Media College News

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.

Maxwell Shavers (BSJ, 2020), a current student in the West Virginia University Reed College of Media Digital Marketing Communications master’s program, has been selected for the Carnegie-Knight News21 Program, a nationwide reporting project.

Jai-Leen James is a journalist. She is an ethical, objective and effective storyteller who can craft a beautiful headline followed by a poignant lede. But her most recent role on the digital production team for the USA TODAY Network exposed her to the business side of journalism and opened her eyes to the wealth of information found in multi-channel analytics.

100 Days in Appalachia, a media outlet currently incubated at the West Virginia University Reed College of Media’s Innovation Center, was one of 18 news organizations nationwide selected to participate in the Poynter Table Stakes Program.   

As essential workers and first responders, journalists face increased threats and risks online and in real life as they cover natural disasters, mass shootings, the COVID-19 pandemic, violent extremism, police violence and increased civil unrest in communities. As part of the communities they cover, journalists experience trauma themselves in the course of serving the public.

The first shipments of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived in West Virginia on December 14. As doses are administered, researchers from the West Virginia University Public Interest Communication (PIC) Research Lab are focused on making sure West Virginians get timely, accurate and scientifically sound information related to the vaccine.