Media College News

Andy Stofleth’s path has been winding like a river, but one thing has remained constant – the current keeps pulling him toward a career in service.

Phil Kabler (BSJ, 1981; MSJ 1984) recently covered his final West Virginia legislative session, after 32 years reporting on it for the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

View the College of Media graduation photo gallery

It’s awards season, and we’re not talking about the Academy Awards. As the spring semester comes to a close, national journalism and communications organizations are making selections for top projects created by students and faculty. This year, the WVU Reed College of Media is bringing home the bling.

Most recently, students were awarded 2020 Mark of Excellence Awards by the Society of Professional Journalists. First-place winners from Region 4, which comprises Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, will compete at the national level among other regional winners from the 12 SPJ regions.

SeVohn Hunter, a student in the West Virginia University Reed College of Media’s accelerated Master of Science in Journalism degree program, is one of just 14 students in the nation to be selected as a 2020 Stickell Honors Intern. Hunter will be interning virtually at Leo Burnett Worldwide, a global advertising agency.

This prestigious annual internship places students at top firms in the marketing communications industry throughout the United States, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 internships were suspended until this summer.

Students from the Defense Information School (DINFOS) can now enroll in a track exclusively for military personnel in West Virginia University’s renowned online Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) master’s degree program.

West Virginia University Reed College of Media senior Kayla Starcher was recognized nationally with an Award of Excellence from the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) and placed 20th in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s Audio News and Features Competition for a podcast she produced as part of her journalism coursework.

Kierstin Lindkvist has always been drawn to stories that surround sports, athletes and team rivalries. At the WVU Reed College of Media, she found the perfect place to fulfill her dream of telling these stories, while also honing skills in sports production.  

Teaching Professor Gina Martino Dahlia has led the award-winning “WVU News” team since 2002 and began experimenting with a new sports production program called “Mountaineer Playbook” in 2015. With the hire of ESPN veteran Chuck Scatterday, “Mountaineer Playbook” is now officially part of curriculum at the West Virginia University Reed College of Media, providing yet another real-world reporting experience for students.

Michael Pehanich (BSJ, 2001) has worked in sports media for some of the top teams in the National Football League, including the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Football Team and now the Super Bowl LV champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. As the Buccaneers’ director of communications, he is the primary contact between the organization and the media, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, his already demanding job was more even more challenging.