hrush@illinois.edu | DEV College of Media

College of Media faculty, staff lead workshops for high schoolers at Illini Summer Academies

high school participants at Media summer academy

July 7, 2026 | Kelly Youngblood

Several faculty and staff members from the College of Media led workshops for high-school-aged youth in Illinois during Illini Summer Academies, held June 21-25, at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Illini Summer Academies, which is presented by Illinois 4-H, the youth development program of University of Illinois Extension, partners with various departments and colleges across campus every summer to give high school students an opportunity to experience college life and explore a career of their choice.

Twelve students from across Illinois registered for the College of Media program, which marked the college’s first year of participation in the 4-H Summer Academies.

“As the coordinator for the program as well as one of its instructors, I think it went great,” said Jason P. Chambers, professor in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising and associate dean for access and engagement.

“I think that the program helped build student awareness about the majors available in the college and the types of jobs they can get with an education in the College of Media.”

Chambers led the workshop “Exploring Public Service Advertising,” which gave students an overview of the ad industry, including discussions about the different types of advertising, tools, and approaches used to attract an audience.

summer workshop at Richmond Studio — (Photo of broadcast workshop by Disha Rai, youth photographer)

Students developed a public service advertising campaign on a topic of their choice, such as excess phone usage among teens, distracted driving, and voting.

“I think the big things that students get from these workshops are [learning] that there is an entire industry that works to produce all the advertising that they see [and] that it takes a lot of time and work to create an average advertisement, let alone one that really engages an audience and gets them to pay attention,” Chambers said.

Marisa Peacock, senior lecturer in the Sandage Department of Advertising, led “Create, Connect, and Think: Discovering Your Voice on Social Media,” where students explored how social media shapes identity, creativity, and communication.

Peacock said the workshop was designed to connect participants with college life and future careers, encourage collaboration and peer learning, and build students’ confidence and agency as creators, innovators, and problem-solvers—not just consumers of information.

“It was really fun, and I was impressed by the thoughtful responses from students and admired their understanding of how technology, creativity, and problem-solving can be applied to real-world challenges and future opportunities,” Peacock said.

Other Media faculty and staff who participated in Illini Summer Academies were Angela Aguayo, associate professor in the Department of Media & Cinema Studies; Daniel Almanza, assistant director of Media Career Services; Ken Erdey, instructor and technical coordinator for broadcast operations in the Department of Journalism; and Mike Yao, professor in the Sandage Department of Advertising and director of the Institute of Communications Research. Cassie Arner, executive senior associate director of athletics, sport administration at Illinois Athletics, helped organize a workshop that focused on sports media.

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Media faculty, students present research at 2026 International Communication Association conference

June 25, 2026

Faculty and graduate students from the College of Media co-presented various topics of research at the 76^th annual International Communication Association Conference—the largest academic conference for communication scholars—on June 4-8, 2026, in Cape Town, South Africa. The ICA aims to advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide.

This year’s conference theme addressed “Communication and Inequalities in Context.” College of Media presenters included faculty in the Institute of Communications Research and the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising; graduate students in the MS advertising program; and doctoral students in the Institute of Communications Research PhD program.

College of Media research presenters and presentations are listed below in bold.

Pre-Conference: A Causal Inference Institute in Communication Studies
Organizers

Shuning Lu, U of Maryland, College Park, USA
Ewa Maslowska, Associate Professor, Advertising
Harsh Taneja, Associate Professor, Advertising

When Communication Makes the Difference: From Signals to Relational Dynamics
Human-Machine Communication
“Reconsidering Gender: A Computational Examination of Conversational Dynamics between Human and Gendered AI”

Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
Haocan Sun, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising

Human-Machine Care: Well-Being and Vulnerability
Human-Machine Communication
“Emotionally Vulnerable Subtype of Internet Gaming Disorder: Measuring and Exploring the Pathology of Problematic Generative AI Use”

Di Wu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Haocan Sun, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
Guoming Yu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising

Top Papers in Human-Machine Communication
Human-Machine Communication
“Ontological Reflexivity in Human–AI Communication Research: Toward an Integration Approach Based on Theory-Ontology Alignment”

Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising
Jiyeon Chang, Student, ICR
Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA

Persuasion and Consumer Behavior
Information Systems
“The Brand Transparency Paradox: Consumer Reactions to Explicit Mentions of Artificial Intelligence”

Viviana Zambrano Rodriguez, U of South Carolina, USA
Louvins Pierre, Assistant Professor, Advertising

“Exploring How Attitudes toward AI and Disclosure Influence Purchase Intention of AI-Integrated Products through Hedonic, Social, and Epistemic Value”

Louvins Pierre, Assistant Professor, Advertising
Viviana C. Zambrano Rodriguez, U of South Carolina, USA
Yanbo Li, Student, ICR

AI in News Production and Consumption
Information Systems
“Audience Perceptions of AI Newscasters: Social Presence, Trust, and Emotional Responses”

Haochen Ji, Student, ICR
Jiayi Wang, Student, MS Advertising
Kevin Wise, Professor, Advertising
Xiaoyu Xu, State U of New York at Cortland, USA

AI Taking Over: Promises and Pitfalls of AI Use in Research, Journalism, and Society
Computational Methods
“When Machines Start Writing: Assessing the Impact of Generative AI on Journalism Labor Markets”

Sakshi Bhalla, Student, ICR
Jennifer Henrichsen, Washington State U, USA
Benjamin Toff, U of Minnesota, USA

Cognitive and Emotional Processing
Information Systems
“Algorithmic Temporality and Parasocial Connection: How Feed Chronology and Gaze Shape Influencer Perception”

Veranika Paltaratskaya, Student, ICR
Alice Ji, Student, ICR
Kevin Wise, Professor, Advertising

Editorial Board Meeting: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC)

Chair: Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising

MIAU-steerable AI: Trust, Adoption, Dependency, and Behavioral Regulation in Generative Tech Ecosystems
Communication and Technology
“Social Media Exit and Platform Loyalty: Generational Differences in Platform Abandonment”

Margaret Yee Man Ng, Associate Professor, Journalism
Ewa Maslowska, Associate Professor, Advertising

Computational Methods Research Escalator
Computational Methods
“When AI Imagines Consumers: A Computational Analysis of Representational Bias in Generative AI Brand Imagery”

Haochen Ji, Student, ICR

Co-Constructing Trust in HMC
Human-Machine Communication
“Revisiting Trust in the Era of Generative AI: Factorial Structure and Latent Profiles”

Haocan Sun, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Weizi Liu, Texas Christian U, USA
Di Wu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Guoming Yu, Beijing Normal U, CHINA
Mike Yao, Professor, Advertising

Growing up with AI: Children’s and Adolescents’ Understanding, Trust, and Risk
Children, Adolescents, and Media
“Children and AI Mind Attribution: Reasoning and Learning with ChatGPT through Social Learning Theory”

Boram Cho, Student, MS Advertising
Jiyeon Chang, Student, ICR
Michelle Nelson, Professor, Advertising

Top Papers Session
Information Systems
“Following the News: Polarization and the Networked Structure of Attention”

Sakshi Bhalla, Student, ICR

Perception, Trust, and Bias of Artificial Intelligence
Information Systems
“Emotional and Social Drivers of Artificial Intelligence Pessimism Aversion: Extending the Appraisal Tendency Framework to AI Environments”

Heng Zhang, Chongqing U, CHINA
Nansong Zhou, Student, ICR
Jer Shyuan Ng, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, AUSTRALIA
Shiyi Zhang, Chongqing U, CHINA

Masculinities, Femininities in Digital Communication
Feminist Scholarship
“Masculine Anxiety and the Making of Racialized Nationalism in China: A Qualitative Investigation Into Sunxiaochuan Bar”

Nini Zhou, Student, ICR
JungHwan Yang, U of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA

(Photos by Boram Cho.)

Media studies alum Stephen Feder named 2026 College of Media Distinguished Alumni Award winner

May 21, 2026 | Kelly Youngblood

Veteran producer and executive Stephen Feder’s (BS ’02, media studies) career ranges from working alongside both independent and major studios spanning television, film, and global franchises, with a recent move up to senior vice president of production at Disney Live Action.

Feder’s impressive career achievements, along with his continued engagement with the college, have earned him the 2026 College of Media Distinguished Alumni Award.

“Stephen Feder has had an illustrative career and has been closely connected to the College of Media, from sharing advice with students at Media Career Night panels to inspiring graduates at our Media Convocation ceremony to participating as a film guest at Roger Ebert’s Film Festival,” said Dean Tracy Sulkin. “He is most deserving of this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award.”

In his new role, Feder will bring his breadth of experience to Disney’s live action film slate.

“I really feel very lucky and very happy to be here. The mentality of Disney is to create experiences for audiences and ultimately to make them feel good when they go into a theater. Just knowing that I get to be a part of that culture is such a blessing, especially at this time in my life,” said Feder, who has a young son.

Feder has always appreciated film, theater, and the arts, even participating in the Illini Union Board musicals when he attended Illinois. But he realized early on his greatest contribution to the field was in supporting and understanding how the creative process works.

“I really have dedicated much of my life, whether it’s being a producer on a particular project or an executive who oversees a slate of projects, to really championing and creating an environment for the artist to succeed in,” he said.

Feder began his career in Chicago, after earning his master’s degree at the London School of Economics. His first job was working as a producer on the Jerry Springer Show, a popular 1990s tabloid-style, daytime talk show known for its altercations between guests. Despite the raucous environment, Feder said he learned about the power of telling a story.

I really have dedicated much of my life, whether it’s being a producer on a particular project or an executive who oversees a slate of projects, to really championing and creating an environment for the artist to succeed in.

Stephen Feder

Senior Vice President of Production at Disney Live Action

After a year, he moved on to Towers Productions in Chicago as a series producer on the NBC docu-comedy series Sports Action Team, which was a comedy show shot like a documentary, before he decided to try his luck in Los Angeles.

He got his break after connecting with actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen on the making of Brüno, which became a pivotal moment in Feder’s career trajectory. The experience introduced him to people who became his network as he built his career.

“A lot of other opportunities led from that particular one, which is kind of how it works. Once you get going you start to build this network of people and advocates,” Feder said.

Feder has managed to excel on a variety of film projects with success across independent and large-scale motion picture companies.

Feder was a founding member of Annapurna Pictures, overseeing development and production on acclaimed projects like Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster, and Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers.

From 2016 to 2019, he served as vice president of film development at Lucasfilm, managing production for films like Solo: A Star Wars Story. Following his post at Lucasfilm, Feder joined Rian Johnson’s T-Street Productions team, along with producer Kiri Hart, known for her work on the Star Wars franchise. Feder and Hart also launched a new production label Counterculture, producing projects like Rock Springs, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2026.

Feder was executive producer on Kumaré, which received the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2011. Two years later, the film was shown at Ebertfest, which was a great honor for Feder who always admired Roger Ebert and recognized the impact Ebert had on his career.

“His love of movies permeated society, and his spirited way that he would talk about [movies], and the conviction of his opinions around movies is really what drove me to [realize] that a single story could spark such a debate. That alone opened my mind to how important that medium is,” he said.

Feder, who served as the alumni speaker at the college’s 2022 convocation, believes his education at the College of Media laid a foundation for him to understand the power of a story, whether that’s in the form of an ad, an article, or a film.

“I think there’s elements of ethics that you learn, like how you need to understand that the words that you’re putting out into the world matter, how they’re going to be interpreted. It’s not only understanding your audience but understanding the power behind the story that you’re telling,” he said.

“Film is a very powerful medium because it can reach so many people, if you’re so lucky.”

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Highlights of student-produced work from Spring 2026

May 18, 2026

See a selection of College of Media student-produced work created this spring, including broadcasts, documentaries, short films, advertising brand systems, and more.

Advertising

In ADV 498: The Sandage Project, students integrate the concepts, experiences, and skills that have been learned throughout the advertising curriculum with a service-learning project. See a project students created for Lincoln250, for the clients Lincoln Group of DC and the Abraham Lincoln Association, to expand the reach of Lincoln250.org.

In ADV 290: Advertising Design and Direction, students created a brand system for a fictional business and designed a 12-page annual report. See an example for White Lotus by Bella Chasen, junior in advertising.

Advertising Design and Direction annual report cover

Journalism

Oskees Live Pre-Show Coverage

UI7 Newsroom went live from the Orange Carpet for the 2026 Oskees on April 27 as Fighting Illini Athletics celebrated more than just performance on the field, but also highlighted the student-athletes behind the success. The team of UI7 reporters spoke with players and coaches to capture what this event truly means to the Illini community.

Illinois in Session

Watch a broadcast by UI7 Newsroom journalism students Nathan Gonzalez and Mary Piacente, featuring interviews with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Republican nominee Darren Bailey. This is the first time UI7 students have conducted an interview with a sitting governor, said Kenneth Erdey, journalism instructor and technical coordinator for Richmond Studio. They also spoke with the two nominees for Illinois comptroller.

Prairie Fire

Students in JOUR 440: Advanced Documentary Storytelling and Production produced segments to air on Illinois Public Media’s magazine show, Prairie Fire, premiering on May 21:

“The Space” – produced by Amelia Benson, Jonathan Mathew, and Tristan Starzec
“Live at the Mirror” – produced by Wilson Tripp Nichols, Adam Edwards, and Jude Panlilio
“Skeuwep” – produced by Ethan Ashley-Ferguson, Elissa Eaton, and Mike Rock
“Central Illinois Aikikai” – produced by Florence Lin, Paige Whiteside, and Sophia Alvarez
“Orange Krush Senior Night” – produced by Sam Yohnka, Brandon Hood, and Isaiah Adeleke

Media & Cinema Studies

Illinois Student Film Festival

Watch the Illinois Student Film Festival, produced by students in MACS 366: Film Festivals, featuring work by students across the University of Illinois campus.

Program 1

Program 2

MACS Student Showcase

Watch the MACS Student Showcase, a faculty-curated selection of student work from media and cinema studies courses throughout the academic year. See program credits with timestamps.

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CU-CitizenAccess team wins two Lisagor Awards

May 14, 2026

CU-CitizenAccess, a community online news and information project overseen by Professor Brant Houston, the Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting in the Department of Journalism, was part of a team that won two Lisagor Awards for exemplary journalism from the Chicago Headline Club on May 8.

The team received both “Best Reporting on Race and Diversity” and “Best Reporting on Crime and Justice” in the student category for their submission titled “At Illinois public universities, campus cops pull over Black drivers at higher rates.”

The student team included Maia McDonald, Nicole Jeanine Johnson, Khadija Ahmed, Isabelle Senechal, Amilia Estrada; Investigative Project on Race and Equity, Chicago Public Media, WBEZ, Chicago Sun-Times, CU-CitizenAccess, Saluki Local Reporting Lab, and The Daily Egyptian.

University of Illinois students who contributed to the project through CU-CitizenAccess included Molly Hughes (MS ’25, journalism), Jordan Butler (BS ’25, journalism), and Courtney Dillon (BS ’25, journalism; BA ’25, LAS).

“Managing editor Dylan Tiger (BS ’19, journalism; MS ’20, iSchool) did an excellent job wrangling difficult data and interviews with local officials and helping to coordinate our part,” said Houston. “It was a great experience for students to be involved in the collaboration.”

CU-CitizenAccess is devoted to investigative and enterprise coverage of social, justice, and economic issues in east central Illinois.

The Lisagor Award entries were judged by an impartial Society of Professional Journalists chapter outside Illinois.

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Ella Yoder

Get to know some of our College of Media students! Ella Yoder is a Class of 2027 media and cinema studies major.

What made you choose the media and cinema studies (MACS) major?

During my search for universities, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign stuck out quickly, specifically, the media and cinema studies (MACS) major. MACS allows its students to engage with film production as soon as freshman year, while other universities I was looking at set a limit for production courses to juniors and seniors. Personally, I knew I had a desire to learn about films and wanted a university that would give me hands-on learning opportunities that I could take advantage of the minute I got to campus. I am so happy that I found the College of Media because of the standards they set for their students with the required engagement that offers a holistic view of the film and cinema industry.

How did you first get interested in your major?

As a kid I always enjoyed making little movie projects. I was the type of person who spent their free time making up funny stories and filming them as a movie rather than going outside. This interest in producing movies only grew as I got older. Starting off as a child with a vision, to now, being a junior in college, I have begun working as a production assistant at a local production studio to continue my passion for filmmaking. While I am on set for these larger productions, I am reflecting on my younger self who had no idea the College of Media was waiting for me to pick up that camera.

What College of Media resources have you found helpful in navigating college?

A resource I will forever promote is the Media Technology Center. There are so many similar offices on campus. The College of Media has their own dedicated unit that is open to students in Media courses in the college to rent out different required items. The range of available equipment may vary per location, but typically there will always be microphones, tripods, lighting, and even green screens ready to be used! The rentable equipment has been particularly useful for me when trying to work on my class projects. With the easy-to-use check-in and check-out system, I truly recommend more students to utilize this resource.

Are there any professors who have been critical to your academics?

Even before the start of my first year, I knew that the professors of media and cinema studies in the College of Media were going to be beyond helpful to my future. This is because I reached out to a few instructors during the summer ahead of my first classes—and there were quite a few who responded with a desire to meet with me and explain the major and all that encompasses studying as a MACS major. This brief introduction into the friendly environment of the faculty stuck with me as I proceeded throughout my time at the University of Illinois.

—Interview by Evita Zimmerman, New Voices Intern

Journalism and advertising students amplify female head porters’ stories through global course experience in Ghana

April 29, 2026 | Giuliana Means, Communications Intern

Through the course “Globally Focused Advanced Documentary Filmmaking,” five journalism students and three advertising students explored the lives of female head porters, called kayayei, in a faculty-led trip to Accra, Ghana, over spring break.

Group of journalism students and faculty in Ghana

“I know from my experience that traveling and working abroad, especially in Africa, can be an inflection point in one’s life and globally contextualize values,” said Charles “Stretch” Ledford, associate professor of journalism, who has visited more than 55 countries throughout his career. “It was incredibly gratifying to be in a position to provide students this kind of opportunity.”

The course focuses on the labor of the kayayei, young women and girls—some barely in their teens—who migrate from Ghana’s rural north to the country’s urban centers, primarily Accra and Kumasi, in search of work. That work consists of carrying loads that can exceed their own body weight through the city’s sprawling markets, earning the equivalent of less than a dollar per load while exposing themselves to exploitation, musculoskeletal injury, chronic anxiety and depression, and other health and wellness risks.

Focusing on Accra’s Kantamanto used clothing market, the class is producing a documentary focusing on three narratives about kayayei who work there: a day in the life of Sahada Shehabu, a 22-year-old kayayoo; the risks of the work, described by Muhammad Salifu, founder and director of the Kayayei Youth Association; and the role the kayayei play within the market’s economy, explained by Edward Atobrah, deputy general secretary of the Ghana Used Clothing Dealers Association.

You’re dealing with something that has a real impact, and you’re seeing change happen and immersing yourself in a community that you may not have had an opportunity to [otherwise visit].

Tomi Dugbo

Senior in Advertising

The journalism students will also create a 360º-immersive video, photo essays, an audio segment, and social-media friendly short vertical videos. They are sharing their initial work at the campus Undergraduate Research Symposium on Thursday, April 30, in a poster presentation titled “They Want to Go Home: Ghana’s Kayayei.”

Kaitlyn Devitt, a senior in journalism who worked primarily on the documentary film and 360º-immersive video, says the team worked an average of six hours a day over seven shooting days in three locations.

Devitt wants to pursue international journalism after she graduates, especially after this project, because of how rewarding it was.

“This project was perfect to get my feet wet,” Devitt said. “The topic itself was interesting because these women are my age, and who’s to say this couldn’t be me if I hadn’t had the privilege of growing up in America?”

During the trip, the advertising students worked with the Kayayei Youth Association to amplify their mission. They also communicated the journalism students’ reporting processes on social media and documented their experience through a blog site.

“This experience taught me the importance of collaboration where you’re not only working with advertising students, but journalism students,” said Tomi Dugbo, a senior in advertising. “You’re dealing with something that has a real impact, and you’re seeing change happen and immersing yourself in a community that you may not have had an opportunity to [otherwise visit].”

Advertising students with Marisa Peacock outside Innova DDB Ghana

Advertising students also spent time visiting global ad agencies, such as Innova DDB and Ogilvy Africa Ghana, to analyze cross-cultural campaign approaches. They also plan to develop strategic communications campaigns for partner NGOs.

For all the students, it was their first time producing journalism and strategic communications in a foreign country.

“Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good,” advised Marisa Peacock, senior lecturer of advertising. “There’s always time to refine, edit, and evolve it, but you can’t let the perfect shot stand in the way of getting the work done.”

With only a week to conduct interviews, collect footage, and produce the strategic communications deliverables, the team persevered in an environment that demanded that they adapt quickly.

Adelyn Mui, a senior in journalism, dove headfirst into the project to capture an authentic representation of the women’s stories and overcome the challenges of not having the connections she does when reporting on campus.

“Doing global journalism taught me a lot about journalism in general because those same skills I learned in Ghana, I can apply here locally on campus; they were just amplified since I was in a different country,” Mui said.

Students from Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone and the University of Media, Arts and Communication in Ghana were partners in the project under the umbrella of the Illinois Partnership for African Women’s Health Narratives, spearheaded by Ledford. It is a continuation of his 2023 collaboration with Dr. Francis Sowa, Dean of Faculty of Communication, Media and Information Studies at Fourah Bay College, and new collaborator, Dr. Stephen Tindi, a lecturer at University of Media, Arts and Communication in Accra.

Alison Davis, senior lecturer of journalism, said the Illinois students naturally fell into the role of technological mentors for their West African peers.

“Students from the other countries were able to pick up our equipment and run with it; that’s the collaboration I like to see,” Davis said. “People are not that much different. You get a group of college students together, and they’re all similar. I love that.”

This course continues a broad focus on global women’s health narratives. Ledford and Davis have previously led students to report on local solutions to period poverty in Sierra Leone.

Next year, Ledford hopes to continue the story with reporting in Ghana’s Northern Region, examining how climate change may be accelerating the “push” of young women from Ghana’s rural and relatively poor north to work as kayayei in the country’s more developed south.

See more photos

Major funding was provided by the University of Illinois through the BRIDGE Program, Vision 2030 Global Strategy Implementation Grant, Campus Research Board, Illinois Global Institute, Department of Journalism, the College of Media, and the Karin and Folke Dovring Endowment Fund, with additional support from Lisle International and Sony Electronics.

Photos by and courtesy of Charles “Stretch” Ledford and Marisa Peacock.

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Kirby Cook

Email: kmlcook@illinois.edu

Research Interests

Kirby’s primary research interests are advertising, consumer culture, and identity. Throughout her doctoral program, her research has focused on material possessions, accessibility in advertising, and political advertising literacy. Prior to joining ICR, Kirby worked at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a marketing and communications specialist at Engineering Career Services at the Grainger College of Engineering, and an international student adviser at the International Student and Scholar Services office. Before joining Illinois, she worked as an international consultant at various branding and communication agencies in Stuttgart, Germany; an adjunct business lecturer in Reutlingen, Germany; and a high school English teacher in Daegu, South Korea. Kirby received her master’s degree in advertising from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her bachelor’s degree in classical languages and literature from the University of North Carolina – Greensboro.

Recent Publications/ Presentations

Cook, K., & Nelson, M. R. (2025, October). The Role of Remote Enculturation and Consumption of Cultural Artifacts in Ethnic Identity Formation and Life Satisfaction among Transracial International Adoptees. Association for Consumer Research Conference (Washington, D.C.).

Nelson, M. R., & Cook, K. (2024). Qualitative advertising research. In Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing (pp. 332-343). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Nelson, M. R., & Cook, K. (2024). Accessibility and age: Can legibility improve opportunity to process advertising?. Journal of Advertising, 53(3), 307-325.

Cook, K. (2024, July). The Identity Conflict: Lifelong Journey of a Korean Adoptee [artwork]. Consumer Culture Theory Consortium Conference (San Diego, CA).

Cook, K., & Nelson, M. R. (2024). Exploring the process of remote enculturation through heritage possessions: A case study of transracial international adoptees. Journal of Consumer Culture, 24(2-3), 233-251.

Nelson, M., & Cook, K. (2024, January). Critical Eyes, Deceptive Lies?: Political Advertising and You. College Convention (Manchester, NH).

Nelson, M. R., & Cook, K. (2023). Assessing student knowledge about disabilities and filling the gap: including disability and accessibility content into the advertising classroom. Journal of Advertising Education, 27(1), 23-49.

Nelson, M., Angrave, L., & Cook, K. (2023, April). Inclusive Design 2023 – Accessibility in Marketing, Communications and Education. University of Illinois Web Con 2023 Conference (Virtual).

Nelson, M., Cook, K., Haley, E., Ham, C. D., & Paltaratskaya, V. (2023, March). Understanding and Increasing Everyday Persuasion Knowledge about Political Advertising. American Academy of Advertising Conference (Denver, CO).

Cook, K., & Nelson, M. (2022, October). Scavenger Hoppers & Apex Shoppers: Personification of Consumer Vulnerability in Retail. Association for Consumer Research Conference (Denver, CO).

Cook, K., & Nelson, M. (2022, March). Consumer “Fit” and Vulnerability: Gender, Sexual Orientation, and the Binary Approach in Retail. Society for Consumer Psychology Annual Conference (Virtual).

Courses Taught

ADV 201: Social Media and Personal Branding (Teaching Assistant)
ADV 250: Advertising and Brand Strategy (Instructor of Record, Teaching Assistant)
ADV 284: Consumer Insight (Instructor of Record)
ADV 490: Digital Portfolio (Instructor of Record)
SBC 500: Strategic Brand Communication Essentials (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 501: Strategic Branding: Global Perspectives (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 502: Business of Brands (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 503: Consumer Insights I (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 504: Managing Projects & Teams (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 505: Consumer Insights II (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 508: Promotional Strategy (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 509: Digital Media & Brand Reputation Management (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 510: Messaging Strategy (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 511: Strategic Analytics & Data Visualization (Teaching Assistant)
SBC 512: Professional SBC Capstone Project (Teaching Assistant)

Awards and Honors

S. Watson and Elizabeth S. Dunn Fellowship (SP26)
James Webb Young Advertising Travel Grant (FA25)
Barton A. Cummings Academic Excellence Award (SP25)
James Webb Young Graduate Student Teaching Award (FA24)
Lynne Blanton Student Travel Fund (SU24)
Teachers Ranked as Excellent By Their Students: SP25*, FA24*, SP24 (*Outstanding)

What Most People Don’t Know about Me

I taught in South Korea through the U.S. Fulbright English Teaching Program, instructing more than 500 high school students each week.

Professor Julie Turnock receives Guggenheim Fellowship

April 14, 2026 | Jodi Heckel, University of Illinois News Bureau

Julie Turnock, professor of media and cinema studies, was one of two University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors to be awarded a 2026 Guggenheim Fellowship.

English professor Christopher Kempf also received the prestigious award. They are among 223 individuals working across 55 disciplines chosen through a rigorous peer-review process from nearly 5,000 applicants, according to the announcement of the fellows. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation awards fellowships to exceptional individuals in pursuit of scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.

Turnock’s project, “Beyond King Kong,” is a technical, industrial, and aesthetic history of the special-effects industry in the Hollywood studio era, circa 1915-1960, well before the digital era. It goes beyond 1933’s special effects landmark King Kong to examine the historical economic structures that organized personnel and production of this distinctive sector of studio-era filmmaking. Attending to the material conditions of special visual effects production and informed by extensive archival research, it centers on the labor performed by unsung “below-the-line” effects workers rarely considered in cinema histories but whose skills make much of “movie magic” possible.

Turnock is the director of the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies and the author of the books The Empire of Effects: Industrial Light and Magic and the Rendering of Realism and Plastic Reality: Special Effects, Technology, and the Emergence of 1970s Blockbuster Aesthetics. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and is a 2020-2022 College of Media Scholar.

Read original press release.

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‘Hot Ones’ host and Illinois alumnus Sean Evans named 2026 Commencement speaker

March 12, 2026 | Thomas Bruch, University of Illinois News Bureau

Daytime Emmy® Award-nominated talk show host and Illinois alumnus Sean Evans will serve as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Commencement speaker on Saturday, May 16, at 9:30 a.m. in Gies Memorial Stadium. Evans graduated with a degree in broadcast journalism from the College of Media in 2008.

Evans is the co-creator and host of the popular YouTube show Hot Ones, where musicians, professional athletes, and television and movie stars join Evans in eating chicken wings doused in progressively spicier hot sauces within the format of a talk-show interview. He notched a Daytime Emmy® Award nomination in 2021 for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host and has won multiple Internet entertainment awards. Evans also was named to TIME magazine’s inaugural “Time100 Creators” list last year, heralding the most influential digital voices of the modern media industry.

“Sean Evans defined his own path and reimagined the role of a journalist and a talk show host in the modern media landscape,” said Illinois Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. “We encourage Illinois students and alumni to be innovative, and Sean created something no one else had. His work inspires us to continue to push boundaries, to challenge convention, and to develop new ideas instead of just adopting old ones.”

Sean’s career is a wonderful illustration of where an Illinois education, one that nourishes creativity and confidence, can take you. We are so proud of his accomplishments and know that he will inspire students with his story.

Tracy Sulkin

College of Media Dean

Evans forged an affinity for the university long before he arrived at Illinois as an undergraduate student. His mother attended the U of I, and Evans’s favorite holiday haul to this day was the morning he found a Sega Genesis and an orange-and-blue Illinois Starter jacket underneath his Christmas tree as a boy.

Once he stepped on campus as a student, a lasting imprint was left almost immediately.

“You walk out on the Quad, and it looks so quintessentially college,” said Evans, a native of Crystal Lake. “It looks like a college out of a film. There’s a scale and a history to it that really smacks you in the face. Walking onto the Main Quad for the first time, I had this feeling of being in a totally different place in my life and feeling a lot of comfort in it.”

Evans said he “trusted the incubation period” of the journalism program in the College of Media to build up his skill set. He recalled the high standards the professors expected out of students, and the meaningful experience he gained cycling through each production role on WPGU-FM student news broadcasts.

Alum Sean Evans, *Hot Ones* host, visits with students in Journalism 340: Video Reporting and Storytelling, taught by College of Media senior lecturer Alison Davis. The class was one Sean remembered taking when he was in school.
(Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

“Sean’s career is a wonderful illustration of where an Illinois education, one that nourishes creativity and confidence, can take you. We are so proud of his accomplishments and know that he will inspire students with his story,” said Tracy Sulkin, dean of the College of Media.

But like many young people entering the workforce in 2008, he found a flagging job market upon graduation. Evans returned to his old summer gig: a Chicago architecture tour guide.

“I remember feeling so hopeless,” Evans said. “There was this existential feeling to it. But even at that time, I had a passion for what I wanted to do. I would take every freelance project I could get. I knew I had a passion for this work and needed an outlet for it.”

His meteoric rise began after successfully pitching and developing Hot Ones in 2015, when he was working at Complex magazine. He wasn’t even the biggest fan of chicken wings. At best, Evans thought it could be a fun idea he and his co-creators would program on a quarterly basis. But the format of humanizing celebrities—and making them forget their media training—by putting them through blistering hot wing sauces worked in capitalizing on the attention economy. Notable guests have included Will Smith, Stephen Curry, Billie Eilish, Justin Timberlake, Gordon Ramsay, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Dua Lipa, and many more across the show’s 400 episodes.

Sean Evans in Illinois regalia — (Photo by Fred Zwicky / University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)

“I certainly never thought it would be my own media company,” Evans said. “We were working in cubicles at Complex and ended up making something that became bigger than these giant, hulking media companies it was incubated in.”

Evans remains deeply involved in the preparation for each Hot Ones episode and works late into the night formulating precise questions and perfecting his delivery of those queries to his guests. These nocturnal work sessions always transport Evans back to his time at Illinois, where he would sign up for the latest availability in the basement of Gregory Hall to edit his broadcast journalism projects.

“I always really liked going down there, having my headphones on, being the only person in the building, and just lost in the basement of Gregory Hall cutting packages,” Evans said. “I still to this day work like that. I’ve written my best interview questions—and probably the most interview questions—after 10 p.m.”

As his own celebrity stature has grown, Evans has eagerly returned to his alma mater. He has attended sporting events, spoken to students, and even hosted a special edition of Hot Ones with Illinois men’s head basketball coach Brad Underwood as the guest. It’s all a part of giving back to a place that has been special to him for most of his life, and Evans can’t wait to add to that legacy with his role as Commencement speaker.

“As somebody who loves this school, went to this school, and now has this crazy pop culture platform, it’s fun to bring that energy back to Illinois,” Evans said.

Watch Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. interview Commencement speaker and Illinois Media alumnus Sean Evans:

For more information regarding the universitywide ceremony—including the stadium’s clear-bag policy, student regalia, and parking instructions—visit commencement.illinois.edu.

Editor’s note: To request a media interview with Sean Evans, contact Kovert Creative at fwfpr@kovertcreative.com. For media requests related to Commencement, contact Patrick Wade, director of executive communications and issues management, 217-333-5010, pwade@illinois.edu. For information about Commencement, contact commencement@illinois.edu.

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Author: hrush@illinois.edu

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