a documentary film about a generation of young people, who stood up to speak their minds against social injustice in some of our nation’s most turbulent and transformative years, the 1960s through the 1970s. On May 4th, 1970, 13 of these young Americans were shot down by the National Guard in a shocking act of violence against unarmed students.

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 5:30 p.m.

A CONVERSATION WITH SONIA SANCHEZ Sanchez is a poet, playwright, activist and educator who will be discussing and offering her reflections on themes such as

Sunday, May 3, 2020, 10:30 p.m.

student activism, peace work and civil rights. All these themes are as central and relevant today as they were 50 years ago.

Thursday, Sept. 19, 5 p.m.

OPENING RECEPTION FOR “CULTURE/COUNTERCULTURE” & “WEARING JUSTICE” EXHIBITS You’re invited to the opening reception celebrating the Kent State Museum’s two newest exhibits, “Culture/Counterculture: Fashions of the 1960s and 70s” & “Wearing Justice: A Tribute to May 4th” exhibits. This reception is open to the public.

Friday, Sept. 20, all day CULTURE/COUNTERCULTURE: FASHIONS OF THE 1960S AND 70S The Rockwell Hall exhibition Culture/Counterculture looks at fashions of the 1960s and early 1970s with a particular focus on the generation gap during that period. The exhibition is scheduled to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Kent State’s shootings on May 4, 1970. Almost 50 years ago, the shootings of Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard brought to a head the cultural divides that had split the nation. There

was a sharp contrast between supporters of the establishment and those opposed – the culture and the counterculture. These cleavages in society saw their clear expression in the fashions of the time. The exhibition draws from the rich holdings of the university’s historic costume collection, private and institutional lenders including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as archival material from the May 4 collection.

Friday, April 10, 2020, all day AFRICA & THE GLOBAL ATLANTIC WORLD CONFERENCE The Department of Pan-African Studies at Kent State University will hold its fifth biennial Africa and the Global Atlantic World Conference (AGAWC) on April 9 and 10, 2020. The conference will focus on the leadership and activism of university/college students and the militarized violent responses they faced.

The conference will occur at a time when the City of Kent and Kent State University will recognize and honor the lives of four students who were killed, and nine students who were wounded, on Kent State’s campus during a student protest held on May 4, 1970. Situating the May

50TH COMMEMORATION CANDLELIGHT WALK The annual candlelight walk will take place on Sunday evening beginning at 11 p.m. Please gather on the Commons starting at 10:30 p.m. and dress for the weather.

The hour-long walk will start on the Commons next to the victory bell and will follow a route around the campus ending in the Prentice Hall parking lot at midnight.

Sunday, May 3, 2020, 11 p.m.

50TH COMMEMORATION CANDLELIGHT VIGIL The annual candlelight vigil will take place in the Prentice Hall parking lot where the students were killed on May 4, 1970. You may sign up to stand silent vigil in one of the four spots for 30 minutes at a time. Vigil continues from midnight through noon on May 4, 2020. Sign-up will begin in April 2020.

Monday, May 4, 2020, 12 p.m.

50TH COMMEMORATION Join us for the historic 50th commemoration of the events of May 4, 1970. Our program begins at noon and will consist of a variety of nationally known speakers, musicians and poets.

We will look back at 50 years of commemorations and honor those who were killed and wounded in 1970. We will also look forward to inspire future generations to carry on the legacy of May 4, 1970.

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JMC NEWS

JMC honors two journalists at 15th annual McGruder lecture NPR’s Tanzina Vega spoke about diversity; murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi honored with the Global McGruder Award Kent State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) honored two journalists at the 15th Annual Robert G. McGruder Lecture. TANZINA VEGA, the host of National Public Radio’s “The Takeaway” and Eisner Fellow at the Nation Institute, was honored with the Robert G. McGruder Distinguished Guest Lecture Award. Also posthumously honored at the event was deceased Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was named the Global McGruder Award winner.

Vega spoke to students about diversity and inclusion in reporting and discussed what gaps she sees in coverage and in behavior. She noted that the “wealth gap” often keeps reporters from investigating stories that exist at economic levels people are unaware of TANZINA VEGA or uncomfortable covering.

“There are so many stories waiting to be told,” Vega said. “You don’t need permission.” She continued to list places where stories and real life diverge, talking about the “truth gap” and the “empathy gap.”

“At ‘The Takeaway,’ we know good stories have long tails,” Vega remarked. “We have to ask the questions. For example, what policies got us where we are today?” She noted that according to the Washington Post analysis, President Donald Trump told 7,645 demonstrable falsehoods in 2018. “We’ve gone from a truth gap to truth chasm to deficit, and at this point I think we’re in a black hole.”

Vega sees the ‘empathy gap’ as an opportunity for journalists of the future. “People want empathy to make change. ... By the year 2050, the majority of Americans will be of color and the majority of women. ... The good news about empathy is that it’s all around us.” Empathy can help get people out of their silos, she said, noting that even though social media and technology can connect us, that’s not often the case. “Empathy,” she went on, “comes from thinking, ‘It’s not about me.’”

Vega answered questions from students and faculty, highlighting how important local

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PHOTO BY CARTER EUGENE ADAMS ‘20/ Stephanie Danes Smith reflects on murdered Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, who was honored posthumously for his work and was one of 80 journalists killed in 2018.

journalism is, not only for informing readers about low-level politics that directly affect them, but also as a training ground for journalists. Working the city council beat, for example, gives you the skills to navigate the larger political arena reported on by regional and national press outlets. “You learn how the city councils work, how people on the street feel about things,” Vega pointed out.

Prior to Vega’s talk, Professional-in-Residence STEPHANIE DANES SMITH took the podium to honor deceased journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

“His opinion pieces in The Washington Post and other global outlets defended journalists and activists who ‘dare to speak their minds,’” Smith said. “He championed the wrongfully imprisoned and the deliberately silenced, especially journalists.” In 2018, she told the crowd, of the 80 journalists killed worldwide, 49 (including Khashoggi) were targeted simply for being journalists. Smith then led the auditorium in a moment of silence.

Vega has contributed to CNN, CNNMoney, WNYC Radio, Reuters television, Billboard magazine and The New York Times, where she won an Emmy Award for outstanding new approaches in documentary media and various awards from the National Press Photographers Association. NPR’s Code Switch called her one of their “Journalists — Of Color! — To Watch” and The Huffington Post listed Vega as one of the 40 top Latinos in American media. Jamal Khashoggi was editor-in-chief for Al Watan and contributed over the years to the Saudi Gazette, Okaz, Al Madina, Arab News and the Washington Post. Time Magazine recognized him along with other journalists as their Person of the Year.

Robert G. McGruder was a trail-blazing Kent State journalist who listed a number of “firsts” on his resume: first black editor of the Daily Kent Stater and first black reporter at The Plain Dealer, both in 1963; first black president of the Associated Press Managing Editors group in 1995; and first black executive editor at the Detroit Free Press in 1996. He died in April 2002 at the age of 60.

JMC NEWS

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE DANES SMITH ‘79 / Students in CCI’s interdisciplinary Media and Movements class pose for a photo. The students worked to create multimedia campaigns to educate Trumbull County residents about the causes and prevalence of childhood trauma.

MEDIA AND MOVEMENTS

Seminar develops campaigns to alleviate childhood trauma Students in STEPHANIE DANES SMITH’s interdisciplinary Spring 2019 class took on the challenge of childhood trauma on behalf of their client, The Family & Children First Council of Trumbull.

The class conducted extensive field research in Trumbull County outside of classroom time. By the end of the semester, Smith said students conducted more than 300 field interviews with parents, children, caregivers, teachers, coaches and clergy. As part of their campaigns, each team was asked to research and design a new logo for the client. Following the class’s final presentations, the Council selected the logo of “Team Resilience,” which will now be adopted across Trumbull County.

The course, part of the College of Communication and Information’s Media and Movements series, required students to explore the prevalence and lifelong impacts of childhood trauma, then develop multimedia campaigns for the Council. (The State of Ohio mandates that every county have a Family & Children First Council to bring together the agencies that support families and children.)

Smith, a 1979 JMC graduate and Professionalin-Residence, said the Trumbull County council has complex challenges driven primarily by high rates of unemployment, transience, poverty, childhood hunger, opioids and other addictions and other social ills that strain and erode families.

Of 19 students in the class, 11 were JMC majors in journalism, digital media production and public relations. They were required to work in interdisciplinary teams with their peers from the Schools of Visual Communication Design and Communication Studies, to develop multimedia campaigns aimed at:

• Educating Trumbull County residents about the prevalence of childhood trauma and its causes; • Reducing the stigma that keeps families in crisis from seeking help; • Educating county residents on the rights of children;

The “Team Resilience” logo (left) was designed

by JOSEPH YOUNG, a VCD graduate student, based on the team’s extensive research and campaign plan. In addition to Young, the team included CAITLIN ALBRIGHT (JMC 2019 grad), MARISSA NICHOL (JMC 2019 grad), JENAYA JONES (COMM Studies), and REBECCA JOSEPH (Criminology/Justice Studies major, 2019 grad).

The Childhood Trauma Seminar was the second in a series of Media & Movement classes offered by CCI. In spring semester 2018, the Media & Movements class focused on opioid addiction in Northeast Ohio.

• Rebuilding resilience across Trumbull County.

JARGON | FALL 2019 15

ALUMNI

A new direction TAYLOR TAYLOR AWARD WINNER

Infamous O.J. trial spurred career shift to documentaries... Emmy and Peabody awards followed By: Rachel Karas, ‘21

TOM JENNINGS, ‘85

TOM JENNINGS, ‘85 discovered journalism at Kent State. But his experience as a reporter in the infamous O.J. Simpson trial sparked a career shift into documentary filmmaking and international acclaim.

Jennings reflected on his career while attending the 59th Monte Carlo Television Festival in Monaco earlier this summer, where his latest documentary “APOLLO : Missions To The Moon” screened. The film premiered July 7 on the National Geographic Channel.

“I would have never met the Prince of Monaco, or even gone there and certainly never had a film shown there, without what I had learned at Kent State,” Jennings said.

From covering the O.J. Simpson trial for the Santa Monica Outlook to writing and directing shows for the History Channel and National Geographic Channel, Jennings’ career credentials sparkle. His company, 1895 Films, has produced a highlight reel of award-winning documentaries and TV movies, including a George Foster Peabody Award in 2012 for “MLK: The Assassination Tapes” and an Emmy in 2017 in News & Documentary for “Challenger Disaster: Lost Tapes.”

But Jennings arrived at Kent State in the fall of 1979 with aerospace and airplanes on his mind.

“He was always enjoyable to work with. Even when there was a lot of pressure, things were crazy or were on deadline, everything was always easier because he never seemed to get worked up,” Smith said. “And he always had that great sense of humor, and not just for me but for everyone.”

After graduating from Kent State, Jennings launched his journalism career and earned bylines in media organizations such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press and The Washington Post.

He eventually moved to the west coast and worked at a number of publications in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, one of which was the Santa Monica Outlook where he was asked to cover the 1994-1995 O.J. Simpson trial. Even though it was a big opportunity for Jennings, something didn’t feel quite right.

“I sat in the courtroom part of the time, and while it was kind of exciting for the first few weeks, after a while the whole ‘camp O.J.’, which is what they called the media camped outside of the criminal courts building, just seemed to get away from what I really wanted to be involved with,” Jennings said.

“I didn’t enter with the vision of being a reporter. I thought I wanted to design airplanes … I was an aerospace engineer.” But he also was a good writer, so he said his roommate suggested he try working for the Kent Stater.

Jennings went on to be named editor of the Kent Stater twice and was the School’s first winner in the national Hearst Journalism Awards program, with a 1985 third place in writing.

While working for the Kent Stater, Jennings worked with RICHARD SMITH on the editorial staff for several years.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM JENNINGS/ Jennings poses for a photo with Judge Lance Ito in 1995 during the trial of O.J. Simpson, which Jennings covered.

ALUMNI

TOM JENNINGS ‘85

So he applied to a production company seeking writers. While the company was initially hesitant due to his lack of experience in broadcast writing, Jennings said “the journalism skills that I had, translated really well” to the company’s needs.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TOM JENNINGS/ Jennings’ Apollo documentary premiered (above) at the Monte Carlo Television Festival. (Below) Jennings poses with the Prince of Monaco, documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy and Astronaut Michael Lopez Alegria.

From that start in 1996, after covering the O.J. Simpson trial, he grew his craft and went on to write, direct or produce more than 180 documentaries and TV movies.

He kept in touch with his Stater colleague Smith along the way.

“I remember so many times when my phone would ring at like three or four in the morning and it would be Tom,” Smith said. “And he would be calling and saying ‘Hey, I’m calling from the Roman catacombs,’ or, ‘Hey, I’m calling from the edge of a volcano in Asia.’ And it was always a little surreal.”

It all began at Kent State.

“Now, we’re making things like the Apollo film and I’m sitting in Monaco with the Prince of Monaco, watching 90 minutes of my movie, unreal,” Jennings said. “And it’s all because [of] that first step from all those years ago when I got my first job, so it’s kind of all connected.”

The Kent State link continued in 2018 when Jennings visited JMC for the first time in a decade, connecting with both student journalists and filmmakers.

JARGON | FALL 2019 17

ALUMNI

The world is her beat International media career launched with student trip to Florence By: Maria McGinnis, ‘21

When Kent State launched its Florence program in the 1980s, its start also marked the beginning of CAROLYN ROBINSON’s journalism career that would take her around the world.

She jumped at the opportunity to go to Italy, and took an independent study course to explore her interest in documentary work. But despite letters and phone calls, one month into the program, she had not found any documentary production houses shooting in Italy.

“Spring break was coming up and I started getting worried because I didn’t have any material,” Robinson said. “So I decided I’d try to find something I could actually get my hands on: American TV news bureaus.”

On her spring break, Robinson went to London and met with ABC, NBC and CNN bureau chiefs and wrote a paper about how American TV news bureaus operate overseas. She followed her interviews with thank-you notes and asked the bureaus to contact her if they had any internships.

That spring break trip led to time with CBS in Rome and ABC News in London, where she interned on Good Morning America.

“By the time I left Kent I was in really good shape,” Robinson said. “I went almost directly to CNN Atlanta. They really liked my international experience and I had met the CNN bureau chiefs in Rome and London, so they were able to recommend me in a small way.”

Her work as a journalist led to international experience from Hong Kong to the Middle East. She trained journalists in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq as part of the Knight International Journalism Fellowships.

“It was remarkable to be there,” Robinson said. “I think of the Syrian journalists I worked with all the time and wonder how they are, if they’re still alive. It was quite an experience and I think we accomplished a lot.”

Robinson also spent time in East Timor as head of the United Nations’ local TV station. The country had gone through an occupation by Indonesia and voted for their independence and the United Nations sponsored a program to help East Timor rebuild.

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TAYLOR PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAROLYN ROBINSON / Carolyn Robinson reporting in East Timor in the early 2000s.

AWARD AWARD WINNER

“It was absolutely amazing to watch a country put itself together,” Robinson said. “The reporters I worked with were astonishing and worked under conditions we wouldn’t tolerate in a developed economy. They were very passionate about what they were doing and it was all so inspiring.”

She also spent several months in Libya with a team helping put the country back together after the government was overthrown and leader Muammar Gadhafi was killed.

“We were supposed to train journalists... in six months because they never had them before. It was never a free country,” Robinson said. “I can’t say how much we were able to accomplish. That country still isn’t a good place, but we tried our best.”

Robinson’s international experience has not only framed her career but also her appreciation of living in the United States.

“When you’re overseas, people want to know what America is like and you’re like an unofficial ambassador,” she said. “It’s made me understand my own country in a way that I wouldn’t have if I (had) never left.”

When Robinson made her way back to the United States, she spent a year teaching at Washington State University and also produced daily talk shows for Al Jazeera.

ALUMNI

CAROLYN ROBINSON ‘87

“ When you’re overseas, people want to know what America is like and you’re like an unofficial ambassador.

It’s made me understand my own country in a way that I wouldn’t have if I (had) never left.”

Most recently, her career has focused around the Solutions Journalism Network, for which she serves as region director.

“Journalists sometimes think that you have to talk about problems to be a serious journalist and if you include anything else you’re talking about fluff,” she said. “But no, it’s simply investigating solutions. What’s working? How well is it working? Could it work in other places?”

In the past four years, she has worked for the Solutions Journalism Network in more then 200 newsrooms in the United States. She teaches the basics of Solutions Journalism, helps to develop Solutions projects, and creates a playbook for newsrooms to reference.

Solutions Journalism concepts are also beginning to be taught internationally.

SUE ZAKE, a journalism professor and newsroom adviser at Kent State, met Robinson at a workshop sponsored by Solutions Journalism. She has since welcomed Robinson into her classroom as a guest lecturer and recruited her for other student-centered events at Kent State.

“Carolyn’s career track is amazing, particularly her work overseas in Asia, Africa and the Middle East,” Zake said. “Now, as one of Solutions Journalism Network’s regional directors, she is intent on giving back to students and sharing her experiences.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAROLYN ROBINSON / Robinson has traveled the world as a reporter and producer including for CNN Medical News in 1992 (top left), Hong Kong Cable TV in the mid 90s (bottom left), and with a Jordan TV team in the Middle East (bottom right).

“It’s the most transformational thing I could think of to do in journalism right now,” Robinson said.

JARGON | FALL 2019 19

ALUMNI

JINAE WEST ‘10

FASTFAST TRACK AWARD WINNER WINNER

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JINAE WEST, ‘10

Sixth time was the charm Internship odyssey led to NPR and now NatGeo By: Rachel Karas, ‘21

JINAE WEST, ‘10, certainly made her mark as an undergraduate journalism major, holding what must be close to a record seven internships.

While JMC requires every major to complete at least one internship, West set a standard in her magazine-focused major. Her internships included stints at The Washington Post, The Colbert Report, The Onion, Las Vegas Sun, The Moth, WKSU and NPR. She stood out from the student crowd for Professor JACQUELINE MARINO. “A lot of students are kind of in a bubble when they are in college. You know, it’s just a big transition,” Marino said.

“Students kind of limit themselves; they tend to only see what is right in front of them. Jinae was always looking way beyond Kent, Ohio … she was always looking out at the world.”

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The internship in her final semester with Kent State’s public radio station, WKSU, cued up her career path. She said she “actually never really thought about going into audio or radio until I did my internship at WKSU” and that “it just seemed like a good fit.”

The WKSU experience led to the NPR internship right after she graduated, and she stayed through two positions until earlier this year. She became the associate producer of the show she worked on during her internship, All Things Considered, which led her to become a producer of TED Radio Hour in 2017, where she interviewed people like Tarana Burke and Ashley Judd about the Me Too movement.

“They (NPR) taught you how to do everything really,” West said. “I learned how to direct the show, I was editing, producing, working with reporters in the field, I was going out in the field myself sometimes. You really learn how to work on deadline and work fast and work with a team.”

ALUMNI

“Jinae was always looking way beyond Kent, Ohio ... she was always looking out at the world.”

And it was one of her old team members from All Things Considered who helped her to get the job she recently started at National Geographic. She was working on a project with National Geographic “and asked if she could send my name along to the people that were hiring, so I met with them, set up a few interviews,” West said.

When West reflects on why she left NPR to go work at National Geographic, her mind goes to all of the possibilities that she may find at her new job.

“You know, I had been at NPR for eight and a half years at that point and I was curious to see what else was out there,” West said. “I feel like NPR was a great first job, and … I couldn’t have asked for a better job, but I don’t know, I was also curious to see what it’s like at a different company.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JINAE WEST/ West, who now works for National Geographic, covered many stories while working for NPR, including on location with All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro for a story on the oil boom in Odessa, Texas in 2016 (top left).

She also covered U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration (top right) and the one-year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, both in 2017. West also covered the breaking news of that shooting.

That curiosity has served her well throughout her career.

“I hadn’t been teaching that long when I encountered her, and she was really remarkable to me at that time,” Marino said. “But because I hadn’t been teaching that long I wasn’t sure if I would see many more Jinaes, and I really have not.”

JARGON | FALL 2019 21

ALUMNI

Outside the box Isaac Versaw helps tie brands to social impact By: Maria McGinnis, ‘21

ISAAC VERSAW had his eye on the Big Apple when he graduated from Kent State in December 2013, targeting New York City to launch his career in advertising and visual communication design.

“I always wanted to live in New York City,” Versaw said. “I knew if I wanted to make it and brush elbows with the best of the best that I just had to go there.”

His first career stop was with Purpose, an organization and social movement incubator he worked with for almost two years. Purpose was working on a project called the Syria Campaign when Versaw joined the organization.

FASTFAST TRACK AWARD WINNER

ISAAC VERSAW, ‘13

“ Take the time to do things you’re

passionate about. When you do that on your own and take the initiative, it not only creates something you can show people, but it shows people you can be excited about something.”

“The Syria Campaign was probably the most meaningful position I’ve held,” Versaw said. “We ran campaigns for nonviolent Syrians in Syria to put political pressure on policy-makers around the world. We also launched the rebranded Syrian Civil Defense group as The White Helmets.”

The White Helmets are humanitarian volunteers who rescue people in need after attacks on either side of the Syrian conflict. Since The White Helmets launched, the Nobel Peace Prize-nominated group has met with leaders at the White House and worked with Netflix to create an Oscar-winning documentary, titled “The White Helmets.”

“I was glad to be doing something that mattered and seeing real change in the world, but the work was so heavy and emotionally taxing,” Versaw said. “I was responsible for digging up content to tell stories not being amplified by the mainstream media. I would see the most gruesome, upsetting stuff every day.”

Versaw spent his time away from work on lighter, creative projects, such as his Rap, Paper, Scissors, a hand-created paper cut-out project of famous hip-hop artists, animated frame-by-frame alongside some of their most famous lyrics.

“I just tried to do light stuff and put it out there,” Versaw said. “I caught the attention of some recruiters at an ad agency called Deutsch and they asked me to join their social media content creation team. So I left Purpose to start there.”

Versaw has been focusing his creative work at RYOT Studios since 2017, creating branded content programs for Verizon Media Group’s publishers including Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Yahoo! Finance and Tumblr.

RYOT is a type of immersive film studio that started by making social impact documentaries, engaging the audience with a call to action.

“Sometimes reading the news is such a passive thing,” Versaw said.

“You read stories about Syria, or at the time it was the earthquake in Haiti and it’s like, ‘What can I really do about it?’ So (RYOT) would attach a specific action the reader could take to have a tangible impact.”

Having experience in both the advertising and visual communication

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ALUMNI

ISAAC VERSAW

‘13

design programs at Kent State is what prepared Versaw for his series of career opportunities in New York.

“I was able to sharpen my headline writing and creative writing skills,” Versaw said, adding that he combined that with a design background to get his foot in the door. “And having those skills I learned as an ad student, and understanding how to think like a journalist and tell stories in truthful, honest ways, really came into practice out here too.”

WENDY WARDELL, an associate lecturer at Kent State, recalls Versaw as having direction and passion about the work he wanted to do.

“Isaac is creative and fearless, at the same time, he’s curious and thoughtful,” Wardell said. “I believe that one can’t be creative without being curious, and fearlessness is dangerous without thoughtfulness.

Isaac understands the societal impact he can make in our industry and that’s rare.”

In December 2018, Verizon Media Group had to lay off several employees across their publishers. Versaw’s contract at RYOT Studios had hit 18 months at the time and he was laid off until June, when he returned to RYOT.

During the Verizon Media layoffs, Versaw spent time freelancing and looking into performance and voice acting. In the future, Versaw would like to explore screenwriting in the film world and how branded content can be morphed into long form entertainment.

“Because branded content is very much story- and narrative-driven, I’ve always had an interest in film and the goal would be to be a creative director in some capacity,” Versaw said. “I’d like to move toward more entertainment focused direction. I’d like to have more of a role in screenwriting creatively and helping evolve that kind of direction of advertising.”

Versaw’s key advice for students and graduates includes having a unique viewpoint when it comes to the work you want to do and to find a passion project to work on in your free time.

“Take the time to do things you’re passionate about,” Versaw said.

“When you do that on your own and take the initiative it not only creates something you can show people, but it shows people you can be excited about something. I think that’s when the best work comes out, and people really want to see that.”

This time without work allowed Versaw to reevaluate what he wanted to do.

“The exciting thing about a JMC education is that the world of media is so unique and changing. You can think you’re gonna do one thing, but nothing is set in stone,” Versaw said. “The skill set you acquired from the path you thought you were going to be on can still be very valuable when the paths change. The landscape is changing so fast every day, you really can’t expect to do one thing forever.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ISAAC VERSAW

JARGON | FALL 2019 23

FEATURE

Photojournalism student earns accolades with impactful images Nathaniel Bailey, ‘21, earned top honors in Ohio and won second place in a national White House News Photographers Association competition By: Audra Gormley, ‘19

Photo students at Kent State consistently develop portfolios that stand up to national and regional competition. One student, NATHANIEL BAILEY, ’21, a journalism major with a concentration in photojournalism, has a robust portfolio under his belt and several significant honors.

He was recently named the Ohio News Photographers Association’s (ONPA) College Photographer of the Year, one of the top regional honors for college photographers. Earlier this year, he received national recognition by White House News Photographers Association as Runner-Up Student Photographer of the Year.

His portfolio also earned him a grant in Harrison County, Kentucky, during summer 2019 as part of Boyd Station’s 306.36 Visual & Writing Documentary Project. Bailey was one of three photographers selected from a competitive pool who documented and photographed Harrison County during summer 2019. The grant provides Bailey and the others with portfolio pieces, mentors, housing and even a small stipend for their contributions.

Bailey transferred to Kent State after deciding against a career in law. He decided to follow his passion of telling stories through photography, and through Kent State’s Hagedorn Scholarship in Photography, he’s been able to focus on documentary photojournalism.

Over the past year, Bailey has worked on two main photo stories.

One of them was a documentary experience in which he photographed a Palestinian child, Abood, who grew up in Gaza. In April 2018, Abood lost his leg during a protest when an Israeli soldier shot him while he was playing soccer. Through funding with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund he was able to travel to America in order to heal.

Abood’s host family happened to be members and former members of a Kent State branch, which led Bailey to the story. Over the course of a few months, Bailey began creating a visual

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“I have gotten so much help from Kent. I’ve had professors who are willing to give me feedback and who sit down and talk to me whenever.” experience of Abood’s healing and connection with the host family. Bailey happily reports Abood is now back at home playing soccer again.

The second story Bailey worked on was about a tent city in Akron. A private property owner was housing roughly 50 people in tents behind his building. Bailey tasked himself with documenting what life was like for these people. He followed the tent city until January 2019 when the last tent was pulled down. This story was recognized with a Documentary Award of Excellence from College Photographer of the Year.

Bailey plans to continue his documentary photojournalism career for many years to come. He appreciates his time spent at Kent State.

“I have gotten so much help from Kent. I’ve had professors who are so wiling to give me feedback and who sit down and talk to

me whenever. It’s been really helpful,” says Bailey.

The Wallace J. Hagedorn Scholarship in Photography is Kent State’s largest scholarship fund. The scholarships support both tuition and student photography experiences, like Bailey’s, that help students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the School of Visual Communication Design develop strong portfolios. To learn more about Hagedorn scholarships, visit https://www.kent.edu/cci/ hagedorn.

To take a deeper look at Bailey’s work go to: https://www.nbaileyphotography.com.

PHOTO BY NATHANIEL BAILEY, ’21 / Abood rests on Omar Mujahed’s shoulder during a piggy-back ride.

Omar is a brother of Hanadi Mujahed, who was one of Abood’s teachers during his time in the U.S. Abood would occasionally spend the day or even weekend with Hanadi and her brothers.

FEATURE

Hagedorn scholarships top $786,000 in support of JMC, VCD photo students Collaboration between programs leads to increased number of awards and growth of photography majors through new combined class The past four years of the Wallace J. Hagedorn Photography Scholarship have unlocked incredible opportunities for students to explore stories and capture images from across the nation and around the world. To date, more than 100 students have received Hagedorn support for tuition or student experiences.

Last fall, the photography departments in Journalism and Visual Communication Design launched a new basic photography course (CCI Photography 12001) co-led and taught

by David Foster of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Tim Bell of the School of Visual Communication Design. Open to the entire university, this new, large lecture course introduces students to learn how to make compelling images with smartphones and/or DSLR cameras while learning about scholarship opportunities and photography in JMC and VCD. The students enrolled in the course are from a range of disciplines across the university and include photography majors and minors. Students from both photography programs will take this class as the first in their roadmap to graduation. Since its launch in 2018-19, the CCI Photography 12001 class has seen an enrollment of approximately 350 students.

Scholarships Hagedorn tuition scholarships have helped monumentally in offsetting the cost of tuition for students. To date, more than $700,000 has been disbursed to help students pay for college. Currently, Kent State’s cost of attendance is $27,028 for in-state students and $35,904 for out-of-state students.

Student Experience Hagedorn student experience scholarships help students take advantage of photographic learning experiences that add depth to their portfolios and enrich their time at Kent State. To date, more than $170,000 has been disbursed to connect students with these incredible opportunities.

Over the past four years, students have been taking advantage of the many astounding student experiences the Hagedorn Scholarship supported:

BY THE NUMBERS $786,000 Total amount of funding since 2016 $195,000 Funding for 2019 $547,000 Scholarship funding since 2016 $175,863 Student experience funding since 2016 350 Enrollment in CCI Photography since start in 2018

IN THEIR WORDS PHOTOS BY GINA DESIMONE ‘17 / This is a photo from DeSimone’s portfolio. The former Hagedorn recipient now works as a photographer for Urban Outfitters Men’s Photo Studio in Philadelphia.

International storytelling trips: -Costa Rica -Ireland -Greece -Ghana -Cambodia -Zimbabwe Kent State Florence Program in Photography Workshops: -Eddie Adams Workshop (Jeffersonville, New York) -WKU Mountain Workshop (Kentucky) -NPPA Northern Short Course (Fairfax, Virginia) -Multimedia Immersion (Syracuse, New York) Personal explorations in Bulgaria, Amsterdam, Florence, New York and the U.S. West Coast.

“Hagedorn has been instrumental to my education… Without it, I would not be nearly the photographer I am today.”

- Austin Mariasy, ’19

“Support from the Hagedorn fund showed me I can make money doing what I love, and my passion for photography can connect me to people across the globe.”

- Carrie George, ‘19

“There’s no knowledge I feel I can’t reach, no experience I can’t afford. Hagedorn has made me rich in experiences that I will forever cherish.”

- Maddie Zupko, ‘20 source: Wallace J. Hagedorn Photography Scholarship Annual Report 2018-19

A conflict photography workshop in Spain A cross-country photography adventure by bike

JARGON | FALL 2019 25

COMMUNITY IMPACT

PHOTOS BY NATHANIEL BAILEY, ’21 / TOP: At the 160th Portage County Randolph Fair, a demolition derby driver examines his car after it was pushed up and onto a concrete barrier during his heat on Aug. 21, 2018. ABOVE: After suffering a heart attack, Eva Rettig tells her husband Matthias to “go home and rest,” May 4, 2018, as her daughter Barbara (far left) and granddaughter Julianna visit her. RIGHT: Bill Thomson sits in his house on the Grayland Farm in Cynthiana, Kentucky, in June. The farm has been in their family since 1790.

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FEATURE

LEFT: Timothy Henry takes a short break as he works to replace his power steering pump in order to take his daughter, Alaina Henry, to the hospital. His girlfriend Heather noticed she had broken out in small red dots all over her body. BELOW: Abood tries to remember how to say “water-cooler� in English after his teacher, Hanadi Mujahed, asks. During some of his time in the United States, Abood attended school at the Yunus Emre Muslim Community Center, where he grew close to Hanadi. BOTTOM: Cowboys who had already completed their ride watch the final bull rider at the Ennis Rodeo in Ennis, Montana, on July 4, 2018.

JARGON | FALL 2019 27

ALUMNI NOTES

Alumni Notes

JON WILE, ’02, is VP/Content at American City Business Journals in Charlotte, N.C. He worked for seven years in design positions at The Washington Post before joining ACBJ in 2012. TONY BRIGGMIN LARICCIA, ’97 also joined ACBJ in February as Design Editor at the Puget Sound Business Journal. “Jon Wile dragged me out of Ohio,” Lariccia said.

MICHAEL FEDO, M.A., ’65, published his tenth book “Don’t Quit Your Day Job: The Adventures of a Midlist Author,” which is a memoir of his fivedecade career as a freelance writer of journalism, short stories, a novel and public radio essayist.

SAUL DANIELS, ’70, is the founder, publisher, editor of My Chatsworth, a hyper-local online news source for several communities in California’s San Fernando Valley. He also is a founding member of The Journalism Shop, a co-operative of former Los Angeles Times staffers. He worked at the LA Times from 1988-2006.

LAURA GORDON, ’87, is CEO of I-ACT for Children, a nonprofit that focuses on improving/ accelerating pediatric clinical trials.

JANICE HAIDET HISLE, ’86, has published “Submerged: Ryan Widmer, his drowned bride and the justice system.” She spent more than two decades as a daily newspaper reporter. Check it out at JANICEHISLE.com.

KEVIN NECESSARY, ’02, is an editorial cartoonist for WCPO TV Channel 9 in Cincinnati.

ANDY NETZEL, ’03, is VP, voice of the client, at KeyBank in Cleveland.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RYAN DUNN, ’17

2017 graduate snags Emmy for NHL finals coverage

Ryan Dunn, ’17, won his first Emmy in July for a special news show that captured the excitement Las Vegas felt during the Vegas Golden Knights’ historic NHL Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2018. The show also highlighted the bond the new team made with the city in the months following the October 1, 2017, mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip. “Winning an Emmy for a show I directed less than a year after I graduated from Kent State is something I never expected, and being recognized by The Academy for the small part I played in this moment in sports history is a truly remarkable feeling,” Dunn said. Dunn and his colleagues won in the News Special at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Pacific Southwest Chapter’s Regional Emmy Awards.

CHRIS BALDWIN, ’94, is founder and principal at True Digital Communications in Cleveland. His firm specializes in search engine optimization and marketing, digital public relations, email marketing, mobile and analytics.

CHERYL POWELL-FULLER, ’94, was promoted from metro editor to managing editor/news for the Akron Beacon Journal in March.

BRIAN WOOLEY, ’95, started in March as the intranet administrator, public relations, with Akron Children’s Hospital.

SHANI J. PACHECO, ’96, is a compliance analyst with SummaCare.

ELAINE YETZER SIMON, ’96, was recently promoted to senior managing editor at Questex Media Group.

ELLEN CLARKE, ’00, is deputy editor/print for the Tampa Bay Times.

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JENNIFER GAYLORD KRAMER, ’00, is senior content strategist at SOPREMA Inc.’s U.S. headquarters in Wadsworth, Ohio. SOPREMA offers commercial roofing, waterproofing, wall protection products and other services in 90 countries.

MIKE RASINSKI, ’01, was named Commander of the 58th Airlift Squadron at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, in June.

JONA ISON, ’02, is marketing and communications coordinator at Goodwill Industries of South Central Ohio.

MANDY JENKINS, ’02, M.A., ’04, is general manager for The Compass Experiment, which she said is “a joint venture between McClatchy and Google to find sustainable business models for local news by opening digital-only news sites in areas that are lacking local news sources.”

DARLA K. LANDERS, M.A., ’03, worked for the Daily Record (Wooster) from 1993 to 2000 and now teaches English, journalism and creative writing at Orrville High School in Orrville, Ohio. She recently self-published a novel under the pen name Renee Verite called “Living in a Dark House,” available on Amazon and Kindle.

BEN FISCHER, ’04, covers the NFL for Sports Business Journal, where he’s worked since 2015.

NICK GEHRING, ’04, was promoted to director of web services at eleventy marketing group in Akron.

COURTNEY (YOST) COLLINS, ’05, M.A., ’09, is a New Jerseybased freelance photographer/ videographer/editor. Her latest project is editing “Lee Fields” the film in preparation for submission to Sundance. She also owns NonLinear Knitting, an online blog and Etsy shop.

GRACE DOBUSH, ’05, is a freelance journalist based in Berlin, Germany, who has been contributing to Fortune.com’s European business coverage.

LEAH BOWERS FASSNACHT, ’05, was promoted to marketing manager at Prime Wellness of Pennsylvania.

LINDSAY GEBHART, ’05, is currently serving as the director of development for Sheltering Arms in New York City.

MICHELLE (PARK) LAZETTE, ’05, was promoted to senior writer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

PAT JARRETT, ’06, is filming a documentary for the National Council for the Traditional Arts this summer.

ALUMNI NOTES

MICAH MANUS, ’07, is promotions coordinator at Entercom in Cleveland, where he manages teams creating, organizing and executing events and contests, with clients ranging from The Cleveland Browns to Pepsi, and Budweiser.

KELLY MILLS, ’06, was promoted to assistant vice president and communications lead with PNC Financial Services. She joins KRISTEN STETAR-PILLITTERI, ‘04, who is vice president and senior communications lead at PNC Financial Services.

STEPHANIE PARK, ’08, is the managing art director, Ohio Magazine Custom Media at Great Lakes Publishing.

BETH RANKIN, ’08, joined The Denver Post as entertainment editor in July. She joins JMC grad ANNA STAVER, ‘12, who covers politics.

DOUG GULASY, ’10, started in May as a digital marketing writer for UPMC, an internationally recognized medical system based in Pittsburgh.

ADAM GRIFFITHS, ’10, is chief product officer at Foreign Policy in Washington, D.C., where he has worked for more than three years following six years at The Washington Post.

ERIC SNITIL, ’10, is the morning meteorologist at WSFA 12 News in Montgomery, Ala., where he has won Associated Press and Alabama Broadcaster’s Association awards.

JESSICA WHITE, ’13, was promoted to managing editor for Keller International Publishing, a trade magazine company based in New York City.

LAURA FONG, ‘11, M.A., ’13, is a lecturer in digital design at University of Waterloo in Stratford, Ontario, Canada.

LANCE LYSOWSKI, ’14, covers the NHL Buffalo Sabres for The Buffalo News.

JODEE (HAMMOND) JUAREZ, M.A., ’11, is an account manager at akhia communications and also serves as diversity chair of PRSA’s Akron Chapter. BEN BRUGLER, ’00, is president and CEO of akhia.

KAYLEE REMINGTON, ’11, is a crime reporter for Cleveland.com.

JEFF ST. CLAIR, M.A., ’12, is a senior reporter and radio host at WKSU in Kent, Ohio.

BRAD TANSEY, ’12, is senior analyst IS sales, marketing & growth for The J.M. Smucker Company. Before joining Smucker in 2016 he was a digital media and content manager for Dix Communications.

DANIEL MOORE, ’14, has moved to Washington, D.C., to become bureau chief for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette after five years working for the newspaper in Pittsburgh.

CASSIE NEIDEN, ’14, is director of marketing and communications at Firelands Scientific, a medical cannabis company in Huron, Ohio.

DAN RONAN, M.A., ’14, is associate news editor, print and multimedia, at Transport Topics in Washington, D.C., where he covers the business side of trucking and can be heard on SiriusXM Radio Channel 146 as host of Transport Topics Radio.

ANDREW ATKINS, ’18, joined the Naples (Fla.) Daily News as a features reporter.

LYDIA COUTRÉ, ’13, is a healthcare and nonprofit reporter at Crain’s Cleveland Business, where she works with RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY, ‘08, who covers manufacturing and higher education.

Obituary August (Augie) Quattrochi, ‘42 Jargon founder, Taylor winner AUGUST (AUGIE) QUATTROCHI died on Dec. 31, 2018, at age 98 after a life rich in accomplishments, including both public and military service as well as sustained engagement with his alma mater.

The Cleveland native made his mark early, founding Jargon while a Kent State student in the early 1940s. He joined the Air Force after graduation, serving as a public information officer in the U.S. Ninth Air Force in Europe during WWII. He was awarded a Bronze Star.

His career in public relations took off with a position at the Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau and then Western Reserve University. But he found his career home at General Electric in 1956, where he worked for GE Lighting as public affairs and communications specialist until retirement.

Quattrochi truly led a life of service, from the military to the Lyndhurst City Council and the city’s Civil Service Commission (for a combined decade)

to his legendary decades of support for the United Way. At GE, he was known as “Mr. United Way,” and he supported its campaigns after retirement.

Quattrochi stayed engaged at Kent State and JMC throughout his life.

• He won the School’s highest honor in 1965, the William D. Taylor Award recognizing distinguished alumni.

• He was President of the Kent State Alumni Association in 1965-1966, representing all university graduates.

• He continued strong support of Jargon over the years, contributing both financially and with the occasional story or note.

In keeping with his legacy, the family asked that contributions to JMC’s Jargon Fund be made in his memory, c/o Kent State University Foundation, 350 S. Lincoln St., Kent, Ohio 44242.

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FACULTY NOTES

Faculty News

Ewing, M. E., Remund, D., and Dargay, L. (2019). Developing a new generation of public relations leaders: Best practices of U.S. accredited and/or certified public relations undergraduate programs,” Journal of Public Relations Education 5(1).

Professor JAN LEACH is the 2019 recipient of the prestigious Dorothy Bowles Public Service Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). The award recognizes “an AEJMC member who has a sustained and significant public-service record that has helped build bridges between academics and professionals in mass communications either nationally or locally, and, been actively engaged within the association.” JMC colleague Professor CANDACE PERKINS BOWEN was the first winner of this award when it was announced in 2012.

Four JMC faculty were promoted to full professor, the highest university faculty rank: DANIELLE COOMBS, JAN LEACH, JACQUIE MARINO and STEFANIE MOORE. “These four women all have been wonderful teachers and scholars, serving as fine role models for both their students and their colleagues,” said JMC Interim Director Jeff Fruit. “They are recognized experts in their fields and have all had many years of service to the School, University and our professions. We look forward to their continued contributions as they join the senior faculty rank!”

JMC faculty TIM ROBERTS and STEPHANIE DANES SMITH were promoted to associate lecturer and associate professor, respectively.

Roberts, who teaches a variety of courses in the public relations program, has served in both JMC’s undergraduate and graduate coordinator roles during his years on the faculty. Smith teaches public relations, media advocacy and global communications courses in JMC and Communication Studies.

Assistant Professor DANA WHITE wrote, produced, edited and acted in the feature film “In The Orchard,” which won the grand prize, Best Feature Film, at the 2018 Culver City Film Festival in L.A. The film also swept major awards at the Beaufort International Film Festival in February, including Best Film, Best Actress (White), Best Director (Chris Knoblock) and Best Actor (Jonas Ball).

Ewing, M., and Lambert, C.A. “Listening In: Fostering online relationships to prevent and manage fake news crises.” International Public Relations Research Conference, Orlando, Florida. (March 2019).

Tang, T., & Cooper, R. (2019). Predictors of simultaneous media uses during the 2016 Rio Games. Journal of Sports Media, 13(2), 119-141.

DOI: 10.1353/jsm.2018.0011.

Idsvoog, K. The Drake Group – Gubernatorial Candidates & College Athletics; Eye on Ohio (Videos): https://vimeo.com/267614072 and https://vimeo.com/297687929.

PROFESSOR JAN LEACH Knight Chair and Professor MARK GOODMAN will serve as chair of AEJMC’s Scholastic Journalism Division for 2019-2020.

Professor TANG TANG, Ph.D., was selected as a 2019 Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellow. She also was elected chair of the Sport Communication Interest Group for the International Communication Association.

Selected faculty publications and presentations Coombs, D. S., Lambert, C.A., Cassilo, D., & Humphries, Z. (2019). Flag on the play: Colin Kaepernick and the protest paradigm.

Howard Journal of Communications. 1-20.

10.1080/10646175.2019.1567408.

Goodman, M. (March 2019). Free press and censorship: A complicated relationship. Quill and Scroll. http://fliphtml5.com/ronve/vggc

New faces in the crowd Teaching in JMC and the School of Communication Studies this year on a nontenure track appointment is KARISA BUTLERWALL. Wall earned her Ph.D. from University of Minnesota in American Studies with a certificate in Feminist and Critical Sexuality.

She completed two years as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at University of Washington Bothell in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences.

Teaching in JMC’s digital media production major this year on a non-tenure track appointment is CHRISTOPHER KNOBLOCK. Knoblock has a 30-year career in theater, film and television as an actor, director and director of photography. Included in his work portfolio are positions as director of feature films, including Director of “In the Orchard”, winner of a number of festival awards in 20182019. He has been director of photography in a wide range of television programming on the History Channel, National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel, among others.

Dilley earns top service award from outgoing President Beverly Warren President Beverly Warren surprised Director of Kent State Student Media, KEVIN DILLEY, in May with one of seven 2019 Presidential Awards of Distinction. Dilley, who is also an adjunct professor in JMC, was recognized for work in the areas of Students First and Regional Impact. “Over the past three years, this ‘Students First’ mindset has led to new levels of excellence resulting in the department and its partners receiving dozens of top national awards,” according to a KSU press release. PHOTO COURTESY OF KSU

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FACULTY NOTES

New Hire

Avnisan joins new CCI digital faculty team ABRAHAM AVNISAN is joining JMC this fall as a tenure-track assistant professor. He is an experimental writer and new media artist whose work is situated at the intersection of image, text and code.

Avnisan is an integral part of a newly assembled interdisciplinary faculty team in the College of Communication and Information (CCI), centered around the School of Digital Sciences (DS).

DS is an interdisciplinary, free-standing School that joined CCI in 2017. Because it is an entirely interdisciplinary program, Digital Sciences has no “home” faculty. This gave CCI the opportunity to build a new team of faculty for DS with academic homes in the College’s other four schools, according to CCI Dean AMY REYNOLDS. With Avnisan’s hire, four of the eight faculty that CCI will hire for joint appointments with DS are in place this fall. In addition to Avnisan, David E. Silva (Ph.D., Washington State University) and Mina Choi (post-doc fellow, University of Wisconsin) are new joint hires in the School of Communication Studies/DS. Last year, Professor TANG TANG (University of Akron) joined JMC as the first faculty member hired as part of the College’s DS cluster hiring initiative.

Tang, Avnisan, Silva and Choi will work with faculty and administrators across CCI to update curriculum and create new courses and programs that serve undergraduate and graduate students in a range of emerging areas.

“The newly hired faculty will rapidly enhance our ability to teach cutting-edge technology across the curricula,” said Dean Reynolds.

“Our new colleagues are also gifted scholars and creative artists who advance our research and creative activity efforts in CCI.” “We had hundreds of applicants for these positions,” Dean Reynolds added. “The high level of interest in and competition for these interdisciplinary, forward-looking positions is an indication that our joint-hiring approach is attractive to people who want to lead and not follow in the fast-changing environment in which we all now live.”

Avnisan already has established himself as one of those bridge-builders and boundaryspanners that the College sought for the new team. He creates mobile apps, new media installations and mixed reality performances as part of his creative agenda.

Avnisan earned an M.F.A. in Art and Technology Studies from the Art Institute of Chicago and most recently served as an artistin-residence at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus.

Avnisan has exhibited his work at The Henry Art Gallery in Seattle, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the Libraries at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, the Vild med ORD literary festival in Aarhus, Denmark, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Word Weekend event, among others.

“Kent State’s emphasis on collaboration, interdisciplinarity and community engaged learning make it the perfect place to foster my practice as both an artist and educator,” Avnisan said. “As a joint appointment in Digital Sciences and Journalism and Mass Communication, I look forward to using my expertise in emerging technologies and project-based learning to build interdisciplinary bridges within the College of Communication and Information, across Kent State University and beyond.”

ABRAHAM AVNISAN

“ Kent State’s emphasis on collaboration, interdisciplinarity and community engaged learning make it the perfect place to foster my practice as both an artist and educator.”

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