• Knoxville News Anchor Beth Haynes Reflects on 20 Years at WBIR-TV

    For the last 20 years, Beth Haynes (’98) has elevated the people, stories, and community of Knoxville through her platform as a news anchor at WBIR-TV. Haynes has an aptitude for looking at a topic or issue and seeing the people first, and handling even the most difficult stories with deep compassion and respect. Recently,…

  • UT Alum Establishes First SIS Endowed Scholarship as a Gift to His Parents

    Just before Thanksgiving, Todd Lamar (’85) headed from his home in Raleigh, North Carolina, to his parents’ house in Memphis to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. There was much to celebrate with family, but Lamar wanted to make Tommy and Nicki Lamar’s six decades together extra-special with an unusual gift: the establishment of the Lamar…

  • Recent Master’s Grad Kylie Julius Celebrates Successes in Research

    Recent Master’s Grad Kylie Julius Celebrates Successes in Research

    Throughout her time as an undergraduate and graduate student at the College of Communication and Information, Kylie Julius has pulled much of her strength and inspiration from the faculty she says “took a chance” on her. But their investment in her paid off when Julius not only graduated with her master’s from CCI this past…

  • Weekly Meditation at CCI Open to Anyone on Campus

    Weekly Meditation at CCI Open to Anyone on Campus

    Megan Fields demonstrates how some meditate in the Message Effects room, where a group meets weekly for mindfulness and meditation. Every Wednesday on the second floor of the Communication and Information building, the lights are dimmed and the voices of a handful of students, staff, and faculty go quiet for 25 minutes. The noises outside…

  • ADPR Student Trip Expands Knowledge of Career Possibilities

    ADPR Student Trip Expands Knowledge of Career Possibilities

    Students and faculty from the Tombras School of Advertising visited Memphis for a professional networking trip. As the field of communications continues to evolve, so do the career options for those entering it. There is such a variety of job options and opportunities that course learning alone won’t expose students to all of it, said…

  • CCI Faculty, Students Participate at National Communication Association Convention

    Several College of Communication and Information faculty and graduate students are participating in the National Communication Association’s 108th Annual Convention this week by presenting papers, sitting on panels, and much more. Besides opportunities to expand professional development and learning, the convention also provides a chance for attendees to connect with other academics in the communication…

  • Endowed Professorship, Terrace Established in Honor of Patty Williams

    Endowed Professorship, Terrace Established in Honor of Patty Williams

    Patty Williams always enjoyed sitting and reading out on the third-floor patio of the Communications Building when her husband, John Williams (‘71) would attend College of Communication and Information Board of Visitors meetings. Both of them knew their lives wouldn’t have been the same if it hadn’t been for their time at the college—John as…

  • Comm Studies Alum Gives Back to the College That Felt Like Home

    Comm Studies Alum Gives Back to the College That Felt Like Home

    As a freshman, School of Communication Studies alumnus Drew Griggs (’12) was ready to follow through with his plan to eventually become a pastor. He figured the combination of communication studies classes plus religious studies would be the right precursor to a master’s in divinity, but the divine guided him in a different direction—and he…

  • Claire Jordan: SIS Alum and Library of Congress Research Librarian

    Finding a job that fuels multiple passions is rare. But Claire Jordan (’22) successfully did just that when she accepted a position working for the Library of Congress as a research librarian for the Congressional Research Service. After completing the master’s program at the School of Information Sciences, she returned to her old stomping grounds…

  • JEM Alum Travels the World for Almost 30 Years as CNN Photojournalist

    Jerry Simonson, JEM alum, on a recent trip to cover the war in Ukraine. If you want to hear riveting tales of what it’s like to be a photojournalist covering breaking global news, Jerry Simonson (’91) has almost 30 years’ worth. Whether it’s about the time he grabbed exclusive footage of hostages during the Iraq…