Awards and Recognition 7 | College of Media

Student-produced sci-fi film receives multiple honors at film festivals

December 6, 2022 | Holly Rushakoff

“Do you think it’s possible to build a computer that simulates real life? … If you were living in a simulation, would you be able to tell?” So begins The Goji Project, a short science fiction film produced by students in MACS 480: Advanced Filmmaking last spring. The film has received recognition from three film festivals this fall.

The Goji Project won Best Sci-Fi from Crown Point International Film Festival in October, which awards films in a monthly competition for filmmakers around the world. It also received an honorable mention for a student film at Art Film Awards, and a certificate of achievement in the Sci-Fi Short category at LA International Film Festival’s Indie Short Fest.

Students produced The Goji Project in the course taught by Victor Font, lecturer in the Department of Media & Cinema Studies, and premiered it at the UIUC Student Film Festival in April. The nearly 23-minute film was written and directed by Lincoln Rogers, then a senior in advertising who graduated in May 2022.

“The best part of the whole process for me was the connections I made with the other people in the class,” said Rogers, who is now a creative maker at SOCIALDEVIANT, an advertising service in Chicago. “When you’re in go-mode, on the clock, filming, those connections happen really quickly…. And what started as a script that I read to the class over a Zoom meeting became this story that was really meaningful to everybody, that we all got to have a hand in bringing to life.”

Rogers was inspired by a philosophical piece called “The Simulation Argument” by Nick Bostrom: “How likely is it that we are the first real humans, rather than digital copies made by humans far more advanced than us?” Rogers explained. He contemplated how people derive value from their lives and make sense of patterns and coincidences.

What started as a script that I read to the class over a Zoom meeting became this story that was really meaningful to everybody, that we all got to have a hand in bringing to life.

Lincoln Rogers

Writer and Director of The Goji Project

“My favorite scene is the conversation between the two Gojis, when orange-hair Goji says [to blue-hair Goji] that, ‘No matter what the simulation means, it is beautiful.’ The unknowns of the universe can be terrifying, but they came together in this crazy way to create a beautiful world for us.”

As a Media student, Rogers knew he wanted to make movies and said Font “is an amazing professor” and took his Advanced Filmmaking course twice “because it was such a valuable experience.” Rogers is already working on his next film—another sci-fi—”about a man who works at an insurance agency who has an advanced AI assistant implanted in his brain.”

Font created the Advanced Filmmaking course in 2019 but it wasn’t offered in 2020 due to the pandemic. The Department of Media & Cinema Studies has been collaborating with the Department of Theatre in the College of Fine and Applied Arts to recruit student actors for their Advanced Filmmaking course. This fall, Theatre’s Advanced Scriptwriting course will generate the script to be used this spring. The class will also collaborate again with Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, as they did in 2019 with the Department of Theatre to create the short film Red Ball. The MACS course plans to film before spring break and to edit a first draft to present at the 2023 UIUC Student Film Festival.

“More resources lead to more talent, better productions, and more achievements,” Font said about the cross-campus collaboration. He also hopes their recognition by film festivals will attract more students interested in pursuing media and cinema studies as a major and a career.

“I’m sure this is our first award of a lot and better ones to come,” Font added.

See behind-the-scenes photos from various stages of filming The Goji Project, which used the new production studio in Gregory Hall to hold auditions and the television studio set at Illinois Public Media to construct a dorm room.

Watch The Goji Project:

Film credits:

Written and Directed by: Lincoln Rogers (BS ’22, advertising)
Executive Producer: Victor Font, lecturer of media and cinema studies
Original Score: Tony Rogers (Lincoln’s father)
Director of Photography: Robyn Pease (Class of 2023, media and cinema studies)
Chief Lighting Technician: Nathan Carlberg (BS ’22, media and cinema studies)
Starring: Raiya Wen and Ben Mathew (both BFA ’22, theatre/acting, College of Fine and Applied Arts)

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2022-23 Ebert Fellows announced

November 7, 2022 | Faith Lee, Communications Intern

Through the annual Roger Ebert Fellows program, established in 2015 at the College of Media, three undergraduate students are selected each fall to gain in-depth learning experiences that focus on critical thinking, arts and entertainment criticism, and interpretative journalism.

The 2022-23 Roger Ebert Fellows are Levi (Lee) Beckett, Andrew Stover, and Tania Trejo, all media and cinema studies majors.

Named after the late Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic and University of Illinois journalism alumnus Roger Ebert, the Ebert Fellows will receive a stipend and work closely with Michael Phillips, film critic for the Chicago Tribune, to strengthen their writing, radio, video, and storytelling skills across a wide range of multimedia platforms. The experience, coordinated through the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, will prepare them for an increasingly competitive arts and entertainment media job market.

Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the program to adopt a hybrid model, but this year will offer more in-person interactions. The students will connect monthly with Phillips for workshops. They will also attend film festivals, including the True/False Film Fest in Columbia, Missouri, in March.

“It’s been very difficult to work around the limitations of what we had to do when it was almost entirely online,” Phillips said. “I sense that people are eager and grateful for a return to as much in-person activity as they feel is possible.”

Phillips has been an advisor and mentor since the program began and has enjoyed working with the students. He hopes that they learn as much from him as he does from them.

“I want to make them more confident about doing something they’ve never done before,” Phillips said. “I try to get all of us to think hard about what it is we’re trying to say when we write something and how well we’ve argued our point.”

Meet the 2022-23 Ebert Fellows:

Lee Beckett is a junior in media and cinema studies, with a minor in political science. Beckett has always enjoyed the art of filmmaking and critiquing films. He appreciates Roger Ebert’s work and is excited to explore new opportunities and to network.

“I think by getting experience and hearing from people who have learned by trial and error is the best way to learn,” Beckett said. “We’re going to go to a couple film festivals and we’re going to meet with some people who are making content in the local area and also in Chicago, so I’m hoping to learn from professionals.”

On campus, Beckett is involved in the Young Democratic Socialists of America and Red Bison, an ecological restoration organization.

Beckett’s favorite film is Fantastic Mr. Fox because he “really likes the story and the characters and it’s simple and fun, but it also has a deeper theme underneath.”

Andrew Stover is a junior in media and cinema studies, with a minor in critical film production. He developed his interest in film in 2016 and created a blog dedicated to reviewing films. Stover is a longtime fan of Roger Ebert’s work and is honored to be chosen as a fellow.

“I have a genuine passion for film criticism, and I was excited to be selected. It’s a great honor,” Stover said. “I hope to gain more experience outside of film.”

Stover continues his passion for critiquing films by writing reviews for Film Threat, an independent film review site where he’s published more than 125 reviews. He looks forward to working with Phillips and the other fellows to expand his skills.

“Having a broad knowledge of film, podcasting, and other forms of media that I will learn about during this fellowship will help me be able to do more than just film-centric [work],” Stover said.

Stover said his favorite satirical comedy is The Truman Show because he “admires Jim Carrey’s dramatic turn as Truman Burbank” and thinks it is one of his best performances.

Tania Trejo is a senior in media and cinema studies. She loves to plan and create films. Trejo hopes to highlight the Latino community in her work in the future.

“This fellowship will help me achieve my goals by providing me with different skills such as interviewing, writing, and podcasting,” Trejo said. “I will also get more exposure and access. Since I will be working with people who are in the industry, I am excited to ask more questions about what they do.”

Trejo said she is also excited to attend film festivals and watch films that she would not normally watch on her own.

Currently, her favorite movie is Everything Everywhere All at Once because “the movie itself tackles issues that first-generation American families face in a funny and sentimental way.”

James W. Carey Faculty Fellows selected for 2022-24

Two College of Media faculty members affiliated with the Institute of Communications Research have been selected as James W. Carey Faculty Fellows for academic years 2022-2024. Both Angela Aguayo, associate professor of media and cinema studies, and Chang-Dae Ham, associate professor of advertising and director of graduate studies in advertising, will receive the honor and a stipend to support their research activities.

As a Carey Faculty Fellow, Aguayo will work on a book project called Collective Matters, which examines how traditions in the humanities, health care, law, and education manifest through documentary in non-theatrical spaces, addressing the rituals of media producing, screening, and circulating that bind communities across time. During his Carey Faculty Fellow tenure, Ham will conduct research on digital data literacy and privacy issues.

Established in 2021, the James W. Carey Fund for Faculty Excellence was endowed by Carey’s four sons to honor their father’s legacy at the College of Media and within the field of media. At ICR, Carey earned his doctoral degree, was a research professor, and served as director (1969-1976); he also served as dean of the college. The Carey Fund supports research activities of the outstanding faculty in ICR, the world’s oldest program for interdisciplinary research and doctoral education in communication and media studies.

To join Carey’s family, former students, colleagues, and friends in growing the endowment, please visit the College of Media giving page, click on the orange “Give Online Now” button, and select the Carey Fund under “Nurture Excellence in Media Faculty.”

Finke receives UIAA 2022 Comeback Award

Kevin Finke (BS ’92, advertising) received a University of Illinois Alumni Association Comeback Award, given to prominent and accomplished alumni who are invited to participate in various activities during Homecoming Weekend, with a focus on providing opportunities for honorees to interact with current students, and sharing information about their professional experiences and the value of their University of Illinois education.

Finke is founder and chief experience officer of Experience Willow, a human-centered design and consulting firm in Decatur, Georgia. At Illinois, he was an athlete in volleyball; a student leader in the Student Alumni Association (as well as Alpha Tau Omega and Mortar Board); and Homecoming king. Finke is an in-demand speaker and conference facilitator, and he is proud to be an active member of the LGBTQ community, where he advocates for equitable and inclusive business environments. He and his husband Rob Stalder live and work together in Decatur, Georgia.

Finke (pictured below, fifth from left) met with seniors in Media during the Student Leader Lunch and was part of a panel discussion with other alumni award winners.

KatieClark-MakaylaWilson-OliviaRice-NateWalinder-KevinFinke-AniruddhaPai-RyanLeshock-NicoleWozny — College of Media attendees at the Student Leader Lunch included Katie Clark, senior assistant dean for student services; Makayla Wilson, media and cinema studies; Olivia Rice, media and cinema studies; Nate Walinder, advertising; Kevin Finke (BS ’92, advertising); Aniruddha Pai, computer science + advertising; Ryan Leshock, advertising; and Nicole Wozny, advertising.

Media faculty receive SHIELD Illinois grant to study public attitudes of COVID-19 testing

Three College of Media faculty have received a $25,000 research grant from SHIELD Illinois for a project that will examine public attitudes, news framing, and online engagement about SHIELD COVID-19 testing. The analyses will help inform best practices and strategies for future campaigns addressing public health crises.

SHIELD is the University of Illinois System’s statewide saliva-based COVID-19 testing program that began in Fall 2020. More than 1,700 K-12 schools, community colleges, universities, and other organizations make up the program’s client base.

MUSE research team — The MUSE research group.

The faculty members conducting the research are Ewa Maslowska, assistant professor of advertising; Margaret Ng, assistant professor of journalism; and Harsh Taneja, associate professor of new and emerging media in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising. Last spring, they formed a research group called MUSE to study media users and consumers through interdisciplinary methods. The SHIELD research is the group’s first funded project.

Maslowska, Taneja, and Ng broadly research media usage: Maslowska specializes in marketing communication and consumer behavior. Taneja focuses on how and why people consume media. Ng studies how data from social media platforms can be used to explore an event or issue in a different way.

The group will investigate social media discourse, news coverage, and other data to understand how the public responded to SHIELD’s communications. Their findings will be published in academic articles, compiled into a report for the general public, and posted on an interactive online dashboard in summer 2023. SHIELD plans to use the findings to further benefit the state of Illinois.

In initial observations, Taneja said that COVID-19 is different from past public health crises because of the influence of social media.

In terms of physical transmission, “COVID -19 is perhaps similar to several other bugs in the past in how far and fast it can spread,” he said. “And then you add social media, which is available to both increase the scale and the speed of transmission of information about it.”

In a state as diverse as Illinois, geographic differences also must be considered when analyzing public perceptions of COVID-19.

“We are very mindful of the fact that attitudes towards COVID, in general, downstate, tend to be very different from attitudes towards COVID, than, let’s say, in Chicago,” Taneja added.

Even though vaccine hesitancy has existed before COVID-19, Ng said that this pandemic was the first time every citizen needed to make a personal decision about vaccination in a relatively short period of time. While social media has become the main source of information, misinformation about vaccination is also widespread.

“With minimal restrictions on post content, misinformation easily becomes widespread on social media,” Ng said. “That’s why a study on the SHIELD health campaign will reveal the opportunities and challenges the effort encountered in the past two years.”

The last few years have given media scholars like Ng and her colleagues new research opportunities. The pandemic and other public health crises shouldn’t just be understood from a biological perspective, she argues.

“It really depends on the communication side—communication scholars have a very unique position to help make sure that society as a whole can get that benefit from vaccination,” Ng said. “And I’m very glad that we got the funding so that our media expertise can benefit the whole state at both a societal level and at an individual level.”

—Vivian La, Communications Intern

Mark L. Brandt Public Engagement Fellows program funds eight fall projects in the College of Media

October 4, 2022 | Holly Rushakoff

Eight projects led by College of Media faculty and staff have been selected to receive funding as part of the Mark L. Brandt Public Engagement Fellows program, established this year to provide undergraduate Media students with professional experience in public engagement activities. It also provides opportunities for students to participate in programs that support first-generation college students, students from underrepresented groups, and/or students with significant financial need.

“We are delighted to be honoring Mark Brandt’s legacy through opportunities for our students to work with College of Media faculty and staff on projects that make a difference in our community, our state, and the nation,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin.

Brandt was a 1986 alumnus of Illinois who retired early from a career in finance at General Electric. After his death in 2021, the College of Media received an estate gift of just over $1 million to create the Brandt Public Engagement Fellows program. The trustee of his estate, Mary Leyendecker, chose to ensure that his legacy makes a positive impact on students and society. The funds will provide internships for up to 40 Media students annually, with opportunities announced in both fall and spring semesters.

Below is a list of the projects, activities, and programs that received funding for Brandt Public Engagement Fellows for Fall 2022. College of Media undergraduate students who wish to apply for these opportunities should check their email inbox for the October 3 Advising Newsletter for more details.

Mis/Disinformation in Asian and Asian American Communities Research Project
Led by Rachel Kuo, Assistant Professor of Media & Cinema Studies
The Brandt Fellow will support research on a project that studies the historical and political contexts of mis/disinformation in Asian and Asian American communities through the use of community education workshops, oral histories, and focus groups. Working closely with the PI, the Brandt Fellow will support data collection and analysis; facilitate community research workshops and skills-trainings; and co-write and produce resource guides on Asian and Asian American history and ethnic media; and meet different community partners.

Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies
Led by Julie Turnock, Associate Professor of Media & Cinema Studies
This academic year (2022-2023) is the inaugural year of the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies. The Brandt Fellow will primarily use their skills in web design, graphic design, and public relations, to build and update a public-facing website for the Ebert Center, and work with the College of Media’s Director of Communications to publicize Ebert Center events via social media. They will also play a key role to help make the activities of the Ebert Center available to the local community.

SHIELD Illinois Research Project
Led by:
Ewa Maslowska, Assistant Professor of Advertising
Margaret Ng, Assistant Professor of Journalism
Harsh Taneja, Associate Professor of Advertising
The Brandt Fellows will help with a project with SHIELD Illinois—the community COVID-19 saliva-based testing program of the State of Illinois. Our project aims to understand public attitudes, news framing, and diffusion networks related to SHIELD COVID-19 testing through social media discourse and news coverage. The Brandt Fellows will take part in the process of data gathering and analysis and develop visualizations.

IMEDIA
Led by:
Amanda Ciafone, Associate Professor of Media & Cinema Studies, Director of Graduate Studies for the Institute of Communications Research
CL Cole, Department Head, Professor of Media & Cinema Studies
Stephanie Craft, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Journalism
Michelle Nelson, Professor of Advertising
The Brandt Fellow will help develop the digital communications strategy of the Initiative for Media Education Inquiry and Action. IMEDIA is a collaboration between the College of Media and the College of Education to help fill high school teachers’ needs for media literacy training and curriculum development in light of new Illinois State mandates requiring a unit of “media literacy” in all public Illinois high schools.

New Voices Internship Program
Led by Daniel Almanza, Assistant Director of Media Career Services
The New Voices Internship Program provides first-generation college students with support and opportunities to grow their resume as soon as they join the College of Media. Students in the program are given opportunities for professional development through workshop-style meetings with the Assistant Director of Career Services, as well as other members of the campus community. In addition to interviews, students will participate in projects based on their interests, as they align with the content needs of the College of Media.

Brand Hub
Led by Susan Muirhead, Visiting Associate Director, Hub for Brand Innovation and Advertising Technology
The Brandt Fellow will work with the Brand Hub on further development of their community and outreach efforts primarily through the development of Fall and Spring Brand Hub Marketing Fairs, in partnership with the Champaign Public Library. This includes support with program development, event marketing materials, and with the recruitment of student volunteers at these events. They will also be instrumental in the implementation of a pipeline system for nonprofits to work with the Brand Hub and courses in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising. The Brandt Fellow will also assist, where possible, with the development of the second year of the Impact Marketing and Fundraising Fellowship program, which is set to launch in early June 2023.

Illinois Community Media Project
Led by Angela Aguayo, Associate Professor of Media & Cinema Studies
The Illinois Community Media Project is a grant-funded project to bring media production, curation, and documentation to underserved communities. We begin with building connections with local service organizations and through collaborative identification of social problems, design a media production outreach program. Our Illinois Community Media team works hands-on with students to connect classroom knowledge with the community. The Brandt Fellows will assist in planning public-facing speaker visits, organizing, and assisting with community-based projects, creating documentation content of events, and building website and social media presence for the organization.

News, Brews & Beatz
Led by Moss Bresnahan, Executive Director of Illinois Public Media
Illinois Public Media produces a quarterly series called News, Brews & Beatz—a space for diverse voices to engage in breakthrough conversations on community issues and realistic solutions. Each quarter, News, Brews & Beatz focuses on a different topic in a way that elevates Black voices and shares what individuals and nonprofit groups are doing to build community. The Brandt Fellow will assist with this multiplatform initiative, which includes content airing on TV, radio, and social media. They will also create short videos for TikTok and other social media as part of the News, Brews & Beatz initiative.

Pictured at top: Media alumna Dora Valkanova (PhD ’20, ICR), Urbana High School student Halie Thompson, and sophomore in journalism Ashley Gilbert discussed ways in which students were audiences and creators of social media content at an IMEDIA media literacy workshop this summer for public school educators. IMEDIA is one of the funding recipients in the Mark L. Brandt Public Engagement Fellows program.

Media faculty and TAs make list of teachers ranked as excellent

Congratulations to all of the College of Media faculty and teaching assistants who were ranked as excellent by their students!

This list is based on Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms completed by students during the Spring 2022 semester. Only those instructors who distributed ICES forms at least once during this time period and who released their data for publication are included in the list. View the complete list.

Note: * denotes that the instructor ratings were outstanding.

ADVERTISING

STEVE HALL – ADV 150

CHANG-DAE HAM – ADV 281 (Summer 2022)

* TERRY KASDAN – ADV 409

* AMANDA MABRY-FLYNN – ADV 283

* EWA MASLOWSKA – ADV 461

MICHELLE NELSON – ADV 582

* MARISA PEACOCK – ADV 491, ADV 498

SELA SAR – ADV 588

ALLISON VANCE – ADV 350

* STEPHEN WARREN – ADV 314

CARRIE WILSON-BROWN – ADV 290

* MIKE YAO – ADV 460

JOURNALISM

JOSH HEUMAN – JOUR 205

CAROL LOMBARDI – JOUR 220

MARGARET YEE MAN NG – JOUR 425

STEPHEN WARREN – JOUR 360, JOUR 361

MEDIA & CINEMA STUDIES

DEREK LONG – MACS 262

* JENNY OYALLON-KOLOSKI – MACS 504

TEACHING ASSISTANTS

* D. CARRILLO FUCHS – MACS 101

Y. GAO – MACS 100

J. GU – MACS 101

Y. KANG – MACS 100

A. MUKHOPADHYAY – MACS 101

J. PYO – MACS 100

ICR student Rojas-Alvarez receives campus public engagement award

Jorge Rojas-Alvarez, a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research in the College of Media, was honored with the 2022 Campus Excellence in Public Engagement Award for Graduate/Professional Students. The Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement are given to individuals at the University of Illinois who engage the public to address critical societal issues, and include a $2,000 stipend.

Most notably, Rojas-Alvarez contributed to the 211/Champaign County helpline that connects individuals in need with local social service organizations. The project—called 211: The Role of Information Resources + Services in Crisis Response—is a partnership between the Community Data Clinic at Illinois; NCSA’s Students Pushing Innovation internship program; and the community organizations Champaign County Mental Health Board, Champaign County Developmental Disabilities Board, Cunningham Township Supervisor’s Office, and United Way of Champaign.

Rojas-Alvarez said this award motivates him “to continue working on these types of projects involving collaborations between universities and local communities” and the award underscores how “UIUC takes seriously the value of this kind of work.”

As part of the Community Data Clinic team, which is directed by Anita Say Chan, associate professor in the Department of Media & Cinema Studies and in the School of Information Sciences, Rojas-Alvarez focused on redesigning the Champaign County Resources (CCR) website with community partners. For more than two years, Rojas-Alvarez organized and implemented improvements to make the 211 service more accessible and navigable to users.

Rojas-Alvarez organized and led information sessions with nearly 50 CCR service providers, and coordinated their web updates. He engaged Latinx groups during the process. He also led the web design team and mentored Illinois engineering students who were involved.

The CCR website is now managed by a community-based board and features new resources and community directories that are more visible to potential clients, and has Spanish and French language options.

“The multi-language feature was based on the growing immigrant population in Champaign County,” Rojas-Alvarez said. “Additionally, I found that immigrants and refugees avoided using the 211 directory because they believed such contact would expose them to immigration authorities. Unfortunately, the old directory did not identify organizations that accept participants despite their immigration status. Under my suggestion and outreach, the new directory provides immigrant-friendly services.”

According to his nominators, Rojas-Alvarez demonstrated a forward-thinking mindset and leadership by organizing partnerships, group services, research, and funding to benefit the surrounding community.

Rojas-Alvarez draws inspiration from designing technologies for social change. His passion for community-building combined with his ability to identify growth opportunities has helped to serve Champaign County residents.

Rojas-Alvarez’s background is in computer science and history of technology. In Colombia, he helped design public history exercises in national libraries, which emerged as spaces of dialogue between historical documental archives and the memories of users.

View University of Illinois News Bureau press release.

—Holly Rushakoff

Rooks receives 2022 College of Media Emerging Leader Award

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.

Klues receives 2022 College of Media Distinguished Alumni Award

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