News

UM Debate Team Wins Two Championships

On the weekend of October 22-24, the University of Miami Debate team competed in and won two online debate tournaments. The UM Debate Intercollegiate Debate Program, unlike most college debate programs, competes in multiple debate formats. U Debate is a broad-based program open to all undergraduate students, offering a variety of debate styles and welcoming student debaters of all experience levels. Competing in the policy tournament hosted by Wayne State University, UM debaters Mollie Blank and Leah Castaneda won the event’s Novice Championship by winning the judges’ decisions in all [...]

2021-11-09T13:29:37-05:00November 9, 2021|Communication Studies|

UM Debaters Advance to Semifinal Round at the Social Justice Debates Fall Opener

On Oct. 21, University of Miami debaters Delphine Djomo and Iman Sami advanced into the semifinal debates at the Social Justice Debates Fall Opener, hosted online by The George Washington University. The two debaters qualified for the semifinals in impressive fashion, winning all four of their preliminary debates against outstanding competition including The University of Vermont, Morehouse College, Howard University, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and The George Washington University, among others. In semifinals, the debating duo lost the decision to the eventual tournament champions from Cal Poly, San Luis [...]

2021-11-02T14:14:58-04:00November 2, 2021|Communication Studies|

New Faculty Feature: Dr. Kallia O. Wright

By Bianca De Paz Originally from Jamaica, Dr. Kallia O. Wright recently joined the School of Communication faculty as an assistant professor and qualitative researcher specializing in intercultural health communication. More specifically, she studies communication about women’s reproductive health. Before finding her research interest, she completed her master’s and doctoral studies at Ohio University. Today, her research focuses on Black maternal health experiences and communicative experiences regarding endometriosis. Dr. Wright says she is thrilled to be a part of the School of Communication and is teaching two courses – Communication Theory (COS [...]

2021-10-26T10:03:46-04:00October 26, 2021|Communication Studies|

‘Journalism Peace Prize’ Highlights the Risks, Roles of Journalists

By Sallie Hughes School of Communication professor Sallie Hughes stresses the importance of journalism as an institution following The Nobel Peace Prize announcement, which recognized the professional and personal sacrifices of journalists Dmitry Muratov of Russia and Maria Ressa of the Philippines. Earlier this month journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Both lead news organizations known for producing investigative exposés on government abuses of power at great risk. Muratov has lost six of his colleagues to murder or suspicious [...]

2021-10-20T13:24:02-04:00October 20, 2021|Journalism|

SyFy Founder Shares Entrepreneurial Insights with MMA Members

By Micaela Wenger In October, Laurie Silvers, who earned her B.A. and J.D. degrees at the University of Miami, shared her expertise about her career as a serial media entrepreneur from Boca Raton, Florida. As a UM student, she had big dreams and always knew she wanted to achieve great things. Every time she was told “you won’t,” she responded with a positive “I will.” In 1989, Silvers and her husband created Syfy (originally called the Sci-Fi Channel) before selling it four years later to USA Network, which was owned [...]

2021-10-18T10:58:48-04:00October 18, 2021|Media Management|

Facebook Faces Challenges in Developing Instagram Kids

By Barbara Gutierrez Regina Ahn, an assistant professor who studies media literacy and education, parental mediation, and social media, notes that creating a social media site specifically for children is a tough task. Facebook recently announced that it will pause its development of Instagram Kids after heated criticism by parents and children advocates who claim that such a platform could be dangerous to kids’ mental health. The announcement comes amid media reports that Facebook knew from its own research that social media platforms such as Instagram—the photo and video sharing [...]

2021-10-08T11:44:02-04:00October 8, 2021|Advertising, Public Relations|

NewsVision is Honored at Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards

By Esther Animalu Each year the Society of Professional Journalists hosts the Mark of Excellence Awards (MOE), a national award ceremony that celebrates notable work within college journalism during the calendar cycle. Throughout all of the SPJ’s 12 regions, national winners are selected from each category. Student journalists are assessed by distinguished professionals within the journalism industry who have at least three years of experience. NewsVision, UMTV’s half-hour live campus news show, won Best All-Around Television News Magazine within the television category at the MOE awards. The award-winning show covers [...]

The PIEoneer Awards Recognizes the Ocean Health Voyage Project

By Esther Animalu The PIEoneer Awards acknowledges success and novelty across the education industry worldwide. Every year, they hold a highly prestigious award ceremony at the historical London Guildhall, to celebrate individuals and organizations who are reshaping academic pillars and transforming learning pathways for students globally. Ali Habashi, an award-winning filmmaker and assistant professor of professional practice at the University of Miami School of Communication, attended the 2021 PIEoneer Awards in London, and submitted a project,  a few months earlier, that won the equivalent of second place. Habashi’s project is known as Ocean Health Voyage, a global online [...]

2021-10-12T10:09:43-04:00October 5, 2021|Motion Pictures|

Interactive Media Graduate Student Lands Co-Op at Motorola Solutions

By Bianca De Paz Allie Packard, a School of Communication Interactive Media M.F.A. graduate, recently accepted a User Experience Design Co-Op with Motorola Solutions, where she will be applying her skills on how to use video in multiple facets of public safety. Through her graduate UX courses and as a UX research assistant in the University of Miami’s Interactive Media User Experience Lab (UX), Packard cultivated a passion for the process of design. There, she benefited from working alongside Barbara Millet, director of the UX Lab and assistant professor, who [...]

2021-09-29T10:52:37-04:00September 23, 2021|Interactive Media|

UM Professor Accepted into Year-long Public Voices Fellowship

By: Esther Animalu Christina Lane, professor and associate dean of graduate studies at the School of Communication, has been selected to participate in the University of Miami Public Voices Fellow for The OpEd Project. This year-long initiative strives to help shape contemporary conversations on campus. Through a joint effort between the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Scholarship and the Miami Clinical and Translational Science Institute, the Public Voice Fellowship will foster a dynamic platform where key leaders can collaborate and engage in diverse discourse. “I'm humbled by [...]

2021-09-16T10:52:58-04:00September 16, 2021|Motion Pictures, School of Communication|