College News

Expert calls East Wing destruction a rejection of history, culture: ‘This should not have been allowed to happen’

Joe Arney — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 16:59:50 +0000

Expert calls East Wing destruction a rejection of history, culture: ‘This should not have been allowed to happen’ Joe Arney Fri, 10/31/2025 - 10:59

Joe Arney

The demolition of the East Wing of the White House was ‘utterly negligent,’ says Azza Kamal, an associate teaching professor of environmental design and someone who has worked in historic preservation. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press.

Remember the Alamo? Yeah, Azza Kamal remembers the Alamo. She also remembers, as a member of the historic preservation committee for San Antonio, a redevelopment plan that threatened to encroach on the historic site’s borders.

Kamal, an associate teaching professor of environmental design at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, stepped down from the committee before it rendered a decision about how the proposal addressed the delineation of the historic footprint. But she remembered being unimpressed with the proposal’s lack of respect for the boundaries of the battle that made the fort famous.

“This pivotal moment in Texas history does not have a physical boundary, like a fence, and part of this plan ignored that boundary,” Kamal said. “If you look at East and West Germany, there are places where you can see where the border existed between them. That’s what we asked for—to recognize that this is history, and needs to be designated in a visible, dignified way that aligns with this historical icon.”

“You’re standing up for a history, a culture, and a way people connect with buildings and engage with their communities. To disregard that with a building as significant as the White House is problematic.”

Azza Kamal, associate teaching professor, environmental design

When she looks at the pile of rubble that used to be the East Wing of the White House, she sees “a much worse and utterly negligent” disrespect for the history and culture associated with an important building.

“There is a complicated process for a building like this. It should take years,” said Kamal, who is not involved in the White House project but has served in a preservation role in Gainesville, Florida, in addition to San Antonio. “Typically, anytime you’re talking demolition with a historic landmark, a preservation committee is among the first steps in your due process.”

The destruction of the East Wing was undertaken by Donald Trump to add a ballroom to the White House, and is the second time he’s embarked on a controversial renovation project to the building and its grounds: Earlier this year, he paved over the Rose Garden to install patio seating.

A great deal of media attention on the ballroom project has focused on the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which was adopted to create processes to protect historic resources. Notably, the act exempts the White House, U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court building, but in proceeding immediately to demolition, Trump is ignoring the precedent established by other presidents, who have sought approvals to make smaller renovations.

Potentially illegal

While she’s not a legal scholar, she said it may also have been illegal.

“If you read the text of the act, it specifically says those exemptions must be consistent with the purpose of this act,” Kamal said. “And the purpose of the act is historic preservation, and these buildings are designated landmarks importance sense of our shared cultural heritage, in the sense that important decrees, decisions and discussions happen in these places. This should not have been allowed to happen.”

Scholars are trying to build the legal case against this action, but Kamal pointed to another important dimension—the environmental impact. Something she talks about to students in her sustainable planning courses is the impact new development has, including energy use to tear something down, filling landfills with destroyed materials and extracting raw materials to enable new construction.

Alternatives like rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of a building, or deconstruction—where the building materials are kept intact or repurposed—can alleviate the environmental impact of a new building or prevent materials from ending up in a landfill. Neither appears to have been considered for the East Wing.

“It seems like demolition was the first step in the process, and for that to happen, you have to skip a lot of steps,” Kamal said. “And people will say the only function preservation committees have is to make life difficult for people, but serving in these roles is a great responsibility and honor that I cherished. You’re standing up for a history, a culture, and a way people connect with buildings and engage with their communities. To disregard that with a building as significant as the White House is problematic.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A preservationist and professor of sustainable planning laments leveling of White House section to add a ballroom.

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No ifs, ands or buts. (Bots, on the other hand…)

Joe Arney — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:05:34 +0000

No ifs, ands or buts. (Bots, on the other hand…) Joe Arney Tue, 10/28/2025 - 09:05

Joe Arney

WooJin Kim, an assistant professor of advertising, studies the potential of artificial intelligence to influence positive social behavior. That work led to Kim’s appointment as CMDI’s first DeLuca Faculty Scholar in Advertising earlier this fall. Photo by Nathan Thompson.

Growing up in Ansan, South Korea, WooJin Kim was heavily influenced by his family. While his parents made sacrifices in order to send him to college—the first in his family to do so—it was the values he drew from his grandfather, a pastor, that shaped his experiences as a student and researcher.

“He always encouraged me to help others and to support my community and society,” said Kim, an assistant professor of advertising at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ. “It’s why I first started looking at the potential for advertising to shape and influence human behavior, especially through advanced technology.”

Kim studies how artificial intelligence—in the form of chatbots and personalized advertising content—can position the right message in front of the right audience to drive social behavior, such as encouraging people to adopt sustainable practices, get vaccines, donate to worthwhile causes—even stop cyberbullying among students.

It’s work that led to Kim’s appointment as CMDI’s first DeLuca Faculty Scholar in Advertising earlier this fall. Kim’s work in A.I. and his impressive track record of publications—his work has been featured in the prestigious Journal of Advertising as well as the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research and others—led to this three-year appointment within the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Design.

Kim called the endowed position “a great honor that shows my research has the potential to contribute to the college and the community.”

“The more he’s able to understand—and teach—the power behind A.I., the more I can see students understanding what a wide net they can cast with it.”

Peter DeLuca (StratComm’83)

Getting Kim’s work beyond the campus is something Wendy and Peter DeLuca (StratComm’83) hope their gift makes possible.

“I enjoy talking to students when I go back and visit the campus, and this research really showcases a way to apply A.I. in a way that changes the conversation around it,” said Peter DeLuca, a retired chief creative officer and senior vice president with T-Mobile and a member of the college’s advisory board. “The more he’s able to understand—and teach—the power behind A.I., the more I can see students understanding what a wide net they can cast with it. This will help change the conversation from just displacing people or replacing jobs.”

An international perspective

Kim first became interested in the potential of advertising to positive shape human behavior as a high school student growing up in conservative South Korea. International students visiting from places like Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia showed him how diverse points of view benefited schoolwork and friendships, “which made me very curious about how I could change attitudes and raise awareness about important social issues related to diversity,” he said.

Now, as generative artificial intelligence rewrites the playbook for advertising, Kim said he sees ethical, responsible use of those tools as key to building a better society.

One example he studies is A.I. chatbots.

“During interactions between humans and chatbots, the A.I. agents can access and collect our personal data, which can raise ethical issues and privacy concerns,” Kim said. “But at the same time, by analyzing our data—education, income, demographic information—they can identify target audiences and offer personalized, pro-social messages that benefit health outcomes and the environment.”

Generative A.I. has set off waves in the creative and communication communities, as ethical, legal, privacy and other concerns disrupt the ways we gather, analyze and share information. It’s why Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college, is excited to see how this appointment helps unlock additional insights from Kim.

“What makes our college special are the interdisciplinary insights our faculty bring to new and complex problems,” Bergen said. “WooJin’s work in advertising and A.I. promises to help us rethink how new tools and evolving techniques can positively influence public discourse.”

Breaking the black box

Better literacy around artificial intelligence, Kim said, is key to unlocking its potential as an agent for positive social change. It’s why he’s excited for the DeLuca endowment, which will allow him to do more work in algorithmic transparency.

“We need a better understanding of A.I. and a better ability to critically evaluate and understand knowledge and information generated by this technology,” he said.

“I know we can use A.I. to help others, but A.I. and its underlying mechanisms are a black box. If we could build in additional transparency, so that people understand how the underlying mechanisms work, it would change how they interact with and use such tools, and influence how likely they are to accept A.I.-generated decisions.”

The DeLucas, who also sponsor scholarships at CMDI, said they hope that work helps change the way students behave online.

“He’s a great teacher who clearly loves being in the classroom,” said Wendy DeLuca, who worked in finance before devoting herself to raising her family and extensive volunteer service. “If he could just influence a handful of his own students through what he’s learning from this research, it will be impactful.”

“Bullying does not stop when you get out of high school—in some ways, it can be worse in college,” Peter DeLuca said. “We wanted to support this research because it’s an opportunity to touch an individual who then can touch multiple students, and create long-lasting impact that’s felt throughout the college and beyond.”

From left, Dean Lori Bergen, Wendy DeLuca, Peter DeLuca, WooJin Kim and Kay Weaver, chair of the APRD department, gathered to give the DeLucas a chance to meet the recipient of the endowed position they created. ‘If he could just influence a handful of his own students through what he’s learning from this research, it will be impactful,’ Wendy DeLuca said.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A researcher who studies A.I.’s potential impact on advertising has been named CMDI’s first DeLuca faculty scholar.

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Roam if you want to. Unless you’re a wild animal

Joe Arney — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:11:51 +0000

Roam if you want to. Unless you’re a wild animal Joe Arney Tue, 10/21/2025 - 09:11

Joe Arney

A coyote wanders through urban parkland in Chicago at night. It was a coyote in New York's Central Park that first got Hillary M. Rosner interested in how wildlife roams from place to place—and the human-made obstacles that thwart them. This coyote, which was being tracked with a radio collar, was struck by a car and killed just months after this photo was taken. Photo by Corey Arnold.

Hillary M. Rosner was a young editor with the Village Voice in the 1990s when she read about a coyote living in Central Park.

Nowadays, that’s not quite so special—the park is home to resident coyotes who prowl the improbably green space at the heart of Manhattan. But what fascinated Rosner was their improbable journey—how the animals successfully navigated the urban jungle, and why they chose to do so.

“That idea—just wondering how this coyote navigated these concrete canyons to get to the park—really stuck with me,” said Rosner (MEnvSt’06), an assistant teaching professor of journalism at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information and associate director of its Center for Environmental Journalism. “As I got more into environmental and science journalism, the stories that most moved me were in some way about animals whose lives were changed because of human infrastructure.”

Hillary M. Rosner

That curiosity has culminated in a new book, Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World, out this month from Patagonia. In it, she draws upon a career of environmental journalism to share stories of the struggles animals face in overcoming human-made boundaries.

Restoring empathy

Her goal is to encourage readers to abandon a human-centered view of the world in favor of one that demonstrates our interconnectedness with the planet, while learning to view other species with empathy and compassion.

The connections she explores in the book are both literal—for example, creatures needing to get from one point to another—and more abstract, such as how animals connect to an ecosystem to affect its resilience and adaptability. “And it’s about showing how human infrastructure presents a barrier to this idea of connectivity for all these other species,” she said. The book further spells out the ecological consequences of a world where wild animals cannot roam—an inability to spread plant life, less genetic diversity—threatening species’ adaptability and survival—and the extinction of charismatic species.

If that sounds dire, Rosner will be the first to tell you there’s real urgency behind the topic. Her work took her around the world to see the obstacles humans have created for wildlife. In Kenya, as more land becomes privately owned, more fences are going up, blocking long-held migration routes. Closer to home, Donald Trump’s funding freeze has canceled wildlife crossings along U.S. highways.

“If we continue to act as though we are the only species on the planet, it’s going to become self-fulfilling.”

Hillary M. Rosner (MEnvSt’06)

“I talk about a lot of bad things that are going on, but the book is about solutions—the race to repair our fractured world,” Rosner said. “It’s about people all across the world doing incredible work and devoting their lives to reconnecting the planet for other species. And I think that is hopeful.”

Rosner’s work has appeared in some of the most influential news outlets in the country—The New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, The Atlantic—following her pivot to environmental reporting, which owes quite a bit to her graduate work in environmental studies at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, as well as a Ted Scripps environmental journalism fellowship.

“I took an amazing biogeography course during my Scripps fellowship, which really helped shape my thinking around this project, in terms of species movement and the role humans have in shaping that,” said Rosner, who today oversees the Scripps program as part of her work with CEJ. Her work also was influenced by fellowships from Knight Science Journalism at MIT and the National Science Foundation.

Barriers beyond borders, highways

As you might expect from someone with such curiosity for the natural world, Rosner took the most enjoyment from how much she learned about the world through her reporting. A concept she particularly enjoyed exploring was anthropogenic resistance—the invisible ways humans impede animal movement.

“For instance, you may have a physically passable route for a bear, but you have a lot of hikers who recreate in that area, so it won’t go there,” she said. “We more readily think of border walls or highways, but humans have created all sorts of hidden barriers to animal movement that we don’t often think about.”

Her book is a call to action that we need to start thinking otherwise—and quickly. A key theme in Roam is one of empathy, as she invites readers to bring a different perspective to how they, too, move through the world.

“The idea of empathy was not an idea I was thinking about when I started this project,” Rosner said. “When I look around, it’s clear to me that empathy is lacking across the board right now—but perhaps if we can learn to see other species with empathy, it will help us see one another with empathy, also.”

There’s also a more pragmatic reason to take Rosner’s work seriously. Like it or not, those same connections between wild animals and the natural world also link us to the environment.

“We must better understand and appreciate how intimately we are connected to nature,” she said. “I mean, I say it in the book: If we continue to act as though we are the only species on the planet, it’s going to become self-fulfilling. That’s not a world we’ll want to live in, or be able to live in.”

Roam is available for limited release now, and will officially be available at bookstores and online Oct. 28.

A herd of elk at their winter refuge outside Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming. Photo by Florian Schulz.

Kenya's major highways and railways include underpasses to allow elephants to navigate human infrastructure. Photo by Richard Moller.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A new book from a journalism professor looks at human-made barriers—visible and not—that have disrupted animal migrations and threaten our ecology.

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Designing a more hopeful future

Joe Arney — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:44:58 +0000

Designing a more hopeful future Joe Arney Mon, 10/20/2025 - 09:44

Iris Serrano

Photo by Addi Rexroat

Design has always been about solving problems, but in the Department of Environmental Design, it’s also about finding hope along the way.

That is why the department, part of the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, is hosting a year-long lecture series, with guest speakers from around the country sharing their insights on designing for a complex world.

If you go

What: The ENVD Lecture Series on Designing for a Complex World

When: Various days and times through Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Who: Various speakers from industry and academia, who will bring real-world perspectives to complex problems and challenge students to be optimistic in the face of crises.

The remaining lineup is as follows:

Cyrus Peñarroyo, associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, 12:20 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22, ENVD 134.
Mike Moore, founding partner of Tres Birds, 5 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 12, ENVD 134.
Alejandro Vázquez, director at Field Operations, 12:20 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 19, ENVD 134.

Though the lecture series has been held before, this year’s theme of designing optimism issues a specific challenge to the presenters and students who attend.

“Design is inherently an optimistic act,” said Jeremy Ehly, an associate teaching professor and chair of the visiting lecture committee. “Optimism is imagining a future that’s better, and in order to be a designer you have to believe in that possibility.”

The lectures go beyond traditional design, covering topics such as photography, environmental advocacy and sustainability, showcasing how creativity can create change for all spaces and living beings. The series formally kicked off Oct. 13 with a lecture from Joyce Hwang, a professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo, who shared insights from her work on how to integrate multispecies habitat design into the built environment.

Hwang encouraged designers to frame their work beyond just human considerations—from integrating ecosystem services thinking into design thinking, to incorporating empathy and inclusion in a more expanded and biodiverse sense.

Environmental design often handles complex and sometimes discouraging issues like the housing crisis, habitat degradation and ecological collapse. Still, Ehly hopes this series will inspire students to see hope beyond these challenges.

“When confronted with these problems, it creates a sense of futility,” Ehly said. “I hope students attending are influenced by these people who are making a positive change—and can see themselves doing it someday.”

Students won’t only have the opportunity to hear from these industry experts, they will also be able to connect with speakers on a deeper level. It’s a key focus of the environmental design department, which challenges students to do hands-on work that is reviewed by industry professionals to provide invaluable feedback.

“What gets me excited is just the ability for our students to be so intensely exposed to these critical voices, and have a way to critically engage with them in our studios, in our curriculum and in real life,” Ehly said.

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

ENVD is hosting a year-long lecture series featuring industry experts exploring how creativity can create positive change.

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CMDI brings the conversation on immigration to center stage

Joe Arney — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 20:33:18 +0000

CMDI brings the conversation on immigration to center stage Joe Arney Thu, 10/16/2025 - 14:33

Joe Arney

Courtesy Motus Theater

For the first two years of its existence, the CMDI Distinguished Speaker Series has invited nationally recognized guests to provide insights on relevant topics like how technology encodes inequality into its products and services, and how to remedy a deeply polarized society.

While the focus on impact and important topics is the same, this year, the college invited local voices to share the stage and lead a conversation on immigration.

Boulder-based Motus Theater, which creates original works to facilitate dialogue on important contemporary issues, will stage a performance that will be followed by a panel discussion featuring journalists from The Colorado Sun, 9News and Colorado Public Radio.

If you go

What: Reapproaching Media and Migration

When: 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22, CASE Chancellor’s Hall, fourth floor.

Who: Motus Theater, which brings silenced histories and marginalized voices to the stage, will give a performance of UndocuAmerica, followed by a panel conversation featuring local journalists.

Why: The CMDI Distinguished Speaker Series showcases some of the most pressing challenges of our time and invites future journalists, communicators, designers and technologists to consider their responsibilities as citizens and storytellers.

The event is open to all members of the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ community and the public.

Learn more

“What this series demonstrates is that CMDI is at the center of important conversations in our society,” said Nabil Echchaibi, associate dean of scholarly and creative work at CMDI and a professor of media studies. “We’re not just isolated in our own world. What we teach, what we do research on, what we explore creatively, it all has direct relevance to the world.”

Echchaibi encountered Motus as an advisor to one of the company’s performances, and invited the group to participate in a seminar class he taught a few years ago to help the students sharpen their media literacy skills.

“One of the things Motus excels at is reframing the conversation about these communities, around undocumented immigration,” Echchaibi, noting the company has been doing such productions since 2011.

UndocuAmerica, the project Motus will perform at CMDI, was created to counter the dehumanizing portrayal of immigrants through thoughtful engagement on the challenges facing the undocumented community, as well as the assets new arrivals bring to the United States. Motus works with leaders from the undocumented community to help them write powerful stories about their lives and experiences, then showcases them in moving monologues.

Echchaibi said he hopes the audience of communicators, storytellers and designers leaves with a better understanding of “our obligation as citizens, neighbors, journalists and educators to immigrant justice and honoring life for everyone.”

“I see CMDI as a convener of these conversations at a time when fewer people are having them,” he said. “We want to give a sense of perspective, some clarity about what we are all dealing with on a daily basis. Those conversations don’t only happen in the classroom—we are trying to foster a culture of meaningful and constructive discussion about issues of great public concern.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A performance by Motus Theater headlines this year’s Distinguished Speaker Series.

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‘Little community,’ big class: Meet CMDI’s groundbreaking Class of 2029

Joe Arney — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 16:17:48 +0000

‘Little community,’ big class: Meet CMDI’s groundbreaking Class of 2029 Joe Arney Mon, 10/13/2025 - 10:17

Iris Serrano

Chip the Buffalo leads CMDI's newest class of students in doing the wave during the college's orientation activities. The college's Class of 2029 is 25% larger than last year's, which was at the time the largest ever. Photo by Hannah Howell.

When Kellen McFarland made the short drive from Thornton to Boulder, he immediately fell in love.

Not just with the university, or its dramatic views of the Flatirons, but with the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information

“I remember thinking it was not only pretty out here, and close to home but all the classes I took were really fun,” said McFarland, who attended Connections, a summer academy for high school students that helped him experience life on campus. “After the program, Boulder felt like the best fit for me, and I considered it as one of my top options.”

In enrolling at CMDI, McFarland joined a monumental class of new first-year students. With 548 new first-year students, this new cohort is by far the largest in the college’s history, reflecting a 25% increase from the previous year.

Some other highlights from the Class of 2029:

The college also added 73 transfer students, bringing the total count of new undergraduate students to 621.
The strategic communication major had the highest number of admits by department, with 155. Information science saw the largest increase in enrollments, jumping by 16 over last year.
Despite the vastly increased size of the class, average high school GPA (3.76) and standardized test scores are slightly up, or on par with, last year.
CMDI also added 38 master’s students and 23 doctoral students for the fall.

Photo by Jack Moody

Notably, the incoming class is the first to be admitted to the renamed college, reflecting the integration of the environmental design department into CMDI.

“It’s so exciting, in our 10th year as a college, to have such a large and dynamic class of students joining us,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMDI. “I’m especially thrilled to welcome our environmental design students, and am excited to see how their energy and enthusiasm continues to positively shape the direction of our community.”

‘Trying to be ambitious’

McFarland also participated in Pathways, another summer program designed to help students acclimate to college life and build community. It was there that the aspiring sports journalist also had the opportunity to learn more about the clubs and student organizations that would help him build a network and develop experience outside of the classroom.

“I learned about the opportunities that Sko Buffs Sports offers. Members have gone to Big 12 media days, and they get to interview athletes and get flown out to games,” McFarland said. “I’m trying to be ambitious. I know I won’t get there on day one, but I want to experience what it’s like on the field.”

Media production major Eloisa Samper participated in Pathways with McFarland, crediting the experience with preparing her for college life.

“We got really close in our group. We all have different majors, but when we see each other, we stick together,” Samper said. “It was comforting to know I had this little community on my first day.”

She’s no stranger to working in the creative field. Samper has practiced photography for years, and over the summer, she explored videography and content creation to support the global seminar in Medellin, Colombia, run by environmental design each year.

“After that, I started getting invested in my education and trying to figure out how I could do the kind of art that I am passionate about. That’s how I decided to study media production,” said Samper, who hopes her education prepares her to become a cinematographer on feature films or even work as a war correspondent.

Interests in sports, sustainability

Kennah White also came into college knowing what she wanted to do. The first-year student moved from Colorado Springs to study environmental design after taking an introductory class in high school.

Christopher Bell (PhDMediaSt'09) presents to students at orientation. Photo by Jack Moody.

“We still have a lot of problems with sustainability,” White said. “I want to help solve those problems and teach people how to help and utilize the environment.”

Her passion for advocacy started in high school, where she was part of an organization that raised awareness and funds to support women’s and children’s rights around the world. She hopes to continue that work in college.

CMDI is also welcoming plenty of students who have found their home away from home. Jhordynn Garcia, a media studies major, came to Boulder from San Antonio in hopes of breaking into the sports media industry.

Garcia is eager to learn foundational skills in her classes and hopes to better understand audiences and what drives engagement, so she can do multimedia marketing for professional sports teams.

“I’m curious about how to make people feel excited, how to connect with an audience and bring people together through social media,” she said.

With the semester already underway, students said they’re already making the most of the opportunities available to them in and out of class. Sam King, a strategic communication major from Minnesota, hopes to start his own business one day. To that end, he’s started to build his skill set by joining the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

“We’ve had LinkedIn workshops and learned how other students got their internships. These are things that will help me pursue my goal, even if I’m still figuring out exactly what that is,” King said. “If you can communicate well and express yourself, that helps you get along with people and lead them.”

The Class of 2029, with Chip, in the CU Events Center during orientation activities. Including transfer students, the incoming class is made up of 621 new undergraduates. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

CMDI’s first cohort since integrating with environmental design is made up of even more ambitious and creative students.

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At J-Day, student enthusiasm overwhelms challenges facing industry

Joe Arney — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 15:44:08 +0000

At J-Day, student enthusiasm overwhelms challenges facing industry Joe Arney Fri, 10/03/2025 - 09:44

Iris Serrano

Alumnus Marshall Zelinger welcomes high schoolers to J-Day with a talk about how students journalists can stay adaptable in the face of changes disrupting the news industry. Nearly 1,300 students from around Colorado attended the event. Photo by Nathan Thompson.

For the nearly 1,300 student journalists who attended J-Day at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information on Wednesday, the sweeping changes hitting the industry—from technology, to geopolitics, to economics—were impossible to ignore, especially as many of them consider majoring in journalism when they get to college.

9News investigative reporter Marshall Zelinger (Jour’02) was not there to sweep those concerns away. But he encouraged students to rise to meet challenges, rather than backing down.

“Be adaptable,” Zelinger said. “Break habits and adapt to the change that comes with the unexpected.”

Photo by Jack Moody

For Zelinger, the keynote speaker and a presenter, adaptability means more than just learning new skills. It’s about facing the challenges the journalism industry brings head-on. And it’s a lesson he learned as a newly minted ��ƷSM��ӰƬ graduate pivoting from the sports he covered as a student to the news side of the business.

He quickly found he had a talent for simplifying complex political topics for an audience, a skill he’s used throughout his career. As a political journalist on Next With Kyle Clark, he asks newsmakers hard-hitting questions while providing balanced reporting in a time of heightened polarization and diminishing press freedoms.

Objectivity and journalism ethics were the themes of his breakout session. Truth has become harder to come by, as politicians stoke outrage among increasingly partisan bases and new tools allow for increasingly sophisticated deepfakes. Reporting, he said, is no longer as simple as presenting both sides of an issue and letting the reader decide what’s actually happening.

“When it comes to politics, and political ads, it’s just truth testing,” Zelinger said. “It’s doing what is factual and dissecting what is being said, instead of hearing opposing views with no contextual explanation between them.”

‘Energy and excitement’ from students

Photo by Nathan Thompson

J-Day is an annual celebration of journalism put on by the Colorado Student Media Association. For the second year in a row, CSMA brought its signature event to ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, giving high-school students an up-close look at the industry through the eyes of reporters, CMDI alumni, faculty and others.

“I understand why people are concerned about the state of journalism, but I would encourage those people to experience an event like J-Day, to see how enthusiastic young people are about news,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMDI and a former journalist. “Talking to the students who attended, and seeing their energy and excitement, gives me great confidence that journalism’s future is brighter than the pessimists believe.”

For student journalists like June Meehan, the chance to hear from Zelinger and others left her inspired to keep pursuing challenging stories. The senior from Fairview High School, in Boulder, has faced administrative roadblocks in reporting on controversial topics, but left Zelinger’s talk ready to handle these challenges.

“Even if I’m interviewing people in power like our principal or our teachers, I’ll make sure to do the right thing and ask tough questions—even if it’s not the most comfortable subject,” she said.

That’s just the takeaway CMDI wanted for the students who attended J-Day.

“I hope students leave the day inspired to continue doing great journalism at their high schools and equipped with a powerful network of peers, alumni, faculty and industry pros who encourage them to pursue journalism as a field of study and career,” said Christi Wade, student recruitment program manager at the college.

Unsurprisingly, a session on artificial intelligence in journalism attracted a large crowd of students who were curious about the technology’s potential to simplify tedious tasks—like poring through thousands of pages of public records—but also replace or corrupt traditional reporting.

Photo by Nathan Thompson

“We as professionals are taught that journalism is unbiased, but A.I. doesn’t know everything,” said Sean Marcus, an interactive learning designer at MediaWise, the media literacy arm of the prestigious Poynter Institute.

Poynter partnered with CMDI as a stop on the institute’s 50th anniversary celebration, which includes a traveling exhibition on the history and future of journalism. J-Day students were invited to visit Moments of Truth, which remains open through Oct. 9.

“A.I. companies and products can be inaccurate,” Marcus said. “Other organizations and entities have control over how these technologies are created and implemented, so at its heart, A.I. is problematic.”

Sam Rauscher, a sophomore at Centaurus High School, in Lafayette, and junior editor-in-chief of the newspaper club, recognizes the struggles newsrooms face as A.I. becomes part of the conversation. It’s something he already sees as a student.

“As it makes its way into all of our classes and assignments, it does cause some fear—but there are still going to be some ways that humans can regulate it,” Rauscher said. “We have to be the center of the A.I., instead of running away from it, to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.”

He is eager to take what he learned at J-Day back to the classroom and use it to lead his team next year, when he’ll be editor-in-chief.

“A.I. is a tool that can be used to make our content better, but only if it’s used very strategically and carefully,” he said. “We’re not going to generate articles with it, but we can definitely get ideas and help from it.”

J-Day by the numbers

1,295
Students attended J-Day in 2025

62
High and middle schools that sent students to the event

48
Speakers led sessions

10
Sponsors supported J-Day at CMDI

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

Nearly 1,300 student journalists visiting CMDI were urged to remain adaptable and innovative as A.I. and other changes disrupt newsgathering.

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Slow your scroll: Experts talk news, TikTok and critical thinking in Poynter panel

Joe Arney — Thu, 02 Oct 2025 17:07:41 +0000

Slow your scroll: Experts talk news, TikTok and critical thinking in Poynter panel Joe Arney Thu, 10/02/2025 - 11:07

Joe Arney

Phaedra C. Pezzullo, left, welcomes the audience as she prepares to moderate a panel discussion on journalism at the Boulder Public Library. The other panelists are, from left, Mark Trahant, Amanda Williams and Jade Liu. Photos by Jack Moody.

Much ink has been spilled, airtime spent and pixels devoted to questions around news engagement and the youngest generation.

So, rather than speculate, a panel session earlier this week invited a high school journalist to join seasoned reporters, editors and ��ƷSM��ӰƬ faculty to explore intergenerational storytelling and the future of the news media.

It started from the first question that moderator Phaedra C. Pezzullo, a professor of communication and director of the Sustainability and Storytelling Lab at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, pitched to Jade Liu.

Pezzullo asked Liu, a senior at Boulder’s Fairview High School, how technology shapes her approach to journalism, especially when telling stories for different generations.

“And you’re going to tell us that Twitter is old news now,” Pezzullo said; Liu drew a lot of laughs when she playfully fired back that “It’s X now, you know.”

“I’m honestly not the most online person, so I don’t know how well I can speak to this,” Liu said. “But years ago, I don’t think anyone was reading the newspaper for eight hours a day—yet today, there are people watching TikTok or scrolling Instagram for that long. When you’re taking in that much information at that rapid of a pace, there’s no stopping to think critically about what you’re seeing.

“I think that the main threat facing journalism today isn’t that it’s going to be replaced, but getting people to really care about it at a time when we’re facing so much information constantly coming at us.”

The panel discussion, which took place Tuesday at the Boulder Public Library, was presented in conjunction with Poynter’s 50th anniversary exhibition, Moments of Truth: An Exploration of Journalism’s Past, Present and Future. This traveling showcase traces journalism’s history, from movable type to A.I.-generated content, and illustrates how the industry has adapted in the face of technical innovation.

“Long before journalism as we know it today took shape, the need to tell our stories and share the truth of the world has been central to the human experience,” said Jessi Hollis McCarthy, a program specialist at MediaWise, the media literacy arm of Poynter. “Across time, we’ve created the tools and techniques we need to communicate the information that shapes our lives. Journalism is a vital part of that tradition.”

CMDI has been honored to be a stop on Poynter’s national tour. The college’s founding dean, Lori Bergen, has been a member of Poynter’s national advisory board and currently serves as a trustee.

“It’s a tremendous privilege to get to bring Poynter’s perspective about news literacy to the university and Boulder communities, especially in a time of hyper-partisanship and ceaseless technical innovation,” Bergen said. “Poynter is personally important to me, and also critical to the work that I do as a journalism educator and a citizen.”

Focus on environmental reporting

In addition to a general discussion of intergenerational storytelling and technology, the panelists spoke specifically about environmental journalism.

Mark Trahant, who has held multiple leadership roles in news, including at SeattlePI and ICT, said the industry is struggling to cover complex, slow-moving environmental crises. He shared stories he’s written about communities on the Taholah River, in Washington, which have been besieged by storm surges and flooding.

One village, Trahant said, has moved itself to higher ground. “But when I went up there with a photographer, we went through 35 villages facing the same lowland situation. Yet none of those communities are going through the same process.

“We have to get people to understand what the big picture is, and then act on it,” he said. “But journalism is not very good on the second part. We can talk about the issues and some of the complexities, but it boils down to policymakers and citizens who have to take the next step and decide what they want to do about it.”

Amanda Williams, a special projects editor for NPR’s 1A, is spending the year at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ as a Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental Journalism. She said the news is responsible for giving people resources to take that action without journalists becoming activists.

“At the end of a conversation, we try to end with things you could do or think about, or a place you could go to learn more about what we’re talking about,” Williams said. “It’s important to leave people with a direction to go after your story, your conversation or your podcast, so they don’t feel you were just dumping all these problems on a page and then walking away.”

A lengthy question-and-answer session with the audience followed the discussion. Topics ranged from technology, news disengagement, and the political and legal climate journalists are confronting.

A lighter question came from an audience member who asked whether games like Wordle, Connections and “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” encourage younger audiences to pay attention to the headlines, in addition to the diversions. Williams credited The New York Times with its boldness in moving into directions like cooking, puzzles and podcasting faster than other outlets.

“I know a lot of people who have New York Times subscriptions because they love the games so much—and making the mini crossword not free anymore probably led to more subscriptions, too,” Liu said. “But I do think the challenge is bridging that gap, and going from playing New York Times games to reading New York Times stories.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

CMDI and the Poynter Institute gathered a group of experts to discuss intergenerational storytelling, with a special focus on environmental reporting.

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Faculty experts earn recognition at influential media conference

Joe Arney — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:43:42 +0000

Faculty experts earn recognition at influential media conference Joe Arney Wed, 09/17/2025 - 18:43

Iris Serrano

PhD student Mushfique Wadud, right, accepts a best paper award at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. His paper looked at how long-form journalism publications have adapted in the social media age.

Growing up in a remote part of Bangladesh, Mushfique Wadud couldn’t afford copies of The Economist and Time as they came out.

He could, though, afford back issues. Reading those, he said, opened his eyes to how big an influence those magazines had on politics in the United States.

“These magazines carried news from all over the world—even remote parts of it,” said Wadud, a journalism PhD student in the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at the ��ƷSM��ӰƬ. “It was like I had the whole world in a single cover.”

Little did he know those early forays into American journalism would shape his career as a researcher.

“As the internet evolved, these magazines struggled with viewership,” Wadud said. “They’ve had to reshape their content by investing their time on social media.”

For longtime readers of these magazines, Wadud’s interest makes sense. In their heydays, they were champions of long-form journalism, offering profiles and think pieces each week that are difficult to visualize translating to bite-sized social content.

To understand how they adapted, Wadud performed a qualitative study, immersing himself in their reporting. For four months, he spent hours each day on their websites and scrolling through platforms like Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.

“I wanted to see how they handled storytelling during the 2024 election across different platforms,” Wadud said. “Both The Economist and Time have changed their content strategy. They’re focusing on creating short videos, but at the same time, they’re not compromising their brands.”

A strong showing

“Both The Economist and Time have changed their content strategy. They’re focusing on creating short videos, but at the same time, they’re not compromising their brands.”

Mushfique Wadud

Wadud was among the dozens of CMDI students and faculty recognized with top paper awards at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, which took place Aug. 7 to 10 in San Francisco. The college contributed 40 peer-reviewed papers and brought home four awards.

Founded in 1912, AEJMC is the oldest and largest alliance of journalism and mass communication educators and administrators at the college level. Today, the nonprofit organization includes thousands of educators and students from around the globe.

“Our success this year shows that CMDI is building the next generation of scholars,” said Patrick Ferrucci, chair of the journalism department. “The entire college does an amazing job of producing quality, important, impactful research.”

Patrick Ferrucci teaches a CMDI precollege class. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Ferrucci was the winner of two faculty papers, one of which he co-wrote with Qiongye Chen, another PhD student studying journalism. That paper, which won second place in the cultural and critical studies division, focused on the ways journalists are reporting on artificial intelligence and how it would change the industry.

“This is a story about labor. We found that trade magazines were publishing two different types of narratives,” Ferrucci said. “Some discussed how it makes professionals’ lives easier. Others focused on how it’s a threat to employment.”

Ferrucci also received third place in the newspaper and online news division for an analysis of virtual newsrooms.

“What surprised me was that places that have mostly or all-remote work hadn’t thought of ways to build community within their workforce, or of ways to onboard people intentionally and fully,” he said.

Bringing A.I. to class

When it comes to A.I., Ferrucci is thinking about ways new tools could be incorporated into the classroom, so students are better equipped to use them in the workplace—but that requires educators to first understand the technology themselves.

“Our commitment to students is to prepare them for what the field looks like. And we need to understand the changes that are happening with A.I. to be able to do that,” Ferrucci said. “Although it’s impossible to predict the future, it doesn’t mean we can wait until things settle and then figure it out.”

The conference doesn’t just celebrate research excellence in journalism. Erin Schauster, an associate professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Design, added to the list of top paper winners in the media ethics division, as she presented her research on teaching media ethics and fostering moral development in students and early career practitioners.

In collaboration with four other researchers in different universities, she studied the moral development of graduates of media programs.

“We asked ourselves, how are these students who are learning journalism, advertising and public relations developing morally after they leave our programs and start working in the industry?” Schauster said. “We wanted to capture a moral profile of the people doing work that’s really impactful for society.”

She also presented a paper on reflective journaling incorporated into weekly writing assignments as part of her strategic writing course. Students were split into groups and were asked to reflect on their assignments, such as writing news releases and creative briefs from ethical or business perspectives.

“At the end of the semester, the group that reflected on the ethics perspective of their strategic writing had an increase in their moral reasoning,” Schauster said. “We can use these findings to guide how we design courses so students are prepared to face ethical challenges in their careers.”

The work presented at the conference highlights the impact of CMDI’s research, showing how these projects contribute to the content being taught in the classroom.

“It’s a source of pride to be a part of a productive research community, which shows in the volume and quality of work,” Schauster said. “We are educators, and our research informs other educators about the best practices to help shape future industry professionals.”

A full list of CMDI presentations at AEJMC follows. Names in bold are CMDI faculty and students. In addition, many CMCI faculty and students in journalism, APRD and media studies moderated or served on panels, or led workshops, in addition to serving as heads of different divisions.

Advertising Division

The Novelty Effect of AI-Chatbot: Examining Consumer Engagement and the Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy. Md Shahedur Rahman, APRD.

Broadcast and Mobile Journalism Division

Blurring Boundaries: How World Travel YouTubers are Redefining Travel Journalism. Hun Shik Kim, journalism.

Understanding User Engagement with AI-Anchor Disseminated Content on Facebook: A Uses and Gratifications Theory Approach. Muhammad Ali, journalism.

Commission on the Status of Minorities

Analysis of Alaskan Native and American Indian Women Health Issues from an Indigenous Standpoint Theory. Henry Ugwu, APRD; Shreyoshi Ghosh, journalism.

Commission on the Status of Women

Menstruation in the News: A Feminist Analysis of Dominant Narratives in U.S. Newspapers. Dinfin Mulupi and Shreyoshi Ghosh, both journalism.

Communicating Science, Health, Environment, Risk Division

Environmental Justice and Flood Risk Communication: A Decade Reflections from the 2013 Colorado Flood. Wen Lei and Rania Al Namara, both journalism.

Communication Technology Division

Defining Algorithmic Journalism: A Scholarly Explication of the Concept. Hina Ali, journalism.

Community Journalism Interest Group

Exploring how Personal Trauma Impacts a Professional Community Journalist’s Role Through Netflix’s After Life. Carl Knauf, journalism.

Pacific Palisades Under Fire: Community Journalism, Social Media and Public Participation During the 2025 California Wildfires. Mushfique Wadud, journalism.

Cultural and Critical Studies Division

“AI Is a Story About Labor Automation”: Journalism, Tech and Perceptions of Precarity. Patrick Ferrucci and Qiongye Chen, both journalism. Top faculty paper (second place).

Controlling the Narrative: Press Freedom, Power and the Emergence of a Hybrid Developmental-Authoritarian Media System in Pakistan. Muhammad Ali and Hina Ali, both journalism.

Otherness in Media Representation of Diverse Celebrity Hosts. Shreyoshi Ghosh, journalism.

Will They Defend Their Own? A Critical Discourse Analysis and Comparison of Corporate Newspapers and NewsGuild Coverage of Journalist’s Labor Strikes. Qiongye Chen and Ever Figueroa, both journalism.

“You’re Only Hurting the Journalists”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of “Don’t Unsubscribe” to The Washington Post and the L.A. Times. Ever Figueroa and Patrick Ferrucci, both journalism.

International Communication Division

African News Audience Engagement with LGBTQIA+ News Framing in Digital Spaces. Dennis Okeke and Patrick Ferrucci, both journalism.

Golden Girls, National Heroes and Resilient Champions: An Intersectional and Computational Analysis of Social Media Commentary During the 2024 Paralympics. Dinfin Mulupi, journalism; Shannon Scovel (Tennessee); Frankie Wong H.C. (Lingnan University); Aman Misra (Tennessee).

How Adaptation to New Technology in Legacy Media Affects Journalism in Bangladesh. Ershad Khan, journalism; Harsha Gangadharbatla, APRD.

Journalists' Perceptions of their Role and the Role of Humanitarian Organizations in Covering Humanitarian News from Crisis Zones in the Digital Age. Rania Al Namara, journalism.

Revenue Pressures vs. Journalistic Autonomy: How Bangladeshi Journalists Navigate Business Interests of Media Outlets and Owners. Ershad Khan, journalism.

Three Worlds Imagined Through News: A Cross-National Analysis of Country-Based Issue Ownership Networks. Zhuoyu Wang (Fudan University); Lei Guo (Fudan University); Mengmeng Wu (Chicago University); Chris Vargo, APRD.

Law and Policy Division

Criminalizing Journalism: Rethinking Global Press Typologies Through the Lens of Defamation Laws. Ershad Khan, journalism.

Magazine Media Division

When Print Prestige Meets Platform Performance: A Netnographic Study of Time's and The Economist's Digital Strategies During the 2024 U.S. Election. Mushfique Wadud, journalism. Top student paper (first place).

Media Ethics Division

Taking the Long View: The Case for a Life Story-Based Media Ethics Pedagogy. David Craig (Oklahoma); Chris Roberts (Alabama); Erin Schauster, APRD; Patrick Lee Plaisance (Pennsylvania State); Katie Place (Quinnipiac); Daniel Thompson (Oklahoma); Jiaqi (Agnes) Bao (Pennsylvania State); Yetter Casey (Cherokee Nation 3S). Top faculty paper (third place).

A Journaling Intervention in Advertising and Public Relations: Moral and Deliberate Psychological Education. Erin Schauster, APRD; Christopher Vardeman (Towson); Toby Hopp, APRD.

Saving the Fixers in Wars: Metajournalistic Discourse, Paradigm, Repair, Global War Journalism Industry, Global Media Ethics and War Journalism Practice. Mushfique Wadud, journalism.

To Eat the Fig or To Not Eat the Fig: Examining the Influences Behind Arts Journalists’ Decisions to Accept Perks Related To Covering Their Beat. Carl Knauf, journalism; Lindsey Maxwell, Southern Mississippi.

Minorities and Communication Division

Health News Analysis of Alaskan Native and American Indian (ANAI) Women. Shreyoshi Ghosh, journalism; Henry Ugwu, APRD.

Newspaper and Online News Division

When Software Becomes the Newsroom: Journalists and the Loss of Organizational Connections. Patrick Ferrucci, journalism. Top faculty paper (third place).

Reporting on Environmental Justice Cases Involving Indigenous Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Decolonial Feminist Analysis of African Press Coverage. Dinfin Mulupi, journalism; Khamadi Shitemi (Indiana University).

Participatory Journalism Interest Group

Journalists and Humanitarian Organizations Perceived a Participatory Role for Reporting on Crisis Zones and Disasters. Rania Al Namara, journalism.

Political Communication Division

Audience Engagement with Politico-Religious Digital News: A Computational Analysis of Comments on Trump's Bible Ad on CNN's YouTube Channel. Dennis Okeke, journalism; Christiana Ibiwoye (Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Ousman Mbaye (Wisconsin-Milwaukee); Anthony Obi Okeke (Nnamdi Azikiwe University).

Media Framing of Populist Discourse: A Rhetorical Analysis of Erdoğan’s Strategic Communication in Turkey. Muhammad Ali, journalism; Matea Beukelman, APRD.

Mediate Public Diplomacy in Africa: Critiquing Praxis, Research and Theories. Success Osayi, journalism; Samson Omosotomhe (Ambrose Ali University); Chioma Agboh (University of Nigeria Nsukka).

Politics of Reinvention: President Prabowo’s Populism Political Rebranding from General to “Gemoy.” Pulung Perbawani, APRD.

When Administration Supports Ally Israel, U.S. Dailies Focus Plights of Palestinians: An Analysis of 15th Gaza War Through CAM Lens. Ershad Khan, journalism.

“You’re Gambling with World War III”: An Analysis of Donald Trump’s Weaponization of Victimhood. Brock Mays, APRD; Carl Knauf, journalism.

Scholastic Journalism Division

Navigating Journalistic Values in Student-Run Media’s Organizational Culture. Nihal Alaqabawy, journalism.

South Asia Communication Association

Rap as Resistance: Music, Digital Activism, and Youth Mobilization in Bangladesh’s 2024 Quota Reform Movement. Mamunor Rashid, journalism; Fei Xue (Southern Mississippi); Rezaul Karim (Arizona State).

Visual Communication Division

A Heuristic-Systematic Model Exploration of Video Strategies and Production Techniques. Hunter Reeves, APRD.

In Search of the Ethical Exposure: How Extensions From Centering Fractures Practitioners. Ross Taylor, journalism.

CMDI also had a number of faculty and doctoral students who served as moderators, discussants, panelists and workshop leaders: Rania Al Namara (PhD student, journalism), Angie Chuang (associate professor, journalism), Patrick Ferrucci (associate professor, journalism), Ever Figueroa (assistant professor, journalism), Mark Heisten (PhD student, APRD), Ershad Khan (PhD student, journalism), Dinfin Mulupi (assistant professor, journalism), Josh Shepperd (associate professor, media studies), Ross Taylor (associate professor, journalism), Hong Vu (associate professor, journalism) and Mia Wang (assistant professor, APRD).

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

CMDI continues to have an impressive reputation at the annual AEJMC event, with multiple top paper awards in both the faculty and student divisions.

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On Poynt(er): Global journalism leader visits Boulder to celebrate 50 years

Joe Arney — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 15:12:04 +0000

On Poynt(er): Global journalism leader visits Boulder to celebrate 50 years Joe Arney Tue, 09/16/2025 - 09:12

Joe Arney

False reports on social media. Altered and A.I.-generated images. Fewer local journalists embedded in the community.

What do these technical and business changes mean for the way we get our news—and, with the speed of change increasing, where do we go from here?

Later this month, the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information will address these questions through a multiday public series, presented in partnership with the nonprofit Poynter Institute, a global leader in journalism.

If you go

What: Moments of Truth: An Exploration of Journalism’s Past, Present and Future

When: Sept. 23 through Oct. 9. The exhibition includes a community conversation at Boulder Public Library on Sept. 30 and a journalism-themed happy hour Oct. 1.

Where: The main exhibit is on view at Norlin Library, southwest study area, second floor.

Why: Moments of Truth is a national traveling exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the Poynter Institute.

Learn more

At the center of the series is a traveling exhibit tracing the history of American journalism—from colonial print to A.I.-generated news—called Moments of Truth: An Exploration of Journalism’s Past, Present and Future. Additional programs include a panel discussion with distinguished journalists, hands-on media literacy workshops and a trivia night at the Denver Press Club.

“This initiative is about helping people think critically about the information they see every day—while giving them techniques they can use to navigate their information ecosystem,” said Brittani Kollar, deputy director of Poynter’s MediaWise media literacy initiative. “We are thrilled to bring our event series to Boulder in celebration of Poynter’s 50th anniversary, especially at a time when press freedoms are under threat. It is crucial to have meaningful conversations about those challenges.”

Notably, Moments of Truth opens the same week that CMDI hosts J-Day, the annual journalism showcase presented by the Colorado Student Media Association. The event gathers more than 1,000 high-school students interested in journalism and communication for a day of learning, connecting and networking. Several industry speakers from Poynter’s media literacy arm, MediaWise, will deliver talks to Colorado high school students in attendance.

CMDI’s founding dean, Lori Bergen, is a former journalist who now serves as a Poynter trustee. She previously served on its national advisory board.

“It is a tremendous privilege to get to bring Poynter’s perspectives about news literacy to the university and Boulder communities, especially in a time of hyper-partisanship and ceaseless technical innovation,” Bergen said. “CMDI was built upon a century of journalism at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ. In launching the college, we were interested in how changes in technology and changes in how people communicate would continue to influence the way news is gathered, verified, reported and shared. Our students study the ways industries like data science, communication, journalism, design and public relations influence one another, preparing them for success in a professional world where these disciplines intersect.”

The anchor for the series is the 12-panel pop-up exhibit created by MediaWise. Visitors move through key moments in journalism’s evolution, interacting with historical artifacts, testing digital verification tools and reflecting on how media has shaped public understanding across generations.

Moments of Truth will be housed in the university’s Norlin Library, but the exhibit is designed to reach beyond just the university community. The Boulder Public Library will host a moderated panel discussion Sept. 30 in the Canyon Theater.

Journalists from the community will discuss the power and complexities of intergenerational stories before taking a deep dive into a specific example of local importance: environmental reporting. That session will be moderated by Phaedra C. Pezzullo, a professor of communication at CMDI and director of the college's Sustainability and Storytelling Lab, which studies the roles communication and stories play in advancing environmental fairness and justice.

In addition, on Oct. 1, the Denver Press Club will host MediaWise and CMDI for Is that Legit?!, a journalism-themed trivia challenge in which participants test their knowledge on topics like misinformation, journalism history and fact-checking.

The national exhibition visits Boulder between Tuesday, Sept. 23, and Thursday, Oct. 9. For dates, times, and locations, visit the CMDI website.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

CMDI is honored to be a partner and featured stop on Poynter’s 50th anniversary celebration later this month.

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