Alumni News

  • JEM Alum Travels the World for Almost 30 Years as CNN Photojournalist

    Jerry Simonson, JEM alum, on a recent trip to cover the war in Ukraine. If you want to hear riveting tales of what it’s like to be a photojournalist covering breaking global news, Jerry Simonson (’91) has almost 30 years’ worth. Whether it’s about the time he grabbed exclusive footage of hostages during the Iraq…

  • JEM Alum Janna Abraham on Coming Home to Tennessee

    Janna Abraham in her booth at Southern Market in Knoxville. Home is so many things: the place where family and friends are, the comforting landmarks from childhood, and the origins of where one grows, and thrives. For Janna Abraham (’01), Tennessee is home, and she’s come back to it at just the right time. “This…

  • WUTK Gifted First Endowment by Alum Doug Alder (‘92) and Eric Middleton

    Alum Doug Alder, right, and his partner, Eric Middleton, check out WUTK’s studios on a visit to the station. After celebrating its 40th anniversary all year long, WUTK 90.3 “The Rock” has something else to celebrate: its very first endowment. This new source of funding for the radio station was established by School of Journalism…

  • CCI JEM Alumna Launches Women-Centric Radio Show & Podcast

    Sami Kincaid, left, interviews Guz Malzhan, head coach for University of Central Florida football. Sami Kincaid (’13) came very close to pursuing marine biology as an undergrad, but all it took was one appearance in front of a camera for her future as a sports journalist to be cemented. The School of Journalism and Electronic…

  • CCI JEM Alumna Launches Women-Centric Radio Show & Podcast

    Sami Kincaid, left, interviews Guz Malzhan, head coach for University of Central Florida football. Sami Kincaid (’13) came very close to pursuing marine biology as an undergrad, but all it took was one appearance in front of a camera for her future as a sports journalist to be cemented. The School of Journalism and Electronic…

  • Two SIS Grads Lead the Newly Relocated World Data System

    Two alumni of the School of Information Sciences master’s program have taken the lead at World Data System (WDS) International Program Office (IPO), which relocated headquarters to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville this year after a successful bid to have the international institution move from Japan to East Tennessee. Meredith Goins, who not only graduated…

  • Carolyn Potlock Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Becoming a UT Graduate

    Carolyn Potlock, second from left, with her parents and son and her UT acceptance letter. From left: her father, Jay Potlock (’79); Carolyn; her son, Payton Potlock; and mother, Mary Kay Potlock. Carolyn Potlock (’22) had dreamed of becoming a Volunteer ever since she was a little girl watching college football by her father’s side.…

  • Comm Studies Alum Says CCI Changed Her Life, So She Gives Back

    Alexanderia Honeycutt’s (‘03) career has taken her around the world and into the offices of politicians and changemakers. It also allowed her to become a partner at a lobbying agency firm, and finally, to launch her own government relations and consulting firm, Honeycutt Strategies, in 2012. She says none of it would have happened if…

  • Alum Deborah Woolley Creates Endowed Scholarship for Land Grant Films

    When Deborah Woolley (’70) first saw the Land Grant Films work started by Nick Geidner, School of Journalism & Electronic Media associate professor, she knew it was something special. “He really taught me a lot about what it takes to do a documentary. I was so impressed not just by what he was doing, but…

  • ADPR Alumnus Loebner Hired as Global Head of Inclusive Design at Wunderman Thompson

    Creating inclusive design has risen to the forefront of conversation in advertising and other fields, and the timing couldn’t be better for Tombras School of Advertising and Public Relations master’s alumnus Josh Loebner (’99). Loebner recently landed a role he calls a dream job: global head of inclusive design for international marketing communications agency Wunderman…