Hillary Tune
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CCI Honors 2025 Faculty and Staff Award Recipients, PhD Grads, and Retirees
Every year the College of Communication and Information (CCI) honors its faculty, staff, and graduate students with awards recognizing excellence in academic, professional, and service areas. Award winners, as well as four retiring faculty members and six graduating PhD students, were celebrated May 7 at a CCI faculty and staff event. Below are all the…
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Communication Studies Launches Inaugural Atlanta Networking Trip for Students
Even though junior Sydney Eyerly has five domestic trips and one study abroad trip with the School of Communication Studies under her belt, she was still blown away by her experience during the school’s newest student trip destination: Atlanta. Eyerly said learning about career options from professionals and networking with alumni in the Georgia metropolis…
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Alan and Wendy Wilson Communication and Leadership Academy Dedicated
The Alan and Wendy Wilson Communication and Leadership Academy, which will kick-off its inaugural year this fall, was dedicated April 11, 2025, in Circle Park. Along with several notable University of Tennessee, Knoxville, administrators and faculty, the event was also attended by students from the inaugural cohort of the Wilson Academy and media outlets that…
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Comm Studies Alum Avery Urquhart Helps NFL Players Make Community Impact
When alumna Avery Urquhart (’23) was looking for an internship her junior year, she was drawn to a position at A3 Athletics that allowed her to handle client relations, event organizing, and learn the workings of a full-service sports agency. She had prior experience in sports promotions after working with Tennessee Athletics’ Fan Experience team…
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Three Doctoral Students Receive 2025 CCI Graduate Student Awards
The College of Communication and Information has announced the recipients of its annual CCI Graduate Awards for 2025, which recognize students for excellence in academics and teaching: Carla White PhD candidate Carla White’s passion for research throughout her doctoral program has resulted in an impressive four published articles in top journals, two of which she is…
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Communication Studies Major Meredith Schmerda Selected for Jupiter Entertainment’s First Launch Program
Senior Meredith Schmerda likes keeping her career choices open—so long as she gets to use her hyper-creative mind—and that was a significant contributor as to why she chose communication studies as her major. “As a little freshman, I wanted to do something very broad because I didn’t know what I wanted to do and that…
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Jonathan Knight Supports WUOT to Keep Invaluable News & Music Available
Jonathan Knight is a Knoxville native, and his interest in classical music was first sparked by hearing Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in the movie Shine. He was then introduced to another Rachmaninoff piece, Prelude in C-Sharp Minor, and he was hooked. “And so, once I heard that, it was like, ‘Oh, this is what it could be!’,” he…
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Jon Dempersmier Recounts the Impact of WUOT on His Life
Jon Dempersmier knew about public radio long before moving to East Tennessee—there were a couple of syndicated shows such as Car Talk that had occasionally grabbed his attention—but it wasn’t until one day when he was driving his toddler son to daycare that he got hooked on WUOT 91.9 FM. “One morning I was just flipping through…
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Young Alum Gina Abitante Growing Career at NYC Agency
Gina Abitante spoke to a group of students from the Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations during their January 2025 visit to New York City. In Gina Abitante’s (‘23) line of work, one social media influencer posting a video praising a shampoo can put her workday into overdrive. As an account executive at Marina…
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Information Integrity Institute Postdoc Matthew Craig Attends Social Science Foo Camp at Meta
Matthew Craig, postdoctoral research associate at the Information Integrity Institute, was one of 150 select people invited to the 2025 Social Science Foo Camp at Meta headquarters in Palo Alto, California in early February. The event, often referred to as an “unconference” due to its unstructured schedule, allows attendees to determine topics on the spot…