Hillary Tune
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40 Under 40: Rebekka Freeman Terrell Finds the Path to Success isn’t Linear
When Rebekka Freeman Terrell (’09) moved from Memphis across the state to attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she committed fully to being a Volunteer. Even when life threw her curveballs, she took them in stride and turned those challenges into learning experiences that ultimately grew her knowledge and skills. It’s this pragmatism, grit, and…
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CCI Faculty Brittany Tarwater in Class of 2025 Volunteer 40 Under 40
From the moment Brittany Tarwater (‘09, ‘13) stepped into the College of Communication and Information to where she is today in her career, there’s been a network of supportive faculty pushing her to succeed. She didn’t realize when she arrived at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus on her 18th birthday that CCI and UT would…
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Online Master’s Student Jordan Morgan Publishes the ‘ABCs of Knoxville’
Though Jordan Morgan grew up loving to read and write, communications wasn’t her first pick as a career—but she found her way back to it eventually. While her undergraduate degree is in biology and she spent time in a lab, life happened, and she began writing and managing social media so she could work from…
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JEM Professor Amber Roessner Provides Expert Commentary in Wake of President Jimmy Carter’s Death
As the nation mourns the death of President Jimmy Carter, who died December 29, 2024, Professor Amber Roessner is being called upon by news media to share her perspective on the life and legacy of the longest-lived United States president. A School of Journalism and Media professor, Roessner met the 39th president in 2014 before publishing her…
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Graduating Master’s Student, Dental Hygiene Educator Teresa O’Daniel Says Communication Courses Made Her a Better Teacher
When Teresa O’Daniel first became a dental hygienist, she never thought she would be working in public health much less as an educator in the field. But public health eventually became more than just a career option for O’Daniel, who is a dental hygiene instructor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.…
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Sterling Melancon Graduating with Dreams of Managing a Sports Team
It’s not often that a driven student athlete working to be the best in his sport abandons it for another dream, but that’s what Sterling Melancon did after transferring to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. As he graduates this winter with a major in communication studies, the former track athlete is preparing to enter law…
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CCI Makes Impact at NCA Convention; Iannacone Earns Top Paper Honor
Assistant Professor Jeannette Iannacone, right, receives her Top Faculty Paper award from Laura Lemon (’17), an associate professor at the University of Alabama who graduated from CCI’s doctoral program. Twenty-nine faculty and graduate students from the College of Communication and Information participated in the 2024 annual convention of the National Communication Association in New Orleans…
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Four CCI PhD Students Receive Graduate Research Awards
Editor’s note: a fourth student, Tannaz Azadi, was given an award after the initial announcements and her information was added to this article Jan. 16, 2025. Four College of Communication and Information doctoral students received fall 2024 Graduate Student Research Awards from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s, Graduate School. These awards are intended to not…
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Bilal to Lead Generative AI in Education Project Funded by UT System Grand Challenge Grant
As generative artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow in popularity, educators face a dilemma: should we use it in the classroom? That’s what School of Information Sciences (SIS) Patricia D. Williams Professor, Dania Bilal, is setting out to learn, at least in part, with a new project funded by a UT System Grand Challenge Grant.…
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Journalism Alum Jim Sexton Looks Back on a Colorful Career in Content Creation
There’s a lot Jim Sexton (’81) has recognized in hindsight about his many formative experiences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville—but once he recognizes the impact, he turns around and acts on it. When it occurred to him that working as a photographer for the yearbook and The Daily Beacon helped shape his career as…