Gutterman speaks to WAER about social media blocking article on Biden’s son

Roy Gutterman, associate professor of magazine, news and digital journalism and Tully Center director, was interviewed by WAER for the story, “SU Professor Challenges Recent “Censorship” by Social Media.”

Gutterman writes about the importance of the right to vote for Syracuse.com

Roy Gutterman, associate professor of magazine, news and digital journalism and Tully Center director, wrote the opinion piece, “The right to vote is ‘the essence of a democratic society.’ Exercise it,” for Syracuse.com.

The right to vote has been a hard-fought right that embodies the most basic part of the democratic system: choosing the people and officials who will design, set and enforce laws and public policy, and defining what our society stands for.

Roy S. Gutterman

Professor Emerita Maria Russell honored with PRSA Gold Anvil Award

Maria Russell, professor emerita of public relations at the Newhouse School, is the recipient of the Gold Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

The Gold Anvil Award is PRSA’s highest individual honor recognizing lifetime achievement in public relations. It will be presented to Russell at PRSA’s international conference Oct. 26, following a keynote address from Pulitzer Prize-winning author and presidential historian Jon Meacham.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that past Gold Anvil winners constitute the pantheon of the public relations profession, and now Syracuse University and Newhouse are represented among them,” says Anthony D’Angelo, professor of practice in public relations and director of the communications management program. “Maria Russell’s influence has uplifted a multitude of students, faculty colleagues and public relations professionals, all of whom are celebrating this news.”

Russell retired in June following 34 years on the faculty of the Newhouse School. She founded Newhouse’s executive master’s degree in communications management, which fuses content in strategic communications, business management and organizational leadership, and established the school’s Office of Executive Education. She was pivotal in the creation of the Newhouse W2O Center for Social Commerce, which supports innovative programs on social media and analytics.

A respected leader in the public relations profession for more than 40 years, Russell has also advanced the profession through her leadership of professional development programming for PRSA and other professional bodies, and has served on PRSA’s Board of Directors as secretary and treasurer.

She has also been honored with PRSA’s Outstanding Educator Award, the Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to PRSA and the Philip Dorf Award for Outstanding Mentorship by PRSA’s New York Chapter. She was named Educator of the Year by the Brazilian Association for Corporate Communication (ABERJE) due to her work on executive education programs for the organization.

She was a founding member of the Board of Advisors for the Plank Center for Leadership in PR at the University of Alabama, serving on the board from 2006 to 2019. Russell is also active in the Page Society, the Commission on Public Relations Education and the Accrediting Council in Journalism and Mass Communications.

Newhouse School establishes scholarship program in memory of late dean Lorraine Branham

Mark J. Lodato, dean of the Newhouse School, today announced the establishment of the Lorraine Branham Scholarship Program.

Used primarily to recruit and support Newhouse students from socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and other underrepresented groups, the program will provide under-resourced, talented students the opportunity to attend Syracuse University and the Newhouse School debt-free. The program is supported by both school resources and donor funds.

The program is named in honor of late Newhouse dean Lorraine Branham, who died in April 2019. “Lorraine was a champion of access to higher education, and I’m confident this new multimillion-dollar investment would make her proud,” says Lodato.

This new program will supplement the Lorraine E. Branham Endowed Scholarship for Newhouse students from underrepresented populations, which was created in Branham’s memory by alumni and friends following her death.

Through the new program, as many as 10 scholarships will be awarded each fall; recipients will be known as Branham Scholars. The program will also support “Finish Line” scholarships for rising juniors and seniors who need financial assistance to complete their education at Newhouse. In addition, a merit-based Branham Prize will be awarded to an incoming first-year student as recognition of his or her accomplishments in the classroom and the communications space while in high school.

Lasting Legacy

“Lorraine was passionate about making diversity a priority across the school,” says Amy Falkner, senior associate dean for academic affairs, who worked with Branham for 11 years. “It has always been a plank in our strategic plan and [led to] many of the initiatives and accomplishments that came about—in curriculum, recruitment and retention of students and faculty, scholarships, internships, guest speakers and speaker series.”

Payton Campbell, now a senior in graphic design, says Branham helped facilitate her enrollment at Newhouse, and was an inspiration to her. “Having a Black woman as the dean of my prestigious communications school meant everything to me. She motivates me to thrive and excel in my career every day,” says Campbell, who is president of the SU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. “Dean Branham dedicated her life to helping students of color like me gain access and superb training to reach our highest goals in the industry.”

Angela Y. Robinson ’78, director of operations for the National Association of Black Journalists, recommended Branham for the dean position in 2008. “With great conviction, Lorraine worked tirelessly to recruit, retain and support all students, especially students from underrepresented communities—students too often overlooked. She understood the urgency of not simply opening the door, but removing the door altogether,” Robinson says. “Because of this scholarship program, her legacy endures.”

Continued Progress

The establishment of the Branham Scholarship Program is one of several initiatives aimed at expanding and enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion at the Newhouse School.

Beginning during Branham’s tenure, the school strengthened curricular content in diversity, adding the Race, Gender and Media course, which is required for all students. Industry partnerships with companies such as LinkedIn, Time Inc. and Bustle have led to internship and fellowship programs for students of color. The Newhouse Foundation Fellowship for Minorities has provided more than 100 journalism graduate students with full-tuition scholarships and on-the-job training at Advance Media New York. Margins, a mentorship group for first-year and transfer students from underrepresented communities, including students of color and LGBTQIA+ students, was formed last year.

Lodato created the Newhouse Dean’s Student Leadership Council to improve connectivity and communication between school leadership and students. He also established new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees on the Newhouse Advisory Board and the Newhouse 44, the school’s alumni networking and mentorship group.

In August, all Newhouse faculty and staff participated in the Prejudice Habit-Breaking Intervention with Patricia Devine, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

“We are elevating the importance of these issues throughout our community—students, faculty, staff and alumni,” Lodato says.

Additional initiatives are in the planning stages, as outlined in Lodato’s message to the Newhouse community last summer. Those include:

• The establishment of a new fund to support collaborative faculty and undergraduate student research in the areas of diversity, equity and inclusion.
• The creation of special topics workshops from each department that examine the intersection between the discipline and issues of race and injustice. 
• The establishment of a communications career fair for minority-owned businesses.

“At the Newhouse School, we are dedicated to a culture grounded in inclusion and respect, and to preparing our students to enter and lead our industries in an increasingly diverse nation and world,” Lodato says.

Remembering Sherri Taylor

The Newhouse community mourns the loss of graphic design instructor Sherri Taylor, who died Oct. 19 following a long illness.

In a message to the school on Monday, Newhouse dean Mark J. Lodato noted that, despite the loss, “we can gain some comfort in knowing that Sherri’s tireless efforts and legacy will endure through the generations of students whose lives she touched in such a caring and rewarding way.”

During her 30 years at the Newhouse School, Taylor built a reputation as a funny, tough and kind teacher who was passionate about design and dedicated to her students, always holding them to a high standard and pushing them to do better.

Taylor had a positive impact on thousands of students over the course of her career. When news of her death reached the community on Monday, that impact became clear in the outpouring of remembrances from alumni and students who had sat in her classroom.

“Sherri taught me how to be a meticulous designer who works with intention,” remembered alumna Madeline Kelly ’14, “but she also taught me how to laugh at myself, how to tell a captivating story and how to properly honor those whose stories we told. What an incredible legacy. I am so grateful I could learn from her.”

Said alumnus David Miller ’11: “Sherri Taylor was so pivotal to my time at Newhouse. Ten years out, and I still think daily about her exacting detail and insistence on strong rationale for design choices. She was the absolute best kind of tough, and I’m so lucky to have known her.”

Taylor taught introductory and advanced graphic design courses to Newhouse students as well as students in the school’s Military Visual Journalism program. She guided students during the visual communications department’s annual Fall Workshop and led collaborative pro bono work by students in photography and graphic design that twice won Chancellor’s Citations for Public Engagement and Scholarship. Her students also collaborated on book projects for The Eddie Adams Workshop and the Alexia Foundation.

“Sherri loved Newhouse. She dedicated her life to educating the next generation,” says Bruce Strong, chair of the visual communications department. “With quick wit and candor, she told students exactly what she thought of their work—the good and the bad. She set the bar high and didn’t stop pushing students until they reached that bar.”

Born in Washington, D.C. Taylor was raised in Irving, Texas. Before coming to Newhouse, she spent years teaching high school journalism in her home state, and it remained a passion of hers. In Syracuse, she was director of the Empire State School Press Association (ESSPA) and the former School Press Institute, a summer workshop for high school journalists from across the country. She also helped organize J-Camp, a weeklong summer journalism program for students from the Syracuse City School District, which was hosted at Newhouse in 2009 and 2010.

In 2017, Taylor was honored by the Association of Texas Photography Instructors with the Star of Texas Award for her contributions to photographic education in Texas. She also earned the Trailblazer Award from the Texas Association of Journalism Educators, Special Recognition Adviser from the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and Texas Journalism Teacher of the Year from the Interscholastic League Press Conference.

At Syracuse University, she was honored with the Teacher of the Year award from University College, three nominations for Female Educator of the Year by Eta Pi Upsilon Sigma and a nomination for an Outstanding Teaching award from the Greek Awards Committee.

Olivia Delorenzo, now a senior in the advertising program, was a high school student when she met Taylor through her work with ESSPA, and says Taylor was the reason she enrolled at Newhouse.

“Her love of teaching was so immense that I’m sure her loss is felt not only by SU students and alumni, but also by young journalists all across New York State,” Delorenzo says. “I am immensely saddened by her death, and incredibly grateful to have known her.”

Grygiel interviewed by PBS about Facebook and the 2020 election

Jennifer Grygiel, assistant professor of communications, was interviewed by PBS News Hour Weekend for the article, “Is Facebook really ready for the 2020 election?“

Television, radio and film professors ‘pay it forward’ by sharing Hollywood experience with students

Television, radio and film (TRF) faculty members Keith Giglio and Ben Frahm are also working screenwriters, often bouncing stories off each other in the Newhouse faculty and staff lounge. Giglio has written films like “Return to Halloweentown” and was a producer on “A Cinderella Story.” Frahm was a story consultant on DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon” and his original script, “Dr. Sensitive,” sold to Universal Studios.

Success in the past doesn’t mean resting on your laurels, however. “Dear Christmas,” Giglio’s holiday romantic comedy written with his wife, Juliet, will air on Lifetime Nov. 27, while Frahm’s newest screenplay was recently optioned by Imagine Entertainment producer Bobby Cohen.

With so much in common, it makes sense that Giglio and Frahm would form a strong friendship while teaching together at Newhouse.

“I missed having a writing buddy to talk to,” says Giglio about Frahm, who joined the TRF faculty in 2014. For the past few years, the two have had weekly coffee meetings to catch up on campus happenings and talk writing.

“We figured out [that] we went up for the same writing job against each other. Something called ‘Fast and the Furriest’,” says Frahm, laughing. “Neither of us got it.”

As working writers, both professors have to make time outside of their teaching schedules to write screenplays. This past year, while Frahm was teaching from home due to the pandemic, he put his extra free time into a new script.

“I wrote this script in two weeks,” says Frahm. “The project is still in the early stages of development. It’s exciting to have Imagine on board, as they will offer clout and relationship to the packaging and producing process.”

As for Giglio, he’s been co-writing Christmas movies with Juliet for the past three years, and they have recently signed a two-book deal with a publisher to write romantic comedies.

“I got a call about writing a Christmas movie,” says Giglio. “My wife and I always worked on romantic comedies together. So, we drove down to New York, pitched it [to the producer] [and] by Monday we pitched to the network.  In a few weeks, we had a deal and greenlight to make the movie. It was called ‘A Very Nutty Christmas.’”

Giglio and Frahm bring their successes to the classroom in hopes of teaching students how Hollywood and screenwriting really work.

“I feel like our experiences in the industry can [inform] our work in the classroom,” says Frahm. “It’s fun to blur those lines and get students excited about what’s out there.”

But with success comes hard work, and Frahm does his best to make that clear to his students.

“At the age of 25, I sold a script for quarter of a million dollars to Universal, and I was like, ‘This is easy,’” he says. “But I try to tell them about the struggle. You know ‘The King’s Speech?’ That took 30 years to happen. So we spend energy [talking] about the story behind the story. I think [that] can be beneficial, to not sugarcoat it.”

Giglio agrees. “It’s about doing the work,” he says. “There’s a [misconception about] Hollywood that people are just soaking under the sun having fun. Maybe. But they’re also working really hard. I think Ben and I try to teach the grind of how to sit down and break a story [and] we try to emulate that in the classroom.”

With their new projects in the works, Giglio and Frahm both feel that sharing their experiences in class is a form of paying it forward.

“You get on an elevator. It gets you to the top. You’ve got to send it back down for the next person,” says Giglio.

Former Newhouse students find work at National Geographic

For three years after leaving Newhouse to pursue a career in photography, former multimedia, photography and design student Vi Nguyen worked as a freelancer in New York City. Now, she’s landed what most photographers would consider a dream job: photo coordinator at National Geographic.

“The last few years have been kind of crazy,” says Nguyen. “This is the first time where it’s been somewhat stable, where I know when my next paycheck is going to be.”

Nguyen is thankful for the opportunity to work at the internationally acclaimed magazine.

“It’s a really good place for me to learn what it is I want to do in the realm of photography,” she says.

While at Newhouse, Nguyen worked closely with Mike Davis, Newhouse’s Alexia Tsairis Endowed Chair in Documentary Photography, who also used to work at National Geographic. After leaving Syracuse, she kept in contact with him.

“Mike has always been really involved with the photo community, inside and outside of Newhouse,” says Nguyen. “[He’s good at helping you] get your foot in the door at these organizations.”

It was Davis who alerted Nguyen about the position at National Geographic, which she assumed at the end of the summer.

Davis says his former colleagues regularly ask him for recommendations when positions become available because they trust his judgement. This has resulted in six of Davis’ former Newhouse students, including Nguyen, finding positions at National Geographic.

“The richest aspect of working there is the scope and depth of the types of stories that you get to engage with,” says Davis. “It’s also amazing how broad the types of images you have to create are compared to most journalistic settings.”

Another one of Davis’ former students, Andrea Wise G’15, is a contract photo editor at National Geographic and says the publication’s dedication to supporting documentary photography is unique.

“Too often, photographers are asked to do more with less, so it is a dream to have the time and resources to properly support photographers so they can produce their best work,” says Wise. “I have worked in this field, first as a photojournalist, then as a photo editor, for nearly a decade and I have never worked in such a visually-driven newsroom before.”

The reason Newhouse students end up at places like National Geographic is because of the range of skills they’re taught, says Davis.

“I teach equal doses of how to produce images and how to develop projects, edit projects. So, every student leaves here with equal skill sets, as opposed to most programs [where] you learn how to make pictures or you learn how to be an editor,” says Davis. “I think they’re intertwined.”

Visual communications department chair Bruce Strong says the fact that many former students are working at places like National Geographic says a lot about Newhouse as a school

“Our students’ photographic work consistently wins many awards and has been published by National Geographic before,” says Strong. “This clearly demonstrates that our department’s strategy is working.”

Adrianne Morales is a senior in the broadcast and digital journalism program at the Newhouse School.

Above: Vi Nguyen and some images she took for National Geographic.

Newhouse students, media named as finalists in Associated Collegiate Press Awards

Newhouse students and media outlets racked up 24 nominations in this year’s Associated Collegiate Press Awards, including three National Pacemaker finals for The Daily Orange and SALT, the military photojournalism magazine.

In addition, newspaper and online journalism junior Emma Folts is a finalist for Reporter of the Year.

Winners will be announced Oct. 22. Congratulations, finalists!

National Pacemakers

Newspaper: The Daily Orange
Magazine: SALT, Military Photojournalism 2020
Online: The Daily Orange

Reporter of the Year

Emma Folts, The Daily Orange

Story of the Year

Breaking News:
Kallan Arkeder, Toby Craner, Meilin Quinn, The NewsHouse
Protest spills into the streets as both sides dispute negotiation efforts

In-depth News Story:
Patrick Linehan, Rocio Fortuny, High Stakes
New York college students eagerly await  marijuana legalization

Feature Story:
Jordan Muller, The Daily Orange
By chance: Students who switched tickets escaped the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing

Sports Game Story
Andrew Graham, The Daily Orange
Louisville crushes Syracuse’s bowl game ambitions with 56-34 win

Sports Feature Story
Josh Schafer, The Daily Orange
In a city full of Girards, Joseph Girard III made it big

Ernie Pyle Human Interest Profile:
Amanda Paule, The NewsHouse
Neal Powless: SU Ombuds brings a message of healing to a polarized world

Kimiko Dugan, SALT magazine
Life after loss

Multimedia

Multimedia News Story
The High Stakes Staff, High Stakes

Multimedia Feature Story
Madeline Powell, The NewsHouse, “Changing stigma around coils, kinks, curls of natural hair”

Multimedia Sports Story
The Military Motion Media Program, The NewsHouse, “The Modern Day Gladiator”

Photo Slideshow
Emily Kenny, High Stakes, “A hemp harvest festival buzzes with freedom in the heart of New York”

COVID-19 Coverage

Print: COVID 19 News or Feature Story
The Daily Orange Staff,  Diplomas and doubts: April 27 issue

Design

Newspaper Page/Spread
Talia Trackim, The Daily Orange, “In the Spotlight”

Magazine Page/Spread
Zarah Myers, SALT: Military Photojournalism 2020

Illustration
Jordan Larson, High Stakes, “Lack of regulations pose conundrum for vape users”

Photo

Feature Photo
Emily Steinberger, The Daily Orange

Environmental Portrait
Emily Kenny, The NewsHouse
Lauren Miller, The Daily Orange

Best Use of Social Media

Social Media Promotion
Brooke Schneider, David Schneidman and Shannon Stubbs, High Stakes

Advertising

Newspaper Special Section/Advertising
Orientation Guide 2019, The Daily Orange

Facilitated by their program director, new media management alumni find success

Two alumni of the Newhouse School’s new media management (NMM) program received national honors at the Mutual Fund Industry Awards ceremony in July.

Sebastian Benkert G’13 was named Marketer of the Year and Tom Staudt G’13 was named a “Rising Star.” The awards program recognizes business leaders, creative minds and top performers in the U.S. asset management industry.

Benkert is chief marketing officer and Staudt is chief operating officer of ARK Invest, which they joined just after its inception.

Staudt came to Newhouse with a plan to someday run a television station. After completing the NMM program, he earned an M.B.A. from Cornell University and was offered a job at SONY Television. But at the request of Stephen Masiclat, director of NMM, Staudt interviewed with ARK Invest and subsequently joined the company.

“[He] ended up joining a firm that [had a high] chance of failing,” Masiclat says. “Instead, he became an integral member of the team that built one of the best investment firms in the business, and I am certain that Tom’s efforts are a significant component of that success.”

Staudt says Masiclat has played a key role in his life.

“I will never be able to adequately thank Steve for all that he has given and contributed to my life. His ability to challenge while teaching, guide while mentoring and provide a sounding board of sage advice has had a profound impact on me academically and professionally,” he says. “But perhaps most important is that I am honored to personally call him a friend.”

Benkert, a native of Germany, was the first Fulbright Scholar to join the NMM program. Masiclat calls him “the most talented communication designer to ever come to NMM.” His name was at the top of the list when CEO Catherine Wood approached Masiclat as she was starting ARK Invest, seeking recommendations for alumni who could help build awareness of the firm. Though his Fulbright Scholarship meant Benkert had to leave the country within a year of joining ARK, Wood hired him anyway, and he continued consulting for ARK in Germany until he could return to the U.S. in 2018.

NMM alumna Lisa Dodd G’15, also works at ARK Invest as head of PR and communications. She met Benkert, Staudt and Wood during the NMM Spring Seminar in New York City. She also interviewed with the company at Masiclat’s urging, joining the team in July 2015.

“Given her talent, her grit and the quality of the team at ARK, I expect her to be an award recipient in the future,” Masiclat says.

Top: The ARK Invest team. Staudt is at right, Benkert is fourth from right and Dodd is front row, third from left.