Journalism

The News21 dispatch

Jayden Fortner — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:50:03 +0000

The News21 dispatch Jayden Fortner Wed, 10/14/2026 - 11:50

Sarah Taylor, a senior studying journalism at CMDI, traveled to California to speak with residents affected by the Altadena fires. Photo by Sarah Taylor.

Sarah Taylor

CMDI has sent many students to participate in News21 over the years. Read more of their stories, and what they learned from completing the fellowships, in the fall 2026 edition of CMDI Now.

Sarah Taylor, a journalism major, spent the summer before her senior year as a fellow with the prestigious investigative journalism Carnegie-Knight News21 fellowship. Her mission was to tell stories of the U.S. housing crisis; she traveled to California and Hawaii to uncover how communities have risen from the ashes of the Altadena and Maui fires. She shared her memories and some moments from behind the scenes with us.

Entries edited for length and clarity

May 30

I arrived in Phoenix last week. So far, the heat has been pretty manageable—but temperatures leap to 120 degrees in July, so I might retract that statement! This is my first time living outside of Colorado, but I feel like I have a support system of empathetic editors and fellow students alongside me.

Our theme this year is “Unsettled,” and we’ll be covering the housing crisis. I’ve noticed long-form storytelling was a main prerogative for previous cohorts, but that’s not necessarily the case this sumer. My reporting team is prioritizing two-minute social media explainer videos to engage readers and break down complex concepts.

June 3

The first two weeks in the newsroom have been very administrative—taking headshots and so much paperwork! News21 does more than just teach field reporting; they also teach us how to convince our editors why our reporting should take place in a specific location—as well as how to keep track of travel expenses, book hotels and rental cars. I had to race through all these logistics because I’m about to go on my first reporting trip to Los Angeles.

Sarah Taylor, a senior studying journalism at CMDI, traveled to California to speak with residents affected by the Altadena fires. Photo by Sarah Taylor.

Sarah Taylor, seated center in striped shirt, represented CMDI in the 2026 cohort of News21 fellows. Photo by Sarah Taylor.

June 10

After four days in Los Angeles, I’m back in Phoenix and working on a story that includes audio, while my colleague Lavanya Paliwal is reporting visually with photos and videos. Altadena has such a welcoming spirit, reminding me a lot of Boulder. It also has a rich history as one of the first places in the West where Black families could own land. Since many Black families have been in Altadena for generations, there’s a tug-of-war between selling and growing economically, or staying and preserving legacy.

My biggest takeaway from this trip: Showing up means everything. Many would ask us in surprise, “You came here from Phoenix? To tell our stories?” We took the time to meet with residents and gain their trust, so now I have two people to feature in my audio story.

June 30

Lavanya and I spent less than 72 hours in Maui—it was nowhere near a vacation, though it was the most beautiful place to be stressed out!

My main connection took us around the town to look at the rebuilding efforts. She connected me with two members of the Kupuna Council (elder council), and I was so relieved they were willing to talk to me with such short notice.

July 15

With all the reporting done, it’s time to rerecord my Altadena audio package and my Lahaina story. I’ve been working with my editor to create a multimedia website layout that switches between text and audio, and I’ve loved finding ways to integrate Lavanya’s photos and videos. We’re not set to publish our pieces until August, so I’ve got plenty of time to polish them and refine my vision!

August 13

My stories are live! It was so much effort, but I’m so proud of the work I did and how my stories of the communities in California and Hawaii turned out. It was such an incredible experience and I feel even more prepared as I go into my senior year at Boulder. Hard to believe I’m graduating in May, but I’m so excited for what’s next.

Taylor, far right, says one of the best parts about participating in News21 was developing a community with journalism students from across the country. Photo by Sarah Taylor.

Sarah Taylor, a senior studying journalism at CMDI, interviewing Lahaina locals about wildfire recovery. Photo by Sarah Taylor.

Senior journalism major Sarah Taylor spent 10 weeks traveling between Phoenix, Los Angeles and Maui on an investigative journalism project exploring the U.S. housing crisis.

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2 minutes with: Juanita Hurtado Huérfano

Ellie Chase — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 20:02:25 +0000

2 minutes with: Juanita Hurtado Huérfano Ellie Chase Thu, 10/08/2026 - 14:02

Photo by Kimberly Coffin

Hannah Stewart

Juanita Hurtado Huérfano (Jour’25) knew she wanted to be a journalist, but never dreamed of working in radio until a chance encounter at a career fair led her to volunteer at KGNU. She soon became news director at ��ñ��’s Radio 1190, winning a Broadcast Education Association award for best audio comedy/drama. After graduating, Huérfano moved to Tampa, Florida, where she works at WMNF.

Photo by Kimberly Coffin

Responses edited for length and clarity.

Where did your passion for radio come from?
I actually wanted to be a print journalist. But after volunteering with KGNU, I fell in love. There’s something very beautiful and powerful about letting people tell their own story with their own voices—their excitement, sadness, anger.

A powerful story you worked on was with News21—tell me about that.
I joined News21 with Celia Frazier (Jour’25) and we looked at bilingual voting resources. We discovered there are about 26 million voters in the United States who don’t speak English. For our story, we went to a voting registration fair for the Native American Diné people and saw how the challenges of language access translated into difficulties participating in the civic process.

What have you brought with you from that experience?
One of the things that really stuck with me was the fact-checking process. Being attentive to detail really matters. Those details enrich your story, and I’ve brought that to my newsrooms at both at Radio 1190 and WMNF.

And you just started there. How is it?
We focus on what we call “conscious radio,” so a lot of our coverage focuses on social justice, equity and elevating unheard voices. I love that community radio brings together so many different people, allowing you to develop diverse and nuanced relationships with both colleagues and sources.

What’s it like running a newsroom?
Busy! I do about three newscasts a day, on top of training volunteers in reporting stories and recruiting students to create newscasts. I’m excited to hear about what college students are learning and build community with them. We’re in an industry that has changed so much in the last 40 years and we have to keep adapting. I’m really excited to grow the station alongside them.

Hannah Stewart graduated in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news at the college.

Award-winning radio journalist Juanita Hurtado Huérfano chatted with us about what it’s like to complete the prestigious News21 fellowship and her new job as an assistant news director.

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Investigative intensive

Jayden Fortner — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:22:49 +0000

Investigative intensive Jayden Fortner Wed, 10/07/2026 - 12:22

A fellowship with News21 helped prepare Robert Tann for work as a Denver Post state politics reporter. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Hannah Stewart

The most significant eight months of Robert Tann’s time at CMDI came during the Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellowship he completed as a senior.

“When you’re afforded the time and opportunity to work on an all-encompassing project, you get to experiment and build a diverse skill set that prepares you for any job,” said Tann (Jour’21). “I learned so much from News21 while building up my confidence as a reporter and a writer.”

A fellowship with News21 helped prepare Robert Tann for work as a Denver Post state politics reporter. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Since 2018, more than a dozen CMDI students have participated in the investigative intensive. And alumni credit the unique format of News21 with helping them grow as storytellers and launch their careers.

“It’s in the name—21st-century news,” said Tann, now a state politics reporter at The Denver Post. “It’s about adapting, being ahead of the curve and integrating other forms of news delivery and media systems.”

Read about CMDI's most recent student fellow, Sarah Taylor, who completed News21 in the summer of 2026. Her stories explored how different communities have risen from the ashes of devastating wildfires.

Through News21, he and a team of fellow student journalists went on reporting trips to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affected food insecurity for communities in Miami and on Navajo and Hopi land in northeastern Arizona.

The fellowship, hosted by Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, includes a semester-long series of workshops to hone students’ investigative reporting skills before they head to Phoenix for the 10-week program. Many students travel in pursuit of their stories, which are published by the program organizers and sometimes pitched to other news outlets.

Last year’s fellows—Ann Marie Vanderveen (Jour’25) and Jessi Sachs (Jour’26)—had their story about medical deportations picked up by The Associated Press.

A map of the United States showing where CMDI students reported on location during their News 21 fellowships. Illustration by Dana Heimes.

“Students who come to their journalism capstone after completing News21 act more like seasoned reporters, with a better appreciation for doing investigative work,” said Chuck Plunkett, an assistant teaching professor and director of CU News Corps, as well as a longtime editor.

“Not only do they bring a lot to the table in terms of experience and quality of pitches, but their contributions and peer feedback elevate discussions.”

Robert Tann smiles for a portrait in front of the state Capitol. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

The ability to partner with and critique their peers is nurtured within News21’s collaborative environment. Students are encouraged to work in teams and explore different platforms
to tell their stories.

“Increasingly in journalism, it’s necessary to work across platforms, particularly in collaboration with colleagues,” said Rebecca Blatt, a senior associate dean at Cronkite who oversees the program. “And since they spend so much time working closely with teammates on these stories, those networks continue into their careers.”

To this day, Henry Larson (Jour’24) is in contact with many from his cohort. Alongside his reporting partners, he wrote a print story and produced a podcast exploring the Christian right’s evolution following the Dobbs ruling that overturned the Roe v. Wade decision on abortion. For the story, they traveled to Virginia and attended a conference hosted by the National Association of Christian Lawmakers.

“News21 makes you a better journalist because it takes you somewhere. When you go on a reporting trip to another part of the country, you have to maximize your time,” said Larson, who reports and produces for NPR’s All Things Considered.

“And it’s wonderful to make connections with both people who are at your level and the smart editors you’re learning from. There are a number of people from News21 who are in the NPR network.”

Perhaps a surprise benefit to the program is it often affirms students’ passion for journalism as they develop new skills.

“Looking at the data behind the story my team worked on made me realize words couldn’t fully capture the stories I wanted to tell,” said Michaela Herbst (Jour’24). “It really helped me grow as a storyteller because it made me ask critical questions.”

She joined a team investigating crisis pregnancy centers in post-Dobbs Massachusetts. As she dug deeper into the story, she learned these crisis centers outnumber abortion clinics 2 to 1, creating confusion for patients seeking abortions and related services. Herbst called the experience a defining moment that pushed her to pursue data journalism, which she’s done for the AP and KQED; she’s currently an elections researcher at AP.

“CMDI students have taken advantage of getting to do in-depth reporting in really nuanced, though-ful ways,” Blatt said. “News21 is based here at the Cronkite school, but it’s built on partnerships with other universities, and CMDI has been such a strong partner for so many years.”

Hannah Stewart graduated in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news at the college.

More than a dozen CMDI students have completed the News21 fellowship, proving they’re prepared for an ever-evolving media landscape.

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Robert Tann poses with his camera in from of the state Capitol building, in Denver. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

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Mean machine

Ellie Chase — Wed, 07 Oct 2026 16:59:38 +0000

Mean machine Ellie Chase Wed, 10/07/2026 - 10:59

Joe Arney

Illustrations by Dana Heimes

“What are you doing about A.I.?”

Outside of where to find a good cup of coffee or what the Wi-Fi password is, there’s perhaps no question you’re more likely to hear on a campus than how
generative artificial intelligence is changing the college experience.

Mostly, you’ll hear how professors are teaching students to use it like a tool, not a magic trick, or to think critically about it. But that’s exactly what they said about Wikipedia a generation ago. What’s really happening around A.I.?

We asked people across CMDI to tell us how they’re actually studying and using—or not—A.I., whether in teaching, practice, research or creativity. (And for fun, we asked each person to describe A.I. in one word.) Here are their stories.

‘Apocaloptimist’

“Move fast and break things” is the mantra of the tech industry. In his A.I.-infused art and teaching, Christopher Carruth instead embraces what he calls “a slow, contemplative resistance.”

“My practice is about using technology to interrupt, interrogate and agitate conventional systems,” said Carruth, an assistant teaching professor of information science.

An example from his creative practice is american made machines, in which he took algorithmically curated digital spaces—Facebook feeds, recommender engines, inboxes—and used code to disrupt their underlying visual logic, rendering them as abstract shapes.

“These systems are increasingly shaped by A.I. and predictive algorithms to capture attention,” Carruth said. “This work interrupts that rhythm. Rather than extracting attention, it creates a space where viewers can become conscious of how their attention is being shaped in the first place.”

Notably, his work is not about rejecting A.I.: In his classes, he encourages students to debate ethical issues—self-driving taxis, predictive policing, facial recognition—to get them to slow down, too. He enjoys when students disagree and challenge their own ideas about technology.

“For a student who is focused on how to build a large language model, I hope to shift the thought process to how the data will be collected, and what consideration they have for copyright,” he said. “And having that dialogue without making it about right-vs.-wrong.”

‘Paradoxical’

Pooja Iyer likes experimenting with technology, so it’s no surprise she was among ChatGPT’s early adopters. “I remember immediately thinking this was search on steroids—so, personalized ads on steroids,” she said.

Iyer, an assistant professor of advertising, studies the interplay of data, privacy and personalized marketing. As A.I. platforms embrace ads, it’s clear we’re not going back on the ad-supported model of the internet.

“But how do we build this balance of being ethical and mindful about the data I, as an advertiser, use to sell my product?” Iyer said. “Because we’ve never asked the public what data they’re OK with advertisers using.”

Her research is trying to answer that question.

“Can I use your demographic data to show you a personalized ad—your behavioral data, health data, voting behavior data?” she said. “Research has consistently found that people like personalized ads, but there are ethical questions about how deep in the data we should go.”

Iyer typically opens her classes with a project where she doesn’t offer guidance on whether, or how, A.I. can be used.

“I wind up with 10 projects where I cannot tell one from the other,” she said. “And these students are competing for the same jobs. So, if this is your output, and it all looks the same, why should I hire you? Why not just plug it into A.I. myself?”

‘Overrated’

Ask Greta Kerkhoff (Jour’26) where the CU Independent stands on A.I., and she’ll point you to a very concise, one-word statement forbidding staffers from using it in their work.

“We pretty much have a zero-tolerance policy,” Kerkhoff, who served as editor-in-chief of the CUI last year, said.

“If we don’t set some parameters around it, we’re going to live in this world of increasing digital murkiness.”

Greta Kerkhoff (Jour’26)

Kerkhoff completed internships at KGNU and the Denver Gazette; she also published a report on regulatory shortcomings around A.I. in The Colorado Sun late last year.

She isn’t a Luddite—she recognizes these tools can be helpful for brainstorming, for instance. But she doesn’t buy the hype that it makes journalists more efficient.

“Even if there was a way to ethically use it, it creates more work for reporters because you can’t trust it’s telling you what’s right,” she said. “And the models are trained on existing information. If you rely on an algorithm to suggest sources, it will just regurgitate what’s already been done.”

Before Kerkhoff became its editor, the CUI briefly published a piece that the staff eventually determined to be written by A.I. It included multiple hallucinations and led to the dismissal of a writer and an editor.

“There are such ethical dilemmas around this technology,” she said. “If we don’t set some parameters around it, we’re going to live in this world of increasing digital murkiness.”

‘Unavoidable’

Chris Vargo calls himself a lifelong computer nerd but someone who “barely spoke the language of the country he was in”—until he discovered ChatGPT.

“Now, I can climb Mount Everest, with software,” said Vargo, an associate professor of advertising who specializes in analytics.

Vargo has published plenty of papers that rely on A.I. to uncover insights in datasets from Reddit, YouGov and others. A recent paper co-authored with Toby Hopp, also an associate professor of advertising, and PhD student Shahed Rahman examined the different customer journeys of people who use large language models, or LLMs.

“This dataset is two years old, but even then, one-third of the people were using LLMs,” Vargo said. “Yet advertisers haven’t updated their thinking beyond the traditional customer journey funnel.”

That funnel, which guides consumers from awareness to action, is collapsing—LLM users tend to make faster buying decisions, cutting out the middle—and business hasn’t responded.

“Ten years ago, to generate leads, you put a white paper behind a gate and made people sign up with their email,” Vargo said. “But if the agent can’t access that information, it can’t suggest you to users.”

He recommends companies put relevant information in easy-to-scrape text files—something he’s done with his own work, so A.I. agents will extend its reach.

“If marketers make it hard for agents to get the right data, they make it hard for their own products to be found,” Vargo said.

‘Hopeful’

Don’t think A.I. has its eyes on religion? Tell it to Jesus. Specifically, an A.I.-generated messiah that hears confessions in a Lucerne, Switzerland, church.

“I don’t have all the answers, because it’s moving so fast,” said Nesrine Mansour, assistant professor of architecture. “But A.I. is affecting how people are interpreting religion and thinking about architecture, authority and spirituality.”

Mansour studies spaces in digital religion—like games, televised services and apps—and the interplay of sacred architecture, religion and digital media. She’s developed guidelines for virtual sacred buildings to support architects, artists and game designers.

“I surveyed these virtual churches in game environments, and found most of them were replicas of real ones,” she said. “In a virtual realm, where they aren’t restricted by budget—or gravity—why do people re-create real churches?”

A book she edited, Religion in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, explores how A.I. shapes our day-to-day and spiritual lives, so that we might engage with it more thoughtfully. And A.I. is key to her teaching: Mansour incorporated diffusion models and LLMs into classes when the technology was just months old, and constantly tinkers with how to use A.I. in class.

“In architecture, we care a lot about how the building or rendering looks in the end,” she said. “But in terms of learning, I really think ethical workflow processes and prompt engineering deserve more attention.”

‘Beware’

A.I. is not all bad, Mehak Sawhney tells her students, but nor should we be all in on the technology. Instead, she advises A.I. be small scale and for special purposes.

Sawhney, an assistant professor of media studies, studies the environmental—especially water—costs of A.I., surveillance and other topics.

“A.I. needs to be understood across scales: global, regional, national and hyperlocal,” she said. “It is only through a combination of these scales that a nuanced understanding of A.I.’s role in financial bubbles, its varied adoption and its environmental impact can be understood.”

It’s the sort of humanities-focused approach she’s brought to a new graduate course on A.I. and the environment that she’s teaching.

“From an ethnographic perspective, it is important to see what A.I. means in different contexts,” Sawhney said.

For instance, people in developing nations might approach A.I. as an equalizing tool, especially for non-English speakers, while those living under authoritarian rule might see it as a progressive research field.

“However, this points more toward the colonial hegemony of English, ethnic and religious supremacy, and lack of resources in many parts of the world, rather than A.I.’s ability to solve structural problems,” she said.

‘Transformational’

By day, Priscilla Rain Hopper is a teacher who specializes in A.I. By night, she is … also a teacher who specializes in A.I.

Hopper (InfoSci’22; MS’23) is a lecturer of information science who works for an A.I. company—“which I said I would never do,” she admitted—that provides teachers and K-12 school districts with tools that allow them to more effectively plan lessons and provide support to students.

What drew her to MagicSchool AI, where she is a senior LLM quality analyst, “is that it’s A.I. for good.”

“My students want to fight the bad,” Hopper said, noting their concerns about ethics, environmental impact and employment prospects. “But you can’t do that from the sidelines. So, my message to them is: If you believe the rest of the world has the same ideas, intentions and solutions as you, fine. But I don’t think that’s the reality; otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”

At CMDI, her focus is teaching students to see the ways different A.I. tools can be used together to improve productivity—so, to be conductors of the orchestra, instead of experts in a single instrument. She also created a website for students that prepares them to position themselves in a competitive job market where the A.I. skills core to the information science major can prove a differentiating factor.

‘Repulsive’

It’s not wholesale A.I. that upsets Lori Emerson. Rather, it’s how far we’ve landed from the idealism of the 1940s and ’50s, when A.I. was first theorized.

“This shift we’re living through—where corporate A.I. is embedded into every piece of software and every platform—is not inevitable,” said Emerson, a media historian and professor of media studies. “This is being foisted on us by corporations trying to make as much money as possible.”

“Thinking, writing, producing, researching on their own terms—without it being done for them—is maybe the heart of what it means to be a human.”

Lori Emerson, professor

Last year, Emerson published Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook, which pushes back on the idea of inevitability—“that every change rolled out by technology companies is for the best, and makes things easier and more efficient.” She challenges students to question the narrative that they will be irrelevant if they object to A.I., and encourages them to think about older, analog technologies—like books, pen and paper, and typewriters—that enable creativity and invention, without conceiving of the user as purely a worker striving for efficiency.

“Partway through the semester, students begin to understand that thinking, writing, producing, researching on their own terms—without it being done for them—is maybe the heart of what it means to be a human,” Emerson said. “That’s why they come to college.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Let’s get past the platitudes on artificial intelligence. We asked students, alumni and faculty how they’re really using A.I. to work, teach, learn and create.

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Driven to succeed

Ellie Chase — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 19:58:19 +0000

Driven to succeed Ellie Chase Sat, 10/03/2026 - 13:58

Iris Serrano

Most students are still asleep as Carey Kronhart wakes up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight from Denver to yet another motorsports event. When he arrives, he’ll go straight to the racetrack and begin the work of a production assistant and runner for Fox Sports, where he supports live racing broadcasts.

Kronhart, a senior majoring in media production with a minor in sports media, said the nonstop pace of covering NASCAR and IndyCar is exactly what he wants.

Carey Kronhart on the track at the Grand Prix of Arlington, in Texas, as part of his work with Fox Sports. ‘I’m in a different place every week,’ he says. ‘It’s awesome.’ Photo courtesy Carey Kronhart.

“Being a student is slightly limiting, but I’m in a different place every week. It’s awesome,” he said. “In St. Petersburg (Florida), I don’t think there was a single day when I worked less than 15 hours, but it’s rewarding work.”

His path to racing has been nontraditional, even as it was auto-adjacent: Before transferring to ��ñ��, he worked as a car salesman, where he developed communication skills that prepared him to make the connections needed to break into the fast-paced sports media industry.

CMDI encouraged those connections through his classes, including those for the sports media minor, and events like the Sports Media Summit. There, he bonded with Michael Davies (Jour’94), a Fox Sports executive vice president,
over a love of motorsports.

“What made Carey stand out to me was that he knew exactly what he was interested in,” Davies said. “It made it very easy for me to find an opportunity for him in the operations side of TV and motorsports.”

Davies was impressed not only by Kronhart’s work ethic but also by the professionalism and curiosity he brought to work every day.

“He’s extremely polite and outgoing,” Davies said. “He listens and always has his radar up for different pieces of knowledge that he can use on his journey.”

As a production assistant and runner, Kronhart spent his first races learning the ins and outs of live television production. He describes himself as a jack-of-all-trades, helping out on set wherever he’s needed. His responsibilities range from moving equipment to distributing schedules and tearing down gear once the broadcast wraps.

The work came with a lot of pressure, but after impressing his supervisor during his first race, he was invited back for additional events.

As Kronhart’s professional opportunities and responsibilities grew, he faced the challenge of balancing them with a full course load back in Boulder. Cory Lopez, a lecturer who had Kronhart in a sports broadcasting class last spring, said he saw Kronhart use his experiences from the job to be a better student.

“Carey is just one of those guys who is going to do this for a very long time. He’s already in the middle of the grind and just loves it,” said Lopez, who also works in sports broadcasting and public relations. “He’s got real talent.”

Iris Serrano graduated from CMDI in 2026 with degrees in strategic communication and journalism. She covers student news and events for the college.

A CMDI senior lives for the fast lane—which is why he relishes the chance to do production work for NASCAR.

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Finding the Pathways

Ellie Chase — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 19:02:23 +0000

Finding the Pathways Ellie Chase Sat, 10/03/2026 - 13:02

Ellie Chase

As a sophomore, Jimmie Searfoss was juggling multiple jobs alongside a full course load. An aspiring journalist, he struggled to find time to attend networking events and build the connections that would prove essential for his career.

But Dave Martinez would not allow a hardworking student to miss out on potential opportunities.

Dave Martinez, left, and Phil DiStefano pose after accepting alumni awards at the spring event. Photo by Glenn Asakawa.

One fall evening, Martinez encouraged Searfoss (Jour’24) to delay his shift at Easton Training Center, a martial arts academy, and whisked him away to an event that would change his life.

Treating the guest list as a suggestion, Martinez guided Searfoss into a meeting of CMDI’s advisory board—home to plenty of accomplished journalists—and introduced him around. The connections Searfoss made helped him get a scholarship and an internship with 9News, where today he is a sports anchor.

“I would not be a professional journalist if it weren’t for Dave,” Searfoss said.

Searfoss’ story is not unusual: For more than three decades, Martinez has been devoted to ensuring students’ passions become their professions.

As coordinator of inclusive excellence and outreach for CMDI, Martinez works tirelessly to build community—particularly through Pathways to Excellence, which supports incoming first-year CMDI students as they find their home in the college.

“My favorite part of being at CU is the students,” Martinez said. “When students tell me about their plans after they graduate—the successful and amazing jobs they have—it means so much to me.”

In the spring, Martinez was recognized with the Robert L. Stearns Award, which honors faculty and staff for extraordinary achievement in teaching, service, work with students, research or off-campus contributions.

“I have never seen a staff or faculty member have a positive influence on students’ university experience to the extent that Dave Martinez has had,” said Paul S. Voakes, an emeritus professor of journalism and former dean of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Influence beyond Boulder

That influence extends well beyond graduation. When Kelsie Kerr (MediaSt, Film’23) moved to Los Angeles to take a job as a production coordinator, Martinez connected her to other LA Buffs to ease the transition from her rural hometown.

“I would not be a professional journalist if it weren’t for Dave.”

Jimmie Searfoss (Jour'24),
sports anchor, 9News

He was also one of the first people to call when her community was devastated by wildfires last year.

“His dedication to creating community continues far beyond the walls of the classroom,” Kerr said. “I am so grateful to have him in my life as not only a mentor, but also a friend.”

Pathways students enjoy a strong track record for first-year retention, graduating on time and finding career success. But the numbers are secondary for Martinez, whose focus and intention lie in helping CMDI students find their herd.

Leo Rivera IV still remembers the support he got from Martinez when he arrived in Boulder. That guidance has given him the confidence to go all-in on journalism, including becoming vice president of Sko Buffs Sports.

“Knowing I have someone in my corner gives me the confidence to achieve more,” Rivera, a senior, said. “That is the belief he instills.”

Ellie Chase is studying journalism at CMDI, with a minor in business. She covers students and student news at the college.

Dave Martinez, the college’s inclusive excellence director, was recognized with the Robert L. Stearns Award for his devotion to student success.

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Curtain Call

Ellie Chase — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 20:06:41 +0000

Curtain Call Ellie Chase Fri, 10/02/2026 - 14:06

Ryan Huff

Illustrations by Dana Heimes

Lori Call was back on the scene where her CU life began.

A delegation from the Sundance Film Festival was in town, seeking a new home to inspire the next generation of independent movie fans. When Call swung open the doors to Macky Auditorium, it was an awe-inspiring moment for the visitors—as well as a sort of homecoming for an alumna whose journalism classes were held in the basement of the century-old neo-Gothic gem.

“I watched their jaws drop, looking at this magnificent, historic auditorium,” said Call (Jour’94). “And I thought to myself, ‘Wow, I think we have a good shot at this.’”

You might not connect a journalism degree with the ability to sell Boulder to Sundance. But the skills Call learned at CU have been a key part of her success in the public affairs world, including her current role as the university’s associate vice chancellor for local government and community engagement.

“I learned so much in my journalism classes on how to communicate and interact,” she said. “Whether you are interviewing people or engaging the community, it’s really vital.”

A few months after the Macky tour—and tireless efforts from a unified bid from the city, university and business community—the country’s most prominent film festival announced it would relocate to Boulder starting in January 2027.

The city’s slowest month for visitors is about to get busy, with 100,000 attendees expected to descend on Boulder over 11 days. Locations across the city will serve as screening venues; on campus, films will be shown at the Roe Green Theatre, Muenzinger Auditorium and 2,036-seat Macky, the festival’s largest facility.

Those venues, and the work of advocates like Call, are helping Boulder get ready for its close-up.

“Being on a college campus, there’s an endless dream of very cool possibilities,” said Kim Kruchen, one of ��ñ��’s planning co-leads with the Office of Strategic Initiatives. “Imagine film directors speaking in our classes. Imagine all the volunteer opportunities. Our students have so many good experiences in the classroom to learn about business, cinema and other areas. And now they can apply that theory to a film festival.”

State-of-the-art renovations, including the addition of Dolby immersive sound systems, took place over the summer and will be available to the campus community year-round, providing one of the festival’s many lasting benefits.

“My hope is that Sundance’s presence elevates the arts in new ways,” Call said. “Imagine a student who’s mentored by a film expert, has access to experiential projects and then gets hired by them after they graduate.

“Sundance is bringing the absolute best of the world—and they want to share it with the next generation.”

When the Sundance Film Festival was looking for a new home, an alumna helped make the case for Boulder.

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Positive influence

Ellie Chase — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 18:47:42 +0000

Positive influence Ellie Chase Fri, 10/02/2026 - 12:47

Iris Serrano

Connor Houston remembers the first time he was recognized for a post he made on social media. He was in seventh grade and had just bought his first drone with his brother. They filmed a video of their neighborhood and uploaded it to YouTube; before he knew it, he was receiving compliments from neighborhood parents.

“Looking back on it, I can understand that what we were doing was much different than a lot of the other kids in our neighborhood,” said Houston (StComm’26). “It felt like we were famous for a brief moment.”

Since then, he has gained significant traction on social media for his content, with more than half a million likes on TikTok and partnerships with brands like Mountainsmith and Monster Brewing.

Influencers sometimes get a bad rap for spreading disinformation or promoting unattainable lifestyles. But Houston and other CMDI students say learning to influence in college teaches them the skills they’ll need in advertising, journalism, communication and more.

The work influencers do is more nuanced than what’s seen on the surface, said Erin Willis, an associate professor in the advertising, public relations and design department.

“We’re not just teaching students how to be influencers. We’re teaching them the skills that go into that and what companies are hiring for, like content creation and community management,” said Willis, whose research examines so-called “patient influencers”—those with diseases or disabilities whose messaging can influence others’ behaviors. “It’s ironic that we fear influencers, yet rely on them. That’s just the world we’re living in.”

Strategy, not slop

Willis prepares students in her capstone course to learn the difference between slop and strategy– thinking through content to ensure it reaches audiences and achieves goals. This is a skill that influencers like Tatum Merrill, who is majoring in strategic communication, can use to their advantage.

“My courses in strategic writing and software applications have built my confidence in designing and writing more professionally,” said Merrill, who plans to graduate in the spring of 2027.

Being an influencer has given Merrill opportunities outside of partnerships and brand deals.

Her first viral video—about a funny interaction with a Starbucks barista—racked up 13.3 million views on TikTok. Despite getting substantial attention, Merrill said her lifestyle content is solely for fun. She’s more interested in working as an account executive or brand manager, which involves a set of strategic skills she’s developing as a student; over the summer, she completed an internship at the public relations agency Clyde, as part of the Heidi L. Wagner CMDI in D.C. program.

Angelica Kalika (MJour’12; PhD’19), an assistant teaching professor of journalism, said learning how these skills fit together helps students speed through early-career growing pains.

“Employers are hungry to find people who are hungry as well,” she said. “Becoming an influencer means becoming a business owner, essentially. And so there’s so much less that employers have to teach you to get you on board.”

A matter of trust

Kalika is teaching a new course this fall on influence journalism, which focuses on preparing students to become credible news influencers—whether they work in legacy media or at an emerging digital platform. The course includes lessons on media literacy, audience engagement and artificial intelligence.

“My courses in strategic writing and software applications are the two classes that have built my confidence in designing and writing more professionally.”

Tatum Merrill, strategic communication

“We have all been taught to trust in legacy media. So when something new comes along, we are going to be skeptical,” Kalika said. “Teaching Gen Z to become ethical news content creators—to counter the disinformation we see on digital platforms—represents a huge opportunity for the future of journalism and hyper-local news.”

Houston’s experience reflects many of the skills both Kalika and Willis want students to develop through CMDI: His studies and years of experience as an influencer led him to launch UV9 Studio, a full-service advertising agency, with his brother.

In other words, yes, the brothers are still making content together.

“I definitely learned the most from the relationships that I built with my professors,” Houston said. “I have confidence in my work because I asked for their guidance on assignments, and sought feedback when I turned in a project I was proud of.”

Iris Serrano graduated from CMDI in 2026 with degrees in strategic communication and journalism. She covers student news and events for the college.

Student influencers at CMDI are no stranger to large followings and brand deals, but they said the college prepares them to think beyond content creation through lessons in strategy and community management.

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2 minutes with: Sko Buffs Sports

Hannah Stewart — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 17:25:07 +0000

2 minutes with: Sko Buffs Sports Hannah Stewart Fri, 10/02/2026 - 11:25

Photo by Jack Moody.

Iris Serrano

Student organizations are great ways to get hands-on experience. And being a member of Sko Buffs Sports takes students onto the sidelines of some of our favorite games on campus. We spent two minutes with Harrison Simeon (Jour'26), the club’s former associate producer, to learn about the club. His time with Sko Buffs set him up well to be the sports editor at Enterprise Journal in McMcomb, Miss.

Responses edited for length and clarity.

What is Sko Buffs Sports?

Sko Buffs Sports students regularly attend CU athletics events, gaining valuable hands-on experience to prepare them for careers in the sports media industry. Photo by Jack Moody.

It’s a place for future sports reporters and people who want to get into the field to gain experience they can’t get anywhere else.

Describe a day in the life of members.

The biggest thing we offer is real-world experience. We have photographers, videographers and writers right on the sidelines, talking to people and making connections.

How was being part of the group set you up for the professional world?

My role as associate producer for Sko Buffs Sports has been the experience I need to do so. Writing on a deadline has helped me tremendously, as has conducting interviews and asking questions during a press conference.

Best piece of advice for new members?

Don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions, because we have a team of extremely knowledgeable people. We have tons of experience with everything from shooting videos to broadcasting. We help any person willing to join.

Interested in joining? Sko Buffs Sports meets every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in CASE W262. Follow them on Instagram and YouTube.

Iris Serrano graduated from CMDI in 2026 with degrees in Journalism and Strategic Communication. She covers student news and events for the college.

Take two minutes and learn why you should join Sko Buffs Sports, the student-led sports media outlet on campus.

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#A.I.Anchors

Ellie Chase — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:13:32 +0000

#A.I.Anchors Ellie Chase Tue, 09/29/2026 - 10:13

Joe Arney

Illustration by Dana Heimes

Muhammad Ali still remembers the first time he saw what he called “a completely A.I. newsroom” in the United States.

In 2024, television reporters and production crews at Los Angeles-based Channel 1 became generated by artificial intelligence, with humans replaced by scans of people that read the news.

“They are producing, disseminating and gathering news content through A.I.,” said Ali, a PhD student in journalism. “You could see it if you looked closely at the anchors’ mouths, and some of their gestures.”

It’s the sort of thing Ali had never seen in American journalism before, but A.I. anchors have been in use throughout Asia and the Middle East, including his
native Pakistan, for years, and are quickly getting better at mimicking human speaking behaviors.

“What’s really unknown, especially in the U.S., is how audiences will react to these changes, and whether they will accept A.I. news presenters,” he said.

Even if you have been following the rise of A.I. journalists and anchors, you may not be aware that stations have required anchors to sign deals giving media companies the rights to their faces. That allows those companies to build avatar anchors that are available day and night; don’t require holidays, health insurance or sick time; and don’t have long commutes.

Ali’s advisor, Patrick Ferrucci, a professor and chair of the journalism department, said because of the economic elegy in editorial, “you can absolutely see A.I. anchors coming to journalism.”

“But understanding how to use these technologies without making yourself irrelevant is something we talk to our students about,” Ferrucci said, “and Ali’s research is really important, especially as the topic is so understudied
outside of Asia.”

Ali is somewhat more optimistic about A.I.’s potential to create new kinds of journalism jobs. But there are many ethical considerations to moves like this—and given the speed at which artificial intelligence is rolling out in news and elsewhere, research like Ali’s is critical to understanding how this technology could change our relationship with the news.

“If something goes wrong, who will be responsible?” he said. “The organization is requiring the journalist to give his face, but that face doesn’t come with his integrity and objectivity and beliefs. There is real potential for misuse.”

He’s finding examples of that already, including authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups using A.I. anchors to convincingly disseminate misinformation and propaganda. The tech industry’s growing influence on information, in general, is a concern of his.

“The influence of technology companies on the news is much more than what we ever expected, which means we have to answer for new kinds of biases or hallucinations in the data that aren’t being fact-checked,” Ali said. “And like we’ve heard about in other industries, editorial decisions are being affected by these technologies.”

Ali is committed to using his PhD to teach future generations of students to work with these technologies and become smart consumers of journalism who are aware of A.I.’s inroads into the nightly news.

“These A.I. videos are generating views on social media, they’re making money on social media—and the business managers will be paying close attention to that,” he said.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Is it a journalist, or is it A.I.? How the advent of digital anchors is poised to change the way we get our news.

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