After 43 years as a journalist, Bill Hill (BS ’75, journalism) teaches sports reporting to graduate students at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He previously served as assistant managing editor at MLB.com, directing coverage of 10 West division teams and coordinating MLB’s internship program.
Sal Nudo (MS ’16, journalism) has released a new book on Amazon in which he recounts his experiences in graduate school in journalism at the College of Media: Learning Journalism Where Writers Rise: Four Enlightening Years in Graduate School at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Nudo interviewed several past and current journalism faculty members at Illinois and added their thoughts in his book, including Swanlund Chair Professor of Journalism Leon Dash; Professor Emeritus Matt Ehrlich; Knight Chair Professor in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting Brant Houston; Associate Professor Emeritus Rich Martin, and Lecturer Jean McDonald.
He also interviewed and included three journalism classmates in his book: Jessica Elliott, Janelle O’Day, and Teryn Payne.
“I wrote this book to relate the values and practices of journalism for aspiring journalists, and for those who have an interest in the field,” Nudo said. “This is a book on how to do a wide range of journalism right, with thoughts from scholars, practitioners, and former students who care about the field.”
Nudo has published multiple books that are available on Amazon, including Far From Mars (2021), which contains nine creative nonfiction articles about individuals who live and work in Champaign-Urbana. Learn more.
May 31, 2022 | Vivian La, Communications Intern
Taylor Rooks (BS ’14, journalism), sports journalist and broadcaster at Bleacher Report, is known in the field of sports journalism for her interviewing skills and for her ability to connect with athletes. She was recently nominated for a 2022 Sports Emmy Award for “Outstanding Personality/Emerging On-Air Talent.”
Rooks said her time at the University of Illinois provided the opportunity for her to ask questions and was an important foundation for her career today.
The College of Media has selected Rooks as the recipient of the 2022 Emerging Leader Award, which honors an alum for their exemplary early career achievements and engagement with the college.
“As sports media fans already know, Taylor Rooks is a talented and innovative journalist, and we are fortunate to have her share inspiring personal and career experiences with students in the College of Media,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin. “We are proud to recognize her with the Emerging Leader Award.”
Rooks has been a panelist at a 2021 Media Career Night focused on sports media; she is part of the college’s Alumni Speakers Bureau and has been a featured guest in journalism classes; and she is involved in a College of Media mentoring program that pairs alumni and students from underrepresented populations, where alumni share perspectives and advice.
“Things are so much more special when they come from places or people or institutions that you have a very deep emotional tie to, and the University of Illinois has been so important in my life and in my family’s life,” Rooks said.
Both of her parents attended Illinois, where her mother was a broadcast journalism major and her father was an Illini running back and studied political science.
From the start of Rooks’s time at Illinois, she was involved with the athletic department and applied her studies to her interests in sports media.
“Being around that environment really showed me that doing the media side of it was something that I could do, and could excel at,” she said. “And the College of Media gave me the tools.… That was the first time that I really saw how the team aspect of news is what really makes it work. And that’s something I have carried with me ever since.”
Rooks was involved with the Big Ten Network as a student, and worked for them full-time after graduating. From there, she spent two years at SportsNet New York before being hired at Bleacher Report.
At Bleacher Report, Rooks had her own web series, Take It There with Taylor Rooks, where she did longform interviews with athletes such as Jimmy Butler and DeMar DeRozan. Her episode “Inside the NBA Bubble with Taylor Rooks” was a 2021 honoree for a Webby Award in the Social, Sports (Series & Campaigns) category. Along the way, she has developed a large following on social media, with nearly 500,000 followers on Instagram and more than 240,000 followers on Twitter.
As an interviewer, she tries to engage in conversations that tell a story.
“When you have conversations with [people] on a human level and you allow them the space to tell you who they are, you have a better understanding of them completely,” Rooks said.
Rooks said she sees a lot of dehumanization of athletes in sports and it can be hard for fans to understand that these players are human beings with real emotions.
“We only see people for what they do,” Rooks said. “And it’s just really important to me to let them feel like their voice exists and that it’s important, and that when they sit in the chair, they can use their voice in whichever way they wish.”
And these emotions are often connected to identity, Rooks said. Most of the athletes she talks to want to discuss how they feel in relation to their Black identity or womanhood, for example.
“Those are all things that have to be in the conversation to get a full scope of someone’s life from a perspective, someone’s point of view,” Rooks said.
Rooks said it also helps when she shares her own experiences as a Black woman, something she did when she was inside the NBA Bubble, an isolation zone for basketball players during the final games of the 2019-2020 season and 2020 NBA playoffs, when the pandemic began.
It was the summer where protests following the murder of George Floyd were at their height, affecting many of the players inside the bubble but also Rooks herself, as a Black journalist.
Calling it the best thing she’s done in her career, Rooks said the experience taught her about her responsibilities as a journalist and how it’s necessary to tell multiple stories at once.
“Because with all these people in a place, the experiences aren’t monolithic,” she said.
There were players who wanted to leave the bubble to join the George Floyd protests, and players worried about their families getting COVID-19.
“You wanted to do right by them and tell the stories in the ways they intended for them to be told. And we all just wanted our work to reflect the duality that was happening in the bubble,” she said.
Her own identity and experiences has helped in the storytelling she does—something that Rooks encourages students to remember.
“It’s so much less about having to shy away from stories you have a personal connection to and more so about understanding how lending your voice to it actually pushes it forward,” she said.
Everyone’s lives are different, Rooks said. She advised focusing on things that can be controlled and that it’s okay to not have everything figured out as a college student.
“What you can control is working, waking up and trying to be better, looking inside to figure out the things that move you, that make you feel passionate, and you cultivate those,” she said.
May 31, 2022 | Vivian La, Communications Intern
(Jack and Beth Klues.)
Jack Klues (BS ’77, advertising), who has led some of the largest media companies over his 35-year career, has been selected to receive the 2022 College of Media Distinguished Alumni Award.
The award honors an alum whose career accomplishments and engagement with the College of Media are exemplary.
Klues has been a major supporter of the college. In 2015, the Klues Family Foundation donated $1 million to the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising to fund scholarships for underrepresented students with significant financial need, helping 60+ students since then. He has also participated on the James Webb Young Board, a professional advisory board for the Sandage Department of Advertising, taught an advanced media strategy class in the mid-1980s, and regularly recruited Illini talent.
“I’m just so impressed and gratified and honored to represent the college because it continues to be so forward-thinking, as it relates to instruction and education in the space,” Klues said. “That availability and that connection to the professional media industry is so powerful and yet unique to the University of Illinois.”
“Throughout his career, Jack Klues has been an advocate for the inclusion of a variety of voices and ideas, and his generous gift supports diversity in the industry by providing opportunities for advertising students in need, whether it’s financial scholarships, paid internships, or experiential learning experiences,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin. “Jack continues to drive the industry forward and we’re thankful for his commitment to higher education.”
Klues called his time at Illinois “a great launching pad for a professional career.” He began at Leo Burnett as an account executive in the media department, where he worked on planning and placement for companies like Pillsbury and Green Giant. By 1996, he was part of a management team that created a media services agency under Leo Burnett called Starcom, one of his career highlights.
“I have to put that high on my list of accomplishments—something I will always remember,” Klues said. “And it taught me that I have the right career path and choice.”
Leo Burnett merged with another media agency, DARCY, in 2000. Their media company, Mediavest, was part of a larger merger that resulted in the formation of the Starcom Mediavest Group, where Klues was the global CEO. When Starcom was acquired by Publicis Groupe in 2003, he became the global CEO for Publicis Groupe Media. From 2007 until his retirement in 2012, Klues was CEO at VivaKi, one of the first fully digitally-integrated agencies.
For more than two decades, Klues has served in a variety of leadership roles related to education. In his retirement, Klues established Mentridge, a mentoring program for college graduates entering the job market. He has been involved with Off the Street Club, Chicago’s oldest boys and girls club, for more than 25 years, including serving on the board of directors and acting as vice president of fundraising.
Learn more about Jack Klues’s career and his connection to the College of Media: Klues gift helps diversify advertising industry by opening doors for minority students
While meeting with the family of a former battery recycling plant manager whose son had lead poisoning, a Pulitzer Prize-winning story crystallized for Eli Murray (BS ’15, journalism), investigative reporter at the Tampa Bay Times.
The family had been suffering because their son was born with a lead level that creeped higher each year.
“The lead could only be coming from the factory where [the] husband worked and it had driven a wedge into their family and put them at odds with each other,” Murray said. “I could see what was at stake for this family and the hundreds of other workers’ families.”
Murray, and fellow investigative reporters Corey G. Johnson and Rebecca Woolington, received the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for their series “Poisoned,” described as “a compelling exposé of highly toxic hazards inside Florida’s only battery recycling plant that forced the implementation of safety measures to adequately protect workers and nearby residents.”
“The investigation by the Tampa Bay Times into dangerous conditions at a lead smelter spurred immediate improvements for health and safety,” said Pulitzer Prize Board member Nicole Caroll. “This newsroom changed workers’ lives, and its reporting shows the critical importance and impact of strong local journalism.”
Murray said he’ll never forget visiting that family: “Every day since it has been a driving source of motivation to shine light into these dark corners to tell these workers’ stories and hopefully effect change.”
The investigative team had spent almost two years gathering data and reporting before the first article in the series was published in 2021. Murray spent months building a database from thousands of pages of PDFs and analyzing the results.
After their Pulitzer Prize was announced on May 9, the Tampa Bay Times reporters shared remarks. Murray acknowledged some University of Illinois journalism faculty members for helping him on his career path. (See video.)
“I wanted to thank a few of my other mentors: Brant Houston, Stretch Ledford, and Jennifer Follis, who encouraged me to follow the data and the programming side of things and to find a way to make that work in journalism and in telling great stories,” Murray said.
Murray was drawn to data journalism because of the ability to tell a story visually that resonates with audiences.
“Eli was an excellent, dedicated student who was a natural at data journalism and great to work with,” said Brant Houston, Knight Chair of Investigative Reporting and professor of journalism. “I am so pleased, but not too surprised, with all his accomplishments and the recognition he has received. I expect there will be much more to come.”
“Beyond Eli’s obvious and prodigious talents as an investigative reporter and data journalist, I think it’s important to recognize that talent can take one only so far down the road to success,” said Charles “Stretch” Ledford, associate professor of journalism. “What brought Eli to this place of international recognition are the same humanistic qualities that made him an outstanding student and vital collaborator here at Illinois—a thirst for knowledge, a restless mind, an unflinching commitment to the truth, and—I don’t know a better way to say it—a heart of gold. These qualities would have carried Eli to great things no matter his chosen field. The people of Tampa Bay, and beyond, are indeed fortunate that he found his calling in journalism.”
Murray was hired at the Tampa Bay Times as a data reporter following an internship there in 2015. As a journalism student at Illinois, he received the Glenn Hanson Scholarship in Visual Communications from the College of Media. He also worked at The Daily Illini as a reporter covering Urbana city government during his junior year, and became a web developer in charge of building the Salary Guide during his senior year.
To learn more, see Tampa Bay Times reporters win Pulitzer Prize for ‘Poisoned’ series.
—Holly Rushakoff
The Illini Media Company, which oversees The Daily Illini student newspaper, WPGU 107.1 FM radio station, and the Illio yearbook, inducted 20 people into its Class of 2022 Hall of Fame at a ceremony on April 9, 2022. Fourteen were College of Media alumni, including:
The members were recognized for “their distinguished professional careers and contributions to Illini Media as students, professional staff, and alumni,” according to the Illini Media website.
Photo courtesy of the Illini Media Company.
Row 1 (left to right): Bernard Schoenburg, Rick Sallinger, Susan J. Smith Cornwell, Pat Wingert Kelly, Paula Kamen
Row 2: Ralph Nozaki, Jon Hansen, Natasha Korecki, Will Leitch, John Paul, Sean Long
Row 3: Ann Dwyer, Steve Osunsami, Brad Fuhr, John J. Kim
April 4, 2022 | Vivian La, Communications Intern
Alumnus Stephen Feder with BB-8 in the Lucasfilm Offices at the Walt Disney Studios.
Stephen Feder (BS ’02, media studies) believes that with a little persistence and dedication to the things they love to learn about, students can accomplish anything.
“I think if people can harness that, there’s no telling how far they can go,” he said.
Feder, a film and television producer at T-Street Productions, will be this year’s alumni speaker for the College of Media Convocation. Because previous ceremonies had been postponed due to the pandemic, the May 2022 convocation will honor graduates from Fall 2019 through Spring 2022.
Looking back at his time at the University of Illinois, Feder said he learned a lot about himself both personally and professionally.
“Illinois gave me such incredible opportunities, not just inside the classroom, but outside the classroom,” he said. “That helped shape me as a human and taught me a lot about what my limitations were and the things that I needed to work on.”
He is driven by the people who have helped him get to where he is, especially past professors at the College of Media.
“I think it’s really important to pay homage to how you got somewhere. Understand that it’s because of your own drive, but also because people are willing to help you,” Feder said.
Feder’s love of movies was “cultivated at [the College of Media] just by proximity to the idea of Roger Ebert.” When he was a student, Feder met Ebert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and Illinois journalism alum who created Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, known as “Ebertfest.” During Ebertfest, Feder had the chance to have lunch with Ebert.
“Our conversation and just his presence, interest, and care in us as students gave us a boost in confidence that our goals were well within our reach,” Feder said. “He probably never understood the impact he had on all of us—but his passion for movies, his intellect, and his success always was a driving force of motivation for me. I miss him.”
About a decade later, Feder’s documentary Kumaré was screened at Ebertfest 2013. Feder was executive producer for the film, featuring a man who impersonates an Indian guru and builds a following. “Kumare seems to establish that a guru can be a complete fraud and nevertheless do a certain amount of good,” Ebert wrote, “because what matters is not the sincerity of the guru but that of his followers.”
Feder said it was a full-circle moment and meant everything to him.
“The fact that he selected it to be part of Ebertfest among the last group of movies he handpicked before passing away is an honor I’ll never forget,” Feder said.
It was his work on Kumaré, which received a SXSW Audience Award, that led to Feder’s time at Annapurna Studios. As senior vice president of production and development, Feder worked on films such as Everybody Wants Some!!, which was also an Ebertfest selection, as well as Where’d You Go, Bernadette, both directed by Richard Linklater; Spring Breakers, directed by Harmony Korine; and The Grandmaster, directed by Wong Kar-Wai.
“I had always been inclined to want to tell stories that had a broad reach,” Feder said. Growing up, he was inspired by movies like Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars—movies that he shares with his kids.
Feder eventually got the chance to work on Star Wars, describing the feeling of walking onto set “a life-affirming moment.”
“It was a reminder of the power of one’s imagination—and how if you could dream it, you could make it a reality,” he said. “I never wanted to hear the word ‘cut’ and still don’t.”
He became vice president of film development at Lucasfilm in 2016, working on Solo: A Star Wars Story and other projects. He served as the Lucasfilm production executive on location/set for filming, and was a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, which keeps track of the Star Wars canon to assist writers and directors in the development of new stories.
Feder is currently a producer at Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s T-Street Productions, responsible for the film Knives Out. He works with his producing partner, Kiri Hart, to help amplify artistic voices.
Feder said the professional relationships that have helped him throughout his career inspires him to pay it forward to the next generation of filmmakers. He has been a panelist at the college’s Media Career Nights to share advice on working in the entertainment industry.
“I’m only here by the grace of other people believing [in me] and I also have to be willing to do the same for others,” he said.
Above all, he recognizes that the industry and the world is forever changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As streaming makes content more accessible, Feder considered the next challenge that the media industry needs to address.
“We as filmmakers have to be malleable; we can’t firmly entrench ourselves in the past,” Feder said. “We have to think about how we’re going to reach a future generation of moviegoers, and TV goers, and content consumers. It’s our responsibility to innovate ways both to tell stories and also to make them feel new.”
Feder also hopes he can provide some comfort to Media students who are feeling unsure about their futures.
“If you have been able to get through what you’ve done the last few years and come out of it, I think that there’s a lot of promise ahead,” Feder said.
Challenges can be seen as opportunities, he said.
“I understand the world is really scary at the moment and challenging, but it needs us. It needs us to make changes,” Feder said.
“So we can’t retreat. We have to push forward.”
Charlie Meyerson (BS ’77, MS ’78, journalism), who creates ChicagoPublicSquare.com was named in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago edition for “Best free daily roundup in your inbox.”
“Square reflects all facets of Meyerson’s rich personality, his ear for news, his eye for finding interesting takes on that news, and his taste for quirky bits of human interest,” wrote Chicago Reader critic Jack Helbig.
Chicago Public Square is an email newsletter that Meyerson began producing in 2017. He has spent four decades as a journalist, working in Chicago newsrooms at various radio stations, as well as at the Chicago Tribune.
Andrea Campos (BS ’12, advertising) has teamed up with Jimmy Fallon and Jennifer Lopez for her debut picture book. Con Pollo: A Bilingual Playtime Adventure, which was co-authored by Fallon and Lopez, centers around a bilingual chicken, which was brought to life by Campos’s illustrations. Con Pollo will be released on October 11, 2022.
College of Media master’s and doctoral degree alumna Shizue Kishi (MS ’79, advertising; PhD ’83, ICR) received the 41st Shirakawa Shinobu Award from the Tokyo Advertising Association for distinguished contributions to the advertising industry.
Kishi is the first female honoree to win this award, named after the advertising director at Shiseido, the largest cosmetic company in Japan. Kishi will retire on March 31, 2022, after her many years of service as dean of the School of Business at Tokyo Keizai University.
Her publications on media models and communication effects of advertising appeared in Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Advertising Research, Proceedings of the American Academy of Advertising, as well as in Japanese academic journals. Her book, Contemporary Advertising (coauthored with Hiroshi Tanaka and Kazue Shimamura), was awarded a prize for an excellent textbook from the Japan Academy of Advertising in 2001.