Class of 2020 Commencement events to be held Sept. 17-19

Syracuse University will host a Commencement ceremony—delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic—and other celebratory events for the Class of 2020 during the weekend of Sept. 17–19.  

Commencement will be held Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. at the Stadium. This University-wide ceremony, where Syracuse University Chancellor and President Kent Syverud will formally confer degrees, is for all undergraduate, graduate and doctoral candidates. Doors open at 8 a.m.

Following Commencement, all 2020 Newhouse graduates and their families are invited to join Dean Mark J. Lodato and the faculty and staff for a celebratory reception. The event will include a dean’s welcome, recognition of participating graduates and an opportunity to reconnect with faculty. A precise time and location will be announced soon; stay tuned for details.

For more information about Commencement activities for the Class of 2020, see the event listing.

Master’s Alumni Profile: Courtney Terr G’22

Courtney Terr G’22

Newhouse Master’s Program: Advanced Media Management
Current Position: Sales Planner, Pricing and Inventory CBS Network Sales, Paramount

How did you obtain your current position, and what positions did you hold before it?

I had applied to the sales planner position through the Paramount job portal while I was finishing the summer capstone project. At the time, I did not have any connections to the company, but the strength of my academic and internship experience helped me to land the role shortly after I left Syracuse. 

Before I worked at Paramount, I was a director of audience development co-op intern for the United States Travelers League. I obtained this role by working with Professor Sean Branagan and the Newhouse Startup Garage. The program connects students with media and tech startups so that they can provide the expertise they gain from their coursework to companies in need of their insight. As an undergraduate, I was an audience development intern for NBC News, which I obtained after having an interview on campus with one of the NBC recruiters. I was also a media planning intern for RPM, a boutique ad agency that markets live entertainment in New York City. I completed this internship while participating in the Newhouse NYC program when I was an undergraduate student. 

What’s an average day like for you on the job?

There is not really an average day as a sales planner. There are weekly deliverables and reports where I track the performance of CBS Primetime shows and how they are impacting clients’ sales plans; however, the majority of my work is based on demographic reads and plan edit requests I receive from account managers and account executives. Additionally, whenever there is a change in the airing schedule, my team and I work to figure out new estimates for how a show could potentially perform in its new timeslot. The busiest time of year for me is during the upfront season in the summer, where I am working with clients to plan out where all of their purchased ad spots will air throughout the upcoming season. 

How do you feel Newhouse prepared you for your current position?

My classroom experience played a major role in preparing me for my position here at CBS. My academic coursework, both in my undergraduate and graduate studies in the television industry provided a baseline understanding of how television advertising worked. Therefore, I was able to dive in headfirst and assist my team during the hectic upfront season once I was done with my onboarding training. Outside of that, courses like Advanced Media Business, Trendspotting in Digital Media, Topics in Advanced Media Management and New Ventures in Media helped me better learn how to identify emerging technology trends and how they could affect my industry. While linear television may not seem like it is on the forefront of new technology advancement, there are changes in the way television audiences are being measured, and I must be in the know of what adjustments are being made and how they could potentially change how we build our advertising plans for clients and determine the success of our shows.

Did Newhouse open your eyes to new professions or aspects of your field you may have not considered when applying?

As a part of our Topics in Advanced Media Management course, we had a week-long immersion trip to New York City where we heard from alumni from our program and toured businesses that aligned with our coursework. This trip helped me gain a better understanding of what career options were available to me after graduating. The advanced media management program provided me with a versatile degree that I could have applied to careers in social media marketing, search marketing, brand management, UI/UX design and more.  

What unique features of your graduate program drew you to it in the first place?

After completing my dual enrollment program at Whitman and Newhouse for my undergraduate degree in marketing and advertising, I knew I wanted to pursue a career where I would be working at the intersection of data analytics and marketing strategy. However, I wanted to better fine tune my skills in those areas. I came across the advanced media management program and liked how I would not only be able to perfect my search marketing and strategy skills, but also develop a better understanding of how emerging technologies drive innovation in the media landscape. 

Did the Newhouse Career Development Center aid you?

While I was a graduate student, I worked as a director of audience development co-op intern for the United States Travelers League (USTL), a website dedicated to publishing content that would encourage readers to travel to all 50 states. I had taken Professor Sean Branagan’s classes in Trendspotting in Media and New Ventures in Media. He had connected me with the Newhouse Startup Garage group who then connected me to the CEO of USTL. As the director of audience development, I was able to take my coursework knowledge of search engine optimization and social media marketing and apply it to my internship. I conducted an exploratory analysis of the company’s current strategy and then implemented a strategy to improve their outreach and engagement with followers. It was an incredible opportunity to have work experience and apply what I was learning at Newhouse to my job. 

What are some obstacles or misconceptions about your field that students ought to be aware of?

I had thought of ad sales as solely a salesperson department. I had assumed that the only roles in an ad sales department at a major media organization were the account managers and account executives who were selling ad spaces to advertising agencies. While there are certainly plenty of client-facing roles in the ad sales department at Paramount, there are also plenty of other roles in areas like research, strategy and branded content marketing. It is important to pay attention to specific jobs that you are interested in rather than focus on what department they are located under. 

What moments in your career have been most exciting or defining thus far? 

One of the most exciting and challenging moments of my career so far has been coming up with audience estimates for a brand-new fall primetime schedule after the WGA went on strike. I had just recently joined the primetime group after working in the daytime/ late night group, so I was still getting used to the role. Suddenly, we were tasked with determining how many people would potentially be tuning in to a new slate of programming, including shows that have never aired on CBS Broadcast, right before the upfront season! With the support of my team, I was able to better understand my role and best determine how to figure out which demographics would likely be tuning into an episode of the U.K. version of “Ghosts” versus a repeat of “Blue Bloods.” Every day was an exciting challenge with updates to the schedule being made up until the fall 2023 season started, and it helped me learn what it takes to accurately predict an audience of a CBS show. 

What advice do you have for current or incoming students?

Take advantage of every opportunity available to you, especially if it is an internship opportunity. My time applying what I learned in Newhouse to the real world has helped me to fine tune and better understand what I have learned, and it has helped me be a more valuable asset to my team. 

I would also recommend using your electives to take a course in an area of interest to you. I had used my electives to take a course in Television Programming and Audience Analysis and Critical and Historical Perspectives on Television, Radio and Film. Even though these courses were not directly related to the overall advanced media management program, they helped me gain expertise in an industry I was interested in having a career in. Ultimately, the knowledge I obtained while taking these courses about the overall television industry as well as how advertisements are sold in a TV market provided me with an edge in my interview process that helped me to land my job at Paramount.  

I have to thank the incredible professors I’ve had at Newhouse while being a grad student, including but not limited to Professor Adam Peruta, Professor Sean Branagan, Professor Ed Hersh, Professor Bob Bierman, Professor Bob Thompson, and Professor Shelly Palmer. My time in their classes learning about the emerging media landscape and the television industry have been so beneficial to my career thus far, and the support they have provided me both while I was a student and after graduating when it comes to my academic and professional endeavors have been so greatly appreciative.  

New Leadership Roles at Newhouse School 

Two veteran Newhouse professors have assumed new leadership roles at the school. 

Hua Jiang, a professor of public relations, is now interim associate dean for diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility (DEIA), while Aileen Gallagher ’99, G’20, a professor of magazine, news and digital journalism, is the new associate dean for academic affairs.  

Jiang and Gallagher enter their first full semester in their new positions after Dean Mark J. Lodato made the announcements over the summer. They are members of the dean’s leadership team.

Hua Jiang

Jiang leads strategic planning in DEIA at the Newhouse School, including efforts to recruit diverse students, faculty and staff; programming for marginalized students; campus visits by diverse industry leaders, thinkers and scholars; and course development. For the 2024-2025 academic year, Jiang is aligning Newhouse’s DEIA programming with the school’s strategic plan, including an emphasis on community engagement, and outreach to current and prospective students. Priorities also include nurturing an inclusive learning environment; organizing a DEIA climate assessment; and fostering effective communication with the Newhouse community. 

Jiang, who was promoted to full professor earlier this year, started teaching at Newhouse in 2013. From 2022 to 2024, she served as associate dean for academic affairs at Newhouse. During her tenure, she fostered a renewed sense of openness and collaboration in leading curricular and instructional excellence at Newhouse. Jiang successfully collaborated with department chairs and graduate program directors on numerous innovative curricular initiatives. In addition, Jiang spearheaded efforts to ensure that faculty teaching excellence was recognized across at the University and school levels. 

As a leading scholar in public relations, Jiang has published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and serves on the editorial boards of the top three public relations journals. She earned her Ph.D. in communication from the University of Maryland, College Park. 

Aileen Gallagher

Gallagher joined the Newhouse School faculty in 2010 after an impressive journalism career. Her most recent industry position was at New York Magazine, where she shared several National Magazine Awards with her colleagues. Gallagher became interim chair of magazine, news and digital journalism in 2021 before being appointed chair the following year.  

Also in 2022, Gallagher spearheaded the complex reaccreditation process for Newhouse as the school’s assessment director and wrote a self-study one site team member described as “the best I have ever read.”  

Gallagher, whose research interests are digital editorial and journalism education, was promoted to full professor in 2023. A nationally recognized expert on the magazine industry, she has been interviewed by outlets including The New York Times, CNN and Marketplace. Since joining the faculty, Gallagher has written for The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Slate and elsewhere. 

Gallagher completed the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Management Development Program in June. She is a two-time graduate of Syracuse University, earning a master’s in higher education, as well as a bachelor’s degree as a dual major in newspaper from Newhouse and history from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences.  

The Importance of Saying “Yes” 

While I was a master’s student at the Newhouse School, I consciously committed to saying yes to more opportunities. As an undergraduate student I commuted to school, and because of this I was a lot more hesitant about the opportunities I took within my school community. This was due to a mix of things. The main reason being that I simply felt more comfortable at home.  Safety was also a real concern and many of the organizations and projects I wanted to be a part of met later in the evening. I admittedly held myself back from a lot of opportunities, and by the time I realized that, it was too late. We entered the pandemic, and I had a strong sense that the opportunities had officially passed me. 

Over the last two to three years I have spent a lot of time growing into someone who has become much more outgoing in every corner of their life. I love the idea of being able to be present in my personal and professional community. I love meeting new people and collaborating on projects that I never thought I’d be a part of. But, I owe that ability to one big thing. 

The decision to say “yes” is one that I think people don’t ever realize how big of a difference it makes. When I decided to finally come back to grad school, I knew that in some ways it was a chance to “make right” on the things I felt I did wrong before. 

(Before I continue, I would like to say that I don’t actually believe saying no was “wrong.” I continued to set a boundary that was comfortable for me as I navigated a new school, adulthood and being responsible for my own time and commitments. Boundaries are okay, in fact they are excellent when deciding what you are comfortable with. I considered what life would look like if I pushed my boundaries because I knew something was not working for me. It’s important to listen to your body and mind when approaching new environments!)

Coming to Newhouse was one of those opportunities that made me realize just how much the world has to offer. I was involved in a podcast, on two Orange Television Network shows and was always busy. If nothing else, I built a dense resume in 10 months that makes me more of a candidate for roles who are looking for someone with a multitude of skills. But, further than that, I am finally tapped into my academic space and creating the community I have always wanted.  

I will also, of course, remind you to take care of yourself and to not put too much pressure on yourself. And definitely don’t bite off more than you can chew. But, I’ll encourage you to consider how your life may be different if you just said “yes.” 

Women’s Opportunities in Sports Media: On the Rise?

Women’s sports have been getting more attention recently, from Olympic coverage of gymnastics, swimming and track to surges in popularity of women’s soccer and basketball. But what about the role women play in broadcasting and media of both men’s and women’s sports?

On this episode of Newhouse Impact, Olivia Stomski, professor of practice and director of the Newhouse Sports Media Center, shares her past getting a start in sports broadcasting, the obstacles and assistance she got along the way to success, and how those experiences shape the way she guides aspiring broadcasters now. Stomski also offers opinions on whether a rise in popularity of women’s sports will increase opportunities in media, and if the industry is getting past gender discrimination.

Newhouse Alumnae Among Honorees for University Coming Back Together Reunion

Three distinguished graduates of the Newhouse School will be among seven accomplished alumni who will be recognized by Syracuse University’s Office of Multicultural Advancement during Coming Back Together (CBT), which will be held Sept. 12-15.

CBT is a triennial reunion that welcomes Black and Latino alumni back to campus to celebrate their accomplishments, meet current students and remain connected with the University.

The 2024 gathering represents the 14th CBT reunion held on campus. In 2021, the University’s reunion raised $1.29 million for the Our Time Has Come scholarship.

Honorees this year include Newhouse alumnae Ada Agrait ’94 and JaNeika James G’05, who will receive Alumni Awards. Another Newhouse alumna, Sadé Muhammad ’12, will be honored with the Young Alumni Award.

The award recipients will be celebrated by Chancellor Kent Syverud at the “Shades of Orange Sneaker Ball” fundraising gala on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 6:30-11 p.m. in the JMA Wireless Dome. The awards recognize the significant civic or career achievements by the selected. Since 1983, the ceremony has been a signature event presented at the CBT reunion.

“I am so pleased to celebrate these outstanding alumni at the 2024 Coming Back Together reunion,” says Chancellor Syverud. “Each of these awardees, through their careers and their commitment to Syracuse University, inspires the next generation of leaders. They give generously by mentoring current students and young alumni, creating new learning experiences, and encouraging their friends and fellow alumni to get involved. I am proud to honor the Orange leaders for all they do for their alma mater.”

Six Ways to Get Involved at Newhouse 

First-year students are now adjusting to their first fall semester at the Newhouse School. With classes and schedules set, what now? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed in your first year, so here are six fun ways to meet other students, make friends, gain experience in your chosen field and make Newhouse feel like a new home.

1. Become a Newhouse Ambassador 

If you love to talk about the Newhouse School, stop by the Visitor’s Center in the third-floor lobby of Newhouse 1 and apply to be a Newhouse Ambassador. In this volunteer role, you’ll give tours to prospective students and their families, speak at information sessions and be at the center of everything going on. You’ll also get cool merch, yummy snacks and random facts about Newhouse history! 

2. Go to events 

Newhouse frequently holds social events, speakers and panels for students, so an easy way to stay involved is to read your emails and check the events calendar! You’ll know when you and your friends can stop by a food truck, work on your resumes in a resume building session, hear a distinguished guest speak in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium and much more.  

3. Join a club or organization

Newhouse students can get involved with more than 30 communications organizations. From CitrusTV, Z89 Radio, University Girl magazine and TNH advertising agency to The Daily Orange, Jerk magazine, Hill Communications and Orange Television Network, these clubs are a great way to gain experience for a future internship and career, build your network and make fun memories outside of a classroom.  

4. Get to know your professors 

Newhouse professors have the knowledge and experience us students aspire to have. Ask your professor to coffee and get to know them! It’s a good way to connect with them and get engaged with their class as well as expand your professional network.

5. Take a non-major elective

The Newhouse School has some wonderfully unique communications courses available. For the Spring 2025 semester (registration starts Nov. 6) and beyond, talk to your advisor, check the course catalog and look into taking a class that is not required for your major! This is an awesome way to meet other students, make friends and expand your knowledge to bolster your Newhouse education. 

6. Sit in Food.com  

If you’re in Newhouse 3, head up to the second floor and immerse yourself in the hustle and bustle of Food.com! Sit and study or plan a group project at a booth. You might get asked to be in a photoshoot, give a statement for a story or be featured in a video…and you’ll definitely see friends and classmates.

Newhouse Alumna Nicole Aponte ’24 Wins Prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award

Newhouse School alumna Nicole Aponte ’24 was honored with a prestigious 2024 Edward R. Murrow Award for her 2023 story “Beating the Odds, Taking the Reins.” Aponte won Best Video Feature Reporting in the Student category for the story—completed during her senior year in the broadcast and digital journalism program—which highlights a rider on the Special Olympics equestrian team.

Aponte is the first Murrow Award winner at the Newhouse School since 2021.

This is not Aponte’s first brush with prestigious awards, as she was honored with a Hearst National Championship Award last year, winning second place in the National Television Championship category for a story about artificial intelligence’s impact on society.

The Edward R. Murrow Awards are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), which is a global professional organization devoted solely to broadcast and digital journalism. The Murrow Awards recognize local and national news stories that, according to the RTDNA website, “uphold the RTDNA Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.”

All winners will be honored at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala on Oct. 14 in New York City.

Newhouse in the News

J. Christopher Hamilton, Television, Radio and Film

• Disney reports its first streaming profit (Marketplace)

Les Rose, Broadcast and Digital Journalism

• DNC gives media credentials to 200 content creators (LiveNOW Fox)

Robert Thompson, Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture

• Marvel Studios is banking on its past ‘golden age’ to secure its future (LeDevoir(Canada))
• Goodbye hot rodent, hello beefcake: the return of the hunk (The Guardian)

Roy Gutterman, Magazine, News and Digital Journalism

• US student protests challenge balance of speech rights, university policies (Voice of America)

Makana Chock, Communications

• 30 Scandalous Secrets That Would Rock The World If Revealed (Bored Panda)
• What will AI mean for economic inequality? (MIT Technology Review-subscription needed)

Shelly Palmer, Advanced Media Management

• Google pulls AI ad that irked some Olympics viewers (IOL News)
• Google’s Gemini AI Olympics-themed ad sparks fierce backlash (CBS News)

Brad Horn, Public Relations

• The new measure for fan engagement? Connectivity, creativity and community (Sports Business Journal)

Bill Werde, Bandier Program for Recording and Entertainment Industries

• Syracuse University Launches Bandier Music Business Master’s Program (Billboard Pro)

Margaret Talev, Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship

• Poll finds higher voter enthusiasm since Harris became the nominee (Spectrum News)
• Voters weigh in on election issues in new Syracuse University/Ipsos poll (Spectrum News)
• Axios Vibes: Voters see Walz as more authentic than Vance (Axios)

Joel Kaplan, Magazine, News and Digital Journalism

• Student journalists get hands-on education covering DNC in Chicago (CBS News)

Anthony Adornato, Broadcast and Digital Journalism

• Move toward streaming sparks uncertainty in TV news business (The Hill)

Photo Gallery: Newhouse School Cheers to 60 Years

The Newhouse School celebrated its 60th anniversary with an afternoon full of events on Aug. 28 attended by Donald Newhouse and his family. The celebration included a special luncheon, a tour of the complex for the family and a ceremony on the plaza, where Chancellor Kent Syverud and Newhouse Dean Mark J. Lodato unveiled the new name of the space that connects the complex’s three buildings: the Newhouse Family Plaza.

Luncheon

Tour

Ceremony

Reception

A reception on the newly renamed Newhouse Family Plaza followed the ceremony, with the family, alumni and the entire Newhouse community invited.

University Unveils ‘Newhouse Family Plaza’ as Newhouse School Celebrates 60th Anniversary

The Newhouse School welcomed Donald Newhouse and his family back to Syracuse University to mark the school’s 60^th anniversary with an afternoon full of celebratory events highlighted by the renaming of the plaza in between the school’s three buildings in the family’s honor.

The festivities Wednesday included a special luncheon, a tour of the complex for the family and a ceremony on the plaza, where Chancellor Kent Syverud and Newhouse Dean Mark J. Lodato unveiled the new name as hundreds watched from the Einhorn Family Walk.

The owner of Advance Publications, Donald Newhouse is the patriarch of one of the first families of American publishing. Advance was founded by his father, Samuel I. Newhouse, in 1922.

In remarks on the plaza, Donald Newhouse recounted how he observed a meeting in the late 1950s between his father and then-University Chancellor William P. Tolley during which the idea for what would become the Newhouse School was conceived.

Donald Newhouse was one of the honored guests on Aug. 5, 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson joined S.I. Newhouse to formally open the Newhouse 1 building. That day also happened to be Donald Newhouse’s 35^th birthday.

“I am fortunate to have the chance in the same month that I celebrate my 95^th birthday, to look back with overwhelming pride at the record of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. It is one of the great joys of my life,” Donald Newhouse said Wednesday.  

“Thank you all for helping me celebrate this anniversary, and for your role in realizing the dream of my father and Chancellor Tolley.”

The Newhouse family is one of the largest donors in Syracuse University’s history, including the $75 million pledge by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation to the Newhouse School in 2020. That pledge was the single largest gift in the University’s history.

“There are so many amazing alumni of this school that I’ve met all over the world—editors, broadcasters, leaders in print, cable news and network newsrooms. They founded and led radio stations, PR agencies, advertising firms, countless ventures in the business, digital music and entertainment industries,” Syverud said before unveiling the plaza’s new name.

“All of them amazing people, all made possible because of the transformational gifts of Donald Newhouse and the Newhouse Foundation,” he added. “You’ve really, in a meaningful sense, shaped the trajectory of the University, the Newhouse School and most importantly, the careers of tens of thousands of our students and our graduates and faculty.”

Today, the Newhouse School offers seven undergraduate programs and more than a dozen graduate programs covering the gamut of fields in media and communications. The school also launched its first fully online bachelor’s program, in strategic communications, this year.

But what will not change, Lodato said, is an unwavering dedication to journalism education.

Lodato pledged to continue to work with newsrooms and journalism organizations on key issues like filling news deserts, and striving to ensure the diversity of newsroom staffs and leadership accurately reflects the communities they serve.

He cited expanded opportunities for students to hone their skills through study-away semesters in Washington, D.C., New York City or Los Angeles, or special trips such as coverage of the recent Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions for professional media outlets.

Newhouse also combined the broadcast and digital journalism, and magazine, news and digital journalism programs, into one journalism major starting this fall following state approval, the result of years of discussion with faculty.

Students will still choose one of two tracks under the new journalism major structure—broadcast and digital journalism, or magazine, news and digital journalism. But Lodato noted the change is reflective of how the Newhouse School pivots to meet the needs of an industry which increasingly is looking for journalists who can tell stories on multiple platforms.

“I can think of no better way of recognizing the vision and generosity of Mr. Newhouse and his extraordinary family than to reinforce our steadfast commitment to journalism and journalism education,” Lodato said.

Newhouse was joined Wednesday by several members of his family, including sons Steven and Michael, the co-presidents of Advance. Larry Kramer ’72, vice chair of the University Board of Trustees, offered remarks at the luncheon, as did Newhouse Dean Emeritus David Rubin and Margaret Talev, Kramer Director of the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, and a professor of practice of journalism at Newhouse.

David Zaslav, the president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, spoke during a videotaped message.

Marie Achkar, a senior in broadcast and digital journalism, spoke on behalf of students at the luncheon. Jada Knight, a senior in television, radio and film, spoke on students’ behalf during the plaza ceremony, which was followed by a reception for the family, students, faculty, staff and alumni.