University Celebrates Installation of Bruce Strong as The Alexia Endowed Chair at the Newhouse School

Syracuse University celebrated the official installation of award-winning photographer and faculty member Bruce Strong as The Alexia Endowed Chair during a ceremony at the Newhouse School. 

With Strong’s family, Newhouse colleagues, industry professionals and students in attendance, the event on Saturday, April 5 in the Newhouse 1 atrium included a medallion presentation for Strong led by Interim Provost Lois Agnew as well as remarks from Chancellor Kent Syverud.  

The Alexia began in 1991 as the Alexia Foundation, created with the mission to promote cultural understanding and peace by supporting photographers as agents for change. Peter and Aphrodite Tsairis founded the foundation in partnership with the Newhouse School to honor their daughter, Alexia Tsairis. The 20-year-old photography major was killed in the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, as she was returning home from a semester abroad in London. 

The Tsairises sat in the front row during the ceremony, with relatives and family friends also gathered for the celebration, as well as David Sutherland, a professor emeritus and the program’s founding chair.

Since its inception, the program has provided nearly $2 million in funding in support of hundreds of students, professional photographers and filmmakers. In 2021, the program transitioned to the Newhouse School and became The Alexia. 

The following year, The Alexia Chair position was endowed in large part through a $2 million gift from Xin Liu, co-founder and president of The Enlight Foundation and an Alexia grant recipient more than 30 years ago. The Enlight Foundation’s gift provides continuous support for grants and fellowships, as well as teaching, research, programmatic and educational opportunities that inspire more impactful storytelling.  

The Alexia continues to receive support through generous donations from alumni, friends, professionals and corporate sponsorship. 

“Honestly, I do not see this position simply as an honor; I see it as a responsibility,” Strong said. “As The Alexia Endowed Chair, I promise to work tirelessly to build a community that pierces darkness with light—to help others create images that convey understanding, promote meaningful conversation and inspire action.”  

“In the end, the true power of documentary photography is not just in what we see. It’s in the voices it amplifies, the beauty it reveals, the perspectives it challenges and the change it ignites,” Strong said. 

During the ceremony, Syverud also presented Strong with a gift befitting of the occasion: a signed first edition of “HALFWAY TO FREEDOM: A Report on the New India” by pioneering photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White.   

At Newhouse, Strong teaches photography, video, audio and multimedia storytelling to undergraduate, graduate and military students. He has mentored College Photographer of the Year winners and earned a prestigious Meredith Teaching Recognition Award from Syracuse University. He also has been recognized for his teaching by the National Press Photographers Association. 

Strong has traveled to nearly 80 countries during a decades-long career. He has worked at newspapers and freelanced for international publications and nonprofits. His images have been published in Time, National Geographic and other magazines.  

Strong has also served as a Knight-Wallace Kellogg Public Policy Fellow at the University of Michigan, focusing on the intersection of journalism and the arts in developing community leadership, as well as the Knight Fellow at Ohio University. 

Dean Mark J. Lodato also noted Strong’s encouraging demeanor and spirit of collaboration with faculty and staff at Newhouse.  

“In my five years as dean at Newhouse, I consider my appointment of Bruce to lead The Alexia program as truly one of my best decisions,” Lodato said. “He truly honors the mission and values of The Alexia program.” 

Newhouse Impact: Award-Winning Faculty; Research and Creative Activity Updates

The Newhouse School is proud of the accomplishments of the following faculty members recognized April 11 at the One University Awards Ceremony. The annual event honors member of the University community who make a difference through academics, scholarship, creative work and dedicated service.

• Erika Schneider, assistant professor of public relations, is a 2025 recipient of The Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Teaching Recognition Award for Early Performance.
• Nina Brown, associate professor of communications, is a 2025-28 Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence.

The Meredith Professorship is a prestigious honor that recognizes and rewards outstanding teaching among the faculty. Brown, who has taught at Newhouse for a decade, plans to focus her tenure on creating a comprehensive faculty development program to support the transition and professional growth of new faculty across the University.

Rebecca Ortiz

Rebecca Ortiz, an award-winning associate professor of advertising, has been named the Newhouse Endowed Chair of Public Communications for 2025-28. The position is bestowed to a faculty member whose accomplishments significantly advance the school’s reputation in research and creative activity.  

Ortiz’s research explores how media and communication can improve public health and well-being, with a focus on sexual health communication, sexual violence prevention, and youth and young adult audiences.

Newhouse Impact Podcast

A collaboration between WAER and the Newhouse School, the podcast provides another platform to share the research and creative work of students, faculty and staff across a range of topics in media and communications. More recent episodes include:

• “Can media and information literacy help bridge deep political and social divisions?” Newhouse guest: Regina Luttrell and Jason Davis
• “The impact of AI on crisis communications: Trustworthiness vs predicting potential problems” Newhouse guest: Erika Schneider
• “Doula Care Could Help Expectant and New Mothers – if More Knew About it” Newhouse guest: Bryce Whitwam

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Recent accolades, highlights and notes

Michael O. Snyder won The Cliff Edom New America Award in the National Press Photographers 2025 Best of Photojournalism competition for his photography project “The Queens of Queen City.”

Alex Richards worked on the investigative series “Ricketts’ Riches” for the Flatwater Free Press. The series won a 2025 A-Mark Prize for Journalism and Investigative Reporting from the Nebraska Press Association.

Roy Gutterman wrote about the AP’s return to the White House for Syracuse.com.

Aileen Gallagher commented on the em dash in artificial intelligence writing.

Shelly Palmer blogged about writing an artificial intelligence agent and new Model Context Protocol technology within AI.

Michael O. Snyder’s upcoming joint show, “Art x Climate,” at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, was highlighted in Smithsonian magazine.

Alex Richards worked on the investigative series “The Tenant Trap” with Injustice Watch. The series won a prestigious IRE Award from Investigative Reporters & Editors.

Nina Brown Named 2025-28 Meredith Professor

Nina Brown, an associate professor of communications at the Newhouse School, has been named a 2025-28 Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence, a prestigious honor that recognizes and rewards outstanding teaching among the faculty.

Created in 1995, the Meredith Professorship Program aims to improve the teaching and learning environment on campus and foster campuswide conversations about teaching excellence.

Brown, who has taught at Newhouse for a decade, plans to focus her Meredith Professorship on creating a comprehensive faculty development program to support the transition and professional growth of new faculty across the University. The initiative would provide new faculty with tools, training and mentorship to help them thrive in the classroom, and ultimately enhance student learning outcomes, faculty effectiveness and a sense of belonging.

Brown said she plans to work collaboratively with academic units across campus to tailor to each unit’s needs, instead of taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach. She will be among the honorees to be recognized Friday at the One University Awards Ceremony at Hendricks Chapel.

“This is such a deserving honor for Nina, whose dedication to teaching excellence and helping new faculty succeed is well known at Newhouse,” Dean Mark J. Lodato said.

“I am eager to see the impact she will make across the rest of campus in setting new frameworks for faculty development,” Lodato said. “Nina’s dynamic ideas ultimately will bolster the Newhouse School’s standards of excellence as the nation’s top communications school.”

Also a graduate of the Newhouse School, Brown began her career as a copywriter at an advertising agency, and eventually held roles as director of communications for a startup technology company and associate vice president of brand development at a Fortune 500 company.

Brown then attended Cornell Law School, where she focused her coursework and scholarship on First Amendment and intellectual property law. After several years practicing law, Brown joined the Newhouse faculty to teach courses in communications law. Her academic research focuses on the intersection of media law and technology.

Rebecca Ortiz Named Next Newhouse Endowed Chair of Public Communications 

Rebecca Ortiz, an award-winning associate professor of advertising, has been named the Newhouse Endowed Chair of Public Communications for 2025-28. The position is bestowed to a distinguished faculty member whose accomplishments significantly advance the school’s reputation in research and creative activity.  

Ortiz’s research explores how media and communication can improve public health and well-being, with a focus on sexual health communication, sexual violence prevention, and youth and young adult audiences. 

Ortiz’s appointment was announced in early March. As endowed chair, Ortiz will work on her project, “Youth Well-Being in the Creator Economy,” which will explore the experiences of youth online content creators and uncover the challenges and opportunities they face in the current online creator economy.  

Insights from the work will be shared across various outlets to help youth navigate the online creator economy safely and effectively, while also informing policymakers and social media platforms about the impact of their policies on youth creators. 

Ortiz is the 2024 recipient of the Judith Seinfeld Scholar Award, which honors Syracuse University faculty and students who display excellence, creativity and innovation in academic or artistic fields and encourages future contributions to society.  

Ortiz recently served as co-editor for  “Teens, Sex, and Media Effects: Understanding Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality, Sexual Health, and Advocacy,” a book featuring original empirical research about how the current media landscape shapes adolescent sexuality, including their identity development, romantic and sexual relationships, and sexual health.  

A member of the Newhouse faculty since 2016, Ortiz has been published in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Health Communication, Violence Against Women and Journal of Adolescent Health. 

Charisse L’Pree, associate professor of communications, is concluding her three-year term as the Newhouse Endowed Chair. L’Pree focused her tenure on creating the “Make America Dream” project.  

Formally launched last fall during an event at the Hergenhan Auditorium, the interactive website and multimedia project highlights the breadth and diversity of goals and aspirations of Americans, while also seeking to inspire users to keep dreaming. 

Life Together Initiative to Host ‘Decoding Deception’ Lecture March 26

On March 26, members of the University community will come together in an interactive lecture session to explore how to confront mis- and disinformation to restore public trust and strengthen democracy.

“Decoding Deception: Advancing Critical Thinking to Strengthen Democracy” will begin at 6 p.m. in Grant Auditorium in the Falk College Complex. Led by Regina Luttrell, senior associate dean and associate professor of public relations in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, and Jason Davis, research professor in the Office of Research and Creativity in the Newhouse School, the session will focus on the critical skills of detection, attribution and characterization, empowering participants to identify and counter deceptive narratives.

The lecture is part of the Life Together: Seeking the Common Good in a Diverse Democracy initiative, led by Gretchen Ritter, vice president of civic engagement and education. The initiative began with an inaugural community conversation in October and expanded this semester.

This event is open to the University community and welcomes all who value informed citizenry and seek actionable strategies to promote a resilient, truth-centered democratic society.

“Part of being an engaged citizen is being well-informed on pertinent public issues. We want to help the members of our campus community to be engaged, thoughtful citizens by helping them to understand whether different sources of information are reliable and trustworthy or suspect and problematic,” says Ritter.

“In an era where trust in civil society is eroding and the shared civic sphere is under strain, this event underscores the importance of regaining public trust in news and information,” Davis says. “By fostering critical thinking and media literacy, attendees will discover how these tools are essential not only for navigating today’s complex information environment but also for safeguarding the principles of democracy.”

“With disinformation everywhere, understanding its long-term impact is critical for protecting democracy, public trust, and informed decision-making,” says Luttrell. “My hope is that people walk away with a deeper understanding of how media manipulation and information ecosystems shape our world and what they can do to assess, challenge and mitigate its harmful effects.”

Luttrell and Davis serve as co-directors of the Newhouse School’s Emerging Insights Lab. The lab serves as a multidisciplinary research center focusing on analytics, artificial intelligence, digital and emerging media as well as an active classroom, and shared lab environment for projects undertaken by faculty and students.

Newhouse Impact: Mis- and Disinformation Lecture; Research and Creative Activity Updates

Luttrell and Davis to Present on Mis- and Disinformation

Senior Associate Dean Regina Luttrell and Research Professor Jason Davis will lead a lecture titled “Decoding Deception: Advancing Critical Thinking to Strengthen Democracy” on March 26. The lecture focuses on the critical skills of detecting, attributing and characterizing mis- and disinformation, and empowers participants to identify and counter deceptive narratives.

Newhouse Impact Podcast

In this episode of “Newhouse Impact” podcast, Newhouse public relations assistant professor Erika Schneider shares findings from research that has people’s reactions to messaging that was created using AI. She also discusses with host Chris Bolt ways using AI as a planning and research tool can greatly improve crisis communications, making many situations more predictable—or even avoidable.

A collaboration between WAER and the Newhouse School, the podcast provides another platform to share the research and creative work of students, faculty and staff across a range of topics in media and communications. More recent episodes include:

• “Doula Care Could Help Expectant and New Mothers – if More Knew About it” Newhouse guest: Bryce Whitwam
• “How an enhanced focus on journalism could reduce illegal doping in sports” Newhouse guest: Brad Horn

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Recent accolades, highlights and notes

Tim Mirabito is the co-author of the research publication “Signing Off: An Examination Into Female Journalists Leaving Legacy Media”

Charisse L’Pree’s “SNL101” podcast featured Bob Thompson as a guest to discuss Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special.

Shaina Holmes and Molle DeBartolo attended the SXSW Festival and discussed their film “Summer of ’69,” which was produced by DeBartolo with Holmes serving as VFX producer.

Rebecca Ortiz is the co-author of the research publication “Swipe right to consent: How dating app usage by young adults contributes to sexual objectification and sexual consent miscommunication” 

Josh Darr was recognized by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont for his work growing university-led reporting programs.

Jason Davis talked about a new approach to tackle fake news amid the LA wildfires.

Shelly Palmer discussed how GPT-5 could change our thinking. 

Adam Peruta and Milton Santiago won second place in the AEJMC Best Practices in Teaching Awards for “Empowering Students to Critically Engage with AI in Political Messaging.”

The Role of AI in Crisis Communications: Trustworthiness vs. Avoiding Problems

Public relations professionals have to decide how and when to use artificial intelligence in their communications and strategies. In times of crises, institutions, companies and other organizations plan messages to the public, employees or other stakeholders. But if that message is attributed—in whole or part—to artificial intelligence, it can come off as insincere or untrustworthy.

In this episode of Newhouse Impact, Newhouse public relations assistant professor Erika Schneider shares findings from research that has people’s reactions to messaging that was created using AI. She also discusses with host Chris Bolt ways using AI as a planning and research tool can greatly improve crisis communications, making many situations more predictable—or even avoidable.

Newhouse Impact: Program Exploring Efficiency and Innovation Through AI Launches; Research and Creative Activity Updates

The Newhouse School launched the Copilot Future Forward Program, which enables staff members to explore the potential of using artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency, creativity and innovation in the workplace.

The program seeks to foster a community of AI-savvy professionals who can lead by example within their departments, and builds on Newhouse’s commitment to provide opportunities to explore the responsible use of artificial intelligence across the entire school community.

Three staff members comprise the inaugural class:

• Madelyn Geyer, content manager (Office of Communications)
• Ali Vito, development and alumni engagement associate
• Holly Zahn, assistant director of special events

Newhouse Impact Podcast

A collaboration between WAER and the Newhouse School, the podcast provides another platform to share the research and creative work of students, faculty and staff across a range of topics in media and communications. Recent episodes include:

• “Doula Care Could Help Expectant and New Mothers – if More Knew About it” Newhouse guest: Bryce Whitwam
• “How an enhanced focus on journalism could reduce illegal doping in sports” Newhouse guest: Brad Horn
• “How your online habits and information are really used in a data-privacy obsessed world” Newhouse guest: Beth Egan

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Recent accolades, highlights and notes

Seth Gitner was appointed to the National Press Photographers Foundation board of directors.

CODE^SHIFT director Srivi Ramasubramanian discussed the origins of her multidisciplinary research lab space.

Doctoral candidate Benjamin Tetteh talked about his research at Newhouse.

Roy Gutterman wrote about how the Supreme Court TikTok ruling tramples free speech.

Bryce Whitwam provided insight on how Chinese brands, under new tariffs, can sustain growth and relevance overseas.

Brad Horn is part of the Syracuse University cohort participating in the 2025 ACC Academic Leaders Network.

Charisse L’Pree wrote about how she incorporated a Wikipedia assignment into her classes.

Emeritus faculty

Pamela Shoemaker wrote “Hard-wired for news revisited: Biology, Culture, Deviance, Time and Reality” in the journal, Journalism & Communication Monographs.

Q&A: Benjamin Tetteh, Newhouse Doctoral Candidate

Benjamin Tetteh is more than a doctoral candidate at the Newhouse School; he’s an award-winning journalist and podcaster, documentary producer and critical scholar. Learn more about what Tetteh is researching at Newhouse, how his experiences as a journalist have influenced his research and what he hopes to do after earning his Ph.D.

How did you become interested in your research topics, which include media revenue and innovation, photography and media law? 
My interest stems from my practice in journalism. Some of the key challenges I saw in newsrooms had to do specifically with revenue. Revenue drives the newsroom, it drives who is hired, what stories are told and how they are told. Also, the media doesn’t operate in isolation. We operate in this whole environment of local laws and policies, national and international laws and principles, and they impact the way we practice journalism. 

Why did you choose to attend the Newhouse School for your research? 
At the time, I was looking at which institutions would be a good fit and which ones had the flexibility for the research I was doing. Newhouse had that flexibility and also was very good at promoting its Ph.D. program. There was also a lot of support and engagement from faculty members. Dr. Dennis Kinsey, who was the director of the Ph.D. program at the time, was one of the key reasons that I eventually settled on Newhouse. 

Can you describe some of your specific research projects? 
In terms of media economy, I’m looking into alternative revenue sources for media. A lot of media outlets still rely on advertising revenue, which can be unpredictable and come with conditions, so I’m interested in how smaller media organizations can generate financial support from the public through memberships. I’ve also done comparative analysis of data privacy laws and looked at the impact of economic and political factors on journalistic independence. My dissertation on press freedom in Ghana looks at the impact of laws, economics, politics, certain socio-cultural factors and how these factors impact the freedom of journalists to tell stories. 

What impact has your research had? 
My research and projects have impacted various fields. They have been presented at conferences, and a few articles have been submitted for publication in research journals. One project, which is also part of my interest in the media in Africa, looks at the insurgency we’ve seen over the last decade of Chinese media on the African continent. I started it as a classroom project for my Media Content Theory class and later turned it into a two-part podcast series, which went ahead to win a Foreign Correspondents Excellence Award, which is highly competitive. A paper I wrote on that was a joint winner of the Newhouse grad research award last year. I also wrote a book chapter in Global Journalism which has just been published by Rowan & Littlefield. It is a popular textbook used to teach media and communication in colleges and universities, and I am excited to be a contributor to the second edition.

What was it like winning the Foreign Correspondents Excellence Award? 
It was quite an honor. For the past few years my focus has been my research and producing content for academia, but journalism is my bread and butter. I love it. And so for me, I still try to contribute to that industry. I knew that the content I had produced was good enough, which is why I turned it in. Winning the award was quite a privilege, and also an acknowledgement of [my work]. 

What experiences in your journalism career have influenced your research? 
I’ve covered multiple elections and coup d’états in Africa, and I covered some landmark events here in the U.S. – including the COVID-19 outbreak, the George Floyd protests, and the 2020 U.S. election as well as the Biden-Harris inauguration. All these events impact the way I do my work, the way I tell stories. I always ask: Why do we tell a story this or that way? Why do we frame the story this way? Whose voice do we include or whose voice do we edit? All of them contribute to the way we tell stories and for me, coming from my background, I see the media and communication as a tool for change. That means empowering the disenfranchised, the minority, those who are abused and whose stories are not taught or told. Those are the things that matter to me through my own profession, but also now going into academic research. I’m looking at how we use communication as a tool to empower everyone to have a voice. 

What are your favorite aspects of Newhouse?  
One thing I cherish about the Ph.D. program is the flexibility to pick the topics that you want to work on. Another thing that I think Newhouse does well is supporting Ph.D. students in terms of grants, in publishing their work and through conferences, like the Springboard conference we held at Newhouse. The school also has great faculty and a strong pool of alumni. 

What do you hope to do after earning your Ph.D.? 
As I conclude my Ph.D. I’ve had the opportunity to teach some courses and I like it a lot. So, I’d like to stay in higher education to teach, mentor and motivate students to do investigative journalism, do long form narratives, do the stories that people don’t go to. And I will continue to conduct research in those topics that are dear to me. But I’d like to wear my professional cap on the side so I can still contribute to the industry or media in various forms. 

Newhouse Launches Program for Staff to Explore Efficiency, Creativity and Innovation Through AI

The Newhouse School has launched a new program for staff members to explore the potential of using artificial intelligence to enhance efficiency, creativity and innovation in the workplace.

The Copilot Future Forward Program begins this semester. Participants will have access to the paid version of Copilot—Microsoft’s version of an AI assistant—and receive hands-on training and resources to incorporate AI tools into their daily tasks.

Three staff members comprise the inaugural class after attending a December 2024 workshop at Newhouse on using AI tools to augment workplace productivity. Dean Mark Lodato selected participants following a call for applications from the Newhouse Office of Research and Creative Activity.

• Madelyn Geyer, content manager (Office of Communications)
• Ali Vito, development and alumni engagement associate
• Holly Zahn, assistant director of special events

The Copilot Future Forward Program seeks to foster a community of AI-savvy professionals who can lead by example within their departments. The program builds on Newhouse’s commitment to provide opportunities to explore the responsible use of artificial intelligence across the entire school community.