The City of Tampa recently recognized the legacy of the late James Urbanski (BS ’50, journalism), who worked with the Tampa Tribune for over three decades, with an honorary street in his namesake near the site of the former newspaper building.
Urbanski, who passed away on April 16, 2021, at the age of 93, served as president and general manager at the Tampa Tribune.
A lifetime civic leader, Urbanski also served as CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, director of the Straz Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, director of the Museum of Science and Industry, president of the Florida State Fair Authority, president of the United Way of Greater Tampa Bay, and director of the Tampa Metropolitan Area YMCA.
Urbanski was also the recipient of the Boy Scouts of America Silver Beaver Award and 1989 Civitan Tampa’s Citizen of the Year Award. He was an avid booster of making Tampa “America’s Next Great City.”
You’re seeing some of the same trends that we see in the English-speaking community, but they’re much more pronounced in the Latino community, especially the immigrant community.
Melita Garza, Associate Professor and Tom and June Netzel Sleeman Scholar in Business Journalism
Melita Garza, associate professor and Tom and June Netzel Sleeman Scholar in Business Journalism, was quoted in a New York Times article about Carlos Espina’s social media influence in the Latino community regarding political and immigrant issues in the United States.
Garza said Latinos are tuning in less to legacy Spanish-language television networks like Telemundo and Univision and turning more to social media for news.
“You’re seeing some of the same trends that we see in the English-speaking community, but they’re much more pronounced in the Latino community, especially the immigrant community,” she said.
If you pick up the 2023 book Changing Models for Journalism by Brant Houston, Knight Chair Professor in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting in the Department of Journalism, you would read about the collapse of traditional media and the changes in the news landscape over the past decade, written by an award-winning journalist who has spent years researching journalism models.
You would learn about the digital age, blogging, nonprofits, investigative centers and the rise in university-led student reporting programs—which is fitting because Houston founded his own such program in 2009 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The watchdog community reporting outlet, CU-CitizenAccess, is run entirely by him and his managing editor, Dylan Tiger, as well as a cadre of student journalists.
Robert “Bob” Endres (BS ’62, MS ’63, journalism), a pioneering figure in film projection and a generous University of Illinois donor, passed away on June 25, 2024. He was 85.
During college, Endres worked at WILL as an engineer and a film critic. Endres said the valuable experience he gained at WILL served him well in his first job after college as a radio talk show host and DJ in his hometown of Streator, Illinois.
Endres would go on to work as head projectionist at the Kankakee Theater until moving to New York City in 1974 to fulfill a lifelong dream as head projectionist at Radio City Music Hall. In 1999, he became a projection technician in Dolby’s New York City screening room where he worked for the remainder of his career.
Endres was a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and worked as a projectionist for advertising agencies, film laboratories, and movie studios. He also acted as background projectionist for CBS on the television shows Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, and Captain Kangaroo.
His career highlights include Abel Gance’s Napoleon, with its three-screen triptych at Radio City; the 25th anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Opera; running “dailies” screenings for Sydney Lumet on seven of his pictures, including his last; and working for director Otto Preminger in his home screening room in Manhattan.
Endres was named a member of the President’s Council, the University of Illinois Foundation’s donor-recognition program for those who give at the highest levels (totaling $50,000 or more) and a member of College of Media’s Dean’s Society, for donors who give $10,000 and above.
You note your popularity specifically when you get internalized into meme culture.
Carrie Wilson-Brown, Lecturer of Media and Cinema Studies and of Advertising
Carrie Wilson-Brown, a lecturer of media and cinema studies and of advertising, was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article about the cross-cultural and cross-generational appeal of the Despicable Me movie franchise, and its fame beyond the film.
“You note your popularity specifically when you get internalized into meme culture,” Wilson-Brown said. “In terms of Despicable Me and the Minions specifically, all of a sudden, they kind of transcended out of the film and into internet culture.”
Faculty, graduate students, and recent alumni from the College of Media co-presented 16 topics of research at the 74th annual International Communication Association Conference—the largest academic conference for communication scholars—on June 20-24, 2024, in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. 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 Global Human Rights.” Media presenters included faculty in the Institute of Communications Research, the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, and the Department of Journalism; graduate students in the MS Advertising program; and doctoral students in the Institute of Communications Research PhD program.
Media research presenters and presentations are listed below. (Note: Presenters/authors from other units or institutions are not included. Please see the ICA conference program for full author listings.)
Theme: Environmental Risk and Science Communication “Satire and Perceived Trustworthiness in Communicating About Renewable Energy”
Theme: Crisis Communication “Public Engagement in an Era of Misinformation: Examining Corporate Responsible and Ethical Communication on Twitter”
Yanbo Li, ICR student
Theme: Continuing Effects and Practice of Stereotypes in Intercultural Communication “Effects of Chinese Female Images in Controversial Advertisements on Audience Attitudes and Purchase Intention”
Ruiheng (Rachel) Sun, MS Advertising student (pictured below)
Rachel Sun
Theme: Hello Chatbot! Can We Talk? “How Conversational-Agent Modality Affects Charitable Behavioral Intentions: The Roles of Communication Style and Anthropomorphism”
Theme: Stigma, Infodemic, and Social Media “Unmasking the COVID-19 Infodemic: An In-Depth Examination of Information Dissemination and Misinformation Propagation on Twitter During the COVID-19 Pandemic”
Sang-Hwa Oh, Assistant Professor, Advertising and ICR
Theme: Information Systems and Health Communication “Combating Optimistic Bias: Evaluating the Role of Self-Focused Augmented Reality in Enhancing E-Cigarette Risk Perception Among Users”
Lizi Ma, MS Advertising alum (December ’23)
Theme: Information Systems and Health Communication “Understanding (Counter-) Persuasive Effects of Personalized Health Messages Through Psychological Reactance Theory: Privacy Intrusion as a Freedom Threat”
Theme: Navigating New Visibility That’s Feline Perplexing: Examining Emerging Dynamics around Data and Disclosure “A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Doubts: The Counterintuitive Impact of Chat Log Screenshots”
Theme: Information Systems and Persuasive Effects “Recall or Perception? Social Media Engagement Metrics, Perceived Social Endorsement, and Perceptions of Message Credibility”
Theme: Algorithms, Social Media and Online Engagement “Analyzing the Political Leanings of YouTube Recommendations in Brazil: A Network-Based Approach Using YouTube Audience on Twitter”
Theme: Information Systems and Methodological Considerations, Science, and Climate “Extending Message Framing to Virtual Space: An Experimental Study on the Impact of Self-Focused vs. Non-Self-Focused AR Embodiments on Vaping Risk Perceptions”
Mike Yao, Professor and Director of ICR, Advertising and ICR
Theme: Information Systems at Work “Targeting Against Disinformation: The Effect of Microtargeted Corrections on the Impact of Fake News”
Theme: Information Systems in the Social Context “Unraveling the Impact of User-Generated Content and Producer-Generated Content on K-Pop Fan Identity and Motivations”
Zixuan (Melodie) Zhao, ICR student (pictured at right)
Former Illinois setter Jordyn Poulter (BS ’18, MACS) was named to the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer. The All-American setter is one of 12 selected for the roster.
Poulter, who was chosen as Best Setter at the COVID-delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics, helped the U.S. earn its first-ever gold medal three years ago.
During her time at Illinois, Poulter was a three-time All-American, earning first-team accolades as a senior in 2018. During her senior year, the Colorado native was named the Big Ten Co-Setter of the Year, AVCA Northeast Region Player of the Year, and a finalist for the Honda Award. Poulter also led the Illini to the program’s fourth-ever NCAA National Semifinal appearance.
The Women’s Olympic indoor volleyball competition runs July 27-August 11.
Armando Sanchez-Monsivais (BS ’19, advertising), ad product specialist at Twitch and a member of the James Webb Young Advisory Board in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, was named to the Creative Ladder 2024 Cannes Lion Cohort.
Sanchez-Monsivais is one of six creatives chosen to receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, held June 17-24, to gain invaluable exposure, connect with industry leaders, and showcase their unique perspectives on a global stage.
Held annually in Cannes, France, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is home to the world’s most prestigious advertising awards. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate creativity, effectiveness, and innovation in the global advertising, marketing, and communication industries.
In addition to his role at Twitch, Sanchez-Monsivais serves as a committee member on the Mosaic Next Gen Leadership Council, an initiative by the American Advertising Federation; an advisory board member for ADCOLOR Conferences and Awards; and was selected for the Rising Leaders Academy at the Creative Ladder.
Amy Restko (BA ’13, LAS; MS ’14, advertising), planning director at Chicago advertising agency AbelsonTaylor Group, has been selected as one of 20 Clio Health Innovators.
The 2024 honorees, recognized as top talents from around the globe, will be celebrated at the Clio Health Awards on June 12. The Clios were founded in 1959 to celebrate creative excellence in advertising.
“Being selected as a Clio Health Innovator is an immense honor and validation of the work that I and my colleagues at AbelsonTaylor Group do every day. It shows that you can do amazing things when you make your work fun and feel supported and encouraged to explore new territory,” Restko said.
Restko joined AbelsonTaylor Group in 2016 and served as an account planner before her promotion as planning director in 2022.
Students in the Fall 2023 Cinematography and Sound Design course, taught by media and cinema studies lecturer Victor Font, produced a film special of Cetacean, which aired on WILL-TV’s Prairie Fire on April 18.
The one-hour episode includes interviews with Cetacean creators, Deke Weaver and Jennifer Allen, and excerpts from last fall’s live multimedia performance, which was made possible by a collaboration with the students.
Part social practice, part visual art installation, part live event, Cetacean’s three years of research, rehearsal, and planning became a live public performance—a two- and-a-half-hour long living collage of story, dance, sound, video, lo-fi effects, and a colossal installation.
Cetacean was the sixth interdisciplinary performance from “The Unreliable Bestiary”—a lifelong project presenting a performance for every letter of the alphabet, each letter representing an endangered animal or habitat.
