UConn Journalism

09/02/2026

The UConn Journalism Department has some exciting news to share. Associate Prof. Marie Shanahan has completed her five-year appointment as department head and has returned to teaching, and Prof. Mike Stanton has taken on the role of interim department head this fall.
Prof. Shanahan provided visionary leadership during her tenure, which was marked by growing enrollment among journalism majors and students and her expansion of the introductory courses to UConn’s regional campuses, so that more students could begin their studies across the state and not just in Storrs.
She also was instrumental in co-founding the Connecticut Student Journalism Collaborative, a partnership between UConn and other college journalism programs across Connecticut. The aim of the nonprofit is to have the best student journalism that emerges from the journalism classes to be published professionally by CT Community News at https://ctcommunitynews.substack.com/. The stories, photos and videos are then offered for re-publication by other news outlets, including CT Public, the CT Mirror, the Hartford Courant, WSHU, CTNewsJunkie, The Day and CT Examiner.
Shanahan is teaching the professional portfolio and Newswriting and Reporting II courses this fall. As department head, she instituted a community reporting course at the Hartford campus to cover local news in the city, and she will be teaching the course in the spring semester.
Shanahan also serves as vice president of the collaborative and on the board of the CT Mirror and the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government.
Prof. Stanton, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, came to UConn in 2013 from the Providence Journal, where he was an investigative reporter specializing in covering public corruption, politics and government and organized crime.
He is the author of “Unbeaten: Rocky Marciano’s Fight for Perfection in a Crooked World, (Henry Holt, 2019), a biography of the former undefeated heavyweight boxing champion, and New York Times bestseller “The Prince of Providence,” (Random House, 2003), a widely acclaimed book about Buddy Cianci, the felonious former Providence, Rhode Island mayor.
At the Providence Journal, Prof. Stanton was part of the team that won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for exposing corruption in the Rhode Island court system. He teaches students tried-and-true 'shoe leather' investigative journalism. He hopes students will turn his old-school skill set into new-medium magic. Learn more about Stanton at the "Art of Muckraking."
He also serves as board president of ecori.org, a nonprofit environmental news website based in Rhode Island.

08/31/2026

Wishing our UConn Journalism students and faculty a fun and fulfilling semester!

08/28/2026

Husky WOW, the week of welcome for new students at the University of Connecticut, featured three great ambassadors of the UConn Journalism Department on Friday, Educational Program Coordinator Ellen Devlin (not pictured) and journalism majors Dannan Page and Thaddeus Sawyer. Welcome to the Class of 2030!

08/27/2026

Today and tomorrow, the UConn Journalism Department is welcoming new students to campus. Here’s Assistant Professor-in-Residence Kate Farrish with journalism major Katie Servas, who is the general manager of WHUS, the campus radio station, and president of the Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Tomorrow, Ellen Devlin, our educational program coordinator, and students Thaddeus Sawyer and Dannan Page will be staffing the table, so new students, stop by to see us next to the Student Union.

08/24/2026

This summer, the UConn Journalism Department hosted 14 talented high school students for a week of learning all about multimedia journalism as part of the UConn Pre-College Summer Program. They produced this multimedia story about the J. Robert Donnelly Husky Heritage Sports Museum. Thanks to curator Mike Enright for the tour and to instructors Kate Farrish and Patrick Raycraft for teaching the students the week of June 22. Tikeyah Whittle, Associate Professor-in-Residence Julie Sprengelmeyer Serkosky and Associate Prof. Marie Shanahan provided valuable assistance as well. Way to go, students!

Sto­ry, pho­tos and videos by the 2026 UConn Pre-Col­lege Sum­mer Mul­ti­me­dia Jour­nal­ism Stu­dent Team: Isabel-Noel Andoh, Cora Aitken­head, Brielle Broomes, Sarah Brown, Jay­lani Clau­dio, Amelia Forde, Jay­den Hardy, Katie McWhin­nie, Majesty-Alex­is Moore, Belle Mungavin, Deli...

08/07/2026

Congratulations to UConn Journalism May graduate Earvin Adjei on being named the 2026 Southern New England Association of Black Journalists' Emerging Journalist of the Year and recipient of the Presidents’ Scholarship.
After interning at NBC Connecticut, Earvin has begun his journalism career at WTNH News 8, where he is a digital assignment editor.

He writes on LinkedIn that he is excited for the opportunity to be able to the 2026 National Association of Black Journalists Convention & Career Fair in Atlanta.

08/03/2026

UConn Journalism major Kitan Arole finished in the top 20 nationally in the prestigious national Hearst Journalism Audio Competition for college students for her podcast story, "Crowned and Proud." She also earned an honorable mention in NPR's College Podcast Challenge.
In her podcast, Kitan spoke with Black female students to hear their stories of the microagressions they have faced about their natural hair and the barriers they combat in order to get hair care.
Here she speaks about the story with Bylines New Voices host Brian Scott-Smith. Give it a listen here: https://ctcommunitynews.substack.com/p/reporter-kitan-arole-on-crowned-and?utm_source=podcast-email&publication_id=5480416&post_id=209598065&utm_campaign=email-play-on-substack&utm_content=listen_now_button&r=8cgin&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

07/24/2026

Briana Ortiz, a May UConn Journalism graduate, has been named as an NBC Universal Emerging Producer Fellow and is attending the National Association of Hispanic Journalists national conference and expo in New Orleans this week. Congratulations, Briana!

07/23/2026

Many of our UConn Journalism students are doing interesting internships this summer, including Kaden Knapp, who let us know that he has enjoyed working on FOX Sports' coverage of the World Cup this summer as an intern in Los Angeles. He passed along more good news: he'll be interning with the TODAY show at NBC in the fall.
Here's a shot of Kaden and of the FOX Sports' World Cup control room.