Beyond the Classroom

Data plans

Regan Widergren — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 22:03:01 +0000

Data plans Regan Widergren Tue, 11/18/2025 - 15:03

Hannah Stewart

Photos by Kimberly Coffin and Patrick Campbell

When Josie Mahoney’s best friend died in high school, his parents asked for her help with
heir son’s social media.

Of course, she said yes, but she didn’t know where to start. Should they delete his account, losing access to the photos he posted and was tagged in? Or archive it as a digital memorial?

“It was distressing,” said Mahoney (InfoSci’25). “I think a clinic would’ve been really great because at least there’s someone to talk to who knows what they’re doing.”

Now she’s one of those people: In her senior year, she joined CMDI’s Digital Legacy Clinic, led by Jed Brubaker, an associate professor of information science.

“The clinic is something you can’t bottle—there’s an energy there,” she said. “It’s the coolest class I’ve been a part of because of how it prepares us for the real world.”

Part of that is how the course is structured. Brubaker builds in collaborative, project-based assignments that mimic the workplaces Mahoney and her classmates will graduate into. But it also comes from the market need for a solution to what happens to our data when we die.

As an academic research collaborator at Facebook, Brubaker helped develop the platform’s memorial account practices, but saw a much larger problem than just social media—photos, videos, text messages, bank accounts and so on. Through a National Science Foundation CAREER Grant, he created a pro-bono, law school-style clinic to help people maintain their digital legacies.

“It felt like a really unique moment where my research, teaching missions and a desire to do public service perfectly overlapped,” he said.

‘Pre-mortem’ support

Many clients come to the Digital Legacy Clinic in search of what students call “pre-mortem” support—getting a handle on what to do with their data now, so their families don’t have as much stress later.

I appreciated the students’ compassion and that they’re thinking about ways to mitigate the overwhelm.”

Corinna Robbins

That was the case with Corinna Robbins.

“I wonder what will happen to all the digital detritus that feels meaningful to us, and I wonder how my family will handle mine, or how I should handle my parents’,” Robbins said. “My son is 16 right now. He may not be interested in my inner life at this moment, but I bet one
day he will be.”

Unlike her mother, who had a drawer or two full of family photos, Robbins said she had thousands of unorganized photos on about 25 hard drives. That alone felt daunting, but equally disappointing was losing a blog she kept as a young adult, filled with personal essays and photography.

With help from the students, she learned about different cloud solutions to organize her photo collection, as well as the Wayback Machine, an online archive where she was able to recover most of her blog.

“It was lovely to be reconnected with those artifacts of my younger, former self,” Robbins said. “I appreciated the students’ compassion and that they’re thinking about ways to mitigate the overwhelm.”

Students in the Digital Legacy Clinic provide client support while researching how different platforms treat user data after death.

‘A measly number’

Part of the clinic’s effort is dedicated to fieldwork, in which students review platforms’ policies for specifics on user accounts and data after death. They’ve found that only 13% of platforms offer functional support, “a measly number for something that will happen to 100% of us,” Brubaker said.

The rest of their time is spent on client cases and building out the clinic’s functionality. Jack Manning (CTD’24), an information science master’s student, built a chatbot to push students’ boundaries, ensuring they encounter a range of situations and build their confidence for working with clients who may be grieving.

“These are undergraduate students, not mental health professionals,” he said. “And there’s potential for harm in those sensitive communications.”

Manning, like Mahoney, joined the clinic in the fall and repeated the class last spring. While the first semester was spent developing the framework and assessing clients’ needs, the second focused on creating a knowledge base and onboarding system—like the chatbot—to benefit future students.

As part of her portfolio project last fall, Mahoney focused on leadership and outreach—so on top of helping clients, she also developed a mini knowledge base with resources to train future students to be sensitive in working with the public.

“Now I can say I was a team leader, a project manager and in charge of the timeline and what we were doing,” she said.

Students said that real-world emphasis shows up in other ways, too.

“I’ve learned how to work with people on different teams and bounce ideas off each other,” said Oliver Kochenderfer (InfoSci’25). “I’ve gotten so much teamwork experience, and it’s been cool to have a teacher who acts as a manager guiding us toward one big goal.”

Brubaker said it’s important to remember that although college is a time of exploration and experience, one of its main responsibilities is preparing students for life after graduation.

“I hope the clinic remains a place that has a public impact while also being a place for both my students and me to learn,” he said. “I love taking humanistic or social science issues and thinking about how to implement that in the code. We’re human-touch first. More than a solution, people need to be heard.”

Learn more about the clinic

The Digital Literacy Clinic

Hannah Stewart graduated from CMDI in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news for the college.

Photographer Kimberly Coffin graduated from CMDI in 2018 with degrees in media production and strategic communication.

When Jed Brubaker established the Digital Legacy Clinic—to help people make a plan for their data after their deaths—he saw it as a perfect blend of teaching and public service.

Off

Traditional

Fall 2025

White

Student Work Gallery: Fall 2025

Regan Widergren — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 21:11:50 +0000

Student Work Gallery: Fall 2025 Regan Widergren Tue, 11/11/2025 - 14:11

Creativity is the through line uniting each of the college’s majors, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the work of our students. Whether it’s a class assignment, work done for a club, an internship or a passion project, our students’ talents remain a source of pride and inspiration for the college. Here are a few standouts from the fall.

Dylan Thomas Doyle (MInfoSci’24; PhD’25)

Kinsey Anger (EnvDes’25)

Hannah Howell, media production

Emme Clymer, journalism

Skylar Berman, psychology; journalism minor

Amy Mahoney, business; journalism minor

Eric Durigan (EnvDes’25)

Campbell Tsung, Jess Sastra, Georgia Cook, Morgan Braun-Jenson (all StratComm’25)

Samantha Russo, strategic communication

Aramis Loma-Guzman, journalism

�� the cover: ‘Eerie beauty’

Leif Lomo didn’t intend to stop at this abandoned factory at Valmont Butte, in Boulder—he was actually looking for another ruined location to photograph when he stumbled on this building. He got this photo after climbing to the top of one of its smokestacks.

“What gripped me was the texture. It almost had a personality—the corrugated roofing, the decaying wood, the shadows, the small bits of graffiti,” said Lomo, who’s studying media production. “It struck me as a very human image—people took stuff out of the earth to make things here. Then, it was forgotten. Now, it’s both a canvas and a place where people who don’t have housing live.”

Lomo made this image as part of his Digital Photographic Practices class, which covered the New Topographics movement—when landscape photography shifted from pastoral beauty to documenting the human alteration of those landscapes. “In that course, I found a reason to explore and show some of the eerie beauty I found in the world,” he said.

Creativity is the through line uniting each of the college’s majors, and nowhere is that more apparent than in the work of our students.

Off

Dark Mode

Fall 2025

White

Grounded in reality

Amanda J. McManus — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 21:34:20 +0000

Grounded in reality Amanda J. McManus Fri, 09/26/2025 - 15:34

Hannah Stewart

Illustrations by Dana Leafdale

Two small wheels clattering against the tile floor. Again.

To a young Mary Miller, that sound meant her father, a Delta pilot, was off to work. And while she’d miss her father while he was away, growing up around airports helped Miller fall in love with aviation, too. “I soloed for the first time on my 16th birthday,” she recalled with a laugh. “I always tell people I flew a plane by myself before I drove a car by myself.”

Her passion for flying became a driving force behind her senior thesis, a combined research and design project. Miller (EnvDes’25) conducted fieldwork, interviews and policy analysis to better understand airport infrastructure and sustainability. She then created designs for what regional and municipal airports might look like in a future when they are used less frequently—a shift that is likely to happen in her Minnesota home.

As a hardworking and involved student—she was a member of multiple organizations and held a number of jobs on campus—Miller never got the chance to fly in Colorado. But lessons learned in Boulder—as well as in Medellín, Colombia, where the environmental design department hosts an annual studio—convinced her she needed to conduct her research in the literal airfield.

“You have to ground yourself in a site because no two are the exact same,” she said. “While I was in Colombia, I learned that different areas have their own histories and needs, so it’s important to always consider that.”

In the six-week studio, faculty lead students like Miller in completing local development projects alongside community members and peers from other universities.

“It was definitely one of the best experiences I had as a student,” she said. “It was impactful to work with the community there and realize how much we had changed each others’ lives.”

In all her projects, Miller’s mission is to create impact. Her honors thesis was a chance to do so in an industry she loves.

For her thesis project, Mary Miller created designs of different use cases for small airports to balance their use with their natural surroundings. Used with permission.

“Her passions for aviation and environmental protection come together in her thesis work, where she critically investigates the vast areas of land occupied by airports and explores how they can be reimagined,” said Jota Samper, an associate professor in environmental design and director of the Medellín studio. “Her thesis is, in many ways, a love letter to airports, nature and the people who work in those spaces.”

Initially, Miller studied how to make airports more sustainable, and connected with Zannah Mae Matson, her advisor and an assistant professor of landscape architecture who researches infrastructure. But the project shifted to include the damage airports do to the environment.

Nationwide, regional and municipal airports occupy approximately 1.5 million acres of land. As a pilot, Miller understands that clearing land improves safety, but as a landscape architect, she’s aware of the impact airports have on native plants and animals.

As she interviewed airport managers, Miller learned about the financial, policy, ecology and safety challenges they face. She also identified four ecological systems common to the Minnesota airports she visited: fields, forests, water and wetlands.

Using those habitats as a starting point, she proposed four designs to help those managers rehabilitate the landscape. For example, a busy airport near fields may need more cutting or mowing, while a manager of a quieter airport could allow more native flora and fauna to flourish.

“Instead of immediately proposing to decommission airports, she’s suggesting something that could be done alongside functioning ones, which is a really nuanced view,” Matson said.

Miller’s dedication and thoroughness paid off: She earned top honors for her project and presented her research at this year’s Environmental Design Research Association conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

She’s still figuring out the next move for her career, but hopes to keep this project in the air. She credited her education with giving her perspective on her future.

“My environmental design education proved what a huge range design can offer, and how it can apply to anything, like communication or journalism,” Miller said. “There are so many directions my degree could take me in.”

“Her thesis is, in many ways, a love letter to airports, nature and the people who work in those spaces.”

Jota Samper
Associate Professor
Environmental Design

Hannah Stewart graduated from CMDI in 2019 with a degree in communication.

A recent graduate’s love of flight helped her senior thesis reach new heights.

Off

Zebra Striped

Fall 2025

White

Ad blitz

Amanda J. McManus — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 07:24:34 +0000

Ad blitz Amanda J. McManus Thu, 02/27/2025 - 00:24

CMCI swept the student awards at Denver One Club, taking home a best in show and numerous other awards for their work on briefs from Kraft, Dove and other major brands.

Off

Traditional

Spring 2025

White

On location

Amanda J. McManus — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 17:35:04 +0000

On location Amanda J. McManus Fri, 02/21/2025 - 10:35

Iris Serrano

Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18) and Jack Moody (StratComm’24)

Andrea Davis was already interested in the University of Colorado Boulder when she arrived on campus for J-Day last fall.

The chance to explore both the campus and the fast-changing discipline of journalism made it easy for the high school senior to picture herself as a student here.

A group of students tours the football stadium on J-Day.

Davis took a class in broadcast journalism at Grandview High School, which taught her more about the field and inspired her to attend J-Day—an annual celebration of high school journalism by the Colorado Student Media Association—at CMCI in October.

She has since committed to attend �� Boulder, where she plans to pursue a major in media studies.

“I learned a lot from the sessions and speakers—like the different markets, and the preparation that is required,” Davis said. “There were also lessons about the intention behind every story that gets covered, and how you have to advertise and carry yourself.”

Triumphant return to Boulder

J-Day is a daylong conference and celebration of student media—not just newspapers, but yearbooks, magazines and other publications. When it came to campus in October, it was the first time J-Day had been held in Boulder in more than 20 years.

Organizers are now planning for J-Day’s return to Boulder this fall following a hugely successful showcase of the college and its journalism offerings—including a world-class alumni network and the award-winning student media organizations last year. Shelby Javernick, director of student recruitment and outreach at CMCI, is among those leading the charge.

“J-Day is such an exciting event for students who don’t see either college or �� Boulder as an option to understand that CMCI is this very welcoming space,” she said. “I think one of the things I most enjoyed seeing was students connecting with our faculty, and understanding there are so many opportunities for mentorship here.

“And I’m excited for the students who are coming back next year, who will get to build connections with their team and bring back their knowledge and community to their schools.”

At last year’s event, students heard directly from industry and academic experts who discussed topics like social media, generative artificial intelligence and career readiness. Some of the most popular sessions included a panel featuring representatives of �� Boulder student media organizations, a career prep session with 9News personalities, and multiple talks about sports journalism. Hundreds of students also attended tours of the campus, CMCI studios and academic spaces, and the campus’ sports media operations.

By the numbers

1400 +
Students attended J-Day in 2024

2001
Last year J-Day took place in Boulder

50
Schools sent students to J-Day

208 miles
Farthest distance traveled to attend (Aspen High School)

46
Total sessions available for students

10
Sessions led by faculty, staff or alumni

911
Students filled out information cards to learn more about CMCI

35.1%
Seniors who attended J-Day and applied to �� Boulder

‘Continuously blown away’

One popular session at J-Day featured sophomore Leopold Riviera IV, an aspiring sports journalist, interviewing Robert Barba (Jour’04), an editor on the Wall Street Journal’s U.S. news team and a member of CMCI’s advisory board.

Be involved

J-Day’s success last year was largely a result of alumni participation from professionals working in news, social media and other communication-related disciplines. If you would like to volunteer your services, contact Shelby Javernick.

Barba seemed as impressed with his interviewer as he did the dozens of students who turned out to hear him talk about his career path and the evolving field of journalism.

“I’m continuously blown away by people who are younger, smarter and more articulate than I was at that age,” Barba said. “It’s affirming to connect with younger people who are excited about news. The industry is going to look a lot different for them than it did for me at their age.”

Barba, who grew up in the Denver metro area and attended �� Boulder as a first-generation student, had instant rapport with the students.

“The fact that he was in their shoes at one point allows them to connect more,” said Rivera, also a first-generation student. “I think when you have a sense of connection, you’re more drawn to attend �� or any other university.”

Despite being only a few years older than the attendees, Rivera was amazed at the students’ drive and passion for journalism. Hearing from someone like Barba and others will encourage them to pursue their goals

“I never had connections to other journalists until I got to college,” Rivera said. “I think if I was at J-Day, it would have given me more reassurance.”

Faculty also led workshops for the students, which touched on everything from social media to documentaries. In a sociology and sports journalism session led by Ever Figueroa, an assistant professor of journalism, students practiced pitching stories related to sports and developing them into actual pieces.

NBC News anchor Savannah Sellers speaks to students.

He said he was surprised at the students’ enthusiasm—many showed up early, sat in the front rows and were excited to participate.

“J-Day is a great opportunity to preview the college environment,” Figueroa said. “Students were afforded an opportunity to use their own self-interests as the basis for a news story and learn about how to succeed in the business.”

Among the alumni who students heard from was Savannah Sellers (Jour’13), anchor for NBC News’ Morning News Now, who gave the keynote address from the network’s New York headquarters. Many may have recognized her from Stay Tuned, NBC’s Snapchat news show for younger audiences.

“Exploring journalism as a career opportunity can lead you to so many fantastic things in your life, and incredible opportunities,” she told the audience. “It is a fun, rewarding, fulfilling path that is only getting more interesting, no matter if it’s changing. Also, I will say that �� Boulder was a fabulous place to study it.”

That certainly rang true for students like Davis.

“Having the opportunity to be on campus was eye-opening, in the sense that I got to imagine what it could be like if I attended,” she said.

J-Day attracted thousands of Colorado students to Boulder for discussions led by journalists, faculty, alumni and undergraduates.

Board member Robert Barba, left, of The Wall Street Journal, answers a question from student Leopold Riviera IV.

Student attendees ask questions of a panel of 9News journalists during a session at J-Day.

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

Photographer Kimberly Coffin graduated from CMDI in 2018 with degrees in Media Production and Strategic Communication.

Photographer Jack Moody graduated from CMDI in 2024 with a degree in Strategic Communication.

After Journalism Day’s successful return to Boulder, CMCI is looking forward to bringing students and advisors back to campus this fall.

Off

Traditional

Spring 2025

J-Day's return to the �� Boulder campus generated incredible enthusiasm for the more than 1,400 high school students who attended the daylong event.

White

J-Day's return to the �� Boulder campus generated incredible enthusiasm for the more than 1,400 high school students who attended the daylong event.

Student Work Gallery: Fall 2024

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 19:06:36 +0000

Student Work Gallery: Fall 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/09/2024 - 13:06

Students across CMCI find ways to bring together their personal interests and academic pursuits. Since the college’s founding, we have regularly showcased this diverse collection of student work.

See more student projects or submit your work for gallery consideration →.

Lauren Arabia (StratComm’24)

Audrey Vanderpool, Owen Hartmann, Devon Walsh, Lexi Legeer, Mateo Perez-Lara, Lisa Fox (StratComm’24)

Javan Bair, journalism

Haley Mordini (MStratComm’21)

Alyssa Hill (MJour’24)

Since CMCI's founding, we have regularly showcased the impressive creative work of our students.

Off

Traditional

White

Good taste

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:42:31 +0000

Good taste Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/26/2024 - 14:42

By Iris Serrano and Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)
Photos by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm’18)

From classroom to career

Alumni connections, networking opportunities and unique coursework give CMCI students access to incredible internships. A few recent examples:

Luis Licon (PolSci’24)

Licon hopes to work in environmental planning and law, so minors in both communication and environmental design were ideal supplements to his political science degree. This combination of studies helped him land internships not only in media, with KGNU, but also in politics for Colorado’s House of Representatives and Gov. Jared Polis’ communications team.

“I was able to talk and connect with representatives, even outside of politics, and it will always be one of the most memorable times I’ve had.”

Matthew Miranda (Comm, PolSci’24)

Miranda worked as a legislative intern for the Colorado House Democrats and also completed an internship for U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper.

“Communication helps you understand where to find information, and how to disseminate it. It also helps you write clearly and define the message you want to convey to clients. Those lessons from my classes really helped me during my internships.”

Madelyn Heath (Jour’23, MA’24)

Heath interned as a writer for her local newspaper, the Mason County News.

“We learn about the industry in class, but being immersed in a newsroom made me think about what else goes into a paper or a broadcast: Everybody has a purpose. The journalism world is very fast-moving. At ��, we take a variety of classes that make us really versatile in a newsroom.”

Alex Roller wasn’t sure an internship with Snarf’s Sandwiches would be her bread and butter. But when her professor encouraged her to apply for the competitive advertising position, she set aside her hesitation and threw her hat in the ring.

Today, Roller (StratComm’24) is a marketing coordinator with the sandwich company, which has stores in Colorado, Texas and Missouri. Her day-to-day with the in-house Snarf’s marketing team builds on the design, event planning and social media work she did as an intern.

“Everything that I’ve learned in my advertising courses has transferred over seamlessly,” Roller said. “The biggest thing I learned in school that I’ve carried over to my work is the importance of communication skills and how to reach your target audience.”

At CMCI, students land coveted internships thanks to the college’s unique curricular emphasis, the involvement of alumni in attending recruiting events and providing mentorship, and industry-active faculty who put their networks to work in helping students find opportunities. Roller credited Morgan Young, an assistant teaching professor, with putting the Snarf’s opportunity on her radar. As president of Young Ideas, Young has worked with clients such as Nissan, General Motors, Bank of America, NASCAR, Visa and Walmart.

“I wouldn’t have a job and be where I was if Morgan didn’t mention the internship,” Roller said. “My biggest piece of advice would be to just take new opportunities and run with them—it’ll benefit you in the long term.”

Roller’s story isn’t unique, said Brandi Bradshaw-Reyes, assistant director of advising, internships and student professional development. Most students enter college without a clear idea of their career paths, discovering what drives them as they take courses, meet people and complete internships. Bradshaw-Reyes said that’s something she tells students unsure of where to interview or whether to accept an internship offer.

“When you’re getting your first internship, it’s going to teach you what you like and what you don’t like,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of students who end up finding the role they want to work in once they graduate or are offered full-time roles.”

Plenty of those roles, of course, come from connections to alumni. Bradshaw- Reyes said alumni are regular participants at major events, like career fairs, as well as in the classroom.

“Navigating the job market as a new graduate is challenging. Having alumni serve as mentors is an amazing experience for students,” Bradshaw-Reyes said.

CMCI students benefit from connected faculty and alumni to secure internships. Four recent graduates share their experiences.

Off

Traditional

White

What drives van lifers?

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:08:56 +0000

What drives van lifers? Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/26/2024 - 14:08

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

After leaving several sticky notes on the windshield, Matt Solari finally met the dude who lived in the ambulance.

Solari, a media production major, was working with a team to document van life in Boulder, and quickly ran into a problem: They didn’t know anyone who lived in a van. Their only lead was Solari’s neighbor, Alec Kolodziejczyk, who lived in the ambulance parked down the street.

Getting him to participate was the first breakthrough for the team after many leads fell short. But their perseverance was rewarded in the spring semester, when Boulder Van Life was nominated in the short/long form nonfiction category of the 2024 Heartland Student Emmy Awards. Additionally, in the summer, the film was nominated for the Most Inspirational Film Award from the Oregon Documentary Film Festival.

“I was in the middle of a frantic day when I got a text from my professor saying, ‘Congratulations, you’ve been nominated for a regional Emmy Award,’ and I immediately called my parents to tell them about it,” he said. “This was the first time when I was really able to see a project through from start to end and have it turn out roughly like what I intended at the beginning.”

Solari produced the film for a course called Documentary and Beyond, co-taught by Ross Taylor, associate professor of journalism, and Pat Clark, assistant professor of critical media practices. By collaborating across disciplines, students were encouraged to see the documentary film process from both a journalist’s and a filmmaker’s perspective.

‘Really beautiful and well done’

“Their film taps into a trend many explore in Colorado, throughout the West and beyond. So, it’s a relatable experience that many can connect with,” Taylor said of Solari’s project. “And the cinematography in the film was really beautiful and well done.”

What Solari loved most about the course was having an entire semester to fully flesh out and produce a documentary. After a few rounds of speed-dating-like pitching, he recruited fellow CMCI students Wyatt Martinez, Braxton Fish and Carlos Franco to work with him and explore what draws people to van life.

“I’m interested in the human story and being able to bring someone’s to a larger audience,” Solari said. “Seeing this whole process as a journey changed my mind on what documentary is and how the film reveals itself as you’re making it.”

Solari cast a wide net looking for candidates, and found that some, like Kolodziejczyk—a PhD candidate in chemistry at �� Boulder—see van life as more affordable. Others choose the lifestyle for the freedom and flexibility that comes with it.

But while searching for his subjects, Solari heard “no.” A lot. Even in the case of Kolodziejczyk, Solari had to sell the idea of bringing a film crew into his home.

“I got a lot of rejection—it was a very humbling process,” Solari said. “I talked to about 20 people who were interested, but didn’t have the time or didn’t take me seriously. It was all about celebrating the small victories—and when they started adding up, it gave me confidence to keep going.”

Oscar cred

The team’s next victory came when van lifer Deb Hoak joined the production. Hoak’s participation was particularly exciting for Solari, since she appeared briefly in the Oscar-winning film Nomadland. Now, she was on his set.

“I was really impressed with Matt, particularly his work ethic and how he would routinely try to reach out to people,” Taylor said. “He’s a good example of somebody who persevered through that initial difficulty of finding somebody, and succeeded. It takes time and some amount of doggedness and perseverance in storytelling, and this group embodied that.”

Solari and his team had help from both their peers and professors as they presented new iterations of their film. As a class, they brainstormed ways to film dynamic interviews in small spaces and helped them choose clips to streamline the story.

With one more year to complete his undergraduate degree, Solari is already working on his next big project—a film about environmental sustainability for his honors program. He’s spending the whole academic year following a local farmer to produce another film he’s proud of.

“As a filmmaker, you get fixated on a topic,” he said. “I’m really excited to work on it, and getting recognition with the Emmy nomination gives me a lot of fuel for future projects.”

Matt Solari earned a Student Emmy nomination for a film documenting van life in Boulder. He’s continuing to explore documentary storytelling as a senior.

Off

Traditional

White

Spilling the tea

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 19:48:16 +0000

Spilling the tea Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/26/2024 - 13:48

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

Crossing the pond

The Consumer Insights course is new to the college, as is another London program led by information science faculty. During the Ethnography and Design of Making Data Strange course, eight students studied international data while visiting hot spots like Bletchley Park and Warner Bros. Studios.

“We really wanted to make sure we were offering something truly new, with learning objectives that would be best served by being abroad—not just taking something in our existing curriculum and teaching it in a different location,” said Amy Voida, associate professor.

Those programs join CMCI’s long-standing International Strategic Communication course, which is held in Paris and Amsterdam. That course runs directly before Consumer Insights, allowing students to take both courses and gain additional experience abroad.

Britons drink more than a billion cups of tea every day—it’s the national beverage—but English youths aren’t sipping as much as their elders. Last June, 13 students from the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design set off across the globe to learn why.

“London is where account strategy was invented. It’s the hub of advertising for Europe and beyond,” said Morgan Young, an assistant teaching professor of advertising who is leading the study abroad program. “What we’re prioritizing here is learning from industry professionals.”

All students studying advertising strategy have to take the Consumer Insights course. In London, they tour advertising agencies, tea companies and, of course, cultural landmarks. The immersive three-week program culminates in the development of campaigns.

Getting firsthand experience

Junior London Selah said her favorite experience was visiting Mintel, a global market research firm.

“Listening to someone’s experience and seeing the day-to-day life of what it would be like to work in one of these agencies is really helpful,” she said.

Selah was an engineering student before switching her major to strategic communication at CMCI, which she said allowed her to challenge herself creatively while still using her analytical skills. The study abroad program gave her a better feel for the field while validating her decision to pursue a new professional path.

For senior Emily Iliff, the agency tours were exciting, but equally important was connecting with her peers.

“I’m very impressed by the students who attended, and it speaks a lot to CMCI and the APRD department itself,” she said. “There are people who are more creatively inclined, then there are people who are very keen with numbers. With our combined talents, we’ve become kind of a superpower.”

For Selah’s final project, she worked with a group to create a tea brand, including developing marketing plans and building engagement strategies targeting 18- to 28-year-olds. Visits to advertising and research agencies—including firms that work on brands like PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea—were instrumental in understanding how to create the right messaging and target their campaigns effectively.

“Visiting different agencies and getting real-world experiences has prepared me for what I might see when looking for jobs after graduation,” Selah said of her time in the United Kingdom. “I enjoyed being able to apply what I learned on an actual project.”

Why are young Londoners changing their cuppas for coffee? Thirteen advertising students crossed the pond to learn why—and to better understand the nuances in international advertising.

Off

Zebra Striped

White

Tuned to creativity

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 21:35:10 +0000

Tuned to creativity Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 08/14/2024 - 15:35

Iris Serrano

As volunteers for the Boulder-based KGNU community radio station, Juanita Hurtado and Jack Armstrong were trained to be compliant with federal broadcasting regulations.

Listen live

Play on TuneIn Play on Radio Garden

What they did not learn was how to run a station with total creative freedom.

It’s certainly a lesson they’ve learned since taking leadership roles at Radio 1190. In the past year, the station—formally known as KV�� 1190 AM—captured numerous awards for radio features, reporting and podcasting while growing the news team from a handful of volunteers to more than 30 regular participants.

A big part of the increase in student involvement came from Armstong’s experience as a senior strategic communication major in the public relations track.

“The biggest strategy for me has been learning about promotions and what makes them effective, so I went to classes and pitched Radio 1190,” Armstrong, the station’s news director, said.

Radio 1190 now offers news broadcasts each weekday during the academic year, along with daily student-curated music programming. The station also has expanded to include a revamped website featuring news, blogs and podcasts showcasing student-created visuals and music.

The station’s growth isn’t just in its numbers or programming. Iris Berkeley (Jour’01), whose career in media and communication has included radio production, hosting and DJing, was involved with 1190 as a student. Today, she is back as its operations manager and is impressed by the station’s commitment to diversity.

Building a community

“This isn’t just a radio station—it’s a community,” Berkeley said. “We want to be committed to making sure everybody on the campus is not only welcomed but finds their place here.”

For Hurtado, the station’s assistant news director and a junior majoring in journalism, inclusion comes through her radio segments, which began incorporating Latin American music to bring visibility to that community.

While she was nominated for multiple awards over the past year, the impact her Spanish-language segments created brought her the most joy. Hurtado shared that Keyana Simone, faculty director of student media, “told me that while training new DJs, some of them said that because they heard my shows in Spanish, they wanted to start shows in Japanese and Polynesian.”

Unlike Berkeley, the station’s current news directors aren’t interested in careers in radio—Armstrong hopes to be a production manager, and Hurtado wants to be a freelance writer. But they recognize the broad applicability of the skills students develop by working in radio—whether storytelling, hosting, website maintenance and development, social media, or community engagement.

“We want to make sure students develop not only the skills to earn them jobs, but also awards that prove to recruiters the quality of their work,” Hurtado said.

It’s a vision she shares with Armstrong.

“I have a very distinct goal—that when people see Radio 1190 on a resume, it will attract recruiters,” Armstrong said. “We do have some national distinctions already, but I want to get to the point where people get an interview or a callback because Radio 1190 has that recognition.”

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

In the digital age, how do you get more students to listen to the radio? Ask the leaders behind Radio 1190’s rise.

Off

Traditional

White

Beyond the Classroom

Data plans

‘Pre-mortem’ support

‘A measly number’

Off

Student Work Gallery: Fall 2025

���������� the cover: ‘Eerie beauty’

Off

Grounded in reality

Off

Ad blitz

Off

On location

Triumphant return to Boulder

By the numbers

‘Continuously blown away’

Be involved

Off

Student Work Gallery: Fall 2024

Off

Good taste

From classroom to career

Off

What drives van lifers?

‘Really beautiful and well done’

Oscar cred

Off

Spilling the tea

Getting firsthand experience

Off

Tuned to creativity

Building a community

Off

�� the cover: ‘Eerie beauty’