Hillary Tune

  • Rocky Top Business Award Alumni Feature: Tanya Ickowitz (’12), Co-Founder of Patdome Promotions

    Rocky Top Business Award Alumni Feature: Tanya Ickowitz (’12), Co-Founder of Patdome Promotions

    Tanya Ickowitz (‘12) jokingly says that when she earned her Master of Science in Communication and Information, she didn’t know she’d be using it to “fold boxes.” But folding boxes is by far not all the College of Communication and Information alumna does at Patdome Promotions, a Knoxville-based creative agency and promotional product company she…

  • CCI Hosts NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar; Will Host Again in 2027

    CCI Hosts NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar; Will Host Again in 2027

    When Professor Jenny Crowley stepped into the role of coordinator of graduate studies for the School of Communication Studies, she did it with a deep belief in the positive impact of mentorship.  “I really care about graduate education, graduate advising, and I feel like I got really good mentorship as a graduate student and want…

  • Rocky Top Business Award Alumni Feature: Pierce LaMacchia (’12), Co-owner of K Brew

    Rocky Top Business Award Alumni Feature: Pierce LaMacchia (’12), Co-owner of K Brew

    “There was this energy of the power of words, the power of presentation, the power of critiquing everything in that realm that translated to all areas of communication,” Pierce LaMacchia (‘12) said as he recalled the lessons that most impacted him while studying public relations at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  LaMacchia took that power…

  • Journalism & Media Alumni Team Up to Create Bonnie Hufford Endowment

    Journalism & Media Alumni Team Up to Create Bonnie Hufford Endowment

    From left: School of Journalism and Media Professor Emerita Dorothy Bowles; Lisa Hood Skinner (’80), Mack Hufford (Bonnie’s brother), and Fatima Hyder (’94). Bonnie Hufford put her all into what she did, whether she was teaching students proper grammar and Associated Press style or fundraising for the American Cancer Society. Before she passed away after…

  • Rocky Top Business Awards Alumni Feature: Chris Oneal (’91), Owner of Stones River Consulting

    Rocky Top Business Awards Alumni Feature: Chris Oneal (’91), Owner of Stones River Consulting

    As an undergraduate majoring in speech, Chris Oneal (’91) tutored business majors who he recalls were terrified of talking in front of other people. With his minors in women’s studies and theatre, Oneal was at ease speaking in front of diverse audiences and realized that would give him an advantage in the business world over those lacking advanced communication…

  • CCI Launches New Online Bachelor’s Degree Program

    CCI Launches New Online Bachelor’s Degree Program

    The College of Communication and Information (CCI) opened applications this week for the first online, Tennessee-based communication and information bachelor’s degree program, increasing access to a four-year degree. With more than 900,000 Tennesseans having earned some college credit but no degree, an online program such as the Bachelor of Science in Communication and Information (BSCI)…

  • Alum, WUOT Reporter Pierce Gentry Wins 2nd in Hearst Journalism National Competition

    Alum, WUOT Reporter Pierce Gentry Wins 2nd in Hearst Journalism National Competition

    Pierce Gentry, far left, with the other contestants in the Audio category at the Hearst Journalism National Championship. As Pierce Gentry (‘25) walked through San Francisco in early June, he soaked in the colorful sights of the largest Chinatown in the world outside of China, but what he really focused on were the people and…

  • Emmy Award-Winning Chief Meteorologist Heather Haley to Join CCI and WUOT in Fall 2025 

    Emmy Award-Winning Chief Meteorologist Heather Haley to Join CCI and WUOT in Fall 2025 

    There is one news event that affects everyone—it can help break the ice as small talk, it can make a day better or worse, and it can devastate entire communities: it is, of course, the weather. It’s important to have meteorologists reporting on the weather who are trained in both science and journalism, which is…

  • WUOT Shines at ETSPJ Golden Press Card Awards

    WUOT Shines at ETSPJ Golden Press Card Awards

    WUOT 91.9 FM’s focus on growing its local coverage as East Tennessee’s NPR station was validated with a slew of first-place awards won by its news team at the recent East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalist’s Golden Press Card Awards, notably winning the top Golden Press Award in the All Media category for its continuing…

  • Students, Faculty Dominate at ETSPJ Golden Press Card Awards

    Students, Faculty Dominate at ETSPJ Golden Press Card Awards

    Students and faculty from the College of Communication and Information took home top awards in several categories at the East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists’ Golden Press Card Awards, including a significant second-place award that has previously never been given to student work: the Horace V. Wells Jr. Community Service Award.  This award is given…