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Kent State alumna Courtney Flickinger, ’20, has been using communication skills to advocate for aging populations since her senior year of college. In 2019, she was a communications intern with Direction Home Akron Canton Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities, and has since begun her career there as a communication specialist. This semester, she’s sharing her knowledge and experiences with students in two Communication Studies courses.

Peter Bobkowski will join the School of Media and Journalism this fall as ������’s second Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism, dedicated to leading national efforts to revitalize journalism in the nation's high schools.

The Kent State School of Media and Journalism (MDJ) welcomed Mizell Stewart III, award winning reporter, corporate news executive and president and CEO of Emerging Leaders LLC, to give the third annual Dix Media Ethics Lecture, “Journalism as a Civic Good,” on March 1, 2023.

Mandy Jenkins began her robust journalism career during a time where the news industry was changing quickly, and faculty who taught her say she was particularly well-suited for this challenge.

“I could see that she thought on a trajectory that was light-years ahead of other people when it came to holding people close and saying, ‘What is it you really want to do? What should this thing really look like?’" said Emerita Associate Professor Barbara Hipsman Springer. That was important in the mid-2000s when newsrooms were adapting to the emerging digital landscape; they needed people like Jenkins who were fast learners and didn’t feel bound by rules.

Walking down the streets of Manhattan, surrounded by 49 college students of diverse backgrounds, Kent State student Rafael Guedes Bonacin, ’23, felt at home, even though he was far from his native Brazil.

When senior visual communication design major Jordan Edgar, '23, was asked to design the logo for Homeslice Pizzeria, Kent State’s newest dining location, she wanted to create a logo that would match the environment of the Kent Student Center and incorporate elements of a pizza restaurant. 

In Spring 2019 Jenna Gilbreath, ’23, was an incoming communication studies student, unsure and nervous about what her new life at ������ would look like.

Before he graduated in December 2022, digital media production alumnus Sam Teyssier had already racked up some impressive credits: He’d worked on television shows including “American Rust” and “A League of Their Own” (among others), as well as Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award winner “Cha Cha Real Smooth.” These experiences — which he began seeking out in his hometown of Pittsburgh during the summer of 2021 — have prepared him for post-graduation life.

Laura Gordon, '87, had such a fulfilling experience as a ������ student, that she now gives back so that others may find their way to the types of relationships and encounters that helped set her on her path. “I think it’s really important to give back when you’ve experienced such valuable support so it’s always been really important to me to be part of that,” she said.