College News

At this holiday market, repurposing is the new regifting

Hannah Stewart — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 16:02:52 +0000

At this holiday market, repurposing is the new regifting Hannah Stewart Fri, 11/07/2025 - 09:02

Hannah Stewart

A student applies a decal to a finished whiskey glass while another student records the process in the EPOP studio course. This class challenges students studying environmental products of design to make gifts from diverted materials that are listed for sale at the Firefly Handmade Holiday Market. Photos by Hannah Howell.

John Davis developed a love of product design through a furniture building studio in Copenhagen, Denmark. So taking the EPOP studio course offered through the environmental design department was a no-brainer.

If you go

What: Students will be at the Firefly Handmade Holiday Market all weekend selling 12 hand-designed and manufactured products.

Where: Pearl Street Mall, 1303 Pearl St., 51�Թ��.

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 15 and 16. Historically, they’ve sold out quickly, so stop by early.

Learn more

“I initially wanted to do architecture, but found that product design has much more tangible results a lot faster, which is rewarding,” Davis said. “And this studio is such a good opportunity for students like me. I don't think a lot of people get the chance to actually design a product and take it to market during their education.”

EPOP students have one seemingly simple task: Design, produce and sell an item at market. But there’s a catch: All products—as well as the storefront—must be made sustainably, with at least 50% of each item made from diverted materials.

The course name comes from the environmental products of design, or EPOD, major at 51�Թ��’s College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, and the pop-up shop at which the final goods are sold each year.

In teams of three, the students identified a waste stream—plastic from holiday string lights, used outdoor gear or, in Davis’ case, used whiskey bottles—and created both a story and a product from it.

Davis and his team realized many holiday markets have artisan wine glasses, but rarely did they see similar drinkware for hard liquor. They settled on a whiskey glass and companion coaster, and after learning skills like sandblasting and 3D modeling, were able to create 15 two-glass sets to sell at the Firefly Handmade Holiday Market later this month.

Both the glasses and coasters were made of reclaimed whiskey bottles from Spirit Hound, in Lyons, which donated the raw materials to the team.

“That just made our sustainability story a lot stronger,” Davis said. “I am really proud of how sustainable we were able to make our product. It’s made from something like 80% diverted material.”

This is the fifth year the students have collaborated with Firefly, and the fourth time they'll sell their goods at the annual holiday market on the Pearl Street Mall. And each year, the studio—and market storefront—has grown. Unlike the 10-foot-by-10-foot tents most vendors use, the students are building a 10-foot-by-20-foot storefront, complete with cash wrap and mounts so that market-goers can watch each product’s process videos, created by the students over the course of the semester.

Most years, their inventory quickly sells out.

“It’s really affirming for the students and builds their creative confidence,” said Jared Arp, an assistant teaching professor co-leading the class alongside Melissa Felderman, an associate teaching professor.

“This studio is like a right of passage. When the market happens, former students come back to see what the next class has done, so it’s become a touchpoint for our alumni and a great way to engage the community,” Arp said.

Students learned various technical skills like sandblasting, 3D modeling and more throughout the course of the EPOP Studio.

From concept to creation, all products (and the storefront itself) are all made by the students.

Hannah Stewart graduated in 2019 with a degree in communication. She covers student news at the college.

Photographer Hannah Howell is studying media production at CMDI.

CMDI students will showcase, and sell, their sustainable products at the annual Firefly Handmade Holiday Market in November.

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Deer in the spotlights: What Bambi tells us about animation and death

Joe Arney — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 15:45:51 +0000

Deer in the spotlights: What Bambi tells us about animation and death Joe Arney Thu, 11/06/2025 - 08:45

Joe Arney

When she asks her classes who remembers this scene from Bambi, Marissa Lammon says everyone's hand goes up. But while you probably can also recall this image, this isn't a scene from Bambi—it never appeared onscreen. A new paper from Lammon studies what this recollection teaches us about how we encounter and interpret violence and death as children.

You know that heartbreaking scene in Disney’s Bambi, in which the title character cuddles up to his mother’s lifeless body after she’s been shot by a hunter?

No, you don’t. It never happened.

“I show this image to my students all the time in class, and ask who remembers this scene,” said Marissa Lammon, a lecturer in the communication department at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at 51�Թ��. “And everyone raises their hand, even though this is never shown onscreen.”

Lammon (PhDMediaSt’24) is an expert in popular culture and children’s media, especially as they relate to death. And, she said, the widespread misremembering of how Bambi’s mother dies is a testament to the impact her death has on audiences.

“The image represents collective trauma, and how the vast majority of people interpreted this death as traumatic,” Lammon said. “We talk about animated deaths that really stick with us, and Bambi’s mother is the one. And it actually changes the way we remember the film.”

In a new paper in Omega, Lammon looks at the story of Bambi’s mother dying and what it says about Western culture, which has made death taboo, and how children interpret the media they absorb.

“We tend to think about children as passive, blank slates,” she said. “My work suggests children are active agents who are creating and negotiating meaning from what they see and hear. And what’s fascinating is that, as a culture, we don’t talk about death, but we show it profusely in media.”

How children create meaning from media

“Children are active agents who are creating and negotiating meaning from what they see and hear.”

Marissa Lammon (PhDMediaSt’24), instructor, communication

Lammon’s interest in mediated death started while she was studying psychology as an undergraduate at UCCS, and evolved while she was doing her master’s work there.

“Children create meaning in ways different from how we do, but they’re still very social,” she said. “I wanted to bridge this gap between psychology and media and cultural studies to understand how children use media to reinforce or challenge ideology in ways that are significant to their development.”

It’s particularly important work at a time when our environment is becoming even more hypermediated.

“If we, as adults, are struggling to discern what is factual information and what is ‘fake news,’ then it’s more crucial than ever to encourage media literacy, critical thinking and reflection with children, so they can develop those skills,” she said.

CMDI advisory board member Christopher Bell (PhDMediaSt’09) advised Lammon’s master’s work, and gave her opportunities to consult in the industry. They have become close collaborators on researching popular culture.

“Marissa has fully embraced the idea of public scholarship—the idea that the knowledge generated at the academic level should belong to the public,” said Bell, president of Creativity Partners and a longtime consultant in animation. “When she goes to Pixar or Skydance and presents her work to people who make things, it changes how these companies produce media for children. It literally changes the world.”

That’s something she’s trying to do with Bemoaning Bambi: Visual Communication of Trauma From Witnessing One of Disney’s Saddest Character Deaths.

Marissa Lammon, right, presents work on animation and death at Fan Expo Denver. ‘Children’s media actually are the most violent out there, but when we think about animation, we tell ourselves it’s just fantasy, it’s just fun, it’s not actually harmful,’ she says. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

“Children’s media actually are the most violent out there, but when we think about animation, we tell ourselves it’s just fantasy, it’s just fun, it’s not actually harmful,” Lammon said, adding that our culture uses violence to teach moral lessons. “In the case of Bambi’s mother, her death embodies traumatic frames in ways that make it so salient in our recollections of animated death.”

Those frames, she said, are homicide, gender coding—especially the theme of maternal sacrifice—and character development after the act of violence.

‘Completely shattered’

While most of us remember Bambi’s mother being shot in the early stages of the movie, “in fact, it happens about 40 minutes in,” Lammon said. “So for 40 minutes, you see this loving and nurturing relationship develop, and then Bambi’s world is completely shattered.”

That trauma changes how Bambi develops, “leaving you, as an audience member, thinking about how he has to completely change the way he exists,” she said.

And that goes for the children in the audience, as well.

“The conversations I have with children are so deep and intellectual,” she said. “If parents really talked with their children about what they’re seeing and how they’re interpreting it, they would be so surprised with what they’re picking up on and how they reflect on it.”

Lammon’s hope is that her findings change both how the industry communicates themes around death and how parents and caregivers have conversations about what their children absorb.

“There is a lot that the industry is doing well, but we need to change media texts to include death that is natural, not just murder, so we can prepare them for what bereavement will look like in their own lives,” she said. “Meanwhile, we need to make parents more comfortable about having these conversations with their children, instead of just ignoring what they’ve watched or prevent them from seeing it.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Children aren’t just blank slates—they create meaning from the media they experience. An expert says that’s a reason to think about how we show themes like violence and death.

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Virtue-al reality: VR Veterans Day exhibit at CMDI showcases honor, sacrifice

Joe Arney — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 16:03:51 +0000

Virtue-al reality: VR Veterans Day exhibit at CMDI showcases honor, sacrifice Joe Arney Mon, 11/03/2025 - 09:03

Joe Arney

A centerpiece of Eyes of Freedom is ‘Silent Battle.’ This statue, of a serviceman grieving as he holds the dog tags of a fallen comrade, is seen as visitors to the immersive exhibit would experience it through a virtual reality headset. Photo by Patrick Clark.

Twenty years ago, Lima Company—a reserve infantry unit in the Marine Corps—was activated and deployed to Iraq, where the company suffered intense losses.

The stories of that unit, and the 23 service members killed in action that year, have been told around the country through a traveling exhibition that includes paintings of the fallen veterans, along with the boots they wore in combat.

If you go

What: Eyes of Freedom Immersive, a virtual reality-enabled experience of the traveling art exhibit.

When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Veterans Day, Tuesday, Nov. 11, CASE E330. Advance registration required.

Who: Members of the university and 51�Թ�� community are encouraged to attend.

Why: The exhibition highlights the sacrifices of a Marine company that suffered heavy losses in Iraq in 2005. The virtual version, created through the Immersive Media Lab, can bring the art installation to places it otherwise could not be seen.

Now, thanks to the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at 51�Թ��, the stories behind this memorial could enjoy a much wider reach. Owing to technology in the college’s Immersive Media Lab, an extended version of the exhibit may soon allow audiences to experience and interact with the project virtually.

“It’s a really good way to bring art and technology together, but beyond that, it’s a way to put an important focus on how we honor service and sacrifice,” said Patrick Clark, an assistant professor of critical media practices and director of the lab. “Hopefully, people walk away with an understanding of what our service members have given to our country, sacrificed for us—and leave with a sense of connection to these real human beings that were just like a lot of us.”

In Eyes of Freedom, the artist Anita Miller created larger-than-life paintings of casual moments in her subjects’ lives, as well as a statue called “Silent Battle”—showing a grieving warrior holding the dog tag of his friend—prominently displayed. Placards and information panels tell the stories of the men who were killed in combat.

Battling trauma, post-traumatic stress

Seeing it in person offers a kind of raw emotion that can be hard to capture virtually. But the virtual exhibition allows the story of these servicemen to reach places that the full experience cannot. Miller was inspired to create this project as a way to help veterans struggling with loss, trauma and post-traumatic stress.

“Pat’s work really opens up the doors to so many possibilities—veterans in hospice, chaplains in military bases, retreat centers,” she said. “To me, this exhibit is a therapeutic tool to get to the deepest parts of ourselves—and with virtual reality, we can bring this tool to more people and allow them to experience the healing of it from anywhere.”

Clark, a filmmaker and visual artist, has been a driving force behind the Immersive Media Lab since it opened in 2018. From its humble origins as a closet in Folsom Field, the lab has expanded to house top-of-the-line headsets, cameras and sensors that allow students to create unique journalism projects, games, documentaries and other interactive projects.

Thanks to the technology in the lab, Clark was able to enlist students in scanning the artwork as well as some of the artifacts Miller collected, like letters from the servicemen that virtual visitors can interact with.

“In terms of the college, this is a great example of how we find different ways to tell stories to ensure they create impact,” Clark said. “How does technology change the way we’re telling the story, or how that story resonates with people? Those are things we’re interested in, whether you’re talking about journalism, documentaries or anything else.”

Climbing the statue

“If the VR portion of it makes it more engaging or appealing, or just more accessible, to students, and gets them to take a moment to appreciate the memory of these guys, then I think we’ll have accomplished something important.”

Patrick Clark, assistant professor, critical media practices

While this is the first time the immersive experience will be displayed, a beta test over the summer was well attended, and identified a few bugs for Clark to squish, like participants loading into the corners of the exhibit, or being able to climb the “Silent Battle” statue, “which I don’t think is something Anita intended,” Clark said.

In fact, the statue is a linchpin of the exhibit. Miller modeled it on Brian Zimmermann, who shared his experiences in Iraq with the artist and helped her understand the exhibit could be more than a testament to sacrifice.

“He described this scene of seeing his friend sitting on the floor, holding the dog tags of guys who had just died,” Miller said. “I told him I was looking for something uplifting and hopeful. He said to me, ‘You don’t understand, You don’t just go from the depths of darkness to reaching the light—it’s too big of a step. The first step in healing is knowing you’re not alone. And if you make that sculpture, other people will know they’re not alone with their pain.’”

That’s what she hopes the immersive edition of Eyes of Freedom can accomplish. The showcase, and survey data taken from participants, can help guide next steps, like releasing it to app stories or installing it on headsets and sending them to schools, hospitals and the like.

“I had one person who told me she preferred the virtual, because she was able to experience it without the distractions of other people,” Miller said. “It can be a much more personal and meditative experience when you have time with the art and aren’t rushed to get out of there.”

For his part, Clark said he hopes students leave the exhibit with an understanding of the sacrifice these veterans made in service of their country.

“These people were the same age as the students in my classes. In another world, these could have been their peers,” he said. “And if the VR portion of it makes it more engaging or appealing, or just more accessible, to students, and gets them to take a moment to appreciate the memory of these guys, then I think we’ll have accomplished something important.”

Patrick Clark uses a camera to scan one of the paintings that make up Eyes of Freedom just outside the Immersive Media Lab. Working with students, Clark scanned the paintings and other artifacts from the exhibit to make them accessible via virtual reality headset.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

Thanks to the Immersive Media Lab, the celebrated Eyes of Freedom art project will expand its potential for healing and remembrance.

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Expert calls East Wing destruction a rejection of history, culture: ‘This should not have been allowed to happen’

Joe Arney — Fri, 31 Oct 2025 16:59:50 +0000

Expert calls East Wing destruction a rejection of history, culture: ‘This should not have been allowed to happen’ Joe Arney Fri, 10/31/2025 - 10:59

Joe Arney

The demolition of the East Wing of the White House was ‘utterly negligent,’ says Azza Kamal, an associate teaching professor of environmental design and someone who has worked in historic preservation. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press.

Remember the Alamo? Yeah, Azza Kamal remembers the Alamo. She also remembers, as a member of the historic preservation committee for San Antonio, a redevelopment plan that threatened to encroach on the historic site’s borders.

Kamal, an associate teaching professor of environmental design at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information, stepped down from the committee before it rendered a decision about how the proposal addressed the delineation of the historic footprint. But she remembered being unimpressed with the proposal’s lack of respect for the boundaries of the battle that made the fort famous.

“This pivotal moment in Texas history does not have a physical boundary, like a fence, and part of this plan ignored that boundary,” Kamal said. “If you look at East and West Germany, there are places where you can see where the border existed between them. That’s what we asked for—to recognize that this is history, and needs to be designated in a visible, dignified way that aligns with this historical icon.”

“You’re standing up for a history, a culture, and a way people connect with buildings and engage with their communities. To disregard that with a building as significant as the White House is problematic.”

Azza Kamal, associate teaching professor, environmental design

When she looks at the pile of rubble that used to be the East Wing of the White House, she sees “a much worse and utterly negligent” disrespect for the history and culture associated with an important building.

“There is a complicated process for a building like this. It should take years,” said Kamal, who is not involved in the White House project but has served in a preservation role in Gainesville, Florida, in addition to San Antonio. “Typically, anytime you’re talking demolition with a historic landmark, a preservation committee is among the first steps in your due process.”

The destruction of the East Wing was undertaken by Donald Trump to add a ballroom to the White House, and is the second time he’s embarked on a controversial renovation project to the building and its grounds: Earlier this year, he paved over the Rose Garden to install patio seating.

A great deal of media attention on the ballroom project has focused on the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which was adopted to create processes to protect historic resources. Notably, the act exempts the White House, U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court building, but in proceeding immediately to demolition, Trump is ignoring the precedent established by other presidents, who have sought approvals to make smaller renovations.

Potentially illegal

While she’s not a legal scholar, she said it may also have been illegal.

“If you read the text of the act, it specifically says those exemptions must be consistent with the purpose of this act,” Kamal said. “And the purpose of the act is historic preservation, and these buildings are designated landmarks importance sense of our shared cultural heritage, in the sense that important decrees, decisions and discussions happen in these places. This should not have been allowed to happen.”

Scholars are trying to build the legal case against this action, but Kamal pointed to another important dimension—the environmental impact. Something she talks about to students in her sustainable planning courses is the impact new development has, including energy use to tear something down, filling landfills with destroyed materials and extracting raw materials to enable new construction.

Alternatives like rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of a building, or deconstruction—where the building materials are kept intact or repurposed—can alleviate the environmental impact of a new building or prevent materials from ending up in a landfill. Neither appears to have been considered for the East Wing.

“It seems like demolition was the first step in the process, and for that to happen, you have to skip a lot of steps,” Kamal said. “And people will say the only function preservation committees have is to make life difficult for people, but serving in these roles is a great responsibility and honor that I cherished. You’re standing up for a history, a culture, and a way people connect with buildings and engage with their communities. To disregard that with a building as significant as the White House is problematic.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A preservationist and professor of sustainable planning laments leveling of White House section to add a ballroom.

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No ifs, ands or buts. (Bots, on the other hand…)

Joe Arney — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:05:34 +0000

No ifs, ands or buts. (Bots, on the other hand…) Joe Arney Tue, 10/28/2025 - 09:05

Joe Arney

WooJin Kim, an assistant professor of advertising, studies the potential of artificial intelligence to influence positive social behavior. That work led to Kim’s appointment as CMDI’s first DeLuca Faculty Scholar in Advertising earlier this fall. Photo by Nathan Thompson.

Growing up in Ansan, South Korea, WooJin Kim was heavily influenced by his family. While his parents made sacrifices in order to send him to college—the first in his family to do so—it was the values he drew from his grandfather, a pastor, that shaped his experiences as a student and researcher.

“He always encouraged me to help others and to support my community and society,” said Kim, an assistant professor of advertising at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at 51�Թ��. “It’s why I first started looking at the potential for advertising to shape and influence human behavior, especially through advanced technology.”

Kim studies how artificial intelligence—in the form of chatbots and personalized advertising content—can position the right message in front of the right audience to drive social behavior, such as encouraging people to adopt sustainable practices, get vaccines, donate to worthwhile causes—even stop cyberbullying among students.

It’s work that led to Kim’s appointment as CMDI’s first DeLuca Faculty Scholar in Advertising earlier this fall. Kim’s work in A.I. and his impressive track record of publications—his work has been featured in the prestigious Journal of Advertising as well as the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research and others—led to this three-year appointment within the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Design.

Kim called the endowed position “a great honor that shows my research has the potential to contribute to the college and the community.”

“The more he’s able to understand—and teach—the power behind A.I., the more I can see students understanding what a wide net they can cast with it.”

Peter DeLuca (StratComm’83)

Getting Kim’s work beyond the campus is something Wendy and Peter DeLuca (StratComm’83) hope their gift makes possible.

“I enjoy talking to students when I go back and visit the campus, and this research really showcases a way to apply A.I. in a way that changes the conversation around it,” said Peter DeLuca, a retired chief creative officer and senior vice president with T-Mobile and a member of the college’s advisory board. “The more he’s able to understand—and teach—the power behind A.I., the more I can see students understanding what a wide net they can cast with it. This will help change the conversation from just displacing people or replacing jobs.”

An international perspective

Kim first became interested in the potential of advertising to positive shape human behavior as a high school student growing up in conservative South Korea. International students visiting from places like Bangladesh, the Philippines and Indonesia showed him how diverse points of view benefited schoolwork and friendships, “which made me very curious about how I could change attitudes and raise awareness about important social issues related to diversity,” he said.

Now, as generative artificial intelligence rewrites the playbook for advertising, Kim said he sees ethical, responsible use of those tools as key to building a better society.

One example he studies is A.I. chatbots.

“During interactions between humans and chatbots, the A.I. agents can access and collect our personal data, which can raise ethical issues and privacy concerns,” Kim said. “But at the same time, by analyzing our data—education, income, demographic information—they can identify target audiences and offer personalized, pro-social messages that benefit health outcomes and the environment.”

Generative A.I. has set off waves in the creative and communication communities, as ethical, legal, privacy and other concerns disrupt the ways we gather, analyze and share information. It’s why Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college, is excited to see how this appointment helps unlock additional insights from Kim.

“What makes our college special are the interdisciplinary insights our faculty bring to new and complex problems,” Bergen said. “WooJin’s work in advertising and A.I. promises to help us rethink how new tools and evolving techniques can positively influence public discourse.”

Breaking the black box

Better literacy around artificial intelligence, Kim said, is key to unlocking its potential as an agent for positive social change. It’s why he’s excited for the DeLuca endowment, which will allow him to do more work in algorithmic transparency.

“We need a better understanding of A.I. and a better ability to critically evaluate and understand knowledge and information generated by this technology,” he said.

“I know we can use A.I. to help others, but A.I. and its underlying mechanisms are a black box. If we could build in additional transparency, so that people understand how the underlying mechanisms work, it would change how they interact with and use such tools, and influence how likely they are to accept A.I.-generated decisions.”

The DeLucas, who also sponsor scholarships at CMDI, said they hope that work helps change the way students behave online.

“He’s a great teacher who clearly loves being in the classroom,” said Wendy DeLuca, who worked in finance before devoting herself to raising her family and extensive volunteer service. “If he could just influence a handful of his own students through what he’s learning from this research, it will be impactful.”

“Bullying does not stop when you get out of high school—in some ways, it can be worse in college,” Peter DeLuca said. “We wanted to support this research because it’s an opportunity to touch an individual who then can touch multiple students, and create long-lasting impact that’s felt throughout the college and beyond.”

From left, Dean Lori Bergen, Wendy DeLuca, Peter DeLuca, WooJin Kim and Kay Weaver, chair of the APRD department, gathered to give the DeLucas a chance to meet the recipient of the endowed position they created. ‘If he could just influence a handful of his own students through what he’s learning from this research, it will be impactful,’ Wendy DeLuca said.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A researcher who studies A.I.’s potential impact on advertising has been named CMDI’s first DeLuca faculty scholar.

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Roam if you want to. Unless you’re a wild animal

Joe Arney — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:11:51 +0000

Roam if you want to. Unless you’re a wild animal Joe Arney Tue, 10/21/2025 - 09:11

Joe Arney

A coyote wanders through urban parkland in Chicago at night. It was a coyote in New York's Central Park that first got Hillary M. Rosner interested in how wildlife roams from place to place—and the human-made obstacles that thwart them. This coyote, which was being tracked with a radio collar, was struck by a car and killed just months after this photo was taken. Photo by Corey Arnold.

Hillary M. Rosner was a young editor with the Village Voice in the 1990s when she read about a coyote living in Central Park.

Nowadays, that’s not quite so special—the park is home to resident coyotes who prowl the improbably green space at the heart of Manhattan. But what fascinated Rosner was their improbable journey—how the animals successfully navigated the urban jungle, and why they chose to do so.

“That idea—just wondering how this coyote navigated these concrete canyons to get to the park—really stuck with me,” said Rosner (MEnvSt’06), an assistant teaching professor of journalism at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information and associate director of its Center for Environmental Journalism. “As I got more into environmental and science journalism, the stories that most moved me were in some way about animals whose lives were changed because of human infrastructure.”

Hillary M. Rosner

That curiosity has culminated in a new book, Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World, out this month from Patagonia. In it, she draws upon a career of environmental journalism to share stories of the struggles animals face in overcoming human-made boundaries.

Restoring empathy

Her goal is to encourage readers to abandon a human-centered view of the world in favor of one that demonstrates our interconnectedness with the planet, while learning to view other species with empathy and compassion.

The connections she explores in the book are both literal—for example, creatures needing to get from one point to another—and more abstract, such as how animals connect to an ecosystem to affect its resilience and adaptability. “And it’s about showing how human infrastructure presents a barrier to this idea of connectivity for all these other species,” she said. The book further spells out the ecological consequences of a world where wild animals cannot roam—an inability to spread plant life, less genetic diversity—threatening species’ adaptability and survival—and the extinction of charismatic species.

If that sounds dire, Rosner will be the first to tell you there’s real urgency behind the topic. Her work took her around the world to see the obstacles humans have created for wildlife. In Kenya, as more land becomes privately owned, more fences are going up, blocking long-held migration routes. Closer to home, Donald Trump’s funding freeze has canceled wildlife crossings along U.S. highways.

“If we continue to act as though we are the only species on the planet, it’s going to become self-fulfilling.”

Hillary M. Rosner (MEnvSt’06)

“I talk about a lot of bad things that are going on, but the book is about solutions—the race to repair our fractured world,” Rosner said. “It’s about people all across the world doing incredible work and devoting their lives to reconnecting the planet for other species. And I think that is hopeful.”

Rosner’s work has appeared in some of the most influential news outlets in the country—The New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, The Atlantic—following her pivot to environmental reporting, which owes quite a bit to her graduate work in environmental studies at 51�Թ��, as well as a Ted Scripps environmental journalism fellowship.

“I took an amazing biogeography course during my Scripps fellowship, which really helped shape my thinking around this project, in terms of species movement and the role humans have in shaping that,” said Rosner, who today oversees the Scripps program as part of her work with CEJ. Her work also was influenced by fellowships from Knight Science Journalism at MIT and the National Science Foundation.

Barriers beyond borders, highways

As you might expect from someone with such curiosity for the natural world, Rosner took the most enjoyment from how much she learned about the world through her reporting. A concept she particularly enjoyed exploring was anthropogenic resistance—the invisible ways humans impede animal movement.

“For instance, you may have a physically passable route for a bear, but you have a lot of hikers who recreate in that area, so it won’t go there,” she said. “We more readily think of border walls or highways, but humans have created all sorts of hidden barriers to animal movement that we don’t often think about.”

Her book is a call to action that we need to start thinking otherwise—and quickly. A key theme in Roam is one of empathy, as she invites readers to bring a different perspective to how they, too, move through the world.

“The idea of empathy was not an idea I was thinking about when I started this project,” Rosner said. “When I look around, it’s clear to me that empathy is lacking across the board right now—but perhaps if we can learn to see other species with empathy, it will help us see one another with empathy, also.”

There’s also a more pragmatic reason to take Rosner’s work seriously. Like it or not, those same connections between wild animals and the natural world also link us to the environment.

“We must better understand and appreciate how intimately we are connected to nature,” she said. “I mean, I say it in the book: If we continue to act as though we are the only species on the planet, it’s going to become self-fulfilling. That’s not a world we’ll want to live in, or be able to live in.”

Roam is available for limited release now, and will officially be available at bookstores and online Oct. 28.

A herd of elk at their winter refuge outside Grand Teton National Park, in Wyoming. Photo by Florian Schulz.

Kenya's major highways and railways include underpasses to allow elephants to navigate human infrastructure. Photo by Richard Moller.

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A new book from a journalism professor looks at human-made barriers—visible and not—that have disrupted animal migrations and threaten our ecology.

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Designing a more hopeful future

Joe Arney — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:44:58 +0000

Designing a more hopeful future Joe Arney Mon, 10/20/2025 - 09:44

Iris Serrano

Photo by Addi Rexroat

Design has always been about solving problems, but in the Department of Environmental Design, it’s also about finding hope along the way.

That is why the department, part of the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information at 51�Թ��, is hosting a year-long lecture series, with guest speakers from around the country sharing their insights on designing for a complex world.

If you go

What: The ENVD Lecture Series on Designing for a Complex World

When: Various days and times through Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Who: Various speakers from industry and academia, who will bring real-world perspectives to complex problems and challenge students to be optimistic in the face of crises.

The remaining lineup is as follows:

Cyrus Peñarroyo, associate professor of architecture at the University of Michigan, 12:20 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22, ENVD 134.
Mike Moore, founding partner of Tres Birds, 5 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 12, ENVD 134.
Alejandro Vázquez, director at Field Operations, 12:20 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 19, ENVD 134.

Though the lecture series has been held before, this year’s theme of designing optimism issues a specific challenge to the presenters and students who attend.

“Design is inherently an optimistic act,” said Jeremy Ehly, an associate teaching professor and chair of the visiting lecture committee. “Optimism is imagining a future that’s better, and in order to be a designer you have to believe in that possibility.”

The lectures go beyond traditional design, covering topics such as photography, environmental advocacy and sustainability, showcasing how creativity can create change for all spaces and living beings. The series formally kicked off Oct. 13 with a lecture from Joyce Hwang, a professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo, who shared insights from her work on how to integrate multispecies habitat design into the built environment.

Hwang encouraged designers to frame their work beyond just human considerations—from integrating ecosystem services thinking into design thinking, to incorporating empathy and inclusion in a more expanded and biodiverse sense.

Environmental design often handles complex and sometimes discouraging issues like the housing crisis, habitat degradation and ecological collapse. Still, Ehly hopes this series will inspire students to see hope beyond these challenges.

“When confronted with these problems, it creates a sense of futility,” Ehly said. “I hope students attending are influenced by these people who are making a positive change—and can see themselves doing it someday.”

Students won’t only have the opportunity to hear from these industry experts, they will also be able to connect with speakers on a deeper level. It’s a key focus of the environmental design department, which challenges students to do hands-on work that is reviewed by industry professionals to provide invaluable feedback.

“What gets me excited is just the ability for our students to be so intensely exposed to these critical voices, and have a way to critically engage with them in our studios, in our curriculum and in real life,” Ehly said.

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

ENVD is hosting a year-long lecture series featuring industry experts exploring how creativity can create positive change.

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CMDI brings the conversation on immigration to center stage

Joe Arney — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 20:33:18 +0000

CMDI brings the conversation on immigration to center stage Joe Arney Thu, 10/16/2025 - 14:33

Joe Arney

Courtesy Motus Theater

For the first two years of its existence, the CMDI Distinguished Speaker Series has invited nationally recognized guests to provide insights on relevant topics like how technology encodes inequality into its products and services, and how to remedy a deeply polarized society.

While the focus on impact and important topics is the same, this year, the college invited local voices to share the stage and lead a conversation on immigration.

51�Թ��-based Motus Theater, which creates original works to facilitate dialogue on important contemporary issues, will stage a performance that will be followed by a panel discussion featuring journalists from The Colorado Sun, 9News and Colorado Public Radio.

If you go

What: Reapproaching Media and Migration

When: 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 22, CASE Chancellor’s Hall, fourth floor.

Who: Motus Theater, which brings silenced histories and marginalized voices to the stage, will give a performance of UndocuAmerica, followed by a panel conversation featuring local journalists.

Why: The CMDI Distinguished Speaker Series showcases some of the most pressing challenges of our time and invites future journalists, communicators, designers and technologists to consider their responsibilities as citizens and storytellers.

The event is open to all members of the 51�Թ�� community and the public.

Learn more

“What this series demonstrates is that CMDI is at the center of important conversations in our society,” said Nabil Echchaibi, associate dean of scholarly and creative work at CMDI and a professor of media studies. “We’re not just isolated in our own world. What we teach, what we do research on, what we explore creatively, it all has direct relevance to the world.”

Echchaibi encountered Motus as an advisor to one of the company’s performances, and invited the group to participate in a seminar class he taught a few years ago to help the students sharpen their media literacy skills.

“One of the things Motus excels at is reframing the conversation about these communities, around undocumented immigration,” Echchaibi, noting the company has been doing such productions since 2011.

UndocuAmerica, the project Motus will perform at CMDI, was created to counter the dehumanizing portrayal of immigrants through thoughtful engagement on the challenges facing the undocumented community, as well as the assets new arrivals bring to the United States. Motus works with leaders from the undocumented community to help them write powerful stories about their lives and experiences, then showcases them in moving monologues.

Echchaibi said he hopes the audience of communicators, storytellers and designers leaves with a better understanding of “our obligation as citizens, neighbors, journalists and educators to immigrant justice and honoring life for everyone.”

“I see CMDI as a convener of these conversations at a time when fewer people are having them,” he said. “We want to give a sense of perspective, some clarity about what we are all dealing with on a daily basis. Those conversations don’t only happen in the classroom—we are trying to foster a culture of meaningful and constructive discussion about issues of great public concern.”

Joe Arney covers research and general news for the college.

A performance by Motus Theater headlines this year’s Distinguished Speaker Series.

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‘Little community,’ big class: Meet CMDI’s groundbreaking Class of 2029

Joe Arney — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 16:17:48 +0000

‘Little community,’ big class: Meet CMDI’s groundbreaking Class of 2029 Joe Arney Mon, 10/13/2025 - 10:17

Iris Serrano

Chip the Buffalo leads CMDI's newest class of students in doing the wave during the college's orientation activities. The college's Class of 2029 is 25% larger than last year's, which was at the time the largest ever. Photo by Hannah Howell.

When Kellen McFarland made the short drive from Thornton to 51�Թ��, he immediately fell in love.

Not just with the university, or its dramatic views of the Flatirons, but with the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information

“I remember thinking it was not only pretty out here, and close to home but all the classes I took were really fun,” said McFarland, who attended Connections, a summer academy for high school students that helped him experience life on campus. “After the program, 51�Թ�� felt like the best fit for me, and I considered it as one of my top options.”

In enrolling at CMDI, McFarland joined a monumental class of new first-year students. With 548 new first-year students, this new cohort is by far the largest in the college’s history, reflecting a 25% increase from the previous year.

Some other highlights from the Class of 2029:

The college also added 73 transfer students, bringing the total count of new undergraduate students to 621.
The strategic communication major had the highest number of admits by department, with 155. Information science saw the largest increase in enrollments, jumping by 16 over last year.
Despite the vastly increased size of the class, average high school GPA (3.76) and standardized test scores are slightly up, or on par with, last year.
CMDI also added 38 master’s students and 23 doctoral students for the fall.

Photo by Jack Moody

Notably, the incoming class is the first to be admitted to the renamed college, reflecting the integration of the environmental design department into CMDI.

“It’s so exciting, in our 10th year as a college, to have such a large and dynamic class of students joining us,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMDI. “I’m especially thrilled to welcome our environmental design students, and am excited to see how their energy and enthusiasm continues to positively shape the direction of our community.”

‘Trying to be ambitious’

McFarland also participated in Pathways, another summer program designed to help students acclimate to college life and build community. It was there that the aspiring sports journalist also had the opportunity to learn more about the clubs and student organizations that would help him build a network and develop experience outside of the classroom.

“I learned about the opportunities that Sko Buffs Sports offers. Members have gone to Big 12 media days, and they get to interview athletes and get flown out to games,” McFarland said. “I’m trying to be ambitious. I know I won’t get there on day one, but I want to experience what it’s like on the field.”

Media production major Eloisa Samper participated in Pathways with McFarland, crediting the experience with preparing her for college life.

“We got really close in our group. We all have different majors, but when we see each other, we stick together,” Samper said. “It was comforting to know I had this little community on my first day.”

She’s no stranger to working in the creative field. Samper has practiced photography for years, and over the summer, she explored videography and content creation to support the global seminar in Medellin, Colombia, run by environmental design each year.

“After that, I started getting invested in my education and trying to figure out how I could do the kind of art that I am passionate about. That’s how I decided to study media production,” said Samper, who hopes her education prepares her to become a cinematographer on feature films or even work as a war correspondent.

Interests in sports, sustainability

Kennah White also came into college knowing what she wanted to do. The first-year student moved from Colorado Springs to study environmental design after taking an introductory class in high school.

Christopher Bell (PhDMediaSt'09) presents to students at orientation. Photo by Jack Moody.

“We still have a lot of problems with sustainability,” White said. “I want to help solve those problems and teach people how to help and utilize the environment.”

Her passion for advocacy started in high school, where she was part of an organization that raised awareness and funds to support women’s and children’s rights around the world. She hopes to continue that work in college.

CMDI is also welcoming plenty of students who have found their home away from home. Jhordynn Garcia, a media studies major, came to 51�Թ�� from San Antonio in hopes of breaking into the sports media industry.

Garcia is eager to learn foundational skills in her classes and hopes to better understand audiences and what drives engagement, so she can do multimedia marketing for professional sports teams.

“I’m curious about how to make people feel excited, how to connect with an audience and bring people together through social media,” she said.

With the semester already underway, students said they’re already making the most of the opportunities available to them in and out of class. Sam King, a strategic communication major from Minnesota, hopes to start his own business one day. To that end, he’s started to build his skill set by joining the 51�Թ�� chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America.

“We’ve had LinkedIn workshops and learned how other students got their internships. These are things that will help me pursue my goal, even if I’m still figuring out exactly what that is,” King said. “If you can communicate well and express yourself, that helps you get along with people and lead them.”

The Class of 2029, with Chip, in the CU Events Center during orientation activities. Including transfer students, the incoming class is made up of 621 new undergraduates. Photo by Kimberly Coffin.

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

CMDI’s first cohort since integrating with environmental design is made up of even more ambitious and creative students.

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At J-Day, student enthusiasm overwhelms challenges facing industry

Joe Arney — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 15:44:08 +0000

At J-Day, student enthusiasm overwhelms challenges facing industry Joe Arney Fri, 10/03/2025 - 09:44

Iris Serrano

Alumnus Marshall Zelinger welcomes high schoolers to J-Day with a talk about how students journalists can stay adaptable in the face of changes disrupting the news industry. Nearly 1,300 students from around Colorado attended the event. Photo by Nathan Thompson.

For the nearly 1,300 student journalists who attended J-Day at the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information on Wednesday, the sweeping changes hitting the industry—from technology, to geopolitics, to economics—were impossible to ignore, especially as many of them consider majoring in journalism when they get to college.

9News investigative reporter Marshall Zelinger (Jour’02) was not there to sweep those concerns away. But he encouraged students to rise to meet challenges, rather than backing down.

“Be adaptable,” Zelinger said. “Break habits and adapt to the change that comes with the unexpected.”

Photo by Jack Moody

For Zelinger, the keynote speaker and a presenter, adaptability means more than just learning new skills. It’s about facing the challenges the journalism industry brings head-on. And it’s a lesson he learned as a newly minted 51�Թ�� graduate pivoting from the sports he covered as a student to the news side of the business.

He quickly found he had a talent for simplifying complex political topics for an audience, a skill he’s used throughout his career. As a political journalist on Next With Kyle Clark, he asks newsmakers hard-hitting questions while providing balanced reporting in a time of heightened polarization and diminishing press freedoms.

Objectivity and journalism ethics were the themes of his breakout session. Truth has become harder to come by, as politicians stoke outrage among increasingly partisan bases and new tools allow for increasingly sophisticated deepfakes. Reporting, he said, is no longer as simple as presenting both sides of an issue and letting the reader decide what’s actually happening.

“When it comes to politics, and political ads, it’s just truth testing,” Zelinger said. “It’s doing what is factual and dissecting what is being said, instead of hearing opposing views with no contextual explanation between them.”

‘Energy and excitement’ from students

Photo by Nathan Thompson

J-Day is an annual celebration of journalism put on by the Colorado Student Media Association. For the second year in a row, CSMA brought its signature event to 51�Թ��, giving high-school students an up-close look at the industry through the eyes of reporters, CMDI alumni, faculty and others.

“I understand why people are concerned about the state of journalism, but I would encourage those people to experience an event like J-Day, to see how enthusiastic young people are about news,” said Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMDI and a former journalist. “Talking to the students who attended, and seeing their energy and excitement, gives me great confidence that journalism’s future is brighter than the pessimists believe.”

For student journalists like June Meehan, the chance to hear from Zelinger and others left her inspired to keep pursuing challenging stories. The senior from Fairview High School, in 51�Թ��, has faced administrative roadblocks in reporting on controversial topics, but left Zelinger’s talk ready to handle these challenges.

“Even if I’m interviewing people in power like our principal or our teachers, I’ll make sure to do the right thing and ask tough questions—even if it’s not the most comfortable subject,” she said.

That’s just the takeaway CMDI wanted for the students who attended J-Day.

“I hope students leave the day inspired to continue doing great journalism at their high schools and equipped with a powerful network of peers, alumni, faculty and industry pros who encourage them to pursue journalism as a field of study and career,” said Christi Wade, student recruitment program manager at the college.

Unsurprisingly, a session on artificial intelligence in journalism attracted a large crowd of students who were curious about the technology’s potential to simplify tedious tasks—like poring through thousands of pages of public records—but also replace or corrupt traditional reporting.

Photo by Nathan Thompson

“We as professionals are taught that journalism is unbiased, but A.I. doesn’t know everything,” said Sean Marcus, an interactive learning designer at MediaWise, the media literacy arm of the prestigious Poynter Institute.

Poynter partnered with CMDI as a stop on the institute’s 50th anniversary celebration, which includes a traveling exhibition on the history and future of journalism. J-Day students were invited to visit Moments of Truth, which remains open through Oct. 9.

“A.I. companies and products can be inaccurate,” Marcus said. “Other organizations and entities have control over how these technologies are created and implemented, so at its heart, A.I. is problematic.”

Sam Rauscher, a sophomore at Centaurus High School, in Lafayette, and junior editor-in-chief of the newspaper club, recognizes the struggles newsrooms face as A.I. becomes part of the conversation. It’s something he already sees as a student.

“As it makes its way into all of our classes and assignments, it does cause some fear—but there are still going to be some ways that humans can regulate it,” Rauscher said. “We have to be the center of the A.I., instead of running away from it, to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.”

He is eager to take what he learned at J-Day back to the classroom and use it to lead his team next year, when he’ll be editor-in-chief.

“A.I. is a tool that can be used to make our content better, but only if it’s used very strategically and carefully,” he said. “We’re not going to generate articles with it, but we can definitely get ideas and help from it.”

J-Day by the numbers

1,295
Students attended J-Day in 2025

62
High and middle schools that sent students to the event

48
Speakers led sessions

10
Sponsors supported J-Day at CMDI

Iris Serrano is studying strategic communication and journalism at CMDI. She covers student news and events for the college.

Nearly 1,300 student journalists visiting CMDI were urged to remain adaptable and innovative as A.I. and other changes disrupt newsgathering.

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