Alumna Cheryl Whitlow Thompson makes lasting impact with career as renowned multimedia journalist

December 12, 2024 | Kelly Youngblood Cheryl Whitlow Thompson (BS ’82, LAS; MS ’84, journalism) will be the first to tell you journalism is not just a job to her—it’s who she is.  Digging deep to uncover truths, holding those in power accountable, and asking the tough questions comes naturally to the investigative correspondent and senior editor […]

Illinois Public Media programs and staff garner awards

October 10, 2024 Illinois Public Media’s Prairie Fire nominated for seven Emmys UPDATE 10/29/2024:  WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire won four Mid-America Emmy Awards, including Best Magazine Program, for its first season. The show also won in the following categories: * * * Prairie Fire, a WILL-TV program featuring cinematic documentaries, profiles, and performances from downstate Illinois, has been nominated for seven Mid-America regional Emmy awards, […]

2024-2025 student award and scholarship recipients

October 3, 2024 Updated May 13, 2025 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 TabletInscription on the Bronze Tablets in the Main Library recognizes students ranking in the top three percent of their graduating class. […]

Ebertfest receives 2024 Tourism Impact Award from Experience Champaign-Urbana

May 16, 2024 For sharing its passion with film lovers worldwide for 25 years, and making the greater Champaign-Urbana area a better place to live, work, and visit, Ebertfest was selected as one of five winners of the 2024 Tourism Impact Award from Experience Champaign-Urbana. The Experience Champaign-Urbana Foundation presented the awards at the 11th […]

Sarah Min selected for 2024 College of Media Distinguished Alumni Award

May 14, 2024 | Kelly Youngblood When Sarah Min (BS ’93, journalism) was appointed to President Joe Biden’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in 2022, she knew her background in journalism would prove useful in government policy and nonprofit advocacy work.  “For people who practice journalism, it’s a job requirement to […]

Eli Murray selected as winner of 2024 College of Media Emerging Leader Award

May 14, 2024 | Kelly Youngblood A multimedia piece about an avalanche in Washington published by the New York Times in 2012, which included video, interactive graphics, and animated simulations, changed the way newsrooms presented storytelling.  It also inspired Media alum and Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Eli Murray (BS ’15, journalism) to think about a career as a […]

Advertising recognizes faculty, graduate students with awards for exceptional teaching, research

May 14, 2024 The Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising has honored several faculty and graduate students with awards for extraordinary teaching, research, service, and mentoring.  The recipients received $500 to be placed in a discretionary account to support their teaching, service, or research, and a certificate.   Named after James Webb Young, a legendary advertising executive and […]

Media faculty and TAs make list of teachers ranked as excellent

May 8, 2024 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 Fall 2023 semester. Only those instructors who distributed ICES forms at least once during this time […]

Projects involving College of Media faculty, doctoral students receive funding from Chancellor’s Call to Action Research Program

May 6, 2024 Two faculty members in the College of Media were named recipients of the 2024-25 Chancellor’s Call to Action Research Program to address system bias and social injustice through cross-disciplinary research. This year, the program focuses on areas that span domestic, international, and transnational spaces. Victor Font, a lecturer in the Department of […]

Clifford Christians receives AEJMC’s Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award

May 3, 2024 Clifford Christians, research professor emeritus of communications, and professor emeritus of media studies and of journalism, will receive the 2024 Eleanor Blum Distinguished Service to Research Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The award will be presented at AEJMC’s 107th annual conference in Philadelphia this August. “I am […]

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