Unit 10 | College of Media

Luciana Salviano Marques da Silva

Email: luciana8@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Digital Journalism
Artificial Intelligence
Television Studies
Media Literacy
Quality Television
Public Journalism

Before joining ICR, I completed my Master’s degree in Media Studies at UFRN (Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte), in Brazil. My dissertation focused in Quality Television and public journalism. My Bachelor’s degree is in Social Communication with emphasis in Journalism and Radio & Television studies. During my undergraduate I spent a year in the UK studying Film and TV production at Anglia Ruskin University, in Cambridge.

Courses Taught

MACS 100: Introduction to Popular TV & Movies

Awards and Honors

Graduated with summa cum laude
Scholarship for the program Science Without Borders

2025-2026 student award and scholarship recipients

August 26, 2025

Updated May 19, 2026

Congratulations to these College of Media students who received campus and college awards and honors, and scholarships and fellowships that were made possible thanks to our donors.

HONORS

Bronze Tablet
Inscription on the Bronze Tablets in the Main Library recognizes students ranking in the top three percent of their graduating class.

Amanda Barry
Christina Kivarkis
Hailey Kotowski
Mallory Miller
Adelyn Mui
Layli Nazarova
Sydney Populorum
Konrad Przeczek
Lauren Redenius
Benjamin Shlau
Kara Yoo
Jiaying Zhou

Highest Honors
Highest Honors status in the College of Media is awarded to graduating seniors in the top five percent of their graduating class.

Audrie Ballard
Amanda Barry
Emily Chen
Christina Kivarkis
Hailey Kotowski
Jenny Lin
Mallory Miller
Adelyn Mui
Layli Nazarova
Sydney Populorum
Konrad Przeczek
Lauren Redenius
Yingying Ren
Benjamin Shlau
Kara Yoo
Jiaying Zhou

High Honors
High Honors status in the College of Media is awarded to graduating seniors in the top 10 percent of their graduating class.

Nicole Amrhein
Samantha Barajas
Sam Brody-Goldberg
Ruoxuan Chen
Reis Glover
Lauren Keith
Mattie Kennel
Ava Kolodziej
Caitlyn Land
Christopher LaPorte
Rory McFadden
Justin Meyers
Charles Michaels
Kendall O’Keefe
Caroline Pulford
Katherine Ratke
Heejae Shin
Lillian Paige Walk
Zhuoyi Wu

Honors
Honors status in the College of Media is awarded to graduating seniors in the top 20 percent of their graduating class.

Thanistha Bisalputra
Natalie Circolone
Li Deng
Elie Dixon
Kyle Ehrenhaft
Rawan El-Bawab
Siyi Gao
Lillian Garski
Raegan Gooding
Jillian Grabowski
Megan Harding
Macy Hull
Eunsung Koh
Kate Lamb
Shirley Ma
Maria Mancero
Haley Maser
Ryan McGee
Connor Micklos
Drew Mutchnik
Kaitlyn Nichols
Kyu Ha Nick Park
Piper Pascarella
Mary Piacente
Humza Qazi
Mariana Quezada Marquez
Eduardo Quintana
Chen Tu
Sofia Walters

James Scholars
This university-wide honors program encourages James Scholars to develop skills in leadership and service, research or honors coursework, service learning and global studies, and professional development.

Samantha Barajas
Amanda Barry
Diyosa Funk
Reis Glover
Raegan Gooding
Sofia Kanda
Eunsung Koh
Hailey Kotowski
Megan Krok
Christopher LaPorte
Peirong Li
Jenny Lin
Haley Maser
Mallory Miller
Nathan Murphy
Layli Nazarova
Kaitlyn Nichols
Kendall O’Keefe
Humza Qazi
Katherine Ratke
Madeline Santori
Sydney Spotts
Megan Ashley Wood

Kappa Tau Alpha
This college honor society recognizes academic excellence and promotes scholarship in journalism and mass communication.

Jenny Lin
Mallory Miller
Layli Nazarova
Lauren Redenius
Jiaying Zhou

Senior 100 Honorary
This campus honor recognizes academics, leadership, service, and engagement at the University of Illinois.

Emma Biallas
Sofia Kanda
Shivam Patel
Katerina Souleles
Sydney Spotts

AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, & FELLOWSHIPS

A-Mark Journalism Master’s Scholarship

Kaniz Fatema

American Advertising Federation Most Promising Students

Odinakachukwu (Odi) Ogbuefi
Claire-Michelle Sweet
Kara Yoo

Anthony J. Petullo Endowment in Design and Advertising Fund

Alexandra Ehrhart
Zixuan (Zia) Lu

Barton A. Cummings Graduate Assistantship / Richard and Audrey Christian Graduate Assistantship

Tunga Jois
Michelle Martinez

Betty Hinckle Dunn Memorial Fund in Journalism

Annisyn Krebs-Carr

Bill Geist Broadcast Journalism Writing Prize

Mary Piacente

Brett Lerner Memorial Scholarship in Journalism

Sijie (Jenny) Lin

C&U Poster Advertising Company Scholarship

Tomi Dugbo

C. Arthur and Eleanor Hemminger Scholarship

Karys Boeriu
Yueming Gong
Yash Jagtap
Sofia Kanda
Tiffany Liu
Rory McFadden
Diego Miranda
Konrad Przeczek
Claire-Michelle Sweet

C.O. “Doc” Erickson Scholarship in Journalism

Eunsung (Anna) Koh

Calvin Hugy Scholarship

Gabriella Blangiardo
Nevin McVicar
Kris Modi

Cardiss Collins Scholarship for Advertising Studies Fund

Kayla Robinson

Carl and Ruth S. Stephens Scholarship

Brendan Gallian
Isabella Lazansky
Maraya Petrova
Liliana Rodriguez
Madison (Maddie) Shaw

Charles G. Sotir Journalism Scholarship

Michael Sweeney

Clifford G. Christians Institute of Communications Research Career Advancement Fund

Tingyu Chen

College of Media Alumni Scholarship

Eduardo Quintana

College of Media Annual Fund Scholarship

Brianna Alvarado
Eli Kennel
Danielle Mitchell
Sophia Negrete
Livia Nigro
Josslyn Ostrom
Isabella (Izzy) Phillips
Rein Phone
Mary (Molly) Sloan
Elianna Williams

College of Media Dean’s Honors Scholarship

Thea Abang
Denise Aguilar
Maya Brito
Samantha (Sammy) Hernandez
Laila Hinton
Allison Ibarrientos
Jaelynn Isbendy
Quinn Isberg
Calli Kraft
Aria Manfroi
Jocelyn Melchor
Gabriel Montano
Noor Najjar
Isaiah Rohn
Yoselin Sanchez-Miran
Jenna Sissom
Joseph Tempel
Megan Weiss

College of Media Endowed Scholarship

Yufan Du
Elena Janeva
Ella Yoder

Cynthia Browne Placek Endowed Scholarship

Kennedy Caldwell

Daily Illini Journalism Scholarship Fund

Sofia Boddy
Qyler Bowie
Adam Edwards
Mariana Quezada Marquez
Alexandra Murphy
Emily Nnodi
Mary Piacente
Lillien Salas
Zachary Shapero
Evelyn (Evy) York

Daniel and Nancy Balz Endowed Fund in Journalism

Edgar Nava Garcia
Josephine (Richelle) Gunawan
Evelyn (Evy) York

David Shaul Endowed Scholarship in Journalism

Mariana Quezada Marquez

Dawn M. Turner and Kim D. Turner Endowed Scholarship in Media

Taya Brown

Deanna Frautschi and Alan Bedell Scholarship

Ben Shlau

Department of Journalism Scholarship

Faith Routley

Donald E. Chamberlain Journalism Scholarship

Prayse Odomes

Donald P. Mullally Internship at Illinois Public Media

Grace Merki

Ed Wilks Memorial Scholarship in Journalism

Giuliana Means

Florence Hood Miner Scholarship in Journalism

Jahzara Norris

Florence J. Johnson Scholarship

Yidan (Lisa) Hu
Peirong (Zoe) Li
Yuechen (Bonnie) Li
Nathaniel Murphy
Odi Ogbuefi
Atharva Sindwani
Zakk Wolovich
Megan Wood

Forsyth Family Endowed Scholarship

Karys Boeriu

George Will Endowed Scholarship

Emily Chen

Gerald P. Johnson Scholarship

Gabriel Alpher
Andrew Burkey
Eli Mitzenmacher

Gerald Robert Bland Scholarship

Amelia Benson

Glenn Hanson Scholarship in Visual Communication

Knox Mynatt

Glenn Holman Roberts Journalism Scholarship

Piotr Fedczuk

Goldie Maxine Cord and Marcus Franklin Cord Scholarship

Anthony Geritano

H. Maxine Gladding Greenwood Scholarship

Temitola (Temi) Akinyemi

Harold E. and Dorothy Johnson Sortor Journalism Scholarship

David Lyle

Harold Gustave Roettger Memorial Award

Amanda Barry
Mallory Miller
Adelyn Mui
Layli Nazarova
Sydney Populorum
Konrad Przeczek
Jiaying Zhou

Helen C. and Theodore B. Peterson Scholarship

Sarah Slattery

Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Scholars Graduate Fellowship

Dwayne Banks
Rocio de la Rosa Vasquez
Kaniz Fatema
Reed Lofstedt

Ian Fleming Foundation Undergraduate Research Scholarship

Yufan Du
Yidan (Lisa) Hu
Yuhan Zhou

Illinois Broadcasters Association Scholarship in Broadcast Journalism

Liliana Rodriguez

Iris Chang Journalism Award

Katie Dalton

J. Christopher and Robin N. Kaler Scholarship

Jonathan Mathew

James Webb Young Travel Fund

Jiyeon Chang
Kirby Cook
Yujin Lee
Jiayi (Joy) Wang

Jay Lin Scholarship

Valerie Oviedo

Jenny Lenzini Memorial Scholarship

Adelyn Mui

Joe Sutton Honorary Scholarship

Evelyn (Evy) York

Joel D. and Analee Weisman Scholarship

Nathan Gonzalez
Megan Krok

John R. Foreman Scholarship

Emily Burciaga
Ashley Howerter
Layli Nazarova
Cooper O’Kelly
Ella Peterson
Fernanda Romero
Alyssa Thomas

John H. and Sylvia N. Schacht Memorial Scholarship

Paige Walk

John Russell Heitman Fellowship

Farah Bassyouni

Jonathan Laxamana Award in Student Filmmaking

Aidan Allenfort, molecular and cellular biology major, for his film Health. Hope. Peru.

Jonathan Laxamana Endowment Fund

Kris Modi

Judy Blasdell Bligh Journalism Endowed Scholarship

Jonathan Mathew

Jules and Jody Anne Becker Scholarship

Eunsung (Anna) Koh

Karen Lucas Petitte Endowed Scholarship in Journalism

Brendan Gallian
Megan Krok
Mallory Miller

Klues Scholars

Mia Avila
Andrea De La Torre
Kamron King
Larimar Rivera
Alanna Ross
Evita Zimmerman

Lulu Kelly Nardine Awards

Elissa Eaton
Mallory Miller
Mary Piacente

Lynne Blanton Student Travel Fund

Jiyon Chang
Jennifer Cintron
Haochen Ji
Youngin Kang
Ji Won Oh
Se Il Park
Wei Xiao

Marian and Barney Brody Creative Feature Article Writing Awards in Journalism

Adelyn Mui – 1^st place – “More than a holiday tradition: Reindeer are a way of life at the Hardy Ranch in Rantoul”
Mackenzie (Mack) Jones – 2^nd place – “Horses Nap on their Farm”
Sijie (Jenny) Lin – 3^rd place – “Urbana will explore alternatives to mental health crisis intervention without police involvement”

Marilyn Miller Kaytor Fellowship

Colae Eason
Claire McDaniel

Marilyn Miller Kaytor Scholarships

Felicity Abbott
Sonja Aghakhan
Chloe Barbarise
Amelia Benson
Taylor Casey
Jean-Luc Charles
Kathryn Dalton
Edgar Nava Garcia
Mackenzie Jones
Haley Maser
Giuliana Means
Kyle Murry
Amanda Muscia
Layli Nazarova
Cooper O’Kelly
Jude Panlilio
Addison Petrinos
Humza Qazi
Ford Quaintance
Samuel Rink
Liliana Rodriguez
Penelope Roewe
Fernanda Romero
Riley Shankman
Tristan Starzec
Cora Steele
Alexandria Tatman
Paige Whiteside

Mark L. Brandt Public Engagement Fellows Program Fund

Andrei Badulescu
Mariah Brooks
Ruoxuan (Christina) Chen
Kaitlyn Devitt
Oluwatomi Dugbo
Paige Gaines
Megan Harding
Kris Modi
Adelyn Mui
Ektarit (Gus) Nophaket
Joy Wu

Mary Fulton Rothermel Fellowship

Yi (Sarah) Lin

Maureen Moore Memorial Fellowship in Advertising

Seo Jeong Heo
Tianxuan (Nikki) Wu

Murray Kalis Awards for Creativity in Advertising

Paige Walk – Best Single Ad
Christina Kivarkis – Best Portfolio
Jacklynn Cartwright – Best Campaign

Nancy Ronald and Ronald L. Hartshorn Internship Fund

Felicity Abbott
Nathan Gonzalez

Neil and Lynn Gissler Experiential Learning Fund

Brooke Babbington
Vanessa Benavides
Taya Brown
Ange Chang
Madelyn (Maddy) Collier
Yosef Fissahye
Gracieanna (Gracie) Gordon
Cooper Haynes
Alayna Irby
Eli Kennel
Hailey Kotowski
Madeline (Maddie) Kraus
Sara Kulesza
Mora Lozar
Alessandra Lugo
Valery Mayorga
Odinakachukwu (Odi) Ogbuefi
Sarah Page
Emma Roedder
Kathryn San Roman
Sydney Spotts
Kambyl Stipes
Georgia Sussenbach
Claire-Michelle Sweet

Nelio A. Florio and Patricia M. Florio Scholarship in Journalism

Sarah Slattery

Paul C. Fulton Scholarship

Hailey Kotowski
Christopher LaPorte

Paul Schrage-McDonald’s Fellowship in Advertising

Seo Jeong Heo

Raymond O. Torr Memorial Scholarship in Journalism

Cooper O’Kelly

Richard Hildwein Memorial Photojournalism Award

Samuel Yohnka

Richard Tuttle and Lois Marie Orr Endowment Scholarship

Grace Bernstein
Jaedynn Clark
Chloe Plyler
Katherine Ratke
Samuel Rink
Abby Timm
Samuel Yohnka

Robert N. and Lorraine M. Wilt Scholarship

Mariah Brooks

Robert O. Endres Endowed Internship at Illinois Public Media

Stephanie Orellana

Roger Ebert Fellows in Media Criticism

Paige Gaines
Amir Rehab
Jin Wang

S. Watson and Elizabeth S. Dunn Fellowship

Kirby Cook

Schlueter Family Endowed Fund for Internships in Journalism

Mariana Quezada Marquez

Veronica Pontarelli Toussaint and Dr. Paul Toussaint Scholarship

Justin Meyers

Wilkey Scholarship for Print Journalism

Olivia Dvorak

Institute of Communications Research welcomes 2025 cohort of doctoral students

August 26, 2025

The Institute of Communications Research is excited to announce their newest cohort! Please learn more about the students’ research interests below and join us in welcoming them to the University of Illinois College of Media community this fall. For more information, see full student profiles.

Thomas Farrenkopf earned his master’s degree in cinema and media studies at the University of Southern California. His research interests include new media and digital generosity; film theory, with a focus on Third and Fourth Cinema; Indigenous representation in film; media and sociology: representation, exploitation, and labor; intersectional approaches to media studies (race, class, gender, sexuality); and critical theory and media’s impact on empathy and social responsibility.

Azam Hasanpour is a multidisciplinary film and theatre artist with an MA in cinema from the University of Tehran and an MFA in film and media arts from Temple University. With over eight years of focused experience in filmmaking, she brings a rich background in both artistic practice and academic research. Her research interests include digital humanities, visual arts, mixed media, documentary studies, and critical visual and media studies.

Xiaohua (Anthea) He earned her MSc in communication science from the University of Amsterdam, where she focused on persuasive communication. Her research interests include persuasion and information behaviors, with a particular focus on how consumers process and respond to health-related advertising crafted with persuasive strategies.

Aiman Kazybayeva previously served as dean of the School of Management at Almaty Management University (AlmaU). Before that, she was program leader for the marketing educational program and chair of the Department of Management, Marketing, and Logistics. She also founded and continues to head the Neuromarketing Laboratory at AlmaU, combining research and practice in consumer behavior studies. Her research focuses on advertising, consumer behavior, neuromarketing, and biometrics. She applies methods such as eye-tracking, facial recognition, and GSR to study how consumers process advertising messages and make decisions.

Seoyoung (Selene) Kim earned her MA in media and communication from Korea University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of consumer behavior and human–AI interaction. She examines how people interact with AI and how it shapes their decision-making, particularly in the music entertainment industry and other media contexts.

Luciana Salviano Marques da Silva earned her master’s in media studies at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. Her research interests include digital journalism, artificial intelligence, television studies, media literacy, quality television, and public journalism.

Share on social

Seo-Young (Selene) Kim

Email: sk217@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Seo-Young (Selene) Kim is a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research (ICR). Her research examines how technology shapes consumer behavior, with a particular focus on the music industry. She uses biometric methods to investigate how consumers attend to and respond to media experiences.

Prior to joining ICR, Selene worked at CJ ENM as a strategist in Music IP Marketing and Artist Business. She earned an M.A. in Media & Communication from Korea University and dual degrees in International Studies (B.A.) and Business Administration (B.B.A.) from the Catholic University of Korea.

Recent Publications/Presentations

Publications

Lee, S. K., Park, H., & Kim, S. Y. (2024). “Gender and Task Effects of Human-Machine Communication on Trusting a Korean Intelligent Virtual Assistant,” Behaviour & Information Technology, 1-20.
Kim, S. Y., & Jung, Y. (2023). “Development of Semantic Differential Scales for Artificial Intelligence Agents,” The International Journal of Social Robotics, 15(7), 1155-1167.

Presentations

Kim, S. Y., Choi, J., & Nam, J. (2026). From Fan to Protest: How Lightsticks Enable Consumer Identity to Travel Across Political Contexts. Accepted for poster presentation at the Annual Conference of the Association for Consumer Research (ACR), Chicago, IL.
Kazybayeva, A., Nelson, M., Ji, H., Liu, J., Chen, M., Li, G. S., Kim, S. Y., et al. (2026). Exploring Contemporary Rich Media: Sound Off Viewing as a Double-Sided Coin for Advertising. Accepted for poster presentation at the Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), New Orleans, LA.

Courses Taught

ADV 284: Consumer Insights
ADV 360: Innovations in Advertising

Awards and Honors

James Webb Young Travel Fund, University of Illinois, 2026
Bart A. Cummings Advertising Gift Fund, University of Illinois, 2025
Excellence Prize, Student-led Creative Research, Smart Media Service Research Center, 2021

Ketan Krishna

Email: ketank2@illinois.edu

Research Interests

I am interested in the tools and techniques that have been used to manipulate images throughout history. My research investigates the technical and discursive formations that constitute film restoration. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of how the manipulation of images is framed through the intersecting histories of image generation, reception, and filmmaking.

I hold an M.Phil degree from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and have previously worked as a documentary filmmaker.

Recent Publications/Presentations

“Image Manipulation in Cinema: From Colorization to Restoration.” Presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, IL. 2025
“Upscaling the Past: The SD-to-HD Transition and Its Impact on Modern Video Processing.” Presented at the ‘Failing Media’ Graduate Student Conference, University of Chicago. 2025

Aiman Kazybayeva

Email: aimank@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Aiman’s research focuses on advertising, consumer behavior, neuromarketing, and biometrics. She applies methods such as eye-tracking, facial recognition, and GSR to study how consumers process advertising messages and make decisions.

Recent Publications and Presentations

Paltaratskaya, V., Zhang, J., Gupta, M., Kazybayeva, A., Peterson, M., & Wise, K. (2023– 2024). Visual attention, comprehension, and memory for visual metaphor in advertising. Submitted to the conference: The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).
Kazybayeva, A., Smykova, M., & Dushchanova, M. S. (2023). Investigating consumer behavior and psychotypes in the luxury real estate market. KazUEFIT Bulletin, 2(51)
Kazybayeva, A., Rakhimbekova, A., & Wise, K. (2024). Assessing educational potential of AI-generated content: Eye-tracking approach. Poster presentation at Bolashak 23.
Smykova, M., Orazgalieva, E., Abuzhalitova, A., & Kazybayeva, A. (2021). A study of consumer attitudes toward university advertising: A neuromarketing approach. Bulletin of the Karaganda University, 4(104). [In Russian]
Smykova, M., Kazybayeva, A., & Sokhatskaya, N. (2021). Neuromarketing studies of tourism service providers’ advertisements. Bulletin of Eurasian National University named after Gumilyov, Economics, 4. [In Russian]

Academic Roles

Aiman previously served as Dean of the School of Management at Almaty Management University (AlmaU). Before that, she was Program Leader for the Marketing educational program and Chair of the Department of Management, Marketing, and Logistics. She also founded and continues to head the Neuromarketing Laboratory at AlmaU, combining research and practice in consumer behavior studies. She has taught courses in marketing, marketing research, consumer behavior, and neuromarketing.

Currently, Aiman is a PhD student in Communication and Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, specializing in advertising, where she also serves as a Teaching Assistant.

Awards and Honors

Scholar of the “500 Researchers” Bolashaq Program (2023)
The Best Teacher of Higher Education Institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan (2020)
Member of the Presidential Personnel Reserve of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Xiaohua (Anthea) He

Email: xiaohua8@illinois.edu

Research Interests

My primary research interests lie in persuasion and information behaviors, with a particular focus on how consumers process and respond to health-related advertising crafted with persuasive strategies.

Before joining ICR, I earned my MSc in Communication Science from the University of Amsterdam, where I focused on persuasive communication, and received my Bachelor of Economics from Renmin University of China.

Courses Taught

I am a Teaching Assistant for ADV 284: Consumer Insights and ADV 305: Advertising Technology and the Digital World for the Fall 2025 semester.

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

I am a huge fan of fantasy stories! I have written a total of over 100,000 words of fan fiction, with some stories still in progress.

Thomas Farrenkopf

Email: thomasf9@illinois.edu

Research Interests

New Media and Digital Generosity
Film Theory, with a focus on Third and Fourth Cinema
Indigenous Representation in Film
Media and Sociology: Representation, Exploitation, and Labor
Intersectional Approaches to Media Studies (race, class, gender, sexuality)
Critical Theory and Media’s Impact on Empathy and Social Responsibility

Recent Publications/Presentations

“Children of the Corn Sweats” (film in development)

Recipie for Revenge (2024): Director of Photography

“Indigenous Voices Reshaping Cinema: Native American Representation in Dances with Wolves (1990) and Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher (2021).” Oregon Undergraduate Research Journal: McNair Special Issue 21, no. 3 (August 2023): 29–45. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/ourj.

Academic Roles

Thomas is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Graduate Student Representative for the Society of Cinema and Media Studies. He previously served as a TA for “Billy Wilder’s Hollywood,” and was a Discussion Leader for “Introduction to Cinema” and “Introduction to Television.”

Awards and Honors

Shriram Fellow, USC School of Cinematic Arts (2023–2024)
McNair Scholar, University of Oregon (2023)
Cinema Studies Departmental Honors, University of Oregon (2023)
New Century Scholar, All-USA Academic Team (2021)
All-Oregon Academic Team (2021)

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

What most people don’t know about me is that my journey has taken me to some truly unexpected places—both geographically and professionally. During my years in the retail construction industry, I worked across 44 U.S. states and two territories, which gave me a deep appreciation for the sheer variety of American life and landscapes. But one of the most surreal experiences came years later: I stood within a football field’s distance of Reactor #4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant—a place marked by tragedy, history, and myth. Just two days after that, I stood on the Potemkin Stairs in Odesa, the exact location where Sergei Eisenstein shot his iconic montage sequence. That moment was a strange and moving collision of history, media, and memory—one that reminded me why I’m drawn to cinema and its ability to shape how we understand the world.

College of Media offers new online degree completion program: BA in Media

August 20, 2025 | Holly Rushakoff

To expand access to a University of Illinois education, the College of Media now offers an online Bachelor of Arts in Media program for adult learners who have taken some college coursework but have not completed their undergraduate degree.

Targeting working adults who want to upskill or re-skill their media knowledge and advance in or change their careers, the BA in Media is one of the first online degree completion pathways offered by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, along with a similar program at the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

“This new degree will give learners the advantage of earning their bachelor’s in media at their own pace. It comes at a time when valuable skills from advertising, journalism, and media and cinema studies are in high demand across industries,” said Tracy Sulkin, dean of the College of Media. “As we near 100 years at the College of Media, we’re pleased to offer an innovative, flexible option to access our world-class education, without disrupting learners’ work, family obligations, or other commitments.”

This offering reflects the university’s broader commitment to educational innovation, societal impact, and its land-grant mission to transform lives through education. The College of Media began developing the online BA in Media program in 2023. It’s designed to remove barriers for non-traditional students, across Illinois and beyond, providing an accessible, high-quality education that empowers graduates to contribute meaningfully to their communities and industries.

The interdisciplinary program will provide a broad foundation for understanding the contemporary media landscape, along with applied training in skills necessary for career success in media-related fields. Students will take courses from each of the College of Media’s three departments: the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, the Department of Journalism, and the Department of Media & Cinema Studies.

This new degree will give learners the advantage of earning their bachelor’s in media at their own pace. It comes at a time when valuable skills from advertising, journalism, and media and cinema studies are in high demand across industries.

Tracy Sulkin

Dean of the College of Media

Students will learn media concepts, theories, and methods; use cutting-edge tools and technology to analyze and evaluate the media landscape; and create ethical and culturally relevant media content. Understanding that students will possess a wide range of experiences and coursework, the program culminates in a capstone experience where students will apply their knowledge to a significant project that highlights their skills to future employers.

Graduates of the program will be prepared for successful careers both inside and outside the media industry, including positions in the business, government, education, and nonprofit sectors that require media and communication skills, such as writing, editing, audio production, videography, strategy, and media research and analysis.

Unlike traditional undergraduate degree programs, students in the BA in Media program will not be required to enroll full-time, nor to reside on campus. Students must complete all classes online.

The BA in Media program is open to transfer students and to those applying for re-entry to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It is not available to first-year students or to current students seeking an inter-collegiate transfer.

The bachelor’s in media is the fifth bachelor’s degree offered by the college—which also offers master’s degrees and a doctoral degree—further expanding its academic portfolio to meet the needs of today’s learners. See all academic programs offered by the College of Media.

Share on social

Mandatory media literacy education in Illinois schools impaired by digital divides

August 20, 2025 | Sharita Forrest, University of Illinois News Bureau

Teachers and high school students live in vastly different media worlds, and that’s one of several digital divides that undermine the efficacy of state-mandated media literacy instruction in Illinois high schools, a recent study suggests.

The researchers—Institute of Communications Research doctoral student Sakshi Bhalla and Michelle Nelson, professor and head of advertising, both of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; and Michael A. Spikes, director of the Teach for Chicago Journalism Program at Northwestern University—interviewed 20 educators from across the state of Illinois about the nature and challenges of media literacy education in their schools. The findings, published in the Journal of Media Literacy Education, indicate that these efforts are undermined by differing media choices, skills, and perceptions of media literacy, as well as socioeconomic and political disparities.

Under a recent Illinois law, Public Act 102-0055, public high schools are required to provide at least one unit of media literacy instruction. However, a significant hurdle to effective instruction is the digital divide between the media experiences of teachers—whose media experiences are based on legacy media such as television and social media platforms with less relevance to youths, such as Facebook—and those of their students, whose worlds revolve around digital and social platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat, the researchers said.

“We discovered that there are a lot of differences in how teachers and students access the media, whether it is in terms of the platforms or more structural determinants such as teachers getting news from mainstream news media, for example, and students getting news from TikTok or partisan commentators on YouTube,” said Bhalla, the first author of the paper. “To foster meaningful media literacy, we must consider the role of students’ lived experiences, while extending lessons on media access, evaluation, and creation across a stratified population.”

Recruited from different regions of Illinois, the educators in the study represented a diverse group in terms of school size, socioeconomic profiles, and participants’ disciplines, which included art, English, and library sciences. Participants were interviewed about their awareness of the Illinois law, their understanding of the aptitudes that constitute media literacy, the challenges of teaching the subject in their schools’ settings, and the resources they need to support instruction, Nelson said.

Because the state mandate was passed without providing resources or much training, some teachers felt constrained because they did not want to navigate into political waters, and they were left wondering what to do.

Michelle Nelson

Professor and Head of the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising

The Illinois law, which took effect at the beginning of 2022-23 school year, defines media literacy as “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and communicate using a variety of objective forms, including print, visual, audio, interactive, and digital texts.”

However, the researchers said that this definition of media literacy presumes a single, shared media experience that is no longer accurate, and “the idiosyncrasies of unique media use—particularly in social and digital media—mean there may be no ‘common ground’ upon which to analyze, evaluate, or create.”

Accordingly, some teachers said they were unfamiliar with the platforms used by their students and relied on their pupils to teach them how to use these technologies, while others struggled to respond when students mentioned media or commentators they used for news and information.

Nearly half of those in the study worked in schools where at least 40% of the students were low income, and the researchers said that students’ socioeconomic profiles determine whether students are taught basic functional skills or higher-level analytical skills. In low-income schools, instruction focused on building functional skills such as keyboarding and other technical proficiencies associated with jobs, whereas teachers in more affluent school districts said that their curricula focused on higher-level skills such as critical analysis of the media landscape and assessing media’s credibility and accuracy.

With few resources for planning course content, some teachers based instruction on current events, with students discussing controversial issues such as gun violence and the war in Ukraine.

“Because the state mandate was passed without providing resources or much training, some teachers felt constrained because they did not want to navigate into political waters, and they were left wondering what to do,” Nelson said. Teachers grappled with maintaining neutrality during class discussions, which they said were often “hijacked” by students’ emotional responses to particular issues based on the types and political leanings of the media they consumed, along with those of the students’ parents and the broader community.

“Students are discovering themselves through different political ideologies. And teachers found students to be a lot more political following the 2016 presidential election, issues surrounding COVID-19, and movements such as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, and how all of these things were entering the world of emerging adults,” Bhalla said.

But when teachers pointed out fallacious information in the media or pointed out credible sources to correct misinformation, they said their pupils perceived them as biased or responded in ways that indicated they were unconvinced by facts.

“Those in the study also struggled with the complexities of defining right-leaning or left-leaning media and evaluating media bias, because it’s multidimensional and changes with every article, news story, and political event,” Bhalla said.

Despite these many challenges, most of the teachers in the study believed that teaching media literacy and discussing controversial topics in today’s polarized climate are important. However, to be effective, media literacy education in Illinois schools must understand the media world that young people inhabit; provide better resources for them, their teachers, and schools; and provide learning for all students, honing functional skills as well as higher level proficiencies, the researchers said.

The team used their findings to develop media literacy workshops for Illinois teachers during the summers of 2022 and 2023 through the Initiative for Media Education Inquiry and Action. An initiative of faculty and students in the College of Media and College of Education, IMEDIA supports teachers in integrating media education into their classrooms. “We had participants work in groups to create lesson plans and then share those with other people, so when everybody left, we hoped that they would have at least one lesson that they could implement the following school year,” Nelson said.

Editor’s note:

To reach Michelle Nelson, email nelsonmr@illinois.edu.
To reach Sakshi Bhalla, email sakshib3@illinois.edu.

The paper “Classroom contexts: Teachers talk teaching media literacy” is available online or from the News Bureau.
DOI: 10.23860/JMLE-2025-17-2-3

See original press release.

Share on social

Category: Unit

Luciana Salviano Marques da Silva

Research Interests

Courses Taught

Awards and Honors

2025-2026 student award and scholarship recipients

HONORS

AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, & FELLOWSHIPS

Institute of Communications Research welcomes 2025 cohort of doctoral students

Seo-Young (Selene) Kim

Research Interests

Recent Publications/Presentations

Courses Taught

Awards and Honors

Related Links

Ketan Krishna

Research Interests

Recent Publications/Presentations

Aiman Kazybayeva

Research Interests

Recent Publications and Presentations

Academic Roles

Awards and Honors

Xiaohua (Anthea) He

Research Interests

Courses Taught

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

Thomas Farrenkopf

Research Interests

Recent Publications/Presentations

Academic Roles

Awards and Honors

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

Related Links

College of Media offers new online degree completion program: BA in Media

Mandatory media literacy education in Illinois schools impaired by digital divides