Dean’s 2023 Holiday Letter
Many congratulations to our students, faculty, and staff for a wonderful year – and huge thanks to all of you for your support of COM! I’m excited to share a selection of achievements and updates from the past year.
Student Success
The 43nd annual Redstone Film Festival in March celebrated student work for a near-capacity crowd of families and friends. “Artboy,” about a high schooler grappling with heartbreak, swept nearly all major categories. The film, directed by Eli Cantor, also took the Student Film Showcase top prize at the Independent Film Festival of Boston.
COM’s Department of Film and Television joined forces with CFA’s School of Theatre to produce – from concept and script to acting and video editing – a television sitcom pilot, Art House.
Emma Longo’s (’24) research on misinformation and native advertising was presented at the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in Washington, D.C.
Seonghoon Eric Park and Raphaël Edwards won the inaugural Sony Future Filmmaker Award for their documentary, “In Cod We Trust,” exploring the Gloucester fishing industry’s history and hardships.
COM advertising students won 28 of the 30 student awards at the 62nd Annual Hatch Awards. Nupur Chowdhury (’23) took home the prestigious Next Gen Award.
Colbi Edmonds was named the region’s “Top College Journalist” and Bella Ramirez was named “College Rising Star” by the New England Newspaper and Press Association. An investigation of abuse in BU’s orientation office, leading to the office director’s resignation, by Edmonds and Cameron Morsberger, took first place for in-depth reporting.
Two projects powered by COM students won national Online Journalism Awards: “Mega Billions: The Great Lottery Wealth Transfer” and “Trafficking, Inc.”
COM students received five awards and four honorable mentions at the Student Production Awards sponsored by the Boston/New England chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Four awards were for BUTV productions; a fifth was produced by Hothouse Productions, now known as Real World Productions.
COM students won 12 of the 22 awards at the Boston Press Photographer Association’s annual contest for college photographers. Ziyu (Julian) Zhu won Best of Show and three other awards. Taylor Coester won three awards, including first place in the Story category, and Andrew Burke-Stevenson won two awards, including first in Feature.
Our students also cheered the half-million dollar upgrades of our television and podcast studios.
Alumni Rising
Julie Kornfield (’87) was named president of Kenyon College.
Nine-time Emmy winner Deena Sheldon (’84) was inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, the first female camera operator to be honored by the organization.
At the Hatch Awards, advertising led by Mike Sullivan (CGS’04, COM’06) took home Best of Show for a Progressive Insurance campaign featuring Dr. Rick, the counselor for people who are becoming too like their parents.
Jenny Taft (CGS’09, COM’10), a reporter and host for FOX Sports, covered arguably the world’s biggest sporting event when she worked as a sideline reporter at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this past summer.
Multimedia journalist Ezgi Toper (’19) covered one of the deadliest earthquakes in decades for Turkish public broadcaster TRT World after a 7.8-magnitude quake killed more than 47,000. Maui wildfires reunited COM alums Melissa Adan (’14) of ABC News and Sandy Hooper (’13) of USA Today, who reported on the tragedy there.
Rob Turbovsky (’08) hit it big as writer and co-executive producer for Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”
Faculty Notes
Our film and television program was again listed among the best by The Hollywood Reporter and The Wrap, and our public relations program was named to the PR News Education A-List.
Justin Joseph, associate professor, won the Becker Family Teacher-of-the-Year Award, COM’s highest honor for its instructors. Maura Smith, master lecturer, received the Lyndon Baines Johnson Student Advising Award.
COM researchers Chris Wells, Michelle Amazeen, and Arunima Krishna completed a fascinating study into disinformation about planetary warming and public opinion with BU’s Institute for Global Sustainability.
David Abel, professor of the practice in journalism, premiered two compelling documentaries: “Inundation District” and “In the Whale.”
The Secret Gate, the latest by Mitch Zuckoff, Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Narrative, received stellar reviews.
COM welcomed John Archibald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Birmingham News, as our first writer-in-residence, who gave a lecture to a packed room and met with students through his week on campus.
Brian McGrory, journalism department chair, received the 2023 Stephen Hamblett First Amendment Award from the New England First Amendment Coalition. Maggie Mulvhill was elected to the coalition’s executive committee.
Michelle Amazeen, associate professor, has a brand-new role: COM’s inaugural associate dean, research. She was named among the top 2% most highly cited scholars, according to a Stanford University study.
PRNEWS named Amy Shanler to its People of the Year list, and Monique Kelley to the “Top Women in PR 2023.”
I can’t wait to see what’s next in 2024!
Best,
Mariette DiChristina (COM’86), Dean
