The UConn Society of Professional Journalists chapter, led by President Sara Bedigian, Vice President Daniel Stark, Social Media Chair Katie Servas and Treasurer Mikayla Bunnell, hosted nine networking events across different fields of journalism.

Fall 2025 was focused on hosting events about different modes of storytelling. The chapter held a Radio Night in collaboration with UConn’s student radio station, WHUS, and guest speaker Robyn Doyon-Aitken from CT Public. Sports Night in October brought in Adam Giardino and Dom Amore, two prominent Connecticut sport journalists who talked about their respective careers in print and broadcast sports journalism. Sarah Gordon, a multimedia journalist and photographer at The Day in New London, conducted a photojournalism workshop. SPJ executives also attended Media Fest ‘25 in Washington, D.C. to represent the journalism department on a national stage with Kate Farrish, an assistant professor-in-residence. Instructor-in-residence Steven Kalb also attended the conference.

Spring 2026 was focused on a UConn Journalism alumni speakers series with the UConn Journalism Department, where students enjoyed learning how someone who graduated with the same degree got to where they are today. In February, the chapter welcome foreign correspondent Diego Cupolo from Turkey, a 2006 UConn journalism graduate. The same month, the chapter hosted its annual resume workshop with department head Marie K. Shanahan. The chapter collaborated with Connecticut Foundation for Open Government and the UConn Journalism and Political Science departments to host Katie Sanders, the editor-in-chief of PolitiFact in April. This conversation was centered around fact checking, AI and what to expect in the upcoming election year. Prof. Amanda J. Crawford moderated the discussion.

To end the alumni speaker series, the chapter hosted multimedia editor and graphics journalist Charlie Smart, who discussed his career and experiences traveling globally to report stories at the New York Times. At the department’s annual scholarship night, the chapter helped host Jackie Wattles, the space and science reporter at CNN who talked about her career in science journalism after she graduated from the department in 2014.

The UConn Journalism Department finished the 2025-2026 academic year with three winners in the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards contest, including a national Top Five, a national Top Ten winner and a national Top 20 winner.

Karla Perez won fifth place in the nation and a $1,000 award in the Personality/Profile Writing Competition. She was selected from among 130 entries from 82 universities. Karla won for her penetrating profile of Lenie Urbina, a recent UConn graduate who reflected on her experience as a survivor of the Sandy Hook shooting and hopes to become a lawyer to fight against gun violence. Karla began working on the story in Prof. Mike Stanton's Feature Writing class. Karla graduated on May 10 and in August, she will begin her master’s program at the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Read the story here: https://ctcommunitynews.org/2025/07/17/passing-a-milestone-a-sandy-hook-survivor-looks-back-and-ahead/

Jenna Outcalt, another May 10 graduate with a journalism degree, took 10th place in the Hearst podcast category for a story that she reported, wrote and produced in Prof. Harriet Jones’ podcast class in Fall 2025. The story explores food insecurity in Hartford and what the nonprofit Levo International, Inc. is doing to tackle the problem. Jenna also developed the story as a correspondent for Planet Forward. This summer, she’s working as an environmental reporter for Planet Forward and the Chautauqua Institution.

Listen to the story here: https://lnkd.in/e9gdd4TB
Hear Jenna talking about the story here: https://lnkd.in/eEeyZ8gF

Kitan Arole, a rising junior Journalism major, tied for 19th in the national Hearst Audio Contest for her podcast story, “Crowned and Proud: more than Hair.” The piece features Black female students at University of Connecticut sharing their experiences with the microaggressions surrounding natural hair and the barriers they face when trying to access proper hair care. Their stories highlight the cultural and personal significance of hair for Black women navigating predominantly white institutions. Kitan also received an honorable mention for the story in the NPR College Podcast Challenge.

Give the story a listen here: https://ctcommunitynews.substack.com/p/crowned-and-proud

Here's a fun and wide-ranging interview of UConn Journalism Department Head Marie Shanahan and another UConn Journalism graduate, Mike Enright, on the state of news and journalism today.

Marie describes the different ways the students are taught to report and cover the news and that they are encouraged to work for The Daily Campus, WHUS Radio, UCTV and UConn Nutmeg Publishing to gain more experience outside of class.

"At UConn, we train our student journalists to be accurate, ethical, and rigorous—to tell the truth. If they’re unsure, it doesn’t go in the story," she said. "And we emphasize practice. Students can get involved in so many ways before they graduate.

Give the episode of the UConn 360 podcast a listen here: https://uconn.edu/uconn360.../episode-165-whats-new-in-news/

Since August 2025, more than three dozen stories, photos and videos produced by UConn Journalism students from their classes have been published professionally by CT Community News.

The site on Substack is a news outlet led by UConn Journalism Lecturer Harriet Jones and sponsored by the CT Student Journalism Collaborative. Jones, UConn Journalism Department Head Marie K. Shanahan and professors Julie Serkosky and Kate Farrish co-founded the nonprofit in 2023 with journalism professors around the state to fill a niche. As student internships were declining statewide, the professors wanted to find an outlet to professionally publish their best students’ work.

Jones and other leaders of the collaborative then built partnerships with a number of news outlets, including CT Public, the Hartford Courant, the CT Mirror, WSHU and CTNewsJunkie, that are regularly republishing the student journalism from UConn, CT State-Manchester, Southern Connecticut State University, Central Connecticut State University, and other universities.

The students have been thrilled to see their work published, and they often say their extended families are excited to see their work as well.
One of them is Kwasi Osei-Amankwah, a recent UConn journalism graduate, who won a statewide Society of Professional Journalists award for his story on the job prospects and worries of the Class of 2025.

“It was a turning point in my writing career, allowing me to have a story published at a time when I had never imagined it possible,” he said. “I am eternally grateful for this incredible experience.”

Prof. Julie Serkosky’s Publication Practice class devoted its spring semester to a Solutions Journalism Network-funded project by reporting and writing eight stories that each took a deep dive into aspects of campus mental health. The class was part of the Solutions Journalism Network’s 2025-26 Student Media Challenge cohort through the nonprofit Connecticut Student Journalism Collaborative. Serkosky, UConn Journalism Department Head Marie K. Shanahan, Prof. Kate Farrish and Lecturer Harriet Jones are among the co-founders of the collaborative. Jones serves as its editor.

National research shows that the number of young people in the U.S. experiencing serious mental health challenges has been on the rise for more than a decade. Serkosky and her students received training on the rigorous Four Pillars of Solutions Journalism and sought to find programs that were working to address these challenges. Every story involved discussion with and advice from Solutions Journalism Coordinator Sharon Bloyd-Peshkin.

Mikayla Bunnell focused on pet therapy, which has grown in popularity at UConn and other universities in recent years. Her story, Dog therapy catches on at UConn, other colleges across the U.S., was published by CT Community News and republished in the Hartford Courant and the CT Examiner.

Bunnell was most excited about the hands-on nature of building a solutions story, attending therapy sessions and observing interactions.

“I spent a lot of my time listening rather than asking questions,” she said. “I got first-hand experience with the solution I was writing about, which I think helped me explain the concept better and benefited my story overall.”

Gianni Salisbury said she had to do extensive research to nail down her story about student bereavement.

“For this story, I had to talk to experts for inspiration first because the solution was not obvious or previously reported on,” she said. “It was something I had to find and something only people in the field of grief and college policy knew about.” The resulting story, Grief, loss and the college student, explains that up to 44% of college students experience the death of a loved one during any two-year period in school.

The solution highlighted formal student bereavement policies that can guide those who are grieving and help support them as they continue their education.

Senior Sara Bedigian followed these principles in her story on Sandy Hook survivor Audrey Nichols, who is striving to pass gun violence prevention legislation.

“When I conducted the interview with Audrey, it was challenging but I used the narrative techniques we discussed, which helped,” Bedigian said. “I have not interviewed someone before who had experienced the trauma she did. When I told her about the solutions lens and how I am going to focus the story on her advocacy, it made the story easier for me to tell and for her to open up and share.”