Boriana Milanova Treadwell joined the faculty at the UM School of Communication in the Fall of 2014 as a Lecturer of Broadcast Journalism. Treadwell is an award-winning journalist with over 20 years of experience in broadcast, print and online media. Prior to becoming a full-time journalism instructor, Treadwell worked for over 16 years at the CNN’s Global Headquarters in Atlanta as a producer, writer, copyeditor and assignment editor.
Treadwell joined CNN as an intern in 1998. She worked for two years as a production assistant and feeds coordinator for CNNfn, before moving on to CNN International in 2000 to join the team producing World Report, the longest-running CNN feature show. In her roles as producer, writer and assignment editor for World Report, Treadwell was instrumental in keeping the show on the air, raising its production value, and fulfilling the program’s mission to showcase the best reports from international broadcasters on a variety of issues for use on all CNN platforms every week. During her tenure with World Report, Treadwell worked with journalists from over 350 affiliate and contributing stations at more than 150 countries and territories.
As part of CNNI’s Special Projects Unit, Treadwell contributed to the production of a number of feature shows with research, package production, and writing. She also created sponsored vignettes & promos, field-produced and conducted interviews. Her stories had appeared on shows such as Inside Africa, iReport for CNN, and Impact Your World.
Most recently, Treadwell worked as an assignment editor and producer at the CNN International Desk. In this capacity, she was responsible for the direct handling and facilitation of numerous and variable editorial, logistical and technical details essential to the CNN News Group’s newsgathering needs. She also provided editorial and logistical assistance to hundreds of international and U.S.-based CNN affiliates, as well as CNN correspondents and reporters all over the world.
Treadwell’s work for CNN has brought her and her colleagues worldwide recognition and many prestigious awards including:
- 2012 Emmy Award for CNN outstanding live coverage of a current news story (long-form) for the revolution in Egypt and the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
- 2002 Emmy Award for CNN network coverage of the events of September 11, 2001
- 2012 Peabody Award for CNN network coverage of the Arab Spring events
- 2010 Peabody Award for CNN network coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill
- 2008 Peabody Award for CNN network coverage of the U.S. Presidential campaigns and debates
- 2006 Peabody Award for CNN network coverage of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina in the United States
- 2013 Edward B. Murrow Award for CNN continuing coverage on Syria
- 2007 Edward B. Murrow Award for CNNI network coverage of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict
- 2010 Golden Nymph Award for CNN network overage of the Haiti earthquake
- 2005 Alfred DuPont University of Columbia Award for CNN network coverage of the 2004 Tsunami in Southeast Asia
Since 2010, Treadwell also worked as an Adjunct Instructor of Journalism and Mass Communication teaching undergraduate classes at Oglethorpe University and Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta, Ga.
Treadwell was born and raised in Bulgaria when the country was still part of the Eastern European Communist Block. She witnessed first-hand the fall of communism in 1989, and was an active part of the student movement which helped bring democracy to Bulgaria.
She began her journalistic career as an intern for one of the biggest independent Bulgarian daily newspapers, Standart, in 1992. After college graduation, Treadwell became a Foreign Desk reporter/editor for the same paper. Among the major stories she covered for the paper were the war in former Yugoslavia, the changes in all aspects of live in the former communist countries after the fall of the regime, and the conflict in the Middle East. Treadwell contributed to the British publications Times and The European during the 1997 political crisis in Bulgaria.
She has interviewed a number of high-profile personalities, including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; former U.S. President Jimmy Carter; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi; former Polish Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski and Lech Walesa; CNN founder Ted Turner; and U.S. activist John Prendergast, among others.
Treadwell is fluent in English, Bulgarian, Russian and Macedonian, and has studied Serbo-Croatian, German and Spanish. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism-Mass Communication as part of the very First Class of the American University in Bulgaria. She also holds a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Georgia State University.
Treadwell lives with her husband Ty, daughter Sophia, and twin tabby cats Coco and Lulu in Miami, Florida. The Treadwells are avid travelers, readers, skiers, beach-goers, and adventure-seekers.