College of Media 2 | College of Media

Skornia Symposium to explore current public media challenges

April 14, 2026

Members of the campus community are invited to the 2026 Skornia Symposium on Friday, May 1, to explore the challenges public media faces today. The event is free and will be held from 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m., at Collins Studio, Campbell Hall, located at the northeast corner of Main and Goodwin in Urbana.

Rapid shifts in technology, AI, media consumption habits, and funding have challenged media organizations to adapt their approaches to understanding and serving audiences. Academic and industry experts will discuss how public media can best engage with audience research to identify and meet community needs, strengthen audience relationships, and innovate content in ways that honor public media’s mission.

Panelists include:

Joni Deutsch, senior vice president of podcast marketing and audience development at The Podglomerate

Deutsch is an award-winning audio professional and NPR veteran with 15 years of experience as a project manager, podcast marketer, and audience growth specialist. In her current role, she leads marketing and audience growth strategy for a high-profile portfolio of podcast clients including NHPR’s “Bear Brook” (downloaded 25 million times and praised as one of the “best true crime podcasts” by The Guardian and Paste Magazine) and Magnificent Noise and PRX’s “This Is Dating” (named “one of the best podcasts of 2022” by New York Times and Vulture), as well as PBS, NPR, Netflix,The Boston Globe, Freakonomics Radio, Stanford, Harvard, HubSpot, and more.

Seth Lewis, professor and Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media, journalism program director, University of Oregon

In his research, Lewis examines the social implications of emerging technologies and their consequences for news and public life—from the early days of social media to contemporary developments in automation, algorithms, and generative artificial intelligence. He has authored several books, including News After Trump: Journalism’s Crisis of Relevance in a Changed Media Culture (Oxford University Press, 2021), co-authored with Matt Carlson and Sue Robinson, and the edited volume Boundaries of Journalism: Professionalism, Practices and Participation (Routledge, 2015).

Amy Mitchell, founding executive director of the Center for News, Technology & Innovation

Prior to her role at CNTI, Mitchell served as managing director of news and information research at the Pew Research Center. In her 25 years with Pew Research, Mitchell helped launch the journalism research program and served as managing director. She was responsible for the center’s research related to news and information, including how the public accesses, engages with, and creates news, what news organizations are providing, and the evolving role of technology in the flow of news and information.

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Super Bowl commercial expert Pat Burke to be alumni speaker at Media Convocation

March 23, 2026 | Kelly Youngblood

Patrick Burke (BS ’95, advertising)—the creative mind behind top-rated Super Bowl commercials for Lay’s, Rocket Mortgage, and Jeep—will serve as the alumni speaker at the 2026 College of Media Convocation ceremony.

Pat Burke and actor Bill Murray on the set of the 2020 Jeep “Groundhog Day” Super Bowl commercial.

Now the executive creative director at the Los Angeles–based ad agency Special U.S., Burke most recently oversaw the 2026 Uber Eats Super Bowl campaign, bringing his total number of Super Bowl commercials created to 18.

Although Burke didn’t originally set out to become a leader in Super Bowl advertising, he says he’s grateful for the success and opportunities the path has brought.

“It wasn’t my intention to build my career around the Super Bowl, but that definitely led to [my current job] opportunity and even things like the U of I wanting me to speak at convocation,” he said.

Burke, a three-time commercial Emmy nominee and winner of a Cannes Lions Grand Prix, spent the first 30 years of his career in the Chicago advertising industry working at several different agencies, including DDB Chicago, Ogilvy & Mather, and Highdive Advertising.

While at DDB, Burke helped create two Super Bowl commercials that scored in the top five of the USA Today AdMeter ratings. During his six years at Highdive, he made six commercials that landed in the top-five AdMeter spots.

In 2025, Lay’s “The Little Farmer” scored #2 on the USA Today AdMeter. In 2020, Rocket Mortgage’s “Comfortable” starring Jason Momoa scored #5 and Jeep’s “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray won first place.

“It wasn’t my intention to build my career around the Super Bowl, but that definitely led to [my current job] opportunity and even things like the U of I wanting me to speak at convocation.

Pat Burke

Executive Creative Director at Special U.S.

Burke said that collaborating with Murray on the Jeep commercial, a parody of the 1993 film, was the highlight of his career.

“I didn’t think we’d ever get [Murray] because he doesn’t really do advertising or commercials, and doesn’t have an agent, so he’s hard to reach,” Burke said. “Even if you want to get him to [make] a movie there’s a famous process you have to go through where you send your script to a P.O. Box in Charleston, South Carolina, and then you just wait, and you hope that he gets back to you.”

Murray would eventually see the script and agree to do the commercial just a few weeks before the Super Bowl.

A behind-the-scenes peek at the making of the 2020 Rocket Mortgage Super Bowl commercial starring Jason Momoa. Burke is seated in back, second from left.

“As far as celebrity encounters for me, it doesn’t get any better than Bill Murray,” Burke said.

Another career-defining moment for Burke was the 2012 release of the “Skittlespox” commercial, which he crafted for Skittles while working at DDB Chicago.

The commercial sparked some controversy among critics who found the premise odd, and even Burke admits it may have run for too many years. But the ad is still the highest-testing Skittles commercial in brand history and a pop-culture phenomenon inspiring countless online re-creations and Halloween costumes.

For Burke, seeing an idea he’s worked on for months come to fruition is the best part of his job.

“You come up with an idea that you think is amazing, and so often, it doesn’t end up getting made, or if it does, it gets changed—death by a thousand cuts,” Burke said. “If something does make it all the way through and it gets made in a way that you pictured it, seeing all [the work] come to life is definitely the fun part.”

Burke’s return to campus will bring him closer to the western suburbs of Chicago where he grew up. Burke, who described his younger self as a “creative kid,” came to the University of Illinois to study art but then switched his major to advertising.

He credits a class with Peter Sheldon, senior lecturer of advertising, for having a major impact on him and his future career.

“Peter is just a brilliant creative himself and so we all learned a ton from him. He had us all inspired and feeling like we could actually do this for a living,” Burke said. “A bunch of us [in his class] ended up getting jobs and succeeding in the industry, and are still working today, so he’s got a good legacy.”

Burke keeps in touch with Sheldon and has returned to his class over the years to give feedback on student portfolios.

A nature enthusiast who enjoys fly fishing, camping, hiking, and backpacking, Burke has also published many pieces in outdoor magazines like The Drake, a grassroots journal about flyfishing.

Burke also serves on the board of directors for Chicago Voyagers, a non-profit organization serving Chicago’s at-risk youth through trauma-informed outdoor/adventure-therapy programming.

Burke encourages young graduates, especially those entering a creative field like advertising, to focus on simplicity in their work.

“Focus on a simple idea—those are what resonate. Just stick to it and always keep that as your North Star.”

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‘Hot Ones’ host and Illinois alumnus Sean Evans named 2026 Commencement speaker

March 12, 2026 | Thomas Bruch, University of Illinois News Bureau

Daytime Emmy® Award-nominated talk show host and Illinois alumnus Sean Evans will serve as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Commencement speaker on Saturday, May 16, at 9:30 a.m. in Gies Memorial Stadium. Evans graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism from the College of Media in 2008.

Sean Evans, host of "Hot Ones" and University of Illinois College of Media alum — (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

Evans is the co-creator and host of the popular YouTube show Hot Ones, where musicians, professional athletes, and television and movie stars join Evans in eating chicken wings doused in progressively spicier hot sauces within the format of a talk-show interview. He notched a Daytime Emmy® Award nomination in 2021 for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host and has won multiple Internet entertainment awards. Evans also was named to TIME magazine’s inaugural “Time100 Creators” list last year, heralding the most influential digital voices of the modern media industry.

“Sean Evans defined his own path and reimagined the role of a journalist and a talk show host in the modern media landscape,” said Illinois Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. “We encourage Illinois students and alumni to be innovative, and Sean created something no one else had. His work inspires us to continue to push boundaries, to challenge convention, and to develop new ideas instead of just adopting old ones.”

Sean’s career is a wonderful illustration of where an Illinois education, one that nourishes creativity and confidence, can take you. We are so proud of his accomplishments and know that he will inspire students with his story.

Tracy Sulkin

College of Media Dean

Evans forged an affinity for the university long before he arrived at Illinois as an undergraduate student. His mother attended the U of I, and Evans’s favorite holiday haul to this day was the morning he found a Sega Genesis and an orange-and-blue Illinois Starter jacket underneath his Christmas tree as a boy.

Once he stepped on campus as a student, a lasting imprint was left almost immediately.

“You walk out on the Quad, and it looks so quintessentially college,” said Evans, a native of Crystal Lake. “It looks like a college out of a film. There’s a scale and a history to it that really smacks you in the face. Walking onto the Main Quad for the first time, I had this feeling of being in a totally different place in my life and feeling a lot of comfort in it.”

Evans said he “trusted the incubation period” of the journalism program in the College of Media to build up his skill set. He recalled the high standards the professors expected out of students, and the meaningful experience he gained cycling through each production role on WPGU-FM student news broadcasts.

Alum Sean Evans, *Hot Ones* host, visits with students in Journalism 340: Video Reporting and Storytelling, taught by College of Media senior lecturer Alison Davis. The class was one Sean remembered taking when he was in school.
(Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

“Sean’s career is a wonderful illustration of where an Illinois education, one that nourishes creativity and confidence, can take you. We are so proud of his accomplishments and know that he will inspire students with his story,” said Tracy Sulkin, dean of the College of Media.

But like many young people entering the workforce in 2008, he found a flagging job market upon graduation. Evans returned to his old summer gig: a Chicago architecture tour guide.

“I remember feeling so hopeless,” Evans said. “There was this existential feeling to it. But even at that time, I had a passion for what I wanted to do. I would take every freelance project I could get. I knew I had a passion for this work and needed an outlet for it.”

His meteoric rise began after successfully pitching and developing Hot Ones in 2015, when he was working at Complex magazine. He wasn’t even the biggest fan of chicken wings. At best, Evans thought it could be a fun idea he and his co-creators would program on a quarterly basis. But the format of humanizing celebrities—and making them forget their media training—by putting them through blistering hot wing sauces worked in capitalizing on the attention economy. Notable guests have included Will Smith, Stephen Curry, Billie Eilish, Justin Timberlake, Gordon Ramsay, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dua Lipa, and many more across the show’s 400 episodes.

Sean Evans in Illinois regalia — (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

“I certainly never thought it would be my own media company,” Evans said. “We were working in cubicles at Complex and ended up making something that became bigger than these giant, hulking media companies it was incubated in.”

Evans remains deeply involved in the preparation for each Hot Ones episode and works late into the night formulating precise questions and perfecting his delivery of those queries to his guests. These nocturnal work sessions always transport Evans back to his time at Illinois, where he would sign up for the latest availability in the basement of Gregory Hall to edit his broadcast journalism projects.

“I always really liked going down there, having my headphones on, being the only person in the building, and just lost in the basement of Gregory Hall cutting packages,” Evans said. “I still to this day work like that. I’ve written my best interview questions—and probably the most interview questions—after 10 p.m.”

As his own celebrity stature has grown, Evans has eagerly returned to his alma mater. He has attended sporting events, spoken to students, and even hosted a special edition of Hot Ones with Illinois men’s head basketball coach Brad Underwood as the guest. It’s all a part of giving back to a place that has been special to him for most of his life, and Evans can’t wait to add to that legacy with his role as Commencement speaker.

“As somebody who loves this school, went to this school, and now has this crazy pop culture platform, it’s fun to bring that energy back to Illinois,” Evans said.

Watch Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. interview Commencement speaker and Illinois Media alumnus Sean Evans:

For more information regarding the universitywide ceremony—including the stadium’s clear-bag policy, student regalia, and parking instructions—visit commencement.illinois.edu.

Editor’s note: To request a media interview with Sean Evans, contact Kovert Creative at fwfpr@kovertcreative.com. For media requests related to Commencement, contact Patrick Wade, director of executive communications and issues management, 217-333-5010, pwade@illinois.edu. For information about Commencement, contact commencement@illinois.edu.

See original press release.

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College of Media launches new bachelor’s degree in sports media

Illini Sports Night pregame show at women's basketball game

March 9, 2026 | Holly Rushakoff

After years of planning, a new bachelor’s in sports media is ready for prime time.

Illini Sports Night hosting live pregame show before Illinois women's basketball game.

In response to a growing interest from students—and with a proven track record of successful alumni across the sports media industry—the College of Media is expanding its roster to offer a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Media.

The program will prepare students for a variety of careers in sports media, including as PR and strategic communication managers, content creators and digital storytellers, social media and data analysts, sportscasters and producers, and more.

The new undergraduate degree received official approval from the Illinois Board of Higher Education in Spring 2026.

This is an area of high interest from students and employers alike, and, together with our campus partners, we are prepared to offer students a first-rate experience marked by the innovation, rigor, and personalized attention that defines all of our degree programs in the College of Media.

Tracy Sulkin

College of Media Dean

Starting April 27, current University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign students may apply to transfer into the BA in sports media for Fall 2026. Transfer students from outside the University of Illinois can apply to the program for Spring 2027. First-year students can apply for Fall 2027 entry.

Courses from all three departments in the College of Media—Advertising, Journalism, and Media & Cinema Studies—will make up the core curriculum for the sports media degree.

“We’re excited to offer this interdisciplinary degree to prepare students for exciting career paths within sports media. This is an area of high interest from students and employers alike, and, together with our campus partners, we are prepared to offer students a first-rate experience marked by the innovation, rigor, and personalized attention that defines all of our degree programs in the College of Media,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin.

As streaming, podcasting, and multi-screen sports viewing continue to reshape how teams, fans, and brands interact, graduates who understand these evolving dynamics will have an advantage in the job market.

Illini Sports Night interviews sports anchor alum Cassie Carlson

The College of Media already offers sports-focused courses, including “Sports Public Relations,” “Sports Journalism,” “SportMedia, Technology & Culture,” and just this spring, “Sports Advertising & Branding” debuted. Students can also gain firsthand production and reporting experience through Illini Sports Night, a program covering Illinois Athletics, through the course “Newsroom Experience.”

Sports media majors will be able to take elective courses within the Department of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism in the College of Applied Health Sciences, such as “Sport Analytics: Data-Driven Decision Making,” “The Foundations of Sport Management,” and “Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics: The Big Ten Conference.”

To expand experiential learning opportunities, the College of Media plans to collaborate with alumni working in the sports industry to create additional immersion and internship opportunities. These efforts will build upon past programs that included tours of athletic companies like Nike and Adidas. Alumni currently hold top positions across sports media such as producing, anchoring, and writing for national networks and publications; leading communications and videography for professional sports leagues; working with celebrity athletes, athletic brands, and sports teams; and some have even competed as Olympic athletes.

Students will also benefit from the extensive opportunities that come with the University of Illinois’ premier athletics program and its membership in the Big Ten Conference. For example, students have produced live pregame shows for Illini Sports Night in collaboration with the B1G+ network, and many intern at Fighting Illini Productions, the video team for the University’s Division of Intercollegiate Athletics. Additionally, DIA colleagues serve as adjunct instructors in the College of Media, and both local and national sports personalities frequently visit classes, including Brian Barnhart, the Illinois football and men’s basketball play-by-play announcer, and Gus Johnson, the lead college football and basketball play-by-play announcer for FOX Sports.

The BA in sports media is the sixth undergraduate degree offered by the College of Media, along with advertising, computer science + advertising, journalism, media and cinema studies, and an online degree in media for transfers. Learn more about Media’s academic programs.

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‘New York Times’-bestselling authors on presidential campaigns to visit University of Illinois for Q&A

Fight book cover with headshots of Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes

February 17, 2026

Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, co-authors of the New York Times bestsellers, “Fight,” “Shattered,” and “HRC,” will be on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus to discuss their recent reporting, Donald Trump, and a preview of the 2026 elections on Monday, April 20, from 5-6 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public and is presented by the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media at the University of Illinois College of Media.

Attendees may join the event in the Illini Union, Room B, 1401 W. Green, Urbana, or register to join via Zoom. The conversation will be led by Colleen King, director of the Frank Center and clinical assistant professor of journalism.

Allen is an award-winning senior national politics reporter for NBC News. He covers presidential campaigns, the White House, Congress, and national political issues.

Parnes is a senior political correspondent covering national politics at The Hill. She previously worked as a staff writer at Politico, and during the first Trump administration, she was a CNN political analyst.

Their newest book, Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House—which provides an inside look at the Biden, Harris, and Trump camps during the 2024 battle for the White House—has been optioned for TV and film by Aline Brosh McKenna.

For more information, please contact Colleen King at cck@illinois.edu.

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Ebert Symposium 2026 focuses on fandom and the media

January 30, 2026

The 2026 Chaz and Roger Ebert Symposium, presented by the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, will address “Onscreen Fantasies/IRL Illusions: Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and the Media.” Join us for this free two-day event on March 30-31, featuring a film screening, a roundtable discussion, and keynote address.

Monday, March 30

Film Screening: The Wiz

7 p.m., Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum

Before Wicked, there was The Wiz.

Join the Ebert Center for a screening of Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz (1978). See cultural icons such as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Nipsey Russell follow the yellow brick road in this musical retelling of The Wizard of Oz.

While considered a failure upon its release, the film has since developed an enduring and charming legacy, as well as a dedicated cult fan base.

The film will be introduced by Dr. Alfred L. Martin, Jr., Chair of the Department of Cinematic Arts at University of Miami, and Ebert Symposium keynote speaker.

Tuesday, March 31

Roundtable Discussion

2-3:30 p.m., Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum

Join a roundtable discussion with doctoral students from the Institute of Communications Research on the Ebert Symposium theme of “Onscreen Fantasies/IRL Illusions: Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and the Media.” Not only will it explore themes from The Wiz and the Ebert Symposium keynote speech, but it will also expand to all types of media. Moderated by Cait Coker, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the University of Illinois, this discussion will be held among ICR students Youngin Kang, Gustavo Nery, Stephanie Perez, Kendra Williams, and Nansong Zhou. Audience participation is encouraged.

Keynote Address

4 p.m., Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum
Or register to join via Zoom

“What The Wiz Was (and Is): Media Industries, Distribution, Reception and The Wiz”

The Ebert Symposium keynote will be delivered by Dr. Alfred L. Martin, Jr., Chair of the Department of Cinematic Arts at University of Miami.

As a part of the Ebert Symposium’s theme, “Onscreen Fantasies/IRL Illusions: Fandom, Parasocial Relationships, and the Media,” Martin draws attention to The Wiz as the first Black-cast blockbuster and re-assesses its significance to issues of Black media production, initial reception, distribution, and its enduring fandom. Concomitantly, this presentation is about the ways, particularly within a socio-political environment hostile to Blackness, The Wiz provides a prism through which to place the feminist “I” and joy into research. Engaging media industry studies, fandom/reception studies, and media studies, this presentation argues that the history and ongoing legacy of The Wiz is far more complicated than reducing it to a financial failure.

Martin is associate professor of media studies and chair of the Department of Cinematic Arts at the University of Miami. He is author of Fandom for Us, by Us: The Pleasures and Practices of Black Audiences (New York University Press, 2025) and The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom (Indiana University Press, 2021), editor of Rolling: Blackness and Mediated Comedy (Indiana University Press, 2024), and co-editor of The Golden Girls: Tales from the Lanai (Rutgers University Press, 2025). A former marketing communications executive and ballet dancer, in his spare time, Martin is a ballet teacher, coach, and choreographer.

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Centennial Circle: Investing in the next century of media education

Futuristic illustration of person viewing screens

Join a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape the future of the College of Media at Illinois

January 14, 2026

A centennial is more than a milestone—it’s an invitation to define the future together.

As the College of Media approaches its 100^th anniversary, we celebrate our proud legacy and commit to advancing the next era of media education and research. Illinois Media graduates have informed the public, shaped culture, advanced technology, and transformed the way the world connects. To ensure this momentum carries into the next century, the College of Media invites its most passionate supporters to help lead the way through the Centennial Circle.

The Centennial Circle will be launched to honor visionary donors who make transformational investments. Induction into the Centennial Circle recognizes gifts of $100,000 or more to any fund in the College of Media between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2027. Donors can make an outright gift, a pledge, or a deferred gift such as a bequest in their will or a beneficiary designation of their IRA.

College of Media Dean Tracy Sulkin emphasized the historic significance of the Centennial Circle as the college celebrates its 100^th anniversary in 2027.

“A centennial invites us to honor our past while envisioning a bold future. In this unique moment, philanthropy will play a central role in shaping the next 100 years of media,” said Dean Sulkin. “Joining the Centennial Circle is an opportunity to create a powerful, lasting legacy—one that uplifts generations of students and strengthens media education and research at Illinois for decades to come.”

Donors may choose to support any fund in the College of Media, including the Centennial Fund, which helps meet emerging priorities, from technology advancements and innovative pedagogy to faculty and student research. Recent examples of donor-funded impact include the founding of the Richard and Leslie Frank Center for Leadership and Innovation in Media and the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, student support such as scholarships and the Media Technology Center, and faculty support such as research initiatives and named professorships.

Preparing students for academic and professional success means ensuring they can navigate, analyze, and communicate effectively in an ever-changing media landscape. Support for the Centennial Fund positions the college to address complex societal challenges, including AI, media literacy, civic and public engagement, and the accessibility of news and information.

Joining the Centennial Circle is an opportunity to create a powerful, lasting legacy—one that uplifts generations of students and strengthens media education and research at Illinois for decades to come.

Tracy Sulkin

College of Media Dean

“The Centennial Circle reflects the power of partnership between the College of Media and our alumni and friends,” said Deanne Johnson, senior assistant dean for advancement. “By aligning philanthropic vision with emerging priorities, donors help ensure Illinois remains at the forefront of media education for generations.”

The historic cohort of Centennial Circle donors will be recognized during a College of Media centennial celebration and featured across the college’s communication channels. Recipients will also get a commemorative Centennial Circle lapel pin.

Join us in shaping the College of Media’s second century:

We welcome the opportunity to explore how your philanthropic vision can align with your passions and create lasting impact for the College of Media’s second century. To learn more, please contact Deanne Johnson, Senior Assistant Dean for Advancement, at 217-244-5466 or jhns@illinois.edu.

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Illinois announces first dual-credit initiative, bringing media and other courses to high school students

January 8, 2025

Understanding the role of popular television shows and movies in society—and in students’ own lives—is a central focus of a high-enrollment 100-level course in the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Starting in the 2026-27 academic year, the media and cinema studies course “Introduction to Popular TV and Movies” will be one of four U of I courses also taught in the classrooms of select Illinois high schools as part of the new Dual Credit Learning Accelerator initiative.

The four courses are:

ASTR 150: Killer-Skies: Astro-Disaster
CS/STAT 107: Data Science Discovery
MACS 100: Introduction to Popular TV and Movies
SPED 117: The Culture of Disability

This pilot opportunity marks a new approach for the university in offering its popular general education courses directly to high school students across Illinois in the form of dual credit—at no cost to those students.

“The dual-credit initiative reflects our university’s commitment to expanding access and opportunity for students and families across Illinois,” said Provost John Coleman. “Through the Learning Accelerator’s innovative learning model, we’re bringing transformative educational experiences to high school classrooms and preparing students throughout the state for success in college and beyond.”

Led by the Office of Online Learning and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, the Learning Accelerator was funded through the American Talent Initiative IDEAS grant to establish the university’s first dual-credit initiative.

The result is a dual-credit model that can scale up so that an academic unit at the U of I can offer any of its courses to a high school student.

The College of Media is proud to support this initiative, which strengthens the land-grant mission by expanding access to an Illinois education and promoting early student success.

“The dual-credit program offers us the opportunity to bring our exciting media curriculum to students who interact with the media but have a limited idea as to how it’s developed and created,” said Jason P. Chambers, associate dean for access and engagement and professor of advertising. “By providing students access to courses such as MACS 100, they’ll get a chance to consider a media major before arriving at the University of Illinois.”

Through the MACS 100 course, students will build media literacy skills while thinking critically about popular media. One goal of the course is to teach students how to see beyond narrative to address how the film form—such as cinematography, editing, sound, and special effects—generates meaning.

“The most important lesson, I believe, is that even ‘popular’ media, films, and TV shows produced for mass audiences have meaning and complexity,” said Jon Knipp, senior lecturer of media and cinema studies who teaches MACS 100. “These are cultural expressions that tell us a lot about the world and ourselves if we pay attention—and thinking about something deeply makes it more enjoyable.”

The four new dual-credit courses slated for the 2026-27 academic year were developed to showcase the breadth of educational topics offered at Illinois, with faculty partners who are passionate about reaching students from underrepresented populations and interested in presenting their courses in a setting outside of campus that might spark interest in their fields of study.

“We’re trying to offer both an advanced educational experience, but also something that students might not get in a regular high school class,” said Hilary Gross, the Learning Accelerator program coordinator. “The hope is that we might show high school students that college can be whatever you make it.”

For more details about this new program, see the University of Illinois News Bureau press release.

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In the Spotlight: Ann Abdelzaher

December 8, 2025

Learn more about the people who help make our college such a great place to work—what they do, what inspires them, and a few things you might not know—in this Q&A series featuring staff members from across the College of Media and Illinois Public Media.

Ann Abdelzaher
eLearning Specialist
Media Tech

How long have you worked at the College of Media?

Four-and-a-half years.

What led you to your current career or position?

I started in special education and gradually switched gears to educational technology where I became focused on eLearning, first as a developer.

Can you tell us a little about what you do in your current role?

I help faculty members develop online courses that are both engaging and accessible and in keeping with current best practices. I also advise faculty on the current technologies and tools available to them.

What’s one fun fact about you that your coworkers might not know?

I have an extensive collection of Disney’s Goofy, and I love to crochet.

What’s your favorite place (restaurant, coffee shop, park, etc.) in Champaign-Urbana?

Kohinoor Indian restaurant! Their food is the best.

What are you currently watching, listening to, or reading?

I always have at least two books going at once as well as an audio book. But I am currently reading Unbound by Michael Miller.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, a Siamese cat named Ash (AKA Ashifur).

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Media literacy research and engagement initiatives address societal challenges

October 29, 2025

Faculty and graduate students across the College of Media are pursuing a range of activities aimed at understanding challenges to media literacy and developing interventions to improve it.

Recent activities include:

A team including Michelle Nelson, professor of advertising, Amanda Ciafone, associate professor of media and cinema studies, Stephanie Craft, professor of journalism, ICR doctoral student Gillian Paxton, and undergraduate student Maaike Niekerk, is investigating older adults’ media use, media literacy, and the role of media in fostering social connection. The research seeks to understand how older adults use media across a broad range of platforms and tools, including generative AI, and the challenges they face in doing so. The aim is to explore how improving media literacy may help them better navigate the media environment to meet their social and information needs. The study involves interviews with those who offer help and instruction regarding media and technology use through senior centers, public libraries, park districts and the like, and focus groups with older adults. This project is funded by a College of Media seed grant.

Professor Amanda Ciafone presenting at IMEDIA workshop — Amanda Ciafone, associate professor of media and cinema studies, presents at a workshop hosted by IMEDIA.

Related to this project, Ciafone was awarded funding to organize media and digital literacy workshops with European scholars and advocates to advance research, education, and transatlantic dialogue on older age and media literacy under the Jean Monnet Center of Excellence grant awarded to the European Union Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ciafone said Europe has more rapid “demographic aging,” where a population’s average age increases, than the United States and robust models for media literacy policy and education.

As part of its mission to bolster research in media literacy, the College of Media hosts a regular gathering of faculty across campus to discuss research in media literacy across disciplines and to identify potential opportunities for collaboration. These conversations have so far included faculty in the College of Fine & Applied Arts, University Library, School of Information Sciences, College of Education, and College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

The Initiative for Media Education Inquiry and Action, a collaboration between the College of Media and College of Education, is developing a media literacy micro-credential for teachers. IMEDIA was created in 2021 to help teachers in Illinois fulfill the mandate of a state law requiring media literacy instruction in public high schools. IMEDIA has offered in-person workshops for teachers to help them incorporate media literacy into their current teaching. The aim of the micro-credential is to broaden the reach of workshops by making the instruction and resources available online in a way that also offers teachers the opportunity to add a media literacy credential to their licenses.

A research study conducted by Nelson, ICR doctoral student Sakshi Bhalla, and Michael Spikes, co-founder of the Illinois Media Literacy Coalition, emerged from IMEDIA’s teacher workshops. The study, which included interviews with 20 educators from across the state of Illinois about the nature and challenges of media literacy education in their schools, found several digital divides that undermine the efficacy of state-mandated media literacy instruction in Illinois high schools. Their findings were published in the Journal of Media Literacy Education.

IMEDIA also is updating its eText, MEdia Matters, which is currently used in a variety of introductory undergraduate courses. The text will be a key resource for teachers pursuing the micro-credential and will be freely available for use in their classrooms.

Craft is part of a team comprising faculty from five universities engaged in a long-term research initiative to build a model of news literacy behavior that will inform efforts to increase people’s resistance to misinformation. The team has developed a widely used measure of news literacy knowledge and most recently has been investigating how greater news literacy knowledge translates into better news consumption behaviors reflecting that greater knowledge. The most recent study was presented in August at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

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Ann Abdelzaher eLearning SpecialistMedia Tech

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Ann Abdelzaher
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Media Tech