Web cookies (also called HTTP cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small pieces of data that websites store on your device (computer, phone, etc.) through your web browser. They are used to remember information about you and your interactions with the site.
Purpose of Cookies:
Session Management:
Keeping you logged in
Remembering items in a shopping cart
Saving language or theme preferences
Personalization:
Tailoring content or ads based on your previous activity
Tracking & Analytics:
Monitoring browsing behavior for analytics or marketing purposes
Types of Cookies:
Session Cookies:
Temporary; deleted when you close your browser
Used for things like keeping you logged in during a single session
Persistent Cookies:
Stored on your device until they expire or are manually deleted
Used for remembering login credentials, settings, etc.
First-Party Cookies:
Set by the website you're visiting directly
Third-Party Cookies:
Set by other domains (usually advertisers) embedded in the website
Commonly used for tracking across multiple sites
Authentication cookies are a special type of web cookie used to identify and verify a user after they log in to a website or web application.
What They Do:
Once you log in to a site, the server creates an authentication cookie and sends it to your browser. This cookie:
Proves to the website that you're logged in
Prevents you from having to log in again on every page you visit
Can persist across sessions if you select "Remember me"
What's Inside an Authentication Cookie?
Typically, it contains:
A unique session ID (not your actual password)
Optional metadata (e.g., expiration time, security flags)
Analytics cookies are cookies used to collect data about how visitors interact with a website. Their primary purpose is to help website owners understand and improve user experience by analyzing things like:
How users navigate the site
Which pages are most/least visited
How long users stay on each page
What device, browser, or location the user is from
What They Track:
Some examples of data analytics cookies may collect:
Page views and time spent on pages
Click paths (how users move from page to page)
Bounce rate (users who leave without interacting)
User demographics (location, language, device)
Referring websites (how users arrived at the site)
Here’s how you can disable cookies in common browsers:
1. Google Chrome
Open Chrome and click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data.
Choose your preferred option:
Block all cookies (not recommended, can break most websites).
Block third-party cookies (can block ads and tracking cookies).
2. Mozilla Firefox
Open Firefox and click the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
Under the Enhanced Tracking Protection section, choose Strict to block most cookies or Custom to manually choose which cookies to block.
3. Safari
Open Safari and click Safari in the top-left corner of the screen.
Go to Preferences > Privacy.
Check Block all cookies to stop all cookies, or select options to block third-party cookies.
4. Microsoft Edge
Open Edge and click the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Cookies and site permissions.
Select your cookie settings from there, including blocking all cookies or blocking third-party cookies.
5. On Mobile (iOS/Android)
For Safari on iOS: Go to Settings > Safari > Privacy & Security > Block All Cookies.
For Chrome on Android: Open the app, tap the three dots, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies.
Be Aware:
Disabling cookies can make your online experience more difficult. Some websites may not load properly, or you may be logged out frequently. Also, certain features may not work as expected.
Adam Giardino ’11 came to UConn with the goal of pursuing a career in sports. It wasn’t until he got in front of the microphone at WHUS that he found his calling in broadcasting. While working in the profession, he found another passion pushing for social change in the broadcast booth. The journalism and communication alumnus discusses how he started the Black Play-by-Play Broadcaster Grant & Scholarship Fund in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and how he continues to chase his big league dreams at UConn.
Interview by UConn Journalism senior Ty Reeves ‘22.
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones scribbled in a notebook during her March 30 appearance in the UConn Student Union and proceeded to ask a question of interviewer Prof. Manisha Sinha. (Photo by Marie K. Shanahan/UConn Journalism)
Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones had one goal as a history major at the University of Notre Dame: to not take a single class in European history.
Growing up in Waterloo, Iowa, in the 1980s and ’90s, she heard all about European influences on America and not a word about Black contributions to the birth of a nation. So, when she advanced to college and took her first Black American history class, she pledged to delve only into the stories of other nations, creeds, races, and genders.
“It was like I could breathe for the first time,” she told a UConn audience Wednesday about that initial Black American history class she took.
Before college, she said she assumed Black people hadn’t had any influence on the country and its communities, because no one around her made mention of their contributions. Certainly, her teachers would have said something, she said, because aren’t they supposed to spotlight the most significant historical impacts?
But “we have not had neutral history,” she said. And Black “history has not been part of the standard way we have studied history.”
Since those days, Hannah-Jones has dedicated her career to advocating for people of color and prompting change in how the country discusses race.
Thanks to all who attended UConn Journalism's first Local News Job & Internship Fair on March 26, 2022. The fourth floor of Oak Hall was buzzing with students, faculty, alumni and recruiters from 14 local news organizations: The Connecticut Mirror, CTNewsJunkie, CTExaminer, Hearst Connecticut, Journal Inquirer, The Day, Republican-American, Connecticut Health Investigative Team, Patch, Turley Publications, Willimantic Chronicle, NBC Connecticut, FOX61 and WFSB News. We hope to make this an annual Spring semester event.
UConn Journalism alum Kyle Constable of The Connecticut Mirror chats with UConn SPJ members Amy Chen and Jordana Castelli.
Our Oak Hall fourth floor hallway was filled with editors and students during our Local News Job and Internship Fair.
Bonnie Phillips and Lynne Delucia of the Connecticut Health Investigative Team were recruiting for a paid summer intern.
Willimantic Chronicle News Editor Mike Lemanski talked with students about internship opportunities.
David Ward of WFSB Channel 3 Eyewitness News let students know about summer internships in digital news production.
Fox 61 News Director Richard Washington III and Fox 61 Digital Editor Lucia I Suarez Sang talked with students about paid summer internships and entry level jobs.
NBC Connecticut anchor and UConn Journalism alum Mike Hydeck '92 poses with Department Head Marie Shanahan '94.
UConn Journalism alums Gabby Debendictis '20 of Patch, Dalton Zbierski ‘16 of Turley Publications, and Profs. Marie Shanahan '94 and Julie Serkosky '90.
Republican-American Managing Editor Anne Karolyi was recruiting for two paid summer internships and two full time reporting positions.
Amanda Steffen of NBC Connecticut/Telemundo talked with students about job and internship opportunities.
Catherine “Cate” Hewitt of CT Examiner chats with UConn Journalism senior Ali Cross. Doug Hardy '91 of CT News Junkie is in the background talking with a student.
At a moment of urgency and crisis, stories can motivate and mobilize, inform, and engage.
The University of Connecticut, through UConn Journalism, is now a member of the Planet Forward Consortium, a network based at George Washington University in Washington, DC dedicated to advancing solutions-oriented storytelling from students reporting about the climate, food, water, sustainability, conservation, and environmental justice.
On Thursday, April 7 from 1-3pm, Planet Forward will host the 2022 Summit, “The Storyteller's Journey: Navigating Crisis, Seeking Solutions. The event will gather experts, media leaders, and young people from around the world to offer solutions and share narratives that address the planet’s most pressing problems.
Special guests include celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés; National Geographic Explorer Arati Kumar-Rao; Adobe Creative Cloud’s Mala Sharma; director of FAO North America Jocelyn Brown Hall; and manager of storytelling and engagement at Project Drawdown Matt Scott.
Additionally, winners will be announced from this year’s Storyfest competition, featuring the best of student environmental journalism from around the country. UConn Journalism student Zoey England is in the running for the grand prize —a trip to Alaska in June with Lindblad Expeditions to report on climate change.
Students, faculty and staff from all UConn departments are invited to cheer on Zoey and join a stellar gathering of experts and students.
Attend from your own computer or drop by Oak 439 anytime from 1-3 p.m. to be a part of this exciting event!
We hope you will join us at the Summit for this exceptional learning and networking opportunity. Discover how you can amplify stories and communicate strategies to help move the planet forward.
Illustration by Sean Flynn / University Communications
In 1991 in Pakistan, there was a surge of women being burned.
A stove would burst, the official report would say – a terrible accident – and only the young bride of the family would be injured or, more often, killed.
“It was very intriguing for me,” says Marvi Sirmed, a journalist and activist who was one of the rare young women working at a newspaper in Pakistan at the time. “When I started digging, first they said, ‘Oh, you know, because in the kitchen, only the daughter-in-law works, so everyone else remains unhurt.’”
Most newspapers in Pakistan at that time employed only one woman, says Sirmed, and that woman was known as the “lady reporter” who would exclusively write for women. Articles about the latest fashions, or recipes, or romantic short stories were the sorts of topics that women in the patriarchal society should be reading, according to the men who ran the newspapers.
Sirmed, who was working as the editor of her newspaper’s weekly women’s edition, felt otherwise.
“I kept digging for four or five months for this story, and some of these incidents would be accidental,” she says, “but most of it was because the daughter-in-law did not bring enough dowry. So, it was a dowry killing, or an honor killing, concealed into accident.”
Her enterprising journalism was not welcomed.
“I brought several stories of the survivors of these ‘accidents,’ and my editor just refused to entertain that,” she says. “He said that women buy the women’s edition because they want to read more about the pleasant subjects. But what you are doing is exactly what they don’t want to know and what we don't want to put in our publication, because these are not pretty faces. If you want to do a modeling session with a high-ranking model girl who would display good apparel, we are all for it. But these faces of burned women, it’s absolutely a ‘no’ story.”
The stories of the burned women were far from the last time Sirmed would face opposition, controversy, harassment, personal attacks, and outright violence for the stories she wanted to tell and the light she aimed to shine on some of the darkest corners of Pakistani life and governance.
In fact, she’s still telling those stories, and working as an activist for change in Pakistan and other South Asian countries, though she’s now more than 7,000 miles away from her home country, in the United States and teaching at UConn through the University’s longstanding and unique partnership with the international networkScholars at Risk.
UConn Journalism Prof. Steven G. Smith ’s long-term picture story about a daughter caring for her 85-year-old father in the final stages of dementia was recently recognized by the 79th Pictures of the Year International (POYi) competition.
"A Daughter's Long Goodbye, A Caregiver's Journey" shows how dementia and COVID-19 have given Leandra Manos the battle of her life.
POYi judge Nikki Kahn commented, “This is a classic picture story that carries you through a journey, with so much intimacy.”
POYi is the oldest and one of the most prestigious photojournalism competitions globally. POYi recognizes excellence in photojournalism, multimedia, visual editing and documentary storytelling. Last year, the contest attracted over 40,000 entries.
Prof. Smith’s work was recognized as a finalist in the “Issue Reporting Picture Story” category. His work has been recognized eleven times by POYi over his career.
Over the last two years, Leandra has had many close calls with George getting out of bed and wandering around at night. Leandra’s solution is to sleep next to her father’s bed to prevent him from hurting himself. (July 9, 2021/Steven G. Smith)
After giving George a haircut, Leandra shows him his smiling face in a hand mirror. Both COVID-19 and dementia have made leaving the house for a haircut seem like an impossible endeavor. Leandra does most of her caretaking from her small two-bedroom home. (July 6, 2021/Steven G. Smith)
Leandra has a daily routine with her father, and she bathes and dresses him in the morning to prepare him for the day. Early on, the two used to manage the routine well together. Over time, George has become totally dependent on her care. (August 10, 2021/Steven G. Smith)
Overcome by her circumstances, Leandra sits on the front porch. One of George’s home healthcare providers unexpectedly stopped seeing George. Daily chores and yard work have been all but unattainable over the last two years because of her father’s constant needs. (November 8, 2021/Steven G. Smith)
Becker's new book tells the stories of Kate Webb, an Australian iconoclast, Catherine Leroy, a French dare devil photographer, and Frances FitzGerald, a blue-blood American intellectual.
On Wednesday, March 16 from 7-8 p.m. the Westport Library is hosting a virtual event featuring journalist and author Elizabeth Becker, whose new book “You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War” tells the story of three pioneering women Vietnam war correspondents.
Congratulations to Sarah Al-Arshani '19, one of 25 journalists selected for the National Press Foundation's Widening the Pipeline Fellowship. The program is designed to support early-career journalists of color and help them rise to positions of influence in U.S. newsrooms. Training topics include leadership, investigative reporting, accountability reporting, data journalism, multimedia skills and in-studio media skills.
Over the next 12 months, fellows will receive training in leadership, in-depth reporting and more to expand the pipeline of diverse journalists. Fellows will meet in Washington D.C. for a three-day workshop March 20-23, then meet once a month for virtual training sessions and return to Washington for a concluding training in 2023. The journalists are based in 18 states and hail from print, radio, TV and digital newsrooms.
Sarah is currently a news reporter at Insider, Inc.
Widening the Pipeline Fellows receive one year of training in leadership, in-depth reporting and more to expand the pipeline of diverse journalists.
Kyle Huson '16 says his experiences at UConn have prepared him for the pressure and excitement of covering the Paralympic Games (courtesy of Kyle Huson).
When Kyle Huson ’16 (CLAS) played competitive ice hockey, he’d lug his heavy gear to the rink. Now, he carries a laptop, and for the next week and a half credentials and a passport, as he covers theU.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey Teamat the Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Huson, who majored in journalism and communication, is digital content manager atUSA Hockeyin Colorado Springs, Colorado, writing stories, posting content, and managing its social media channels. During theWinter Olympics, which closed Feb. 20, he stayed state-side and received content from staffers who were at the Games. But during the Paralympics, March 4-13, he’ll witness the action in China firsthand and provide his own accounts.
“A lot of what I do I owe to what I learned at UConn and the journalism and communication departments,” Huson says. “What I do is not just journalism-specific in terms of writing stories, but it’s also photography and videography. I’m able to provide in-depth content from different competitions and tournaments because of what I learned in my classes at UConn.”
Congratulations to UConn Senior Kevin Lindstrom for placing in the Top 20 of the 2021-22 Hearst Journalism Awards Photo One Competition. Lindstrom serves as photo editor of The Daily Campus and is a student of UConn Journalism Prof. Steve Smith.
Here is one of the images from Kevin’s winning photo entry.
UConn Men’s Soccer midfielder Mateo Leveque celebrates after scoring a goal off a penalty kick during UConn’s 2–2 tie against Creighton University on Oct. 16, 2021 in rainy conditions at Morrone Stadium. Photo by Kevin Lindstrom
The Hearst Journalism Awards program provides scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college-level journalism, with matching grants to the students’ schools. There are 103 nationally accredited undergraduate journalism programs participating in the competition in 2021-22.
