News 33 | DEV College of Media

Media students present at 2022 Undergraduate Research Symposium

Update May 10, 2022:

Congratulations to Ethan Grinberg, sophomore in computer science + advertising (pictured above), for winning the Undergraduate Research Symposium’s Outstanding Award in the category of Numbers, Data, and Computation for his poster presentation on “The Mechanisms of Misinformation: Clustering Diffusion Networks of Low Credibility Sources by Topology.” His research mentor was Jacob Fisher, assistant professor of advertising.

Students from each major in the College of Media are participating in the 15^th annual University of Illinois Undergraduate Research Symposium, held Thursday, April 28, in the Illini Union. The symposium features presentations, posters, and performances from students across campus.

Media student poster presentations include:

“Virtual Reality and Its Immersive Capabilities: Can It Stimulate Pro-Environmental Behavior”
9–10:15 a.m., Illini Room A—Science and Technology Session

Justin Sun, Senior, Advertising
Minghao Sun, Junior, Advertising
Henry Rose, Senior, Advertising

Research Mentors: Chen (Crystal) Chen, ICR doctoral student/Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, and Ewa Maslowska, Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising

“Analyzing the Relationship between Fear and Election Violence”
9–10:15 a.m., Illini Room C—Social Science and Behavior Session

Billy Wojcicki, Senior, Advertising

Research Mentor: Tolgahan Dilgin, Department of Political Science

“Analyzing Life Experiences through Oral History Methods”
1:30–2:45 p.m., Illini Room A—Health and Wellness Session

Vivian La, Sophomore, Journalism

Research Mentor: Sana Saboowala, Program in Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation Biology

“Investigating the Influence of Parenting Styles on Children’s Online Language Intensity in the Context of Celebrity Worship: Emotion Regulation as a Mediator”
1:30–2:45 p.m., Illini Room C—Social Science and Behavior Session

Sherry Zhang, Senior, Media & Cinema Studies

Research Mentor: Chen (Crystal) Chen, ICR doctoral student/Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising

“The Mechanisms of Misinformation: Clustering Diffusion Networks of Low Credibility Sources by Topology”
3:15–4:30 p.m., Illini Room South Lounge—Numbers, Data, and Computation Session

Ethan Grinberg, Sophomore, Computer Science + Advertising

Research Mentor: Jacob Fisher, Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising

Ethan Grinberg, CS+advertising sophomore, was also a semi-finalist in the Image of Research competition with his submission “The Shape of Misinformation.” See his image and description.

Two Media students also participated in the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program to assist advanced graduate students with their research projects:

Billy Wojcicki, advertising senior, worked with research mentor Tolgahan Dilgin in the Department of Political Science
Vivian La, journalism sophomore, worked with research mentor Sana Saboowala in the Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology

View the Undergraduate Research Week program .

Houston helps preserve investigative news content of FairWarning

The University of Illinois Archives has acquired and is preserving the website of FairWarning.org, a nonprofit investigative news organization founded and edited by Myron Levin. Brant Houston (pictured at right), Knight Chair Professor of Investigative Reporting in the Department of Journalism, helped arrange the archiving of FairWarning’s content.

FairWarning produced and published the work of staff writers and independent journalists, and its archives are being added to a rich collection of communication materials preserved by the University of Illinois Archives.

FairWarning issued watchdog reports with an emphasis on public health, consumer, labor, and environmental issues, and related topics of government and business accountability. Over 11 years of operation (2010-2021), its stories were published on its website and were also co-published by nearly 200 online, print, and broadcast news organizations across the country.

“I am pleased that the wonderful work of FairWarning has found a home at the University Archives,” Houston said. “It will now be a valuable and preserved resource for all journalists, especially investigative reporters. We thank the staff at the archives for all the work they put into this project.”

The preserved copy of the FairWarning website is found in the Wayback Machine, the web archive service built by the Internet Archive. The collection is accessible from the University of Illinois Archives Holdings Database at https://archon.library.illinois.edu/index.php?p=digitallibrary/digitalcontent&id=15537. Or go directly to the archive at https://wayback.archive-it.org/16877/20210929142827/https://www.fairwarning.org/.

Levin, the site’s founder, said he was happy to see the work has found a permanent home.

“When we knew that FairWarning would be closing, it was our overriding goal to ensure that our deeply reported stories would be accessible to journalists, researchers, students, and others,” he said. “For that reason, we’re thrilled to know that our watchdog journalism will be preserved in the University of Illinois Library Archives.”

Alumni inducted into Illini Media Company’s Hall of Fame

The Illini Media Company, which oversees The Daily Illini student newspaper, WPGU 107.1 FM radio station, and the Illio yearbook, inducted 20 people into its Class of 2022 Hall of Fame at a ceremony on April 9, 2022. Fourteen were College of Media alumni, including:

the late Nelson Algren (BS ’31, journalism), winner of 1950 National Book Award for Fiction for The Man with the Golden Arm
Susan J. Smith Cornwell (BS ’77, journalism), retired congressional correspondent at Reuters
Amara Enyia (BS ’05, journalism), Chicago attorney and activist
Jon Hansen (BS ’06, journalism), Emmy Award-winning host of WGN’s “Your Money Matters”
Paula Kamen (BS ’89, journalism), author of the book Finding Iris Chang, about her friend and Illinois journalism classmate
John J. Kim (BS ’97, advertising), photographer at Chicago Tribune and winner of 2011 Pulitzer Prize with reporting team at Chicago Sun-Times
Natasha Korecki (BS ’96, journalism), senior national political reporter at NBC News
Will Leitch (BS ’98, journalism), contributing editor at New York Magazine, founder of Deadspin, MLB.com national correspondent, and author
the late Allan R. Loudell (BS ’77, radio & TV), National Association of Broadcasters Crystal Radio Award winner
Steve Osunsami (BS ’93, journalism), Emmy Award-winning senior national correspondent at ABC News
John Paul (BS ’77, radio & TV; MS ’10, journalism), retired TV broadcaster at WCIA-TV in Champaign and journalism instructor at UIUC
Rick Sallinger (BS ’71, MS ’72, advertising), Peabody Award-winning reporter at CBS4 in Denver, Colorado
Bernard Schoenburg (BS ’76, journalism), retired political journalist
Pat Wingert (BS ’77, journalism), reporter at Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media, former correspondent at Newsweek

The members were recognized for “their distinguished professional careers and contributions to Illini Media as students, professional staff, and alumni,” according to the Illini Media website.

Photo courtesy of the Illini Media Company.

Row 1 (left to right): Bernard Schoenburg, Rick Sallinger, Susan J. Smith Cornwell, Pat Wingert Kelly, Paula Kamen

Row 2: Ralph Nozaki, Jon Hansen, Natasha Korecki, Will Leitch, John Paul, Sean Long

Row 3: Ann Dwyer, Steve Osunsami, Brad Fuhr, John J. Kim

Media faculty and TAs make list of teachers ranked as excellent

Congratulations to all of the College of Media faculty, instructors, and teaching assistants who were ranked as excellent by their students!

This list is based on Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms completed by students during the Fall 2021 semester and Winter 2021-2022. Only those instructors who distributed ICES forms at least once during this time period and who released their data for publication are included in the list. View the complete list.

Note: * denotes that the instructor ratings were outstanding

ADVERTISING

BRITTANY DUFF – ADV 284

JACOB FISHER – ADV 283, 305

STEVE HALL – ADV 150

CHANG-DAE HAM – ADV 460, 587

JACQUELINE HITCHON – ADV 283

TERRY KASDAN – ADV 409

AMANDA MABRY-FLYNN – ADV 283

EWA MASLOWSKA – ADV 460

* SHACHAR MERON – ADV 498

* MARISA PEACOCK – ADV 350, 491

SELA SAR – ADV 550

LEONA YI-FAN SU – ADV 581

JOURNALISM

CHRISTOPHER BALL – JOUR 101, 451

STEPHANIE CRAFT – JOUR 505

ALISON DAVIS – JOUR 210, 340

KEN ERDEY – JOUR 217

CHRIS EVANS – JOUR 200

CAROL LOMBARDI – JOUR 220

STEPHEN WARREN – JOUR 453

MEDIA & CINEMA STUDIES

AMANDA CIAFONE – MACS 317

CL COLE – MACS 351

JOSH HEUMAN – MACS 264, 320

JON KNIPP – MACS 282

DEREK LONG – MACS 261, 503

JENNY OYALLON-KOLOSKI – MACS 203

STRATEGIC BRAND COMMUNICATION

JACQUELINE HITCHON – SBC 503

SHACHAR MERON – SBC 500

TEACHING ASSISTANTS

* A. CANO – MACS 100

C. CHEN – ADV 460

J. PYO – MACS 100

Peacock receives Illinois Student Government Teaching Excellence Award

April 18, 2022

The Illinois Student Government Teaching Excellence Award recognizes instructors for outstanding performance both in and out of the classroom. Honorees have demonstrated a commitment to teaching and to students in every capacity of their experience at Illinois. Marisa Peacock, lecturer in advertising, was one of this year’s recipients.

Peacock “went above and beyond to make sure students had access to real-world opportunities, relevant and useful course material, in addition to being an incredibly empathetic professor,” her student nominator wrote. “She is passionate about education in a sense where she wants her students to learn, not just for a grade or for a degree. Additionally, she has a deep sense of compassion for her students and always checks in with us mentally.”

Peacock is also program chair of internships and experiential learning in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising, and teaches workshops to students in the Sandage Social Media Lab.

See additional winners of the Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction.

Mabry-Flynn receives Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

Amanda Mabry-Flynn — (Photo by Michelle Hassel.)

The Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching recognizes sustained excellence and innovative approaches in undergraduate teaching and contributions beyond classroom instruction that have an overall positive impact on undergraduate student learning. Amanda Mabry-Flynn, assistant professor of advertising, was one of this year’s recipients.

Mabry-Flynn teaches brand and advertising strategy using culturally relevant examples and collaborative activities. According to her nominator, her flexibility, empathy, and organization have positively impacted students’ learning and lives, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mabry-Flynn studies representation in advertising imagery, especially related to ethics and effects, with discussions of identity and intersectionality. She recognizes that students entering the advertising industry must understand and reflect on decisions about who is targeted and who is not—and the ways in which advertising portrayals affect individuals and society.

See additional winners of the Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction.

ICR student wins 3rd place in campus Image of Research competition

Kirby Cook (MS ’21, advertising), a doctoral student at the Institute of Communications Research in the College of Media, won third place and a $200 award in the annual Image of Research competition, a multidisciplinary event celebrating the diversity and breadth of student research at UIUC. The graduate student edition of the competition is organized by the Scholarly Commons of the University Library and the Graduate College.

Cook won for her image “The Identity Conflict: Lifelong Journey of a Korean Adoptee.”

“Art and qualitative research come together in this depiction of a lifelong identity journey for Korean adoptees,” Cook wrote in her description. “Beyond the boundaries of prescribed methods, data collection, and formulaic approaches, this collage represents the abstract complexities of research and what lies beyond charts and tables. How does one capture the essence of an individual’s personal history; their pain, their future? While my research focuses primarily on material items belonging to Korean adoptees and their meanings, I recognize that there is more behind their stories.”

View Cook’s full description and the other winning submissions.

Advertising faculty and ICR students win honors at AAA conference

Eric, Michelle, Chang-Dae — University of Illinois Advertising Professors Michelle Nelson (center) and Chang-Dae Ham (right), along with Professor Eric Haley from the University of Tennessee (left) won two "Best Paper" awards at the AAA conference for their collaborative research.

At the American Academy of Advertising annual conference held March 24–27 in St. Petersburg, Florida, faculty from the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising and students from the Institute of Communications Research presented papers, served on panels, and won awards. Sela Sar, professor of advertising and director of the Institute of Communications Research, was elected president of AAA.

Associate Professor Chang-Dae Ham and Professor Michelle Nelson, along with Professor Eric Haley (University of Tennessee), received two “Best Paper” awards for their research in political advertising literacy:

Journal of Current lssues & Research in Advertising Best Article
Nelson, M. R., Ham, C. D., & Haley, E., “What do we know about political advertising? Not much! Political persuasion knowledge and advertising skepticism in the United States.”

Journal of lnteractive Advertising Best Article
Nelson, Michelle R., Chang Dae Ham, Eric Haley, and Un Chae Chung (ICR student) (2021), “How Political Interest and Gender Influence Persuasion Knowledge, Political Information Seeking, and Support for Regulation of Political Advertising in Social Media,” 21(3), 225-242.

Faculty and students also received honors for their reviewing:

Journal of Advertising Outstanding Reviewers
Michelle Nelson

Journal of Advertising Outstanding Student Reviewers
Xiaohan (Catherine) Hu (ICR student)

Presentations by faculty and students included:

“How Parental Mediation and Media Use Relate to Persuasion Knowledge. Knowledge of Influencer Tactics, and Ad Skepticism Among Adolescents in U.S. Black Immigrant Families,” co-presented by Michelle Nelson, among others
“Car Sharing Services: How Political Ideology Makes It Successful across Cultures,” co-presented by WooJin Kim (ICR student), among others
“Which Facts Matter: How Can We Build Advertising Literacy about Contemporary Political Advertising?”, co-presented by Michelle Nelson, Chang-Dae Ham, and Eric Haley (Tennessee)
“What is and How to Teach Computational Advertising: Gaining Insight from Computer Science and Marketing Communication Educators and Ad Practitioners,” co-presented by Ewa Maslowska, assistant professor, among others
“The Effects of Advertising on Consumer Well-Being,” co-presented by Michelle Nelson, among others
“Incidental Experience of Regulatory Fit, Nonfit, and Processing Style: Consumers’ Processing Mechanism of Online Behavioral Advertising (OBA), co-presented by Chang-Dae Ham and WooJin Kim
“The Spillover Effect of Robot Service Failure on Service Firms,” co-presented by WooJin Kim, among others
“Computational Research and Measurement Innovations: Affective Computing and Emotion AI in the Future Advertising Research,” co-presented by Ewa Maslowska, among others

Sar to serve as president of American Academy of Advertising

Sela Sar, professor of advertising and director of the Institute of Communications Research, has been elected president of the American Academy of Advertising for 2022-2023. He was sworn in at the AAA annual conference in March.

Sar served as president-elect for the past year, and served as vice president of AAA in 2019. He has been an active member since joining in 2004, having served on the research, award, and publication committees.

For advertising scholars, AAA is the home base for academic growth, knowledge generation, global insight, networking, and the shared mission of educating the next generation of advertising scholars.

With over 600 members, AAA is the oldest and the largest academic association dedicated to advertising research in the U.S. The University of Illinois has a history of leaders in AAA. Michelle Nelson, professor of advertising, is a past president of AAA, as are several alumni from the College of Media’s Institute of Communications Research.

Complete slate of Ebertfest films, special guests announced

Update 4/13/2022: Comedian and actor Gilbert Gottfried was originally scheduled to be one of the headlining guests at Ebertfest, accompanying the documentary Gilbert. Because of Gottfried’s death on April 12, Ebertfest will be dedicating its 22nd annual event in his honor.

The 22nd Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as Ebertfest, announced additional actors and musicians who will appear as guests, as well as a bonus film, at this year’s festival, to be held April 20-23 at The Virginia Theatre.

Actors Thora Birch and Betsy Sodaro join a large group of filmmakers already announced for this year’s festival.

Acting since age 4, Birch’s credits include iconic roles in movies such as Ghost World, which is featured in this year’s Ebertfest; American Beauty, Now and Then, and Hocus Pocus. Birch has won SAG Awards and multiple Young Artist Awards, and has been nominated for Golden Globe, Emmy, and BAFTA awards.

Sodaro achieved stardom in the 2015 TV series Clipped and in the small screen’s Disjointed from 2017-18, among many other roles in her career. An actor in the Ebertfest film Golden Arm, Sodaro joins other guests from the movie including actor Olivia Stambouliah; writers Ann Marie Allison and Jenna Milly; and producer Brigid Brakefield.

The movie Soy Cubana will be followed by a musical performance from a band of current and former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Latin Jazz Combo musicians, featuring guest vocalist Stephanie Woods Machado and musical director Tito Carrillo. The band will perform rhythms inspired by the movie’s Afro-Cuban music.

An additional special guest attending Ebertfest this year is executive producer Chris Kelly. Associated with acclaimed independent films including Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Olive, and Once Upon a Time in Queens, Kelly also is a co-owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. He will moderate the discussion after the screening of the movie Gilbert, about Gilbert Gottfried, which highlights the everyday life of the highly influential and incomparable comedian.

A short movie, Lifeline, and a 13th feature-length film will be included in the schedule this year, instead of panel discussions. The Phantom of the Open tells the remarkable true story of Maurice Flitcroft, a crane operator and optimistic dreamer who, with the support of his family and friends, managed to gain entry to the 1976 British Open qualifier despite never playing a round of golf before.

View the 22nd annual festival program lineup at http://www.ebertfest.com/film-schedule.

Passes to see all 13 films cost $200, including all processing fees. Four passes purchased together are $700. Also available are a small number of University of Illinois student passes priced at $150 each. Passes and individual movie tickets–$20 for the general public or $15 for U of I students—may be purchased through the festival website or at the Virginia Theatre box office, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign, 217-356-9063. Updates will be posted on the festival website.

Roger Ebert’s Film Festival is a special event of Chaz Ebert and the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. For additional information, visit http://www.ebertfest.com.

View original press release from the University of Illinois News Bureau.

Previous press releases: