20-21 CI Connect magazine

Communication and Information THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY COLLEGE OF

CI CONNECT MAGAZINE

FALL 2021

CI SERVES THE COMMONWEALTH

FROM the Dean

COLLEGE GOALS GUIDE RETURN TO “NORMAL” FOR FALL 2021 Fall 2021 has seen a “return to normal” at the University of Kentucky. We teach nearly all undergraduate classes in person, we can gather in larger groups and our campus is teeming with students, faculty, staff alumni and visitors each day. Even behind masks, we greet each other face to face and cheer on the Cats at Kroger Field and in Rupp Arena.

But we are reminded daily that Fall 2021 is not Fall 2019. We have lost so much and so many and we struggle each day as we define the new normal in a changed world. Through it all, we have been guided by our 2020 College mission statement: “In the College of Communication and Information, we shape passions into professions. We launch critical and innovative thinkers, creators and doers. Come join us.”

In the height of the pandemic, we set goals to: • Build Community within the College and beyond; • Converge and Collaborate across disciplines to leverage our breadth; • Empower and Transform members of our community to foster their success; • Excel through our intellectual leadership; and • Engage and Partner with our constituents and peers.

Throughout this magazine, you’ll find articles highlighting progress toward each goal. We are particularly proud this year of engaging and partnering in service to the Commonwealth, from our time at the Kroger Field vaccination clinic to offering dual enrollment instruction in the state’s high schools to helping fight opioid addiction in our communities (see cover story, page 6).

As we move ahead in uncertain times, your support has helped us stay focused on our goals. We thank you for your continued friendship and your love of the College of Communication and Information.

Jennifer Greer, Dean

WHAT’S INSIDE 5

CI VOLUNTEERS AT VACCINE CLINIC CI faculty, staff and students work to vaccinate the community.

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CI SERVES THE COMMONWEALTH The impact of CI’s service extends far beyond the College’s walls and UK’s campus.

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LASTING LEGACIES CI lost three loyal supporters in 2020-2021, but their legacy will live on through their contributions to their fields and to the College.

ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS Our alumni are pretty amazing.

Here’s proof.

2020 HALL OF DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI Meet the six 2020 CI Inductees.

STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS CI students shine with awards, accolades and innovations.

GRADUATE STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS CI graduate students excel in and out of the classroom as they work toward advanced degrees.

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ALUMNI PROFILES Take a deeper dive with a few of our outstanding alumni.

RESEARCH Read about the work of our CI research faculty.

COLLEGE NEWS

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PHILANTHROPY AND THE IMPACT OF GIVING Philanthropy benefits more than just the recipient.

The latest news and happenings from the College.

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 3

FALL 2021

UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

CI SERVES THE Commonwealth

COLLEGE OF

COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION CI CONNECT MAGAZINE BOLD DENOTES CI ALUMNUS ITALICS DENOTE CURRENT CI STUDENT

DEAN: JENNIFER GREER EDITOR: CATHERINE HAYDEN DESIGNER: MAY MAY BARTON COPY EDITOR: AKHIRA UMAR CONTRIBUTORS ELIZABETH CHAPIN AL CROSS MAIA DUBIN RILEY FORT RYAN GIRVES CATHERINE HAYDEN MARIAH KENDELL MEG MILLS LILY NELLANS STEVE SHAFFER AKHIRA UMAR CHANEY WILLETT PHOTOGRAPHERS ARDEN BARNES, MICHAEL CLUBB, JENNIFER GREER, CATHERINE HAYDEN, SCOTT JOHNSON, DAVID STEPHENSON, UK PHOTO, JACK WEAVER, KENNESAW STATE UNIVERSITY, SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY

ON THE COVER

PHOTO BY JACK WEAVER 4 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

Top: CI students Aniya Hall, Mariah Kendell and Lauren Cain work the patient transport volunteer positions at the Kroger Field Vaccine Clinic on Saturday, April 10. Bottom: CI faculty and staff members work the check-in stations. L-R: Evan Thompson, Spencer Greenhalgh, Jessalyn Vallade and Brandi Frisby.

CI SERVES THE Commonwealth

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CI VACCINATES THE COMMONWEALTH

arly on the morning of Saturday, April 10, nearly 50 CI faculty, staff and students filled all the non-medical volunteer positions at the Kroger Field Vaccine Clinic as part of the record-setting day when 4.6 million doses were administered across the United States.

also coming together physically as a whole college for the first time in more than a year. It was a special day.”

CI Dean Jennifer Greer worked with UK Health Corps to organize CI Day at the clinic, placing students, staff and faculty in positions like registration, wayfinding, transporting patients and taking doses to immunization stations. Greer checked in volunteers and provided relief to those in other roles throughout the day.

“Our community has a real reason to be proud— the vaccine clinic at Kroger Field is a world-class operation, and it was truly awe-inspiring to see it from the volunteer side,” said Drew Lane, CI personnel officer. “I am so proud to work at UK, and I am especially proud to work in CI, where we live out our mission of service in everything we do.”

“Serving our community is central to everything we do at CI,” Greer said. “This opportunity was a way to do that while

Visit http://ukci.me/vaccine for the full story of CI Day at the vaccine clinic.

Prior to April 10, several of UK’s health science/medical colleges had volunteered at the vaccine clinic, but no other non-medical college had such a presence at the clinic.

Top left: Erin Hester provides check-in instructions to a patient at the vaccine clinic. Bottom left: Chike Anyaegbunam motions that he is is available to speak to the next patient at his check-in location. Right: CI student Camille Wright, a wayfinding volunteer at the clinic, works to keep lines moving by directing patients to open vaccine stations at Kroger Field.

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CI SERVES THE Commonwealth

SERVICE BEYOND OUR WALLS

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ervice is at the heart of everything we do in the College of Communication and Information. In fact, it’s written into our new 2020-2025 Strategic Plan, which lists our values of collaboration, creativity, curiosity, determination, equity, excellence and kindness. The last point, kindness, states, “Lead by example, champion others, serve your community.”

Our College has always served the community by educating students of all majors in our CIS classes, which fulfill broad UK Core communication and composition requirements, providing news and health resources for rural communities through the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, and bringing health literacy to the forefront with our biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, to name a few.

During the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, our College was more determined than ever to take our service even further — across campus, into the Commonwealth and beyond.

On the following pages, you will learn how CI continues to be an integral part of our community with features on: • IRJCI’s impact on rural communities across the state; • Our dual-credit high school instruction to allow students to start college with credit; • The Department of Communication’s work with the NIH HEALing Communities Study to reduce opioid overdose deaths by 40 percent; • ISC students who worked with an agricultural technology startup; • The continued efforts of the Bluegrass Debate Coalition to spread debate education across the state.

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Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Director Al Cross speaks to a group of Latin American journalists who visited Bardstown, Ky. in 2019.

Photo by Forrest Berkshire, The Kentucky Standard.

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CI SERVES THE Commonwealth

INSTITUTE PROVIDES JOURNALISM, RELIABLE HEALTH INFORMATION TO RURAL COMMUNITIES

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ith half a century of journalism experience, veteran political reporter turned professor Al Cross has dedicated his life to reporting on and serving his community.

Since 2004, much of that service has been through the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues.

Now in his 18th year as a faculty member, Cross remains the University of Kentucky’s sole extension professor outside of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. He is one of few extension professors of journalism, if not the only, in the United States.

Cross, a full professor, is also the director of the IRJCI, housed in the School of Journalism and Media. The Institute helps rural journalists, primarily in Appalachia but also nationwide, define the public agenda in their communities by localizing broader issues. The IRJCI also interprets rural issues for metropolitan journalists.

“I can’t overstate the value of the IRJCI and the impact it has on rural newspapers and rural journalists,” said Kentucky Press Association President Sharon Burton.

Burton, of Columbia, Ky., is the publisher of the Adair County Community Voice and The Farmer’s Pride, a statewide agricultural newspaper.

The Institute was co-founded in 2004 by Cross and his longtime friend and mentor, the late Al Smith (see tribute to Smith on page 44). In 2006, Smith, chair emeritus of the Institute’s advisory board, and Institute advisory board member Lois Mateus created the UK Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues Endowed Fund for Excellence to ensure the continuation of the Institute even after Cross’ retirement.

The fund provides support for rural journalism research, the Tall Grass Farm Foundation Graduate Fellowship, a professorship in Rural Journalism and Community Issues, and for conferences, workshops and meetings.

The IRJCI produces three publications serving audiences as targeted as Midway, Ky., and as broad as the nation. These publications are The Rural Blog, Kentucky Health News and the Midway Messenger.

These publications have been as active and crucial this year as any time in the Institute’s history with the rise of political and racial tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic, Cross said.

In 2004, just two weeks into his career shift from lifelong The Rural Blog, a publication from the IRJCI, is dedicated to providreporter to college professor, ing content for rural journalists, as well as journalists who cover rural issues and communities.

Cross started The Rural Blog.

Hampered by socioeconomic conditions and population decline, local newspapers in Central Appalachia had been weakened. Cross saw the need for “I’ve attended seminars; I’ve picked up the phone because reliable journalism that provided leadership on local issues.

I needed sound advice from a trusted friend; I’ve learned of Shortly after its inception, Cross broadened the reach of The news topics of interest to my community — all through the Rural Blog to rural journalists across the nation who were IRJCI,” Burton said. “ When rural journalists are invited to feeling the same pressures as those in Eastern Kentucky. the table, it reminds us that what we do is just as important as providing national or state news coverage.”

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CONTINUES ON PAGE 9

Al Cross and the IRJCI got a shoutout from Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear during a coronavirus vaccine press conference on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021

Cross highlighted just how important Kentucky newspapers are by compiling their reports on the coronavirus in a special project for the Kentucky Press Association. The report was cited nationally and republished in newspapers across the state to highlight “I can’t overstate the the essential public service value of the IRJCI local newspapers provide deand the impact it spite the tough obstacles they has on rural continue to face.

newspapers and rural journalists.”

SHARON BURTON

“In perhaps the most challenging year for newspapers in their history, the community papers of Kentucky came through for Kentuckians,”

Cross wrote in the report.

Over the years, The Rural Blog has declared itself as “a digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and

about rural America.” As the political turmoil of the 2020 election spread, the blog did not shy away from the subject. Cross ensures that the blog takes no political position but also pulls no punches. As a long-time political reporter himself, Cross understood the importance of accurate information in a sea of political misinformation and disinformation.

Heather Chapman, chief author of The Rural Blog, said the 19 percent of Americans living in rural America have a disproportionate effect on national politics because of the way U.S. senators are elected. The blog aims to help keep those residents informed about the rest of the nation while also informing the nation about rural areas by reporting on policy that affects rural communities.

The Institute’s second publication, Kentucky Health News, has been an invaluable source of information to the entire state throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This publication focuses on health issues in a state that is one of the nation’s CONTINUES ON PAGE 10

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CI SERVES THE Commonwealth CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 least healthy.

Cross said his research showed that health was neglected in local news coverage and he felt a “personal obligation” to change that.

With funding from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, Cross began publishing Kentucky Health News in 2011. Though it first focused on personal health, Kentucky Health News evolved into covering public policy while still covering personal health.

From March 7, 2020, to April 4, 2021, Kentucky Health News posted a coronavirus-related article every day. Many articles elaborated on Gov. Andy Beshear’s daily briefings, but other articles broke down health numbers for public knowledge.

“What we’re doing here is helping a state with poor health status improve that status, and to deal with the public policy questions that surround health, and now to deal with a pandemic,” Cross said.

Kentucky Health News’ sole reporter, Melissa Patrick, said the service has worked hard to compile national and local COVID-19 news to keep Kentuckians informed.

While The Rural Blog and Kentucky Health News provide political and pandemic coverage to an audience numbering

millions, the IRJCI’s third publication focuses on a single zip code.

Started in 2008, the Midway Messenger was originally an experiment Cross devised to help students get real-world experience, to give Midway a local news outlet again and to encourage rural newspapers to embrace “Our overall aim is digital platforms. Cross said to help life in rural good students in his Community America and rural Journalism course (JOU 485, Kentucky and we previously JOU 499) and a newsoperate under the worthy town have made the Messenger blog and its twice-yearly proposition that print edition successful. rural Americans “It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Midway Messenger to our community,” said Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift. “While we get good coverage from the Woodford Sun, the Midway Messenger has become our paper of record.”

deserve good journalism as much as anybody else in America.”

AL CROSS

Having led the IRJCI from its inception, Cross has ensured a solid foundation for the benefit of rural communities across the nation and for a healthier Kentucky. Although he has started to reduce his numerous responsibilities in his phased retirement this academic year, his effect on rural journalism through the IRJCI will be his legacy.

“Our overall aim is to help life in rural America and rural Kentucky,” Cross said, “and we operate under the proposition that rural Americans deserve good journalism as much as anybody else in America.” • Visit http://ukci.me/irjci to read the full story.

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SIS GIVES HIGH SCHOOLERS HEAD START

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n an aim to help bridge the gap between Kentucky high school instruction and college readiness, two School of Information Science faculty members are lending their expertise to the University of Kentucky Next Generation Dual Credit Network.

For the 2020-2021 school year, SIS Senior Lecturer Joe Martin taught two of three College of Communication and Information dual credit courses: Composition and Communication 1 and 2 (CIS 110 and 111), respectively. In Spring 2021, Troy Cooper, assistant professor and director of undergraduate studies for the School, taught the third CI course: Informational Literacy and Critical Thinking (ICT 200).

“We try to emulate the college classroom as best as possible,” Cooper said.

“We’re trying to give the high school students a taste of what college would be like.”

In early 2020, the UK Center for Next Generation Leadership in the College of Education started its dual credit program for select Kentucky high schools participating in the UK Next Generation Leadership Academy. While the Spring 2020 semester saw four pilot schools in the program, the Fall 2021 semester has a total of 14 schools from around the state.

The dual credit program allows high school juniors and seniors, called UK Next Generation Scholars, to take UK

SIS Senior Lecturer Joe Martin prepares to teach his CIS 110 dual credit course, which allows Kentucky high school students in the UK Next Generation Scholars program the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school.

courses. Many of the courses fulfill UK Core requirements and all are taught

by UK instructors via interactive video.

Not only does this allow students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously, but it also gives them the experience of a UK classroom. High school teachers partner with the UK instructors for the courses, allowing them to learn how to better transition their students from secondary to higher education.

Martin finds the mission of the dual credit program compelling because it reaches communities who are underserved by higher education. For the past two semesters, he worked with Paris High School and Somerset High School. Though he has taught CIS 110 and 111 for seven years, this was his first time teaching high schoolers and collaborating with high school teachers.

“One of the cool things about these students is that they’re with their peers, many of whom they’ve known for several years, and so it’s a very different dynamic versus a college classroom of first-years where many of them aren’t even talking to each other,” Martin said.

“In these cases, they’re at ease because, even though they’re taking a college class with an instructor, they know their high school teacher, they know their friends, and I think that creates a nice comfort level for them.”

Cooper synchronously taught 10 students from Marshall County High School and Fleming County High School in Spring 2021. Though teaching high schoolers off-campus is a “different animal” from teaching college students on-campus, he said the academic performance was similar. In fact, he said CONTINUES ON PAGE 12

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CI SERVES THE Commonwealth CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 some of the high school assignments submitted were better than the general freshman submissions.

Despite conflicts with differing school schedules, COVID-19 responses and socioeconomic factors that have made the dual-credit program a bit challenging at times, they have not dampened the effectiveness of the program and its impact.

Amy Mason, an English teacher from Paris High School, had one of the biggest sections for the CIS course with 26 students in Fall 2020 and 24 students in Spring 2021. She believes that while this experience was an “eye opener” for many of her students, they have adapted well thanks to Martin, who she says went above and beyond. The experience went so well that she hopes to co-teach with him again in the future.

Brian Blankenship, headmaster and English teacher of the Carnegie Academy at Somerset High School, also worked with Mason and Martin.

“Our students were very excited to be able to take dual credit from the flagship university in our state,” Blankenship said. “The participation speaks for itself. Roughly 8 percent of our students are taking classes via UK, and this is during a pandemic and multiple school models. In south central Kentucky, many students do not have access to large universities, especially one that is so supported by our citizens. UK Next Gen provides hope and opportunity to students and parents who dream for more.”

Blankenship’s student Lucy McArthur said taking college-level communication courses has not been easy, but it has been rewarding.

“I am now fully confident that I want to attend college and continue on my path of writing and speaking,” McArthur said. “Thanks to the patient, helpful and thoughtful education from my instructors, UK’s high academic standards and the many life lessons and values I was taught along the way through this dual credit course, I can say with certainty that I have grown on my academic path to college.”

While one of Martin’s main goals is to give his students a good impression of UK, he hopes that the connections he has built with his students help them realize their potential.

“There’s a certain group of students who probably the 12 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

main thing they’ll get out of this is college credit,” Martin said. “But I think there’s another group of students who probably the most significant thing they’ll get out of it is just a perception that college is attainable for them — cognitively, mentally, academically — and that’s a really valuable thing. I think that’s kind of the driving force behind this, to say, ‘You can do college. This is your chance to give it a try and hopefully realize you can.’” •

COM FACULTY WORK WITH NIH STUDY TO REDUCE OPIOID OVERDOSE DEATHS

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wo Department of Communication faculty members are leading the health communication campaign for the National Institute of Health’s multi-million-dollar multistate HEALing Communities Study in an effort to reduce opioid overdose deaths by 40 percent in three years.

In 2019, Professor Donald Helme joined the HEAL team in its grant-writing phase, helping to secure the University of “In many ways, Kentucky’s largest grant ever of UK and the $87 million and establish a uniDepartment of fied media campaign. Six months into the study, Assistant Professor Communication Nicky Lewis was brought on to have written the assist with the evaluation of the book on health effectiveness of the campaign and communicaiton to assist with the design and imcampaigns.” plementation of the campaign for Kentucky.

Donald Helme Helme believes his background in substance use prevention and healthy lifestyles promotion dovetailed into solutions for opioid use disorder. His expertise was needed because Professor Sharon Walsh, the principal investigator of UK’s HEAL grant, recognized that building evidence-based interventions was not enough if people were not informed about them.

“You can put together and build these great interventions, CONTINUES ON PAGE 13

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 these great programs in communities that are helping to reduce accidental opioid overdose, and you can put together these great programs that promote evidence-based interventions for helping people enter into remission and recovery from opioid use disorder, but if nobody knows they’re there, you’re not going to get a whole lot of traffic,” Helme said.

The study has four sites: Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts and New York, but Kentucky was the only one to include a health communication campaign in its original plans, staff and budget. Seeing this, the National Institute on Drug Abuse called for the other three sites to revise their plans to also include a health communication campaign. In fact, NIDA called for a harmonized media campaign across the study’s four sites, and Helme was asked to co-lead the national work group overseeing this effort in addition to overseeing Kentucky’s campaigns.

“In many ways, UK and the Department of Communication have written the book on health communication campaigns,” Helme said. “To have that not just recognized as important but then required of the other three sites felt pretty good.”

The national work group then came up with a national strategy for the campaign that would allow each site some flexibility to cater to their own unique demographics. Each site will cycle through five campaigns for a period of months: The first campaign encourages people, including those not affected by opioid use disorder, to carry naloxone

The HEALing Communities placed billboards around the state, including this one in Frankfort, as part of the campaign to reduce opioid overdose deaths.

(NARCAN® nasal spray), a safe prescription drug that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses.

The second campaign aims at reducing stigma toward people with opioid use disorder.

The third campaign encourages people with opioid use disorder to seek out medications for opioid use disorder like buprenorphine, methadone and naltrexone to assist in their recovery.

The fourth campaign encourages people with opioid use disorder to strategize and overcome barriers to stay in treatment once they have started.

Finally, the fifth campaign allows each site to revisit any campaign they deem desirable for their community.

Lewis assists with campaign implementation and oversight in the 16 Kentucky counties working with the study: Bourbon, Boyd, Boyle, Campbell, Carter, Clark, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Greenup, Kenton, Knox, Jefferson, Jessamine, Madison and Mason.

The campaigns have many components, ranging from community

outreach to working with treatment providers and treatment centers to better inform their campaign materials.

Though each campaign has a different focus, they all have the common goal of trying to persuade people to personally connect with the message of changing their attitudes and behaviors toward opioid use disorder. One of the most effective ways the campaign is doing this, Lewis believes, is through the personal testimonies of community members.

“What I’ve learned with this project is that everything needs to be scientifically correct,” Lewis said. “You need to have the data, you need to have the correct statistics, but we’re trying to bring the story into it, which is more of the unique contribution that communication researchers can bring to the table that you may not get from a pharmacist or a clinician or a medical doctor. It’s just the importance of storytelling.”

Drawing on her PhD training as a mass communication researcher and CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

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CI SERVES THE Commonwealth CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13 her professional experience as a sports and entertainment media producer, Lewis specializes in analyzing how people identify with and process media messages. When applied to the HCS, this means using local faces in the campaigns, whether that be a first responder who has been called to the scene of an opioid overdose or an individual recovering from opioid use disorder. These first-hand testimonies demonstrate the extent of the opioid epidemic.

“When you make opioid use disorder visible like that, the people who are volunteering, they’re the bravest people in the world to put themselves out there like that, to make themselves visible,” Lewis said. “For the most part, what we’re seeing for those that have volunteered, they’re at a point where they’re ready to share their journey with others who need help. I think that’s crucial and just such a wonderful contribution that they’re willing to put themselves out there to potentially help other people.”

On Aug. 24, 2021, Helme and Lewis presented “Communication Campaigns: Lessons Learned from Rural and Urban Communities” at the CDC’s 2021 Virtual National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media. The 90-minute session focused on lessons learned and strategies created during the first two years of the HCS projects in Kentucky, Ohio, New York and Massachusetts with representatives from each site highlighting their campaign work.

Through their use of informed and personable media messages, Helme and Lewis hope to not only meet the goal of the study to reduce opioid overdose deaths but also combat

Part of the work Helme and Lewis do with the HEALing Communities campaign includes advertisements on the inside and outside of LexTran busses.

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misinformation and stigmatization of opioid use disorder and evidence-based treatment. These two communication experts want people to know that opioid use disorder is common, more common than people may think, but it is surmountable, and it can be healed, one community at a time. • HEALing Communities Study’s national efforts: https://healingcommunitiesstudy.org Kentucky’s HCS efforts: https://uky.edu/healingstudy Video Testimonials: www.youtube.com/c/HEALingCommunitiesStudy

STUDENTS ASSIST IN APPHARVEST LAUNCH

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s part of a course project, one integrated strategic communication class took on the task of creating a promotion plan for the startup agriculture technology company AppHarvest.

During the Spring 2021 semester, Beth Barnes, professor and director of undergraduate studies for the ISC Department, arranged for her Sales Promotion and Sponsorship class (ISC 551) to take on AppHarvest as a client. AppHarvest, founded by University of Kentucky alumnus Jonathan Webb, is an applied technology company building some of the world’s largest indoor farms in Appalachia.

“I really like working with real clients in general, but particularly with sales promotion because I think it just makes the concepts much clearer to students,” Barnes said, adding that she was excited to work with AppHarvest specifically.

“I’ve been reading about their commitment to Appalachia, all the outreach work they’re doing, the job creation. All of that is just such a great story.”

AppHarvest is a publicly listed public benefit corporation and a Certified B Corp., meaning it meets high standards for sustainability and collective good. Its facilities use only recycled rainwater, resulting in up to 90 percent less water usage than traditional agriculture and zero agricultural runoff. The indoor farms also yield climate-resilient, chemical pesticide-free, year-round food supplies that are expected to produce 30 times more food per acre than traditional farming. The controlled environment nets less food spoilage, and the facilities’ glass roofs and LED lights reduce energy CONTINUES ON PAGE 15

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 consumption by nearly 20 percent. The Appalachian location of the facilities is also within a day’s drive of 70 percent of the U.S. population, helping to reduce diesel transportation use by up to 80 percent.

By the end of 2022, AppHarvest is projected to have five facilities, nearly half of its 2025 goal of 12 facilities. The flagship 2.76-million square feet (about 63-acre) Morehead farm grows tomatoes. The 60-acre Richmond farm and 15acre Berea farm, expected to finish construction in late 2022, will grow vine crops and leafy greens, respectively. The new 30-acre Somerset farm and 15-acre Morehead farm will grow berries and leafy greens, respectively. Currently AppHarvest tomatoes are the only product in the marketplace.

Along with providing products, AppHarvest also provides resources. The company has invested over $1 billion to create hundreds of sustainable, skilled jobs with starting pay 41 percent higher than comparable jobs in Kentucky. Employees also are provided 100 percent company-paid medical, dental and life insurance options in addition to retirement plans with a company match and company shares. AppHarvest has also invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into partnerships with education institutions to teach the younger generation how to grow crops.

AppHarvest’s Head of Strategy, Dave Nichols, worked directly with the ISC students, providing them preliminary information, answering their questions during the semester and offering constructive post-presentation feedback. At the beginning of the semester, he briefed the class on AppHarvest’s mission, giving them everything they needed to know to start their own research. From there, it was the students’ turn to put in the work.

Students were divided into five groups to reflect the different target audiences: • End user consumers group, focused on how to get that audience to buy AppHarvest tomatoes in stores.

• Fast casual restaurants group, focused on how to persuade that audience to include AppHarvest tomatoes in their menu items.

• Grocery stores group, focused on how to increase distribution to that audience and increase presence in stores.

• Food service group, focused on how to get that audi-

As part of the class project, ISC 551 students developed social media posts that AppHarvest could use in their campaign to build awareness of their products.

ence to use AppHarvest tomatoes in their operations.

• Influencers group, focused on how to get that audience to promote AppHarvest to their followers.

The project was also broken down into three phases: conducting secondary research, developing a buyer persona and creating sales promotion ideas. While researching, the students learned more about each of their target audiences, like who they buy from, why they might choose the competition over AppHarvest and what the competition does to promote its tomatoes. Students then put themselves in their target audience’s shoes to understand what they want from tomatoes and what problems could be solved by buying AppHarvest tomatoes. In this second phase, students also examine their target audience’s knowledge and attitude toward AppHarvest and set objectives that they think sales promotion could help accomplish.

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CI SERVES THE Commonwealth CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15 Then ISC senior Thomas Valvo, part of the end user consumers group, said they chose to narrow their research to millennial mothers. By zeroing in on this market, the students could strategize how AppHarvest tomatoes fit into millennial mothers’ cooking habits and health trends.

The final part of the project required students to create two sales promotion ideas, one being a price reduction and the other being a value added. Students not only had to come up with creative concepts, but they also had to estimate their cost, create a timeline for the sales promotion releases and design an evaluation plan for AppHarvest to measure the effectiveness of the promotions.

Then ISC senior Aliyah Austin, part of the grocery store group, compared her AppHarvest experience to the typical ISC experience with well-established brands.

“Since they are a new company, we were able to be as creative as we wanted to be because they are looking for anything new,” Austin said. “Also, it was a challenge because produce is a hard product to market since it is such a saturated market. We had to think beyond what has already been done.”

By the end of the semester, the students had come up with inventive sales promotions that would boost awareness of AppHarvest’s mission and produce, build customer prefer-

ISC 551 students also created signage and table tents that restaurants could display to promote their usage of AppHarvest produce.

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ence for AppHarvest over other competition and reinforce positive perceptions of AppHarvest and its products. Some of the promotions students came up with included guided tours of the indoor farming facilities, AppHarvest swag, tomato carrying cases and table tents to display in restaurants.

“To me, it was clear from all of the presentations how cool the students thought AppHarvest was as a company, whether they themselves were people who would be buying tomatoes or not,” Barnes said. “They were so taken by just sort of the overall model that AppHarvest is following, and I think that really came through in their presentations and I think that was really nice for AppHarvest to hear.”

Although AppHarvest has no plans at the moment to implement the students’ work, Barnes and Nichols both agreed that their work served as a great talking point for the company.

“The students did a fantastic job,” Nichols said. “They each brought good insights and perspective to the conversation. I was particularly impressed by the research into social media and its importance for direct-to-consumer outreach. This class project gave us great insight into how students and their peers — and, of course, consumers — view the market and companies focused on sustainability in particular.”

This project allowed the students to truly grasp the important role of sales promotion while also giving AppHarvest a fresh perspective and amplified presence on campus.

Nichols said that working with the College of Communication and Information, in addition to having UK interns, has helped to raise awareness of AppHarvest’s mission, its employment opportunities, its contributions to the local economy and more. Despite her students’ projects focusing on just a small portion of AppHarvest’s overall operations, Barnes knows just how valuable that real-world experience is. Luckily for Barnes and AppHarvest, that experience was as positive as it was productive.

“One thing I truly love about ISC classes is the opportunity to work for real clients and on projects that we could actually work on in the professional world after graduation,” then ISC junior Jeremy Middleton said. “Working with AppHarvest was an experience I’ll never forget, and I’ll use what I learned throughout my career.” •

Kentucky Intercollegiate Debate members work to expand debate education with elementary, middle and high school students across the state as part of the new Bluegrass Debate Coalition.

KENTUCKY DEBATE LAUNCHES K-12 OUTREACH PROGRAM

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here is no debate: Competitive debate offers students, schools and communities numerous benefits. That’s why the Bluegrass Debate Coalition is working to make competitive debate more accessible to elementary, middle and high school students across Kentucky.

those who participate in debate have a higher high school graduation rate and are more likely to attend college.

Along with academics, debate prepares students to be active leaders in their communities. Recent debate topics have covered Medicare for All, nuclear weapons, space exploration and urbanization. Debate teaches students to effectively research issues and advocate for the causes they care about.

Founded in 2020, the BDC is an initiative of the University of Kentucky’s Intercollegiate Debate Team, housed within the College of Communication and Information. Supported

by UK’s national champion collegiate debate team, the BDC uses digital debate as a tool to help grow the number of debaters and debate programs in the state.

Perhaps more so than any other extracurricular activity, debate has succeeded in making the pandemic-induced jump to the digital sphere. As in-person school and activities return, many debate tournaments will also return to their pre-pandemic formats. Yet, digital debate — as an opportunity for students rather than a public health necessity — will remain. Digital debate is the perfect springboard into future virtual and in-person competitions. It’s how students, parents, teachers turned coaches and their schools get hooked on debate.

“It has never been more important that our country’s young people are civically engaged,” founding BDC Director Lily Nellans said. “No matter who you are, the skills learned in debate serve you for the rest of your life — skills like critical thinking, media literacy, persuasive writing, argumentation and public speaking.”

The BDC offers free after-school and summer debate classes for students, as well as training for teachers and new debate coaches. It also helps students attend low-cost digital tournaments that allow young people from all corners of the state to connect. In particular, the BDC specializes in helping students and schools who aren’t familiar with debate or don’t

A 10-year study of Chicago Public Schools found that debaters were three times more likely to graduate high school than their peers. Debate students also demonstrate college-readiness in English, reading, math and science at higher rates than non-debaters. Among high-risk students,

have many resources thrive in competitive debate.

The work of the new BDC, even during a pandemic, has allowed the number of Kentucky K-12 students trying their hand at debate to grow. The BDC hopes to carry this momentum into the 2021-2022 school year and beyond. •

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STUDENT highlights

WELCOME CLASS OF 2025!

The smiling faces you see here are our incoming first-year students in the College of Communication and Information. We were able to welcome our new students in person for the first time since 2019, and we did it in style with a drone photo courtesy of Assistant Professor David Stephenson in our School of Journalism and Media.

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STUDENT highlights

AD TEAM PLACES FIFTH IN THE NATION

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or the second time in recent University of Kentucky history, integrated strategic communication students in the National Student Advertising Competition team have made it to the national finals.

The 2020-2021 team ended its season with a fifth-place finish in the nation with a presentation and plans book for 2021 NSAC client Tinder, the world’s most popular dating app.

The NSAC provides college students from across the United States the opportunity to create a comprehensive strategic marketing/advertising/media campaign for a corporate client, offering real-world experience that students can earn while still in the classroom.

Each client provides an assignment or case study outlining the history of its product and a current challenge.

The case study reflects a real-world marketing challenge the student teams must research and then develop and test solutions. Student teams create a presentation and plans book and then “pitch” their solutions to a panel of judges, from the district to the national level.

The 2020-2021 team, led by ISC Associate Professor Adriane Grumbein, won the District Five competition in April 2021. District Five encompasses American Advertising Federation college chapters in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia.

This year was the 10th time a UK team won the Fifth District competition.

Following the District Five win, the team moved on to the semifinal round in May, where it competed against 17 other district winners around the nation.

The top eight teams from semifinal competition were invited to the national finals, held virtually on June 3.

This year was the UK team’s best finish ever. The team also won the AdMall by SalesFuel Best Research Award, given to the national finalist team deemed to have demonstrated the best marketing research in their presentation and plans book.

“Proud does not feel like a big enough word for how I feel about this team and their accomplishments,” Grumbein said.

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Members of the 2020-2021 ISC NSAC team with their trophy after winning the Fifth District competition. The team placed fifth in the nation, UK’s highest finish ever.

“This remarkable group of students exceeded every goal I set for them. They rose to every challenge. They worked late nights and early mornings. They did in-depth research that wowed the judges. They did beautiful creative that brought their insights to life. And, they did it all with passion, camaraderie and joy. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with this team. In a year unlike any other, this team’s resilience, creativity and talent reminds me that our profession has nothing to fear. Their future is fire.”

May 2021 graduate and two-year NSAC team member Kendall Boron recapped the team’s unprecedented year saying, “The team supported one another and played up to everyone’s strengths. It was the most rewarding experience, not just taking fifth in the nation but also the friendships that followed. There is some crazy talent on this team, and we were happy to set the bar high for next year.”

The 2020-2021 NSAC team members were ISC students Alyiah Austin, Kendall Boron, Nia Brown, Addison Cave, Grayson Dampier, Katelyn Dougherty, Emily Fay, Peyton Fike, Annie Gillenwater, Haley Heisler, Jeremy Middleton, Zachary Neighbors, Michael Noble, Chaney Willett and Olivia Zidzik. •

STUDENTS DISCOVER $100 SOLUTIONS FOR LOCAL NONPROFITS

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llyson DeVito, senior lecturer in the School of Information Science, tasked more than 50 students in her CIS 300: Strategic Business Communication classes with finding a solution to a local nonprofit’s problem. The catch?

They only had $100 to make it happen.

Students presented their final projects via Zoom to the nonprofit community partners and the $100 Solution Board of Directors. Each presentation outlined the background of the organization, a problem and how each team would utilize their $100 to solve it.

DeVito partnered with The $100 Solution, a nonprofit organization that works toward making a sustainable impact around the world. Students are provided with $100 and five guiding principles (partnership, reciprocity, sustainability, capacity building and reflection) to come up with their solution.

“This project really opened my eyes to how nonprofits work and showed me how $100 can be spent in various ways,” said Maddie Yaden, an accounting major. “I’m used to maximizing revenue, and during this project I was able to see that play out in a real-life situation.”

Student teams partnered with nonprofit organizations in the Lexington area. They conducted Zoom meetings with the organization to explore their history, what they do, who they serve, their needs, how the pandemic has affected them and more.

Students served 10 local organizations: Girls on the Run, The Nathaniel Mission, The Ronald McDonald House, The Refuge Clinic, TOPSoccer, Allegro Dance Project, Ashland Terrace Senior Living Community for Women, International Book Project, Urban Impact and Step by Step.

“We know many people and organizations have faced difficulties during the past year because of the pandemic, and the goal of The $100 Solution organization is to make a sustainable difference by improving some aspect or solving a problem,” DeVito said.

Yaden’s team partnered with the Allegro Dance Project, a nonprofit contemporary dance company that provides children with special needs the opportunity to take dance classes.

“As a small, still relatively new nonprofit organization, $100 is a big help to our modest advertising budget — and could have a significant long term impact,” said Jeana Klevene, director and founder of Allegro Dance Project. “This project has provided valuable practical learning experience for students and encouraged partnership and philanthropy with the nonprofits in their community.” • Visit http://ukci.me/100solution to read the full story.

DeVito also coordinates and teaches CIS 112, an accelerated composition and communication course, where she introduced the $100 Solution project in 2017. This is the first year the project has been introduced into the CIS 300 curriculum.

“Since the team project is a major assignment in the course, I had the idea to introduce The $100 Solution project because I thought business students would enjoy working with these organizations, learning about them and some of the issues they face and then figuring out how to solve a problem using $100,” DeVito said.

Allegro Dance Project members performed outside at the Moondance Amphitheater during the 2020-2021 season.

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KERNEL PHOTOGRAPHERS TAKE TOP HONORS AT KNPA AWARDS

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he Kentucky Kernel’s 2020-2021 managing editor and photographer Michael Clubb was named Kentucky’s Sports Photographer of the Year and Runner-up Student Photographer of the Year at the annual Kentucky News Photographer Association meeting in February 2021.

In being named Kentucky Sports Photographer of the Year, Clubb’s portfolio of 10 images taken during 2020 was judged against professional photographers, even though he is still a student. This was the first year that student entries were allowed to compete in what has traditionally been a “professional” category, making the win even more meaningful. Clubb’s entry bested photographers from the Courier Journal, the Herald-Leader, University of Kentucky Athletics and other professional outlets.

“It always feels great to receive recognition for your hard work, and the fact that I won sports photographer of the year against students and professionals makes it even more special,” Clubb said.

Clubb also won first place awards in

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the news picture story, the sport news and general news categories. Additionally, he swept the sports action category, earning first, second and third place.

“I wouldn’t have made anywhere close the amount of progress I’ve made when it comes to my photography without the help and support of so many, especially from the Kernel,” Clubb said. “David Stephenson especially, the Kernel’s photo advisor and a UK professor, has always been there to help and teach me and push me to my potential.”

Stephenson called Clubb “incredibly

talented.”

“I’m excited for him that he is recognized at this level for his talent and hard work,” Stephenson said. “We are lucky to have him at the Kernel.”

Other students recognized at the KNPA contest were: Arden Barnes (JOU, 2020): honorable mention, general news and sports feature categories.

Jordan Prather (JOU, 2020): second and third place, sports action category; second place, week’s work category (various photographs taken in one week). •

Shown above are images by the 2020-2021 Kentucky Kernel managing editor and photographer Michael Clubb that helped him earn KNPA sports photographer of the year and runner-up student photographer of the year.

UK EARNS HIGHEST FINISH IN HEARST AWARDS

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chool of Journalism and Media students ranked 5th in the nation in photography and 10th overall in the Hearst Intercollegiate Journalism Awards, their strongest finish in the School’s history.

The University of Kentucky bested its previous high of 7th in Intercollegiate Photojournalism, and the 10th place overall is the highest in school history.

“To be recognized as among the best in the country is a fantastic accomplishment for our student photographers,” said David Stephenson, Kentucky Kernel photojournalism advisor. “I’m so proud of their hard work and dedication to the stories they produced for our student publications, especially during last year’s exhausting and challenging circumstances.”

PHOTO BY ARDEN BARNES

Contributing to the overall photojournalism finish were Kentucky Kernel photographers Arden Barnes and Michael Clubb, who won individual Hearst Awards with portfolios containing sports, news and feature photographs published in the student newspaper and the KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion magazine. Former Kernel editors-in-chief Natalie Parks and Bailey Vandiver both had top five individual writing awards.

Finally, Akhira Umar, the former lifestyle editor for KRNL, placed in the top 20 in multimedia for her work.

“I think the students did phenomenal work in very challenging times,” Student Media Advisor Ryan Craig said.

“I’m glad others across the country are seeing what a great opportunity UK gives potential journalists and photojournalists and that we have some of the best student newsrooms in the nation.”

Associate Professor Scoobie Ryan, who coordinates entries, said the Hearst Awards are called the “Pulitzers of college journalism.” Only about 105 accredited journalism programs nationally may enter the competitions.

“Our students are competing with the best of the best,” Ryan said. “And then, to have our students put our program in the Top 10 overall, that’s really a tribute to them, to the Kernel and its fine advisors and to our faculty.”

The Hearst program holds yearlong competitions in writing, photojournalism, audio, television and multimedia

PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLUBB for journalism undergraduates across the country. The points accumulated in monthly student competitions help determine the 2020-2021 annual competition winners.

“From their first introductory class to their capstone multimedia course and their internship experiences, we prepare our UK students to be top-level student journalism practitioners, thinkers and creators,” said Associate Professor Kakie Urch. “This Hearst Top 10 overall and Photojournalism Top 5 and their career success underscores that.” • COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 23

STUDENT highlights

FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

About four in 10 Americans have listened to podcasts in the past month, Edison Research and Triton Digital surveys have found. College of Communication and Information students are ensuring even more choices for podcast listeners, launching several new shows recently.

CI STUDENT-RUN PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS CAMPUS VOICES

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Bowman’s Friends,” launched in March 2021, was created to connect and inform students of issues, important deadlines and ways to get involved on campus. Hosted by CI students, the goal of the podcast was to amplify student voices by including conversations with leaders on campus issues and culture.

an episode where we discussed the ways in which COVID-19 has affected our lives as college students.”

New episodes of “Bowman’s Friends,” with 2021-2022 hosts Brandon Brown (journalism senior) and Spencer Neitcher (journalism senior), are live every Tuesday and Friday. To stay up to date on podcast information, follow @bowmansfriends on Instagram. •

Original hosts for 2020-2021 included Rana Mitchell (MAS, 2021), Samantha Valentino (journalism senior), Gillian Stawiszynski (journalism senior) and Neha Yousuf (JOU, 2021). Topics included talks with the MoneyCATS team on financial literacy, with BOOK-ish organization leaders, and with campus leaders about UK’s new Cornerstone building.

“We also have some episodes with just the four hosts, discussing various topics from the students’ perspective,” Valentino said. “We recently recorded

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KRNL PODCAST EXPANDS PAST UK AND FASHION

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Editor Lauren Suchanek (ISC, WRD, 2021) in Spring 2021.

Courtney and Porter were the pioneers of the podcast, taking on the role to expand KRNL to different platforms and reach different audiences. They started off recording weekly episodes in the School of Journalism and Media’s Multimedia Room, learning the ropes as they went. Once the pandemic hit, Zoom became their new podcasting platform.

“KRNL Talks” is an interview-based podcast that features a wide range of guests, including many UK alumni. Features in the 2020-2021 podcasts included a former KRNL editor’s current work as a web art director, a manifestation influencer’s experience as an online persona, a wellness influencer’s journey to body acceptance and, of course, plenty of fashion content.

“Podcasting has been a new way for KRNL to branch out and reach new

ince 2019, Kernel Media’s KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion has had a steady stream of podcasts. But the magazine expanded its coverage to include lifestyle issues, and KRNL’s podcasts are following suit.

audiences,” Courtney said. “So many people listen to podcasts nowadays, so it was important that KRNL jump on the bandwagon and share the brand’s perspective. We hope that our listeners will always learn something new from our episodes and will feel inspired.”

Original host and 2020-2021 KRNL Editor-in-Chief Rachael Courtney, an integrated strategic communication senior, hosted “KRNL Talks Fashion” with Fashion Editor Rachel Porter (ISC, 2021) in Fall 2020. The show was rebranded “KRNL Talks” with Digital

New episodes of “KRNL Talks” feature 2021-2022 hosts Catie Archambeuo (fashion merchandising senior), Jordyn Knox (finance sophomore) and Karrington Garland (journalism junior).

Follow “KRNL Talks” on Instagram @krnltalks. •

STUDENTS WIN GOLD, SILVER AT ADDY AWARDS In February 2021, Ad Club Lexington virtually hosted its 2021 American Advertising Awards (ADDYs). Five integrated strategic communication students won student ADDYs:

A CIS 112 student gives his TED-like Talk using a clear face mask provided by the College of Communication and Information at the end of the Fall 2020 semester.

CLEAR FACE MASKS AIM TO CREATE CLASSROOM NORMALCY

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hanks to an innovative teaching idea from College of Communication and Information faculty, students were able to experience a sense of normalcy in their public speaking and writing courses — with the help of clear face masks.

One of these faculty members is senior lecturer Allyson DeVito, who turned her Accelerated Composition and Communication II (CIS 112) final presentation into a TED-like talk aided by the clear face masks. Students could deliver their six- to eight-minute speeches on a subject they are passionate about via Zoom or in-person using a clear face mask.

The masks were purchased by the CI dean’s office and were given to the students ahead of their presentations so they could practice speaking while wearing them.

“Whether the students chose to deliver their presentations via Zoom or in person, it was great practice for them,” DeVito said. “Most job interviews are happening in virtual settings, so this assignment gave them the opportunity to think about how they would conduct themselves virtually.”

About 40 students in multiple sections of CIS 112 chose to deliver their talks in person. The clear masks allowed students to show facial expressions to their audience as well as move around the room — both important aspects of public speaking.

DeVito hopes to use a similar teaching style and hopes more students will choose to deliver their speeches using the clear masks. •

• Kendall Boron — two Gold ADDYs (Philosophies Conference Booklet and KRNL); two Silver ADDYs (Quilted Northern Packaging Redesign and Painter’s Cocktail Book); and the $1,000 Student Scholarship from Ad Club Lexington.

• Peyton Fike, Addison Cave and Maggie Smith — one Gold ADDY (Ulta Beauty Campaign) and the inaugural Mosaic Award for excellence in multicultural advertising.

• Haley Heisler — one Silver ADDY (Medallion Chocolate).

Associate Professor Adriane Grumbein said she is proud to see students recognized for their hard work and creativity.

“I’m thrilled that our students did so well in this year’s ADDY competition and am so proud of them,” Grumbein said. “Since the ADDYs are recognized industry-wide, these awards are a great way for students to show potential employers the quality of their work. ADDYs are like a high five from the industry. Plus, awards are just fun.”

The American Advertising Awards are the advertising industry’s largest competition, conducted annually by local chapters of the American Advertising Federation. The three-tiered competition receives more than 40,000 local entries each year. Ad Club Lexington hosts the local ADDYs annually. • Visit http://ukci.me/iscaddy to read the full story.

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STUDENT highlights

KERNEL MEDIA TRIUMPHS OVER A TRYING YEAR

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he COVID-19 pandemic saw professional journalists worldwide in overdrive trying to disseminate timely, consequential information. This responsibility was just as weighty for student journalists. Despite the pressure, Kernel Media reigned triumphant in a trying year, raking in several state and national awards. Overall, the media organization and its staff won nearly 100 awards during the 2020-2021 school year.

For the Kentucky Kernel and KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion, the tone for this past school year was set on March 6, 2020. That day, Kernel Editor Natalie Parks and KRNL Editor Rachael Courtney were named. It was also the day that coronavirus hit Kentucky.

“The board of directors was selecting the new editor and the first COVID-19 case in Kentucky was announced while we were in the middle of selecting,” Student Media Advisor Ryan Craig said. “Basically, it was hanging over us like a cloud from the beginning of this current group, especially for Natalie and Rachael.”

Rick Childress, 2019-2020 Kernel editor-in-chief, rushed out of the selection meeting to cover a press conference announcing the case.

Within weeks, Childress’ former staff-filled newsroom would be empty, and he had to pass the editorial responsibilities and knowledge, virtually, to Parks. The newspaper also printed its last physical edition of the school year before going digital as everything and everyone soon went on lockdown.

Luckily for KRNL, the staff had sent their Spring 2020 magazine to print 26 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

The Kentucky Kernel staff celebrate winning the KPA General Excellence Award for Large Collegiate Papers in January 2020, the last time they were able to celebrate awards together before the pandemic began.

just before lockdown. Courtney was also fortunate to have been managing editor for Allie King, her predecessor.

King said Courtney’s prior work for KRNL prepared her well, though it did not make her job any easier.

The summer of 2020 was full of questions of how to operate staffs virtually and if, when and how the university would resume in-person operations. In the Fall 2020 semester with CDC-compliant restrictions, Kernel Media would face COVID-19 scares, absent staffers and the frustrations associated with adapting to online life.

Challenges often faced by college media students, like limited media access and resources, were only worsened by the pandemic.

Both Parks and Courtney agreed that one of the hardest parts of their tenure

“many of the things that make college journalism worth it.”

These challenges did not come without rewards. Beginning in October 2020 and continuing into July 2021, the awards rolled in. These awards, even though mainly earned during Childress and King’s tenures, provided a much-needed morale boost for the staffs.

2019-2020 College Media Association Pinnacle Awards: Kernel, five awards.

KRNL, three awards.

Year in Photos, two awards, one honorable mention.

2019-2020 Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Awards: Kernel, six Pacemakers, five honorable mentions; a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist; a first-place special award for

was forming bonds and keeping a sense of camaraderie among the staff. While Courtney thought her KRNL staff were able to bond via Zoom, Parks said that she and her Kernel staff missed out on

COVID-19 coverage.

KRNL, one Pacemaker, one honorable mention; a Magazine Pacemaker winner; placed second for the Best of CONTINUES ON PAGE 27

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26 Show Awards.

Year in Photos, one Pacemaker, one honorable mention; placed sixth in the Best of Show Awards.

Inside UK, second in the Best of Show Awards.

2020-2021 Hearst Journalism Awards: Kernel staffers had two individual Top 10 finishes and two individual Top 20 finishes, with a photojournalism and writing award for both finishes.

KRNL staffers had one individual Top 10 finish, one individual Top 20 finish and one group Top 20 finish.

UK placed 5th in photojournalism and 10th overall finish (see story p. 23).

2019-2020 Kentucky Press Association Awards Kernel, two Certificates of Merit and 45 awards, sweeping seven categories and earning 18 first place finishes.

Natalie Parks was named Student Journalist of the Year.

Parks and Ryan Craig each received the Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information award.

2021 Kentucky News Photographer Association Conference Three Kernel photographers won 11 awards.

Michael Clubb, managing editor, won Sports Photographer of the Year and Runner-up Student Photographer of the Year (see story page 22).

Other awards in the past year: 2019-2020 College Photographer of the Year Awards: Three Kernel staffers each won an Award of Excellence for the respective categories of sports portfolio, sports action and sports feature.

The Kernel received the James Madison Award for commitment to the First

Amendment from the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center in the School of Journalism and Media.

2021 American Advertising Awards, KRNL’s Kendall Boron won a Golden Addy (see story page 25).

In July 2021, the Associated Collegiate Press named the Kentucky Kernel a Top 100 Pacemaker Winner.

“Awards are far from everything, but they’re certainly nice confidence boosters,” Childress said. “I couldn’t help but feel extremely proud watching our reporters, photographers and designers reel in award after award. It was one thing for me to tell someone they did a good job, but when someone got national or state recognition, then they really knew it and so did everyone else.”

Besides awards, the 2020-2021 class of Kernelites proved in other ways that they could uphold the tradition of strong journalism despite the pandemic. Though the Kernel staff never met in person and only allowed one staffer at a time in the newsroom, they continued their pre-pandemic weekly printed papers, even increasing the number of pages in some editions, while bolstering their electronic newsletter. The KRNL staff also expanded its multimedia coverage to include regular podcasts and video content while producing two magazines that Craig called the best collegiate magazines in the country.

“I’ve talked to many advisors across the country, and we all agree that the adaptations students had to make to ensure each publication, whether a campus newspaper or special publication, came out on time and successfully was outstanding,” Assistant Student Media Advisor May May Barton said.

“Kernel/KRNL students were focused,

“The Kentucky Kernel and KRNLhave a mission, and that mission is to cover the campus of UK fairly, equitably and, without a doubt, to tell the stories that aren’t being told.”

RYAN CRAIG

determined and dedicated to putting out the best product for the campus and the community.”

Although the year was what Parks called “the opposite of the ideal college journalism experience,” she also thought the Kernel surviving through the year was the “height of success.”

New editors Rayleigh Deaton, Kernel, and Allie Diggs, KRNL, will have the advantage of being in the office in 2021-2022 as they create the top-tier content and strive to match the success of editors past.

“The Kentucky Kernel and KRNL have a mission, and that mission is to cover the campus of UK fairly, equitably and, without a doubt, to tell the stories that aren’t being told,” Craig said.

“This is a laboratory, we are learning, we are trying to uplift these students and make them realize their potential as journalists. And even if they don’t work in journalism, if they do something else, if they major in something else, their time working for the Kernel or KRNL will make their lives better and also make them see the world differently, and I think that’s where we can really excel.”•

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STUDENT highlights

TODAY INTERNSHIP LEADS TO NBC NEWS JOB FOR 2021 GRAD

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oming from a small Kentucky town can make dreaming big seem like just a dream. But one recent graduate turned her dreams into a reality one internship at a time.

Jade Garnett knew she wanted to work in the entertainment industry, specifically NBC, but she also knew it would take a lot of work. After racking up as many internships as possible during her time at the University of Kentucky, the 2021 media arts and studies graduate earned herself a fulltime position at NBC News.

After her January to May 2021 “TODAY Show” internship, she secured a full-time position as a creative marketing production assistant with NBC News Marketing. Her workdays are now full of variety, from creating promotional “TODAY Show” commercials, to research for interviews on “Nightly News,” to writing lifestyle articles for TODAY Digital. She credits her internships for getting her so far.

Without internships, Garnett said she doesn’t know what the college experience would be. While traditional education is important, she thinks it means nothing without real-world experience, and vice versa.

“The whole point of an internship is to mess up and learn different things,” Garnett said. “If it wasn’t for any of the seemingly small internships that I’ve done, I wouldn’t have gotten anything at NBC.” She sums up her experience with the words she lives by: “Don’t get your hopes up, but don’t give up.” • Visit http://ukci.me/jadeNBC to read the full story.

Through LinkedIn, Garnett began scoping out interns and employees at some of her favorite NBC shows. What she found in her search was that these workers had plenty of experience prior to their positions at NBC. Throughout college, Garnett spent hours combing through LinkedIn, connecting with professionals and asking for advice. She spent even more time bolstering her resume with internships and work experience. As someone who loves to be uncomfortable and learn new things, she found it important not to confine herself.

“I pretty much took advantage of everything that I could,” Garnett said. “I am so happy with the way my experience at UK has been. It’s really been incredible, and I couldn’t have done any more.”

With an array of experience, Garnett applied for an MSNBC internship at the end of 2019. By January 2020, Garnett was in New York as a production intern for “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and then for “MSNBC Live.”

About a year after applying for her MSNBC internship, Garnett applied for an online internship with the “TODAY Show.” This position was even bigger than her last with only six out of 20,000 applicants being chosen. Fortunately, she got it.

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MAS alumna Jade Garnett was able to turn her “TODAY Show” internship into a full-time position after her May 2021 graduation.

GRAD STUDENT highlights

TAYLOR HONORED AT UK FREEDOM BALL FOR DIVERSITY EFFORTS

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ollege of Communication and Information undergraduate alumnus and current doctoral student Nigel Taylor was honored for his service to the community at the second annual Freedom Ball, hosted by the University of Kentucky chapter of the NAACP. “I want everybody to be successful, but I think the most important thing to me is within the community I serve, I just want people to feel like they belong here,” Taylor said. “There’s nothing more important than people to feel as if they’re valued, that they’re loved, that they’re supported, that they have people they care about and who will go above and beyond for them.”

In 2019, the UK NAACP established its inaugural Freedom Ball to highlight the works of student organizations and individuals. The ball honors the work of those committed to the underrepresented groups of UK’s community, said Breona Link, the 2020-2021 president of the UK NAACP. In 2014, Taylor founded Underground Perspective, a student-run group on campus that allows everyone, including those who feel they don’t fit in, to have their voices heard while maturing and growing together as students, with five peers. By the time he graduated, the organization had grown to 175 students. He called the experience as a student leader so life changing that it was part of the reason why he returned to UK for his PhD. Although Underground Perspective

dents. “Nigel not only wanted everyone to grow as leaders of the organization but also as leaders in this world.”

Taylor also started a Black millennial book club for students and worked as an unconscious bias trainer for students, faculty and staff at UK. Outside of organizational involvement, he also works independently to make sure students feel welcomed at UK. In 2020-2021, he served as part CI teacher and part CI diversity student liaison with Chief Diversity Officer Kyra Hunting. As a liaison, Taylor built relationships with students to understand their wants and needs from the College and advocated for students to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. Taylor and Hunting are also working to highlight faculty diversity-related research.

Doctoral student Nigel Taylor was recently honored at the UK NAACP Freedom Ball for his service to the UK community.

is an undergraduate organization, it served as Taylor’s “backbone” throughout his first year of the CI doctoral program. While he mentored the organization’s student leaders, they motivated him.

“As president, I wanted Nigel to truly get back involved with the seed he planted on UK’s campus,” said Emmanuella “Ella” Sarpong, the 2020-2021 Underground Perspective president, adding that Taylor organized weekly professional development workshops and provided a listening ear for stu-

Although Taylor is honored that students nominated him for the Service Award, it is leading by example that pushes him to act as a resource for the community.

“To have students feel good about themselves, feel as if they’re served, feel as if they’re part of a community, if I had to play a small part in that, I’m glad I was able to do that for people,” Taylor said. “To me, there’s nothing more important than that and that’s how you help not just students but people succeed: by making them feel like they belong and they’re human beings.” •

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 29

GRAD STUDENT highlights WALKER WINS SARAH BENNETT HOLMES AWARD

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ongratulations to Christina Walker, a first-year doctoral student in the Graduate Program in Communication and a full-time distance learning compliance analyst at the University of Kentucky, on being named the 2021 Sarah Bennett Holmes Staff Award winner. •

LIBRARY SCIENCE STUDENTS HOST 2021 RESEARCH CONFERENCE

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n April 2021, library science students in the School of Information Science student chapter of the American Library Association virtually hosted their annual student conference. Student presenters pre-recorded their presentations, which were available for playback inside a special Canvas course online.

Participants could then join in a synchronous Zoom session featuring Assistant Professor Daniela DiGiacomo, the conference’s keynote speaker. Student presenters were available for question/answer sessions after the keynote. •

CHRISTINA WALKER

RECENT COM GRADUATES START NEW CAREERS

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uring the Spring/Summer 2021 semester, the Graduate Program in Communication awarded seven doctoral degrees and three Master of Arts degrees. Most had jobs in the academic or corporate worlds upon graduation.

Here are a few recent highlights: • Nikki Kowalski (PhD, 2021) was hired as an assistant professor of marketing in the School of Business, Equine and Sport Studies at Midway University.

• Xianlin Jin (PhD, 2021) was hired as an assistant profes-

30 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

sor of communication in the Department of Communication at the University of Toledo.

• Will Silberman (PhD, 2021) was hired as a social media insights strategist with Material Plus.

• Mary Clark (MA, 2021) was hired the chief operator of WRFL. • Madison Wallace (MA, 2021) was hired as a brand and content strategist by Promo Assets.

2020-2021 COM GRADUATE STUDENT FELLOWSHIP WINNERS Dorothy M. Carozza Memorial Fellowship Fund Carina Zelaya Carozza Fund for Excellence in Health Communication Sarah Geegan Bruce H. Westley Memorial Scholarship Mehroz Sajjah Martha and Howard Sypher Memorial Scholarship Erin Hester Palmgreen Fellowship Fund Katleigh Harville R. Lewis Donohew Graduate Fellowship Zane Dayton Dissertation Year Fellowship Award Sean Goatley-Soan The annual awards presentation took place virtually during the annual College Excellence Awards. The awards can be seen at https://ci.uky.edu/ci/college-excelence-awards.

ICT GRAD STUDENT READS ANCIENT SCROLLS

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hristy Chapman, an ICT master’s student, serves as the research and partnership manager for EduceLab, a heritage science lab focused on the digital restoration and analyses of cultural heritage objects and sites, housed in the UK College of Engineering. In her role, CHRISTY CHAPMAN Chapman is working to access and read the Herculaneum Scrolls. The Scrolls are considered the most extensive surviving library of the Greco-Roman era, but were badly damaged with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD. Her position serves as a translator between the computer scientists on the team and various non-technical collaborators, such as humanities scholars, library and museum curators and conservators and members of the media. •

New and returning students in the Graduate Program in Communication on the steps of Patterson Hall prior to their welcome reception for the 2021-2022 year.

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 31

RESEARCH

highlights

Q&A WITH SHERALI ZEADALLY

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Q:

herali Zeadally, profes-

How do you approach sharing your knowledge with students in the classroom?

sor in the School of In-

formation Science, amassed

A:

several recent research

I strive to use the highest clarity to explain even the most difficult concepts and make copious use of examples to illustrate the topic under discussion. I always aim for simplicity and clarity in both teaching and research.

awards and accolades. He earned awards at the University of Kentucky and around the world, including:

SHERALI ZEADALLY

• Named one of the most highly cited researchers in Computer Science in the world by Clarivate, The Web of Science Group. He is the only researcher from UK to be named to this list in 2020. Only 0.1 percent of the world’s researchers have earned this exclusive distinction. He is one of 124 computer science researchers worldwide recognized this year and one of only 13 researchers from the United States. http://ukci.me/zeadallyhighlycited • Won the IEEE Region 3 Outstanding Engineer Award. This is the first time in the IEEE’s Outstanding Engineer Award’s 49-year history that someone from UK has received this award. http://ukci.me/zeadallyieee • Awarded Excellent Research Mentor Award by the Office of Undergraduate Research at UK. http://ukci.me/zeadallymentor • Awarded the UK Global Impact Award for Distinguished Faculty Achievement in International Research and Scholarship. http://ukci.me/zeadallyglobalimpact • Received the 2021 UK Ken Freedman Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award. http://ukci.me/zeadallyfreedman Zeadally has been at UK since 2013. He teaches information communication technology classes in cybersecurity, privacy and computer networking. His research is focused on cybersecurity and privacy.

32 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

Q: A:

How do you maintain your productivity?

I try to maintain a highly disciplined life and I make sure all my teaching and research activities are performed with the highest quality and consistently over time. My wife deserves all the credit for everything here. She is the secret behind all my achievements, and her constant support helps me to focus on my work. My two daughters also inspire me to do better every day. Finally, all my research collaborators around the world play a vital role in maintaining my research productivity — a lot of credit goes to all of them.

Q: A:

What makes you most proud?

I am most proud of making strong, worldwide research contributions to my field and seeing their impact on other researchers when they use my research results. I am also proud to work in the College of Communication and Information at UK where everyone is so supportive to help us excel in our research, teaching and service endeavors. I am also very proud to see dozens of colleagues I have mentored over the last 25 years reach the peak in their profession, especially those working in academia.

Q: A:

What’s next for you?

First, I will be doing the Fulbright Award in the Spring 2022 semester. After the Fulbright, I want to focus more on helping minorities, the poor and disadvantaged, and people with all kinds of disabilities. I want to do whatever I can to help them excel in their academic endeavors and provide them with as many opportunities as possible and empower them in all ways I can. •

CAHILL NAMED UNIVERSITY RESEARCH PROFESSOR

M H. DAN O’HAIR

O’HAIR CO-EDITS BOOK ON PANDEMIC COMMUNICATION

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Dan O’Hair, professor in the Department of Communication, co-edited “Communicating Science in Times of Crisis: COVID-19 Pandemic,” a first volume in a new series about the study of science communication in times of crisis.

“The COVID-19 pandemic will be a case study in the communication field for decades to come,” O’Hair said. “While pandemics are part of our world history, the communication methods used this time are unprecedented, as we had never experienced an outbreak of this scale in the age of digital and social media.”

In all, 43 authors from across the U.S. contributed to the text, including CI faculty Erin Hester (assistant professor, ISC), Bobi Ivanov (professor, ISC), Kimberly Parker (associate professor, ISC) and Kevin Real (professor and department chair, COM). •

aria Cahill, associate professor in the School of Information Science, has been named a 2021-2022 University Research Professor at the University of Kentucky. Each year, the University Research Professorship Awards honor faculty members who have demonstrated excellence in scholarship and creative work that addresses scientific, social, cultural and economic challenges in this region and around the world.

MARIA CAHILL

CI’s previous Research Professors are H. Dan O’Hair (2020-2021), Nancy Harrington (2018-2019), J. David Johnson (2017-2018) and Sherali Zeadally (2016-2017).

Additionally, since 2017, Cahill has been the primary investigator on two funded research projects, “Services for Children of All Abilities in Libraries: An Exploration” and “Storytimes for School Readiness.” These research projects were both funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. Between the two projects, the total funding was $893,569. •

ESPINOZA-VASQUEZ AND JIANG AWARDED COLLABORATIVE FUNDING

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K’s Igniting Research Collaboration projects from School of Information Science Assistant Professor Fatima Espinoza-Vasquez and Department of Integrated Strategic Communication Assistant Professor Mengtian “Montina” Jiang were recently awarded funding.

FATIMA ESPINZA-VASQUEZ

Espinoza-Vasquez’ project “Developing an Emergency Sociotechnical Infrastructure with Lexington’s Latinx Community” and Jiang’s project “Taking Your Next Vacation from Home: Motivations and Impacts of Using Live-Streaming Tourism” were both awarded $10, 747. • MONTINA JIANG

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 33

RESEARCH highlights PARKER LEADS UK STUDY TO ADDRESS COVID-19 VACCINE HESITANCY AMONG BLACK COMMUNITIES

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imberly Parker, associate professor in the Department of Integrated Strategic Communication, led a University of Kentucky study launched this summer that seeks to address COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among racial and ethnic minority populations in the Commonwealth.

The project, funded by UK’s UNited In True racial Equity (UNITE) research priority area, will enhance understanding of COVID-19 vaccine skepticism among populations historically less likely to become vaccinated, particularly Black people.

Racial and ethnic minorities are historically less likely to become vaccinated for a number of reasons including medical mistrust. A recent Pew research survey found that Black adults expressed less confidence in the coronavirus vaccine research and development process — a judgment closely aligned with intent to get vaccinated.

“Success in combating the spread of COVID-19 depends on sufficient numbers of individuals becoming immunized,” Parker said. “The outcomes of this study could contribute to messaging that resonates with communities of color who are reluctant or skeptical to get the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Bobi Ivanov, ISC professor, and Diane Francis, assistant professor in the Department of Communication, serve as co-investigators on the project. College of Communication and Information graduate students Sarah Geegan

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form the basis of a strategy for messaging interventions to address vaccine hesitancy among underserved populations, Parker said.

“The outcomes of this study could contribute to messaging that resonates with communities of color who are reluctant … to get the COVID-19 vaccine.”

KIMBERLY PARKER and Adam Tristan also assist the study.

Throughout spring of 2021, UK partnered with predominantly Black churches in the Lexington area to operate mobile vaccine clinics. With focus groups and in-depth interviews, Parker’s research team gained insight from community members who accepted and declined invitations to these clinics, as well as immunizers who worked at them.

They will use this understanding of vaccination attitudes to develop and test a series of messages designed to promote vaccination among hesitant members of Lexington’s Black community.

If effective, these messages could

Parker’s project was selected after UNITE put out a request for pilot project applications to help address COVID-19-related health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities in Kentucky.

“COVID-19 is yet another major health disparity disproportionately impacting communities of color. And the impacts go beyond disparate access to care and the quality of health care received by people of color,” said UK’s Assistant Vice President for Research, Diversity & Inclusion, Danelle Stevens-Watkins, who leads UNITE. “The effort is another example of how research at UK is helping to build community partnerships and bridge the gap between UK and communities of color.”

After the project’s conclusion next year, the research team will submit results for publication and seek additional extramural funding to build other strategic interventions targeting vaccine hesitancy.

Launched last year, UNITE is focused on supporting research that promotes racial equity and aims to recruit and retain racially diverse faculty, staff and students at UK. The research priority area has fostered a number of other initiatives and opportunities for collaboration to support diversity and inclusion in research at UK.•

ENGSTROM STUDIES ‘AVENGERS’ AND OTHER ENTERTAINMENT IN NEW BOOK ON MEDIA LITERACY

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ow do Hollywood clichés perpetuate the status quo? Erika Engstrom, media content expert and director of the School of Journalism and Media, explores this question in her new book “Gramsci and Media Literacy: Critically Thinking about TV and the Movies.”

In this analysis, Engstrom and co-author Ralph Beliveau (University of Oklahoma) compare case studies of movies and television shows that actively challenge societal stereotypes — or in Engstrom’s words, media that is “counter-hegemonic.”

“Hegemony” is the dominant world view of most participants in society. This theory, first employed by Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci in his critiques of capitalism, suggests that most of what we see is created by people in power with self-serving interests. To keep said power, hegemonic actors reinforce the status quo and suppress resistive voices.

In entertainment media, hegemony is personified as overused character tropes: the damsel in distress, the wise old man, the girl next door, the stoic muscleman and more.

“That’s why people get marginalized,” Engstrom said. “The people who make the movies and TV want you to keep watching. If there is something that seems a little unusual or out of the ordinary, you won’t want to watch.”

However, Engstrom and movie critics alike sense a subtle shift in the industry.

Thanks to streaming services, resistive stories have slowly gained popularity, influencing even big-box films like

School of Journalism and Media Director Erika Engstrom poses with books she has authored, including the most recent which studies media literacy.

“Avengers: Endgame” — a case study in this book.

Unlike other films in the Marvel cinematic universe, Engstrom thought “Endgame” was a terrific movie. Characters like Tony Stark, who were previously portrayed as hyper-masculinized and one-dimensional, are now seen crying, going to support groups and contributing to their households.

“They’re showing real men being people; it’s counter-hegemonic masculinity,” Engstrom said. “Resistive media does more than diversify stories on the big screen — it contributes to the evolution of our culture. Normalizing human emotions can change society and our relationships with others in our everyday life. If we have more people able to show their emotions, we wouldn’t have war; we wouldn’t have violence against women.”

Although “Avengers: Endgame” challenges society’s traditional view of masculinity, it is still hegemonic in some ways, especially in its portrayal of women. Therefore, Engstrom argued, all consumers of media must watch with a critical eye and question the media they love. To watch critically, Engstrom says, is to understand that you have a choice to do whatever it is you want to do.

“That is what this book is about — let’s question what we know so that we can resist the hegemony,” Engstrom said. “That’s kind of my purpose on this earth, to make people understand that this is for the good of everybody.”

For more information on “Gramsci and Media Literacy: Critically Thinking about TV and the Movies,” visit Rowman & Littlefield. The book is also available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. •

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COLLEGE news

CI STUDENTS, ALUMNI TAKE CENTER STAGE ON NATIONAL TV SHOW SHOT IN LEXINGTON

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tudents who dream of making their mark in the entertainment industry used to think they’d need to head to Hollywood, New York or Atlanta.

But 10 College of Communication and Information students and alumni added their names this summer to the credits of a new, nationally televised reality show without ever leaving Lexington.

“Relative Justice” is the first nationally syndicated television show taped in Kentucky, and thanks to strong ties between CI and Lexington-based Wrigley Media Group, students and alumni were an integral part of the production crew.

“Working on a nationally syndicated show was amazing in and of itself, but to be able to be a part of something

“Working on a nationally syndicated show was amazing … but to be able to be a part of something like that right here in Kentucky was even better.”

KATIE SAM SMITH 36 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

CI students and alumni work with other UK alumni at Wrigley Media Group to produce “Relative Justice,” the first nationally syndicated television show taped in Kentucky, which premiered Sept. 13, 2021.

like that right here in Kentucky was even better,” said CI alumna Katie Sam Smith. “I’m so glad that I was able to be involved in something that not only kickstarted my career but also benefited my home state by providing employment opportunities and supporting local business.”

“Relative Justice” is a family-based reality court show that “moves the drama from the family room to the courtroom.” With 150 episodes of more than 200 cases, viewers can expect a wide range of conflicts and emotions, all from real people with authentic disputes, presided over by Judge Rhonda Wills.

WMG, the company producing the show, is a full-service content creation company founded by Misdee Wrigley that works on everything from shortform web series to long-form network

programming. The company recently converted the former Cinemark Woodhill Movies 10 into a full media production facility, and “Relative Justice” taped from May to August.

“The industry is changing to where you can make quality TV and films really anywhere in the world,” said Ross Babbit, chief content officer of WMG and executive producer of “Relative Justice.” “Misdee Wrigley decided to invest in this community because she believes, we all believe, that Lexington is kind of the next hot spot for television and film production.”

Producing the first season of “Relative Justice” saw a staff of half court show veterans and half Lexington locals.

Along with other University of Kentucky alumni, CI alumni and current students, many from the Media Arts and Studies

degree program, comprised a healthy portion of the Lexington crew: • Ross Allen (COM, 2019) is a fulltime WMG production specialist and was key grip. He ensured all the set equipment was working properly and ready to shoot. This included fixing technical failures and tailoring lighting to each plaintiff, defendant and props.

• Brianna Bellomo (MAS, 2021) was a stage production assistant and prepared the set. This included prepping every plaintiff and cuing them at the beginning of each case.

• MAS Senior Sydney Carroll was a production office assistant/runner. She worked with the executive in charge of production, kept records of who won their cases, made sure guests were paid and documented spending on shoot days. In post-production, she helped arrange air dates and watched cuts.

• Will Casada (MAS, 2021) was a production office assistant and worked in craft services, handling all food from serving breakfast to going on grocery runs and planning catered lunches.

• MAS Senior Jack Dillender was a control room production assistant. His main responsibility was communicating with the remote producers and showrunner. He also got remote witnesses TV-ready via Zoom.

• Maurice Fleming (MAS, 2020) was a stage production assistant. He helped maintain the set, escorted the audience members on and off stage, cued the litigants, helped the prop master and ensured everyone on set was following the director’s orders.

• Austin Iannone (MAS, 2021) was

an audience coordinator. He recruited audience members, welcomed and instructed the audience members about their appearance and ensured each day of filming saw a full gallery of engaged audience members.

• Simon Relford (MAS, 2020) and Tatum Tucker (MAS, 2021) were creative production assistants. They each worked with a producer and associate producer to find interesting cases. This required online and in-person coaxing of a diverse group of people, from Lexington to Cuba. Once chosen, the guests were booked, their stories were pitched and their legal work was finalized before they could appear.

ize that UK had such a deep program also. And clearly, the training that students get at UK is world-class because the people came in, they stepped up and they did a great job.”

For many of the CI alumni and current students on the “Relative Justice” crew, the relevant training they received at UK came from Kyra Hunting, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media. Hunting had the opportunity to watch her students in

“I didn’t realize that UK

action as an audience member.

“It was incredibly gratifying to be also. And clearly, the able to watch our training that students get talented and dedicated students in at UK is world-class betheir element on set,” cause the people came in, Hunting said. “The they stepped up and they students who worked • Katie Sam Smith did a great job.” on this program were (MAS, 2021) was a among our very best LOU DENNING COVID-19 compli— creative, enthusiance officer. She kept astic and professional — and it was so production running during a pandemspecial to be able to see all the potential ic by enforcing social distancing and I observed in the classroom at work as masking protocols, keeping up with they helped make a TV series that will employee and visitor vaccination cards be seen nationwide. Our students are and overseeing testing for the crew, as prepared and talented as students talent, litigants and audience. from anywhere in the country, and it Although the CI alumni and students was wonderful to see them having the had no previous experience working on opportunity to prove that and start on courtroom shows, their skills and eagertheir journeys in the industry.” ness to learn impressed Lou Dennig, an executive producer of “Relative Justice.”

CI and WMG are strenthening their

had such a deep program

“UK students stack up against the ‘Emerson Mafia’ and Syracuse University people in Los Angeles 100 percent,” Dennig said, referring to his experience guest lecturing at the communication powerhouse universities. “I didn’t real-

relationship to include even more opportunities like “Relative Justice.”

The hope is that the best and brightest media students-turned-professionals can have a storied “Hollywood” career right here in their home state. •

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COLLEGE news LYMAN T. JOHNSON AWARDS HONOR CI ALUMNI, STUDENT

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o kick off Black History Month, the 30th annual Lyman T. Johnson awards ceremony recognized two outstanding College of Communication and Information alumni, Akhira Umar and DeBraun Thomas, and one student, Aniya Hall.

station and a UK student organization, while WUKY is a UKowned National Public Radio and Adult Album Alternative station.

Since graduating, Thomas has joined full-time with WUKY where he hosts the Crunkadelic Funk Show, Rock & Roots and other projects. In 2016, he co-founded Take Back Cheapside, which led to the 2020 renaming of Cheapside Park to Henry A. Tandy Centennial Park and the removal of two Confederate monuments within the park.

Scoobie Ryan, associate professor and JAM associate director, who nominated Thomas, said she listens to Thomas’ shows every day and has been AKHIRA UMAR keeping up with his accomplishments.

Akhira Umar (JOU, 2020) was named the 2020 “Sometimes when people work quietly and get LTJ Torch Bearer. results, no one notices,” Ryan said. “He is a wonUmar spent most of her undergraduate career derful representative of our School.” working for Kernel Media. She worked for both the Thomas gives this advice for current and future newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel, and the magazine, Wildcats: “Take care of yourself, protect your KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion. energy and don’t give up. Just by existing, you are “I’ve always said coming into journalism that I paving the way for more Black, Brown, Indigewanted my writing to help make the world a better nous, POC and LGBTQIA students to go through place,” Umar said. “But to see that people actually DeBRAUN THOMAS whichever program they are passionate about.” think I’m doing that, it’s really reassuring. I’m glad In addition to the two award recipients, CI that I’m making people proud.” had another student honored by the LTJ African Kakie Urch, an associate professor in the School American Alumni Group. May 2021 communicaof Journalism and Media, nominated Umar. tion graduate Aniya Hall was named one of two “Akhira’s exceptional academic performance recipients of the LTJ Scholarship, which has been and her drive to always master material and surawarded to students of color since 2008. pass expectations is one reason she stands out “I feel like I am part of something greater than as a student,” Urch said. “Combine that with the myself to be awarded alongside my hardworking four-year commitment to the Kentucky Kernel and peers, and I am honored to be in a class of award ANIYA HALL KRNL L+F magazine and with her brilliant work on recipients such as this year’s recipients,” Hall said. contemporary issues in her multimedia classes, and you have “I am inspired to finish out my degree and move on to my a student who embodies the future that Lyman T. Johnson graduate studies so that I may build a successful career and to sought for all Black Kentucky students at UK.” hopefully one day join the group of alumni that donate to the DeBraun Thomas, a 2013 broadcast journalism graduate, LTJ scholarship. I am beyond appreciative of the dedication received the Torch of Excellence. During his undergraduate from the LTJ awards committee and their donors because career, he hosted his own show, the Crunkadelic Funk Show, without them, many students like myself would not finish on WRFL and later brought that show over to his interntheir degrees.”• ship with WUKY. WRFL is a 24-hour, non-commercial radio Visit http://ukci.me/2021LTJ to read the full story.

Each year, the University of Kentucky’s colleges and units select an African American student and alumnus for these awards. Students with academic achievement and the ability to impact the lives of others receive the LTJ Torch Bearer Award. Alumni whose faith, hard work and determination have positively affected the lives of people in the UK community and beyond receive the LTJ Torch of Excellence Award.

38 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

BRANDI FRISBY

2020-21 CI COLLEGE EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNERS

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2020-2021 College of Communication and Information College Excellence Awards Winners were announced at a college-wide virtual event in April 2021.

The College has held its annual Excellence Awards, which celebrate the outstanding work of our faculty and staff, each year since 1999.

For the first time ever, the award winners were announced live during the event, surprising all in attendance, including the winners.

The 2020-2021 CI College Excellence Award winners are: Faculty Teaching Excellence: Kelly McAninch (COM) Faculty Research Excellence: Diane Francis (COM) Faculty Community Service: Shannon Oltmann (SIS) Outstanding Staff: Scott Johnson (COM), Chris Larmour Outstanding Advisor: Jordan Hoehler Graduate Teaching Excellence: Hayley Hoffman

CI THANKS OUR FACILITIES WORKERS

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he CI Staff Council pur-

chased yard signs to place around our campus buildings to show our appreciation for the facilities workers who keep our offices and classrooms clean and sanitary. •

FRISBY NAMED ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

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randi Frisby, associate professor in the School of Information Science, was named associate dean for student success starting July 1, 2021.

Frisby will oversee the College of Communication and Information’s undergraduate student advising, recruitment and retention efforts and will assist with curricular development, approval and review at the college level. Student success initiatives that serve both undergraduate and graduate students such as career readiness, student financial support and student well-being and other activities will be supported by Frisby’s team.

“In the short time that I’ve been in this role, I’ve been incredibly impressed by all of the student successes we have to celebrate as a college,” Frisby said. “Being able to be quickly and innovatively responsive to what our students need is one of my primary goals. We have a deeply caring and competent team in place to work with students from the time they join us until they graduate, and beyond.”

Frisby previously served as interim associate dean of undergraduate affairs and coordinates the graduate certificate for instructional communication. • COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 39

COLLEGE news W&P FUNDING SEEKS TO LIFT GRADUATION BARRIERS

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n a continuing effort to remain a welcoming institution that fosters success, the College of Communication and Information has sought to support its diverse student body by helping remove potential financial barriers to graduation.

CI was recently awarded $45,342 by the Women & Philanthropy Network for its new initiative: Removing Barriers to Graduation for Underrepresented Minority Students.

Brandi Frisby, associate dean for student success, worked with Schyler Simpson, director of retention and student engagement, to propose the initiative after finding a continued trend of low graduation rates among URM students. As part of CI’s strategic plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the initiative will help bring these students one step closer to their degrees.

“When we saw how many students

were leaving the University when they were so close to achieving their graduation dreams, we knew we needed to act,” Frisby said. “We want to help all of our students achieve despite financial barriers, and especially those who are disproportionately affected by the financial barriers. We wanted this to promote our college culture of inclusivity and turning passions into professions.”

Statistics, the low graduation rate of URM students is often due to unmet financial needs as they are more likely to come from a lower socioeconomic status. While tuition may be a concern for these students, many students face other barriers. Some may be disadvantaged by standardized testing used to determine scholarships, receive less financial support from parents, have a lack of childcare, have lost part-time

Although URM students are retained at the same rate as non-URM students, their graduation rate is much lower.

From students who entered CI in Fall 2015, only 42.5 percent of URM students graduated in four years opposed to 63.8 percent of non-URM students. A likely reason for this discrepancy may be the unmet financial needs of these students, totalling $737,709.

According to the 2015-2016 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study from the National Center for Education

income and more.

Removing Barriers to Graduation for Underrepresented Minority Students will target juniors and seniors and provide them need-based scholarships that address their unmet and basic needs. The initiative will provide funds for tuition, textbooks, food and health supplies, transportation and childcare.

With this initiative in place, CI hopes to help bridge the gap between URM students and their peers approaching graduation. •

CI CELEBRATION

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o mark the end of another strange semester, CI created a socially distanced celebration held in a tent on the lawn of the Otis A. Singletary Center. The event was held May 4, 2021, and there was, of course, no better way to celebrate the day than with a Star Wars theme! CI undergraduate and graduate students were invited to stop by and destress while they prepared for finals, grabbed some cookies and did some chair yoga.

40 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

In keeping with the the Star Wars theme, students could pick up cookies with a likeness of Yoda and the phrase “May the Fourth be with you” on them after they stretched and relaxed with some chair yoga led by yogi Beth Hanneman from the Stuckert Career Center.

FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS

FIRAZ PEER

DANIELA DI GIACOMO

KYRA HUNTING

Firaz Peer, assistant professor in the School of Information Science, was accepted to the

Daniela Di Giacomo, professor in the School of Information Science, was awarded the Golden

Kyra Hunting, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media, was named to the Cen-

University of Kentucky Disparities Researchers Equalizing Access for Minorities Scholars Program, which supports the training of exceptional underrepresented minority pre-docs, post-docs and assistant professors who are committed to health equity research.

Megaphone Award for Research Partner of the Year from the Kentucky Student Voice Team in recognition of her continued role as a supportive adult research partner, especially with their Coping with COVID study.

ter for Learning and Teaching’s second cohort of the Teaching Innovation Institute, a yearlong, cohort-based program for exploring, experimenting, reflecting on and implementing innovative and inclusive teaching methods.

NEW FACULTY AND STAFF

Let’s give a big CI welcome to the faculty and staff who recently joined us: Hasan Abdel-Jaber, academic advisor Yu Chi, assistant professor, School of Information Science Kelly Cirbus, student services assistant Bill Eddy, director, Bluegrass Debate Coalition Kenny Blair, director of information technology Lisa Enright, lecturer, School of Information Science Erin Hester, assistant professor, Integrated Strategic Communication Kelly Hodgson, lecturer, Department of Communication Sydney Shields, academic advisor Jen Smith, lecturer, School of Journalism and Media Elizabeth Spencer, assistant professor, Integrated Strategic Communication Courtney Spradling, academic advisor Nicole Staricek, lecturer, School of Information Science Brianna Winn, administrative services assistant Lindsay Vance, recruiter COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 41

COLLEGE news NEW CLASS HELPS STUDENTS GET CAREER READY

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n line with CI’s goal to help students shape their passions into professions, the College offered a new one-credit hour class focused on career readiness in the Spring 2021 semester.

The course was designed to prepare students for finding, obtaining and thriving in a

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCE RECEIVES HIGH RANKS IN U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

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hen U.S. News & World Report released its latest rankings for library science programs across the nation, the School of Information Science was at the top of several lists, including No. 17 overall, No. 3 in Health Librarianship, No. 11 in School Library Media and No. 12 in Services for Children and Youth.

Overall, SIS has risen in rank across the board from the previous rankings, moving up from No. 20 to No.17. Additionally, Health Librarianship moved from No. 4 to No. 3 in the past year.

“We are extremely pleased with the new U.S. News & World Report rankings of Library Science programs and their areas of specialization,” said Jeff Huber, director of the School of Information Science.

For the first time, SIS placed in the School Library Media category and in the Services for Children and Youth category.

“While the rankings are based on a perception survey, perceptions among Library Science programs and students interested in these programs, directly impact student recruitment and retention,” Huber said.

Huber added that rankings can also be seen as a measure of faculty members’ achievements in these areas. • Visit http://ukci.me/sisrankings to learn more about the University of Kentucky’s overall rankings.

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career of their choosing by identifying their passions, strengthening their critical thinking skills and giving them tangible items they can use in their job search.

“Students in CI already have so many skills,” said Amanda Lawrence, the course instructor and a lecturer in the School of Information Science. “But courses like these allow them to explore how to apply and articulate them, which is a game changer in their job search and career trajectory.”

Students were tasked with researching jobs in their desired field and preparing a corresponding resume and cover letter. For another assignment, students participated in virtual mock interviews with the Stuckert Career Center on campus.

“I think students have intentions of spending time preparing for this, but as college life gets so busy, it is easy to put it on the back burner,” Lawrence said. “This class allows for students to dedicate time and focus on skills that can quite literally change their life.”

By the end of the semester, students in the course developed several skills they can use to find a job after graduation. More importantly, they are prepared to find a profession that aligns with their passions – which is the ultimate success. •

David Stephenson teaching teaching his VR class above and top right and with a drone journalism class, bottom right.

The University of Kentucky started a series in Fall 2021 highlighting the work of UK faculty members.

One of those stories highlights David Stephenson, assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media. Stephenson’s feature included the following story and a video, linked at the end of the story.

GET TO KNOW JAM’S DAVID STEPHENSON

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he University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information’s David Stephenson takes a hands-on approach to his own learning, along with that of his students.

However, the idea of doing is not a new concept to the assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Media.

“When I think about how I want to teach my classes, I think about how I want to learn — personally — and how I’ve learned the best and learned the most. For me it’s always been through doing.”

Stephenson, who joined the faculty in 2018 after a successful career as a photojournalist, teaches classes using emerging technologies for storytelling like mobile phones, drones and virtual reality.

“It’s easy to talk about the technical stuff in filmmaking and photography, but I want to make sure to teach how to apply those techniques to make their stories better. I want the entire package for my students — that’s my goal,” Stephenson said.

“The best thing a student can do is ask questions. If I can share with them something they want to know, it’s very rewarding. That is where the mentorship starts to happen.

Anyone that has taught probably has had a good teacher in their life that inspired them, including me, and that helped me get to where I am today. I want to do the same thing — I want to have those same relationships with my students.” • Video: http://ukci.me/stephenson COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 43

LASTING legacies

AL SMITH: JOURNALIST EXEMPLAR LEAVES LASTING LEGACY

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he College of Communication and Information lost one of its best friends on March 19, 2021, when Al Smith, 94, died at his home in Sarasota, Fla. Even into his 90s, Smith was an active chair emeritus of the advisory board of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which he founded with the School of Journalism and Media.

In the late 1990s Smith and his friend, journalist Rudy Abramson, conceived the Institute as a way to help rural news media in Appalachia cover issues that had impacts in their communities but a shortage of good sources there. It soon became a national program. When people asked Smith why the Institute has such a long name, he said, “Because it’s the caboose that drives the train; it’s the issues.”

The Institute started in 2001 as an The Institute is, in many ways, a reflecexperimental, grant-funded project, tion of the journalism Smith practiced at and became permanent in 2004 thanks the weekly newspapers he owned in Kenlargely to a $250,000 grant from the John tucky and Tennessee. Institute Director S. and James L. Knight Foundation, for Al Cross, who was an editor for Smith in which Smith was a chief solicitor. Then Russellville and Leitchfield in the 1970s he helped raise much more money for before going to the Louisville Courier the Institute’s endowment, which was Journal, described their journalism in a matched by the state Research Challenge tribute on The Rural Blog, which he pubAL SMITH Trust Fund, known as “Bucks for Brains.” lishes: “Rural journalism that keeps public service at top of mind, providing insight and leadership to Smith was a charter member of the Kentucky Journalism the community, and going beyond the county line to help the Hall of Fame, a fellow of the Society of Professional Journalaudience understand state, regional and national issues and ists and author of two books: “Wordsmith,” about his life and actors that affect their communities.” career, and “Kentucky Cured,” a collection of stories about Smith didn’t plan to be a rural journalist. He spent 10 years as a reporter and editor at daily newspapers in New Orleans, but alcoholism derailed his career. He took a job as editor of The News-Democrat, a weekly in Russellville, where he found friends who helped him stop drinking and made him realize that the town of 6,000 could be the base for another type of newspaper career. He and friends started another paper, then bought the old one and several more.

When he was president-elect of the Kentucky Press Association, Kentucky Educational Television recruited him to moderate a public-affairs talk show, “Comment on Kentucky,” which made him a statewide figure. He became active in many civic pursuits, and in 1980 President Jimmy Carter named him federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, a job he held longer under President Ronald Reagan.

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Kentucky, which he called “the land of the second chance.”

He held an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky.

Two statewide awards are named in his honor. The Al Smith Award, given by the Institute with the Bluegrass Chapter of SPJ, honors public service through community journalism by Kentuckians. The other Al Smith Award is given by the Kentucky Arts Commission, which he chaired, to an artist who has achieved a high level of excellence and creativity.

Smith is survived by his wife of almost 54 years, Martha Helen Smith; his children, Catherine McCarty (William) of Birmingham, Ala., Lewis Carter Hancock of Louisville, Ky. and Virginia Major (William) of West Hartford, Conn.; a sister, Robin Burrow of Abilene, Texas; two nieces and five grandchildren. •

DAVID HAWPE, FORMER KERNEL AND COURIER JOURNAL EDITOR

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avid J. Hawpe was a man with many hats.

To the public, he was the outspoken journalist and champion of the First Amendment.

To his colleagues at the Courier Journal, he was the watchdog editorialist, the witty liberal, and the Pulitzer-Prize-worthy editor.

the community it oversees and was unafraid to call out its downfalls. His power of the pen was unique; when Hawpe wrote, Kentuckians listened. His hearty journalism resulted in numerous reform efforts across the state.

Early in his career, Hawpe’s coverage of the mining industry, including the Hurricane Creek mine disaster in Leslie County, Ky. resulted in environmental and safety regulation. Similarly, his investigation of Kentucky’s nursing home industry served to strengthen medical guidelines.

And to his alma mater, as a 1965 journalism graduate of the University of Kentucky, Hawpe was good trouble personified. As a former Kentucky Kernel editor, his critiques of Coach Charlie Bradshaw’s football program ignited the camDAVID HAWPE Even after his retirement, 78-year-old David pus. Decades later, as a member of the Board of Trustees, Hawpe was an unapologetic advocate for accessible, Hawpe continued to be a representative for good governance through columns, political campaigns and the legacy he affordable education. instilled in his friends and colleagues alike.

However, what was most notable about Hawpe was his love for Kentucky – and that love galvanized him to better the state and its people.

Hawpe believed that government should exist to serve

JAYNE HANCOCK

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ayne Hancock, Wrigley Media Group’s chief executive officer and former CI National Advisory Board member, died in September 2020.

Jayne brought her passion for sports, media and entertainment to Wrigley in 2016 and quickly began seeking out CI students for internships and positions after graduation.

Prior to joining Wrigley, Jayne served as an executive consultant for VOXX International and chief marketing officer for FanVision where agreements with NASCAR and 15 NFL teams were signed under her leadership and Flo JAYNE HANCOCK TV where she led the creation of three Super Bowl spots in six weeks of development. As vice president for consumer marketing at DIRECTV, she was instrumental in the development of NFL SUNDAY TICKET. Jayne’s vision for the College and the spirit of collaboration with Wrigley she established continue today (see page 36).•

Hawpe passed away in July 2021.

CI has established a fund to support the mission of Hawpe. Visit http://ukci.me/hawpe for more information. •

TIM KELLY

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n May 2021, we lost journalist legend and philanthropist Timothy M. Kelly.

A native of Ashland, Kelly began his newspaper career at 17. In his 46-year career, he would quickly jump the ranks from part-time writer to editor of multiple agenda-setting newspapers including the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Through service and accountability journalism, Kelly had a passion for bettering his community. He was a memTIM KELLY ber of CI’s National Advisory Board, helping CI students realize their potential through scholarships and innovative programming.

His influence on the news industry and his support of minority journalists will always be remembered. •

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ALUMNI highlights

MAY 2020 GRADUATE REMINISCES ON WAITING A YEAR TO CROSS THE STAGE AT RUPP ARENA

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BY RICK CHILDRESS never expected how happy it would make me to see an acquaintance.

Not even just an acquaintance, but maybe just the familiar face of old soand-so from that one class two years ago. I think that’s why I felt elated to be on the Rupp Arena floor on Sunday, May 16, 2021.

It felt for just a moment like before.

Before when we’d all pack into crowded lecture halls without thinking. Back when you could count being able to see your friends — not in a neat grid on a screen — but after class at the coffee shop or at the bar on the weekend. On May 16, it felt like I was leaving class one last time, just like before, I could walk away from an academic setting flanked by friends.

I don’t like to dwell on the past, but it was nice to just celebrate everything that came before.

Just days after Kentucky’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, I bought my cap and gown in a hot, crowded basement.

That was over a year ago in the second week of March 2020.

Rumors of a coming campus shutdown floated through my head as dozens of us future graduates crammed through a series of booths espousing the benefits of the alumni association, asking us what size gown we needed and finally paying for and receiving the University of Kentucky-blue uniform we needed to cross the Rupp Arena stage in just a few short weeks.

No one was wearing a mask or even 46 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

May 2020 graduate and former Kentucky Kernel Editor Rick Chidress reflects on walking across the Rupp Arena stage on May 16, 2021, a year after he graduated from CI.

thought they should be. “Social distancing” was yet to be a household term.

Only the suddenly very popular bottles of hand sanitizer — strategically placed by laptops we all had to share to enter our personal info — foreshadowed what was to come.

We obviously didn’t walk across the stage in May 2020. Finishing my last college exam online in my apartment felt like it lacked the finality the moment deserved. My virtual graduation involved slapping my cap on my head for an hour in my bedroom, then messaging my editor when it was over to let her know I was ready to get back to work.

I know I’ll never forget that world-halting, heart-racing, read-thenews-til-your-eyes-bleed feeling that was the onset of the pandemic. When your history professor emails you to say

you’re “living history right now,” you know you’re in for a bad time.

I haven’t lost as much as so many have — and as much as so many still are. But I know last spring I missed out on getting to say goodbye and good luck to friends who have moved on and are already out in the world doing their thing.

I’ll never get that back, but being able to dress up, see familiar faces and move my tassle across my head in tandem with thousands of others takes away the bitterness of so much of that loss. I’m so glad I could have a moment to celebrate what was before and look forward to a brighter after. • Reprinted with permission from the Lexington Herald-Leader. Visit http:// ukci.me/childress to read the full story.

Photo provided by Herald-Leader/Silas Walker.

2019 ISC GRAD REFLECTS ON CI’S IMPACT

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BY MARIE EMEDI

s a first-generation scholar and American, the post-secondary education space was overwhelming and daunting to me. I fell victim to the paradox of choice. I found myself mesmerized and influenced by the shiny things different colleges had to offer while paralyzed by the stress of knowing I could make any decision and it would be entirely my own to carry.

After spending almost 20 years of my life in Lexington, I had always envisioned myself as a Wildcat. I was ambitious and focused but completely out of my element. Even with all the resources that the University of Kentucky and scholarship programs offered, I couldn’t see myself applying my passions past college.

I exercised my choices like many college students do — changing my major when I felt I was completely at my end and choosing the next adventure. But I still felt lost and envious of those who knew exactly what they wanted to do and could push through the hurdles college brought knowing they were ultimately feeding their overall interests. That uncertainty about the future and my major made me feel invisible in a sea of thousands.

I would encounter in my professional career.

Since graduation in Fall 2019, I have had the privilege of publishing two articles and building upon the journalistic skills I learned through CI. Recently, I have been fortunate enough to accomplish a long-term goal of mine in landing a full-time position with the public relations firm Edelman and Associates, helping to support the New York City health team.

The journey here was not as beautiful and polished as the accomplishments, but the ISC program offered experience, understanding and a familiarity of the workplace. The classes I took throughout my ISC journey were directly tailored for all the experiences that would come in my professional career.

CI made me feel like I belonged somewhere academically. All the people I met through the program as peers and instructors impacted my success and offered a different perspective for how I viewed the impact I could have on my community through my education. One of the easiest ways to do well in college is to have support and like-minded people around you taking on the same battles. In a community as large as UK, the visibility CI offered allowed me to have the confidence and discipline to accomplish my goals and make the choices that will continue to propel me forward. •

At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to change my major for the third time. Since this experience wasn’t new to me, I welcomed the College of Communication and Information with an open mind. From the beginning, I was given a clear understanding of what my route would look like. I was provided detailed information about my major, integrated strategic communication, and what it could offer me.

The decision to change my major and join a program as fulfilling and targeted as ISC is part of the reason for my success post-graduation. It’s not that everything magically became easier, but the fog cleared just enough for me to find the path. I could make informed decisions now that I could connect the pieces of my classroom experience to those of a possible future career.

When I look back at the academic aspect of my college experience, the long nights and overwhelming moments were worth it because CI, and ISC specifically, prepared me for all

MARIE EMEDI COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 47

ALUMNI highlights ALUMNI TAKE THE WORLD STAGE FOR TOKYO OLYPMICS

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ith a University of Kentcuky school-record of 22 athletes participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the College of Communication and Information had some of its own stars competing and covering the games.

CI had three athletes representing three different countries in two different sports. Sydney McLaughlin, a 2017-2018 journalism major, ran for the U.S. in track and field. Dwight St. Hillaire, a 2021 communication graduate and current UK graduate student, also ran in track and field but for his home country of Trinidad and Tobago. And Brittany Cervantes, a 2012 journalism graduate and current UK director of softball operations, played softball for Mexico.

McLaughlin earned her first Olympic medals — gold in both the women’s 400-meter hurdles and women’s 4x400 meter relay. At just 21 years old, McLaughlin set a new world record of 51.46 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles, beating the previous record of 51.90 seconds that she set at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Days later at the close of the track and field competition, and her 22nd birthday, her relay team won gold with a time of 3:16.85 to make McLaughlin only the second Wildcat to win two medals in the same Olympics. If CI was a country competing in the Olympics, these two golds would place the College in the top 50 for golds and top 75 for total medals.

Hillaire competed in similar events — the men’s 400-meter dash and men’s 4x400 meter relay. In the individual race, he placed seventh in the semi-final 3 race with a time of 45.58 seconds. For the team event, he and his teammates placed eighth in the finals with a time of 3:00.85.

Cervantes helped Mexico to its first Olympic softball appearance while representing her father’s side of the family.

Her team would just barely fall to Canada 2-3 in the bronze medal game, despite beating them 2-1 in 2019 to qualify for the Olympics.

As exciting as CI’s alumni were in front of the camera, more CI alumni helped behind the scenes to capture, record and share their fellow Wildcats’ efforts at the Olympics: • Maggie Davis (JOU, 2020) used her role as a producer/ 48 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

Kentucky Kernel alumni Michael Reaves and Taylor Pence at the Tokyo Olympics.

multimedia journalist to interview McLaughlin and UK alumna and foil gold medalist Lee Kiefer before their arrival at The games for LEX18’s “BBN Tonight.”

• Annie Dunbar (JOU, 2015) kept people up to date with world record and medal wins through her position as a social media manager at ESPN. • Michael Ayers (JOU, 2018) was in Tokyo to cover the Olympics as a field producer for NBC. He is also a social media coordinator for Pro Football Focus.

• Michael Reaves (Kentucky Kernel alum) worked as a freelancer with Getty Images as a sponsored photographer serving the International Olympic Committee and their partners.

• Taylor Pence (Kentucky Kernel alum) photographed Team USA in the equestrian events as a social media manager for the United States Equestrian Federation.

• Brandon Goodwin (JOU major 2009-2012 and Kentucky Kernel alum) used his position of director of video curation and distribution at NBC News Digital to ensure news coverage of the games was streamed, published and available to the largest audience possible.

• Matt Murray (JOU, 2011 and Kentucky Kernel alum) made sure photos and videos of the games went worldwide from his job as head of social media for TODAY digital.

• Blair Helwig Spitzer (JOU, 2013) was called in by NBC to use her production expertise to cover the Olympics as a studio associate director, even though she is currently an associate director for CBS.•

ROSIE ECKER (ISC, 2016) Rosie Ecker’s dad’s heartfelt letters were turned into a Humans of New York feature. Visit http://ukci.me/

PAMELA WHITTEN (MA COM, 1986) Pamela Whitten became Indiana University’s 19th and first female president on July 1, 2021.

Rosie to read the full story.

LISA COLUMBIA (TEL/MAS, 1991) Lisa Columbia has been named president and general manager of WHAS 11 in Louisville.

BECCA CLEMONS (JOU, 2014) Becca Clemons, a former Kentucky Kernel editor, has been named The Washington Post’s director of operations and strategy for opinions.

MICHAEL T. STEPHENSON (PhD COM, 1999)

ELLE SMITH (JOU, 2020)

Michael T. Stephenson has been named provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Sam Houston State University.

Elle Smith is currently a multimedia reporter at WHAS11 in Louisville and was crowned Miss Kentucky USA in May 2021. She competes in the Miss USA contest in Tulsa, Okla., in November 2021.

OUITA MICHEL (DEBATE) Ouita Michel, restaurateur and University of Kentucky Intercollegiate Debate Team alumna, along with co-authors Sarah Gibbs and communication alumna Genie Graf, has released Michel’s first cookbook, “Just A Few Miles South: Timeless Recipes From Our Favorite Places.”

ALEX OTTE (JOU, 2018) Alex Otte became the youngest president ever appointed for Mothers Against Drunk Driving when she took office in January 2021. Visit http://ukci. me/Alex to read the full story.

BLAIR SPITZER (JOU, 2013) Blair Spitzer recently earned two Sports Emmy® Awards for her work as an associate director at CBS News/CBS Sports.

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ALUMNI highlights

HALL OF DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI RECIPIENTS On Oct. 1, 2021, six College of Communication and Information alumni added their names to the list of University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni inductees. The ceremony was previously planned for the spring of 2020 and was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Congratulations to the newest HODA members from CI: Henry “Bub” Asman, Dana Canedy, Jon Carloftis, Joe Creason (posthumous induction), Tommy Preston and Paul Wagner.

2020 HODA Inductees (L-R) Jon Carloftis, Bub Asman and Tommy Preston were joined by CI seniors (L-R) Annie Gillenwater, Jalen Taylor and Chance Baldwin) for lunch prior to the ceremony.

HODA Inductee Paul Wagner spoke to a film class on campus while he was in town for the ceremony.

James and Vanessa Canedy, siblings of HODA Inductee Dana Canedy, accepted the award on her behalf.

HENRY B. “BUB” ASMAN JR. | TEL/MAS, 1971 Henry B. “Bub” Asman Jr. of Union, Ky., is a two-time Academy Award–winning sound editor. He spent 38 years editing the sound for more than 30 films for filmmaker Clint Eastwood and about 40 more films for various other directors in Hollywood. He and his co-editor Alan Murray received six Academy Award nominations for sound editing, winning Oscars in the category of Best Achievement in Sound Editing for the films “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “American Sniper,” both directed by Eastwood. The other nominations were for “Eraser,” “Space Cowboys,” “Flags of our Fathers” and “Sully.”

DANA R. CANEDY | JOU, 1988 Dana R. Canedy of New York City is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and the senior vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster. She previously ran the Pulitzer Prizes, serving as administrator, selecting prize jurors and announcing the winners. She was recently named one of Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women. Canedy was a lead writer and editor on The New York Times series, “How Race is Lived in America,” which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. She is the author of “A Journal for Jordan,” which has been made into a movie to be released by Sony in theaters this Christmas, directed by Denzel Washington and starring Michael B. Jordan.

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JON C. CARLOFTIS | COM, 1986 Jon C. Carloftis of Lexington, is an award-winning rooftop gardener and garden designer. After moving to New York City in 1988, he became one of America’s pioneers in rooftop/small space gardening as he designed and installed rooftop gardens all over Manhattan for such celebrities as Julianne Moore, Edward Norton and Mike Myers. He was a contributing editor of Garden Design magazine and his gardens have been featured in more than 250 national magazines. Carloftis decorated the U.S. vice president’s house for the holidays under the Obama administration and restored the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion Formal Gardens. He is the author of “Beautiful Gardens of Kentucky in 2010” and has been named the Salonniere Top 100 Best Party Hosts in America for three years in a row.

JOE CROSS CREASON | JOU, 1940 Joe Cross Creason of Louisville, was a journalist for The Courier Journal. During his time at UK, Creason served as sports editor for both the Kentucky Kernel and The Kentuckian and was president of his fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega. After graduation, the Benton, Ky., native worked at several newspapers in western Kentucky before accepting a writing position at The Courier Journal in 1941.

Except from 1944-1946 when he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Theater, he worked at The Courier-Journal for the next 34 years. In 1975, UK and the Bingham Enterprises Foundation created the annual Joe Creason Lecture Series, bringing prominent journalists to Lexington to speak and meet with students and the public. Creason passed away in 1974 at the age of 56.

TOMMY L. PRESTON | JOU, 1956 Tommy L. Preston of Nashville, founded The Preston Group in 1968, a consulting services firm that expanded into 42 states and D.C., leading to many national recognitions. Preston began his career as the youngest Kentucky newspaper editor in 1956 at the Carrollton News-Democrat. Later, his training in the U.S. Army proved beneficial for subsequent counterterrorism efforts, and he founded Preston Global, a companion firm, for strategies and training to decrease violence at schools and other venues.

He was senior advisor to Gov. and U.S. Senator Wendell Ford and appointed executive director of the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security by Gov. Steve Beshear. He became the first such director to complete the U.S. Army War College National Security Program.

PAUL R. WAGNER | MA COM, 1972 Paul R. Wagner of Charlottesville, Va., is an Academy Award and Emmy Award–winning independent filmmaker, who has received multiple grants of support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Wagner’s documentaries and dramatic features have premiered at the Sundance, Toronto, Telluride and Rotterdam film festivals. His films include “Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle,” “Signature: George C. Wolfe,” “Thoroughbred” and “Out of Ireland.” In 2018, “Black in Blue” told a story of triumph and tragedy about UK football players Nate Northington, Greg Page, Houston Hogg and Wilbur Hackett, the men who broke the color line in the SEC. His current film project is a feature documentary about the artist Georgia O’Keeffe.

Read Paul’s alumni profile feature on page 55.

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ALUMNI profiles

JOU ALUMNA WRITES HER WAY INTO A PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST STAFF AT THE COURIER JOURNAL

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o go from reading the news to writing the news, one alumna channeled her love for writing to land a spot at Kentucky’s largest newspaper and become a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Sarah Ladd, a 2019 journalism graduate, grew up in a small western Kentucky town feeling isolated from the rest of the state—that is, except for a University of Kentucky extension office right outside her town. Seeing that UK sign made her feel like the University cared, leading her to transfer there.

Before she had become a UK student, she was already active in the Kentucky Kernel. The student newspaper would make up much of her college experience as it acted as an “oasis” for Ladd and what she called “a safe place for growth, for friendships, for learning.”

It was at the 2019 Kentucky Press Association Annual Convention that Ladd was introduced to Kristina Goetz, then-narrative editor at the Courier Journal. Ladd networked

her way into a guided tour of the news organization and a short interview with then-editor Rick Green. From that conversation, she secured a post-graduation internship as a breaking news reporter, which turned into a a full-time position in a mere four months.

“I have been recruiting interns for nearly 25 years, and it’s incredibly rare to know almost immediately that someone is going to be a high-achiever and land an immediate spot on the reporting staff. Sarah Ladd was one of the exceptions,” Green said.

Ladd continued to work as a breaking news reporter before transferring to a focused beat. During the latter half of 2020, she reported on higher education before landing in her current role of COVID-19 coverage.

In 2020, Ladd was also part of the staff-wide effort to cover the police killing of Breonna Taylor and the more than 180 days of protests it sparked in Louisville. The coverage by Ladd and her colleagues earned the paper 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist status in the breaking news and public service categories.

“Working in a Pulitzer Prize winning newsroom has always been a source of pride and a truly humbling experience for me. Being part of a finalist team made it that much more real and humbling,” Ladd said. “But I do think it’s important to remember why we were finalists this year. It was for covering the death of a young woman and the pain of a city. I am proud that the C-J was here covering it, though, and I’m grateful to everyone who shared their stories and emotions with reporters. I know we’ll never stop digging for truth and answers for our city, and that’s something to be proud of and excited about.”

Ladd advises other journalists to network. Formerly a stranger, Goetz is now a good friend and a big mentor who cheers on Ladd’s success.

SARAH LADD

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“Sarah is an extraordinary writer and reporter. She’s as kind as she is ambitious,” Goetz said. “I expect great things from her in her career. But as far as I’m concerned, she’s already a star.” • Visit http://ukci.me/Ladd to read the full story.

ISC ALUMNA PROMOTES NAME, IMAGE AND LIKENESS EFFORTS FOR COLLEGE ATHLETES

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ne College of Communication and Information alumna is proving she’s “not just a graphic designer” by using her skills to help elevate collegiate athletes in a wave of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) legislation.

Erin Harville, a 2018 integrated strategic communication graduate, came to the University of Kentucky with the curiosity to pick up a diverse skill set and the drive to add to the pool of Black creatives in the professional world. This landed her with ISC. “I was a person that wanted to do a little bit of everything but have one specific focus, and that was the only program that was like ‘this is how we can teach you everything, and you get to choose where you want to go and how you build your own path,’” Harville said.

And the path that Harville chose was sports. But it wasn’t until her internship with UK Athletics in her junior year that she realized the scope of creative opportunities. Now she brands herself as a “sports creative and visual strategist.”

While serving as a creative services student intern in UK Athletics’ in-house creative department, Harville used the campaign skills she learned from CI. She transitioned into a creative services assistant upon graduating. She calls UK Athletics “the best breeding ground for sports, ever.”

Her time working for UK Athletics helped her seamlessly transition into the same role at the University of Oregon’s athletic department while she pursues her MBA at the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. Working with former UK Athletics turned UO employees allowed her caliber of work to be recognized and understood.

ERIN HARVILLE advantage of the new legislation. Now, she’s continuing her freelance work with INFLCR to provide written content and graphics for the social media strategies she creates.

Joining UO also introduced Harville to INFLCR, a platform for sports teams to store, track and deliver content across their networks. Harville is working with the platform to promote a wave of new legislation across the nation.

INFLCR also is partnering with Navigate, an advisor to leading brands and organizations in sports and entertainment, to provide athletes with their estimated fair market values and education to guide them through their NIL rights.

The NCAA recently adopted an interim policy that allows collegiate athletes to profit from their Name, Image and Likeness. Leading up to the legislative rollout, Harville was hard at work for INFLCR, data mining and content creating to help the over 7,000 collegiate athletes on the platform take

“This is a new era for student-athletes and there is so much to navigate, but I am glad that I am on the forefront of this and looking forward to seeing what the future holds for NIL,” Harville said. • Visit http://ukci.me/harville to read the full story.

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ALUMNI profiles

MAS ALUMNUS TAKES HIS EXPERTISE TO NASA

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hildren are usually told to “shoot for the moon” when planning their future careers. For one College of Communication and Information alumnus, he’s taking that advice literally — except he’s shooting for the moon AND Mars.

Since 2017, John Ramsey, a 1995 telecommunications graduate (now media arts and studies), has served as the senior project manager and integrated product team leader for the Spaceport Command and Control System at Kennedy Space Center.

But it wasn’t a straight road from Space Camp to the Spaceport. Though Ramsey had attended the U.S. Space and Rocket Center summer camp multiple times as a child, he started his career with the military.

Ramsey had envisioned himself as an Air Force fighter pilot. But these plans soon changed when he discovered he had worsening eyesight. Instead, he joined the University of Kentucky’s Army ROTC and, subsequently, the School of Journalism and Media, known then as the School of Journalism and Telecommunications.

After graduating, Ramsey went on to serve as an infantry officer before putting in 15 years in the telecommunications industry. He worked his way up from frontline management to the executive director and global practice lead for Solutions Architecture at Verizon.

This was the moment Ramsey bowed out for a coincidental opening for his dream job.

He had returned to Space Camp as a volunteer. This led to regular interaction with NASA and the contractor community. Through these connections, Ramsey learned that Jacobs, the prime contractor for ground systems supporting the human exploration program at Kennedy Space Center, was looking for a professional with his credentials.

Now he’s responsible for a team of more than 200 software engineers and developers, system engineers, hardware engineers and more. As the senior project manager and integrated product team leader, Ramsey oversees the design, development, test and sustainment of the primary command and control system for processing and launch of the vehicles

54 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY

JOHN RAMSEY in NASA’s Artemis program. The program aims to take the first woman and next man to the moon and, eventually, Mars.

“I’m constantly standing in those rooms where people have worked so hard to allow people to leave Earth,” Ramsey said. “That’s what we say about Kennedy Space Center — it is the place where you come to watch people leave Earth.” • Visit http://ukci.me/ramsey to read the full story

GRAD PROGRAM ALUMNUS’ FILMS CONNECT PEOPLE TO PAST

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eaning into his excitement to showcase “America and her people,” one alumnus has graduated from the Big Blue Nation to the big screen.

Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Wagner, a 1972 master’s in communication graduate, has produced and directed more than 40 films in his over 40-year career.

The atmosphere of respectable faculty and likable peers in the College of Communication and Information’s Graduate Program in Communication helped Wagner to “come alive intellectually” and experience “personal enrichment” like he had never felt before. His CI experience helped indirectly catapult him into his future endeavors.

It wasn’t until years later at a University of Pennsylvania anthropological film class that film clicked for Wagner. The class revolved around a subset of documentary films that explored people and cultures — what would become Wagner’s specialty. As someone who had fallen in love with “the world of ideas” while at the University of Kentucky, he knew that filmmaking was his entry to further explore this world and share it with others.

In 1989, Wagner and his wife, Ellen Casey Wagner, incorporated American Focus, a small nonprofit organization that independently produces films about American life. One of these films was “Black in Blue,” a documentary about the four Black UK football players who integrated the Southeastern Conference in the 1960s.

PAUL WAGNER

As a filmmaker, Wagner said it is his job to retrieve these stories and witnesses of history to bring them forward into now so people may learn from them.

“You have to know the history. You can’t just care about the present and not care about the history — it doesn’t make sense.

And to truly care about the present and to take effective action in the present, you have to understand the history,” Wagner said.

“For those of us who care about the University, who care about the state of Kentucky, who care about the South more broadly or America, and who care about this issue of race, it’s a really important story and it’s really enlightening, I think, and helps you understand better what’s going on now and why these issues are still a challenge for us as a nation.” • Visit http://ukci.me/wagner to read the full story.

This statue near Kroger Field depicts UK’s first African-American football players Greg Page, Nate Northington, Wilbur Hackett and Houston Hogg, the subject of Wagner’s recent film.

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ALUMNI profiles

LIBRARY SCIENCE ALUMNA TAKES LEADERSHIP ROLE AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

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little girl from Kentucky who went to the local library housed in a jail cell has now become a section head at the Library of Congress.

Jasmyne Lewis-Combs, who earned her master’s in library science in 2014 from the School of Information Science, took her love of local libraries and transformed it into a career in the U.S. national library, one of the largest libraries in the world.

“It took me a long time to get here, but it’s a good place to be now. You don’t leave LC,” Lewis-Combs said. “My dream job wanted me. I didn’t just want them. Some days I still can’t believe it.”

Lewis-Combs’ library career started at the end of a nearly decade-long career teaching special education. Thankfully, a short stint as a social worker gave her the opportunity to finally attend the University of Kentucky like she had always wanted. Her mother suggested she go into library science, which she had dreamed of as a child.

“I had this love of library anyway because it was always my escape. If I had something going on that I wanted to run from, well that’s where you found me. Or if I had any free time, my nose was in a book,” Lewis-Combs said.

It was at UK that she discovered her dream job through an internship program. The UK SIS Alternative Spring Break program offers library science students career-enhancing experience by working in the country’s leading national libraries and archives. In the program, Lewis-Combs interned in the LC. For the next 10 years, she gained progressive experience to work toward landing a job in the national library.

Nine months into working for Kentucky Christian University, Lewis-Combs got a call from the Library of Congress about an application she had submitted before even applying to the university.

Now as a section head, Lewis-Combs supervises a team of cataloguers, two librarians and three technicians. Though the job is not public-facing, Lewis-Combs said she has a large enough staff and plenty of program opportunities to satisfy

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JASMYNE LEWIS-COMBS her social needs as a librarian.

She dreams of one day heading the National Library Service to help solve social inequalities and assisting with the Alternative Spring Break program to help set career goals for other future librarians.

“So many times, our librarians get discounted as, ‘Oh, they’re just a librarian.’ But they’re not. They’re the keys to unlocking all this knowledge,” Lewis-Combs said. “They can be the catalyst for change in our communities for the better.” • Visit http://ukci.me/lewiscombs to read the full story.

COM ALUMNA’S PASSION LEADS TO ELLE MAGAZINE

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rom Kentucky to Los Angeles to New York, one alumna’s passion for fashion has taken her from coast to coast and landed her in one of the fashion capitals of the world.

Madison Rexroat, a 2018 communication and marketing graduate, knew from a young age that she wanted to work in the fashion industry. And with plenty of perseverance and professional positions under her belt, she’s managed to find a spot for herself at the world’s largest fashion magazine — ELLE.

Although she knows the fashion industry is grueling, Rexroat thinks it’s all been worth it.

“Even when I’m hating my life and working all the time, I still love it because I get to work in the industry that I fantasized about as a kid and that was in all the movies,” Rexroat said. “Really nothing else would’ve been fulfilling. As much as it’s difficult — it doesn’t pay very well, it’s really hard to get into and it takes a lot of work — I can’t think of another job that I’d be like, ‘That’ll make me happy.’” • Visit http://ukci.me/rexroat to read the full story.

Since August 2019, Rexroat has served as one of the publication’s fashion assistants and the senior market editor’s assistant. More recently, she took on the temporary role of assistant to Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia.

Rexroat got her start with fashion magazines at the University of Kentucky through Kernel Media’s KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion magazine. Though she began as the magazine’s content editor and social media manager, she ended her time there as the editor-in-chief, along with being the Kentucky Kernel’s social media marketing manager.

It was all the social media experience that led her to LA to intern as a fashion assistant to celebrity stylist Law Roach.

Her position had her working around the clock on social media and photoshoots, though, in consolation, she got to see plenty of celebrities.

With help from Roach’s assistant, Rexroat managed to snag a four-day, all work and no play freelance opportunity to dress the models for New York Fashion Week.

However, she had no connections to ELLE Magazine when she applied for an open position. It was her experience with Roach, she believes, that made her the best candidate for the job.

As a fashion assistant, she works for the closet team, handling clothes and dealing with the logistics of photoshoots.

Serving as an assistant to the senior market editor, she communicates with brands and builds schedules for fashion week.

And in her interim role assisting Garcia, she does everything from managing her schedule to handling her expense materials.

MADISON REXROAT

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 57

CI Philanthropy

WHY I GIVE: A DONOR’S PERSPECTIVE

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BY DIANE WALLACE

hen asked why I choose to give to the College of Communication and Information, I could list professors whose classes I loved, friends I’ll never forget and memorable campus events in the early 1960s at the University of Kentucky. But the best part about my time at UK was meeting Dick Wallace, my future husband, in the School of Journalism (now the School of Journalism and Media).

While measuring tobacco one college summer, Dick discovered a treasure of Civil War letters in the attic of an abandoned Fayette County farmhouse. The house had been owned by Charles C. Moore, an illustrious and prominent atheistic newspaperman in Lexington. Some of the letters were from historical American figures like U.S. President James A. Garfield, 19th-century senator Thomas Collier Platt and Secretary of State James G. Blaine. The Kentucky Kernel detailed Dick’s discovery in an article on Jan. 11, 1962.

Dick shared the letters with UK history professor Dr. Bennett Wall, who encouraged him to use them “The best part about to write Moore’s fascinating life my time at UK was story. However, Dick never got meeting Dick Wallace, to it.

my future husband,

Dick and I both graduated and married in the summer of in the School of 1963. He later became a naval Journalism.” officer, leading us to live in four DIANE WALLACE different states in five years and rarely return to Kentucky. The letters traveled with us, and Dick hoped to write Moore’s story after he retired from his planned military career.

When Dick died in Vietnam in 1968, I gave the collection of letters to UK Libraries, knowing they would be kept safe and available to interested scholars. It is still my fervent hope that someday another history buff will use the letters to write Moore’s story and finish Dick’s ambitions.

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A page from the Jan. 11, 1962 edition of the Kentucky Kernel documented Dick Wallace’s discovery of historical letters in the attic of an abandoned Fayette County farmhouse.

Our daughter Katherine’s three children never knew their grandfather, so I have been gathering stories about him to share. Of all the people I’ve contacted after all these years, UK friends have responded most. Many have written long remembrances which are treasures for our family, so I am grateful for our UK friendships. •

THE IMPACT OF GIVING: A RECIPIENT’S PERSPECTIVE

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BY SARAH MICHELS

’ll admit, I was surprised when I was notified that I received this year’s David Dick “What a Great Story!” scholarship. In today’s world of endless information, it’s easy to feel like my words aren’t reaching anyone, my stories lost amidst everything else happening. Receiving this scholarship was a much-appreciated reminder that my efforts are not in vain.

I’m from just outside of Louisville, in Jefferson County, and I’m pursuing a dual degree in journalism and political science as well as minors in Spanish and business at the University of Kentucky. I’ve worked for UK’s student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel, since freshman year. I didn’t know much about journalism then, but I was eager to learn.

tangible through journalism. I’ve interned at the Lexington Herald-Leader and the Cincinnati Enquirer during my summers, in addition to my reporting for the Kernel. My favorite part of each job has been getting to know the stories of complete strangers and learn about things I never would have encountered otherwise in my academic studies.

“I’m so grateful for the relief this scholarship will offer as I navigate a new city and a new newsroom...”

After I graduate next May, I am eager to continue learning every day and share what I’ve learned with readers.

This David Dick scholarship will help me with that learning by allowing me to focus on

improving my journalistic craft rather than financial stress in my early post-grad life. Between my work at the Kernel, my academics and my time spent running as a walk on for the UK cross country and track teams, I havThat’s been a constant in my life — a love en’t had time for a job to earn money for the SARAH MICHELS of learning. In grade school, I would read all first few years of my career. I know that every day if you let me. In high school, I genuinely bit I have saved will be helpful, and I am so enjoyed all my classes, even calculus. grateful for the relief this scholarship will offer as I navigate a new city and newsroom in the near future. • Now, in college, I love being able to make my curiosity

HOW TO SUPPORT THE COLLEGE Help us shape passions into professions….

Through financial support from alumni and friends of the College of Communication and Information, we are able to prepare our students for an ever-changing world and assist our faculty with transformative science and research.

Gifts and pledges are one of many ways to help support our priorities, including career readiness initiatives, student scholarships and endowed faculty funds. By supporting us today, you are helping the College shape tomorrow’s leaders.

If you are considering a gift to the College and would like to discuss how best to realize the impact you desire to achieve, reach out to Nathan Darce at Nathan.Darce@uky.edu or (859) 257-3033 to start the conversation.

To make a gift online, visit ukci.me/give or scan the QR code to the right COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION | 59

308 Lucille Little Library University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 40506-0224