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The next generation in the newsroom

Hannah Stewart — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 23:07:13 +0000

The next generation in the newsroom Hannah Stewart Tue, 03/25/2025 - 17:07

Networking with industry professionals has been one of the highlights of Roch's time in CMCI, whether it's through student organizations or college events. Photo by Jack Moody (StratComm'24)

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

From his office, Chuck Plunkett can sometimes hear conversations from the conference room next door.

Often, it was a voice he came to recognize—his student, Lincoln Roch.

“I was impressed at his skill at working the phones,” said Plunkett, an associate teaching professor of journalism. “Every now and then, I would wander over and just chat with him about his technique.”

Plunkett has worked in newsrooms nationwide, so knows what he’s talking about when it comes to telephone techniques. But that’s not the only reason he expects Roch to succeed as a journalist.

“I noticed right away that he had a lot of skill as a reporter, and a lot of drive. And you need both of those to be a successful journalist,” he said.

Roch has already found success after transferring into CMCI’s journalism program just last fall. He previously attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, but after two years in their program, craved a change.

Roch estimates he spent at least 10 hours on the ground following McMillan and her opponent, Woog, as they spoke to undecided voters. Photo by Lincoln Roch; originally appeared in The Colorado Sun.

“CU was really the only place I considered transferring to—I grew up in Louisville and wanted to be close to home and friends,” Roch said. “I really love it here. I didn’t realize how many opportunities this school provides that I couldn’t get before.”

He quickly got to work integrating himself into the campus community—joining student media outlets like Sko Buffs Sports and the CU Independent, as well as the club freeskiing team. He also picked up a sports media minor and began internships at multiple publications, including the Daily Camera and Estes Valley Voice.

Roch’s passion for journalism goes back to his days contributing to Monarch High School’s student newspaper. In addition to covering general school news, he also wrote stories about the 2018 government shutdown and journalism’s role in preserving democracy, sparking a passion for political reporting.

His big break into the field came last fall, when he heard about PTA president-turned state representative candidate Jillare McMillan’s campaign for the District 19 seat. This was one of the most closely watched—and tightest—races in the 2024 state elections, and she ultimately lost to the Republican candidate, Dan Woog. But it was an unforgettable experience for Roch, who was looking for a dynamite story for his class with Plunkett.

“I thought, ‘This is just like Kamala Harris and what happened with her.’ But this woman has no campaign infrastructure. This woman is starting with no political experience, no staff, no money, and less time to pull this off,” he said. “So I pursued it, and it just kept getting more interesting.”

Soon, he learned that the new candidate, McMillan, was a Mormon endorsed by Planned Parenthood, and her campaign manager was a ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� junior. Her opponent was a Republican interested in renewable energy, who had previously held the District 19 seat but lost it in 2022.

Roch said covering the District 19 race was the hardest he ever worked on a story. Photo by Lincoln Roch; originally appeared in The Colorado Sun.

“It was so fun to write and especially being on the ground, I probably spent 10 hours literally following them while they knocked on doors,” Roch said. “That’s the hardest I’d ever worked on the story because I wanted to tell just how unique of a story it was.”

With a little help from Plunkett, who is also the director of CU News Corps, Roch contacted politics editor Jesse Paul from The Colorado Sun—who worked with Plunkett at The Denver Post—to publish the story. Seeing his story on the front page of what he considered to be the “gold standard of journalism in this state” was an exciting moment for Roch, and one that reinforced that this was the profession he wanted to do for “the rest of my life.”

After receiving an email from student media director Vicky Sama about submissions to the Hearst Feature Writing Competition, Roch submitted his story for consideration and ultimately received an honorable mention for his reporting.

“I see him working with other students and mentoring them, helping them navigate the world of journalism in these really tough times,” said Sama, an associate teaching professor of journalism. “So there’s something to be said about his passion and commitment to the profession. I think that’s admirable.”

This recognition helped, in part, to motivate him to further his involvement with CU journalism. Together with some other students, Roch pushed to reestablish the ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

“We all wanted an opportunity to, outside of classes, network with professional journalists and learn from them,” Roch said. “Each week, we’re going to try and bring in someone and have them share their insights, put on some workshops, talk about ethics and teach people how to improve their skills.”

As part of the effort, he connected with the SPJ Colorado president and helped organize the first three meetings.

“Lincoln has meant a lot to the program—he’s very much a significant contributor,” Plunkett said. “It kind of felt like a full-circle thing to now be teaching the next generation of Jesse Pauls and to see Lincoln, a definite contender for a future job in a newsroom like the Sun, making a connection with Jesse.”

Junior journalism student Lincoln Roch is making a splash on and off campus. He’s joined multiple student media organizations, held a handful of reporting internships and recently, received recognition in the Hearst Feature Writing Competition.

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In its fifth year, Mimesis Documentary Festival is getting more play

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 16:16:23 +0000

In its fifth year, Mimesis Documentary Festival is getting more play Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/13/2024 - 10:16

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

The Mimesis Documentary Festival, hosted by the College of Media, Communication and Information’s Center for Documentary and Ethnographic Media, will hold community film screenings, artist talks and more from Aug. 14 through 18. This year, they received nearly 300 submissions from more than 30 countries, and will feature more than 60 documentaries.

“Being five years in means that we’re fulfilling a need in the international documentary community—the need for a festival that’s really artist-focused and community based,” said Eric Coombs Esmail, director of the center.

If you go

What: Mimesis Documentary Festival

When: Aug. 14-18

Where: Venues throughout Boulder as well as virtual screenings

Who: Festival passes ($80) and virtual passes ($30) are available to the public. ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� community members are eligible for a 50% discount, and free tickets are available to ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� students.

Learn more and purchase tickets

Now that it’s a well-known annual event, the festival is attracting more community partnerships and sponsors. Cool Boulder, along with the Endangered Species Coalition, subsidized artist submission fees for projects addressing nature-based climate solutions. These projects are part of a special category of films called Moving Creatures that will be featured across two days in four different documentary and live performance blocks. Other sponsors include the City of Boulder and the Boulder Public Library.

Associate Professor Erin Espelie, who holds a joint appointment in both cinema studies and critical media practices, is also a filmmaker whose documentary, Gavia Stellata, will be featured as part of the block called The Tree Remembers. Emergent technologies and media art practices PhD candidates Laurids Sonne and Emma Piper-Burket will also have their works shown in a Moving Creatures block.

Two other particularly exciting pieces this year include the pre-festival screening of Feet in Water, Head on Fire by Terra Long and Cette Maison by artist in residence Miryam Charles.

Long’s film was screened Saturday, Aug. 10, at the Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Theater, and was followed up with a live Q&A with the filmmaker. While this is not the first time Mimesis has hosted a pre-festival screening, Coombs said this was special because of the collaboration.

“We’ve done pre-festival screenings twice previously, but they’ve been under the radar,” he said. “This year, our partnership with the Boulder Library to make sure the festival is reaching the community beyond just the event itself. The library has gotten more funding and it’s opened up a lot more avenues for collaboration.”

Artists in residence are chosen by the programming team, and Charles was the perfect candidate because the team saw her as “someone who really works at the boundary of what documentary might become.” Her film, which reflects on the unresolved death of her cousin, will be shown at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16, and she will host a master class the next morning at 10; both will take place at the Boedecker Cinema.

“The main goal is to host something that is valuable not only to the artists, but to the broader Front Range community in general,” Coombs said. “We want to make Mimesis sustainable and something that can survive the test of time. We want to grow the community we’ve built and demonstrate to that documentary is for everyone.”

The growing Mimesis Documentary Festival is returning for its fifth year, this time with more sponsors and community support.

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Information science professor wins educational research award

Anonymous — Wed, 10 May 2023 17:39:39 +0000

Information science professor wins educational research award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/10/2023 - 11:39

By Hannah Stewart (Comm’19)

For Ricarose Roque, educational justice and equity are paramount. As an assistant professor in the Department of Information Science, much of her research explores the concept of inclusive learning experiences. This research—which often considers the place of technology in a learning environment—won her recognition by Division C of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Ricarose Roque
Assistant Professor
Information Science

Each year, the AERA recognizes education researchers and Roque, who also has a courtesy appointment in the School of Education, was honored with the Jan Hawkins Award, which highlights contributions to humanistic research and scholarship in learning technologies.

“Far too often, research on learning with technology focuses on the coldly cognitive aspects of learning,” explained Joe Polman, associate dean for research in CU’s School of Education. “In contrast, this award is designed to recognize research and development on learning with technologies that takes into account how human beings have complex and important lives.”

Through the Creative Communities research group, Roque and her team have been conducting research that engages with communities at multiple levels. For example, some projects explore computing outside the classroom while others investigate relationship and identity building.

The Family Creative Learning workshops she designed “build on families’ relationships and cultural backgrounds and to strengthen their social support and expertise around computing,” according to the program’s website.

Inspired by her family’s Filipino culture and the experience of growing up as an immigrant in the U.S., Roque creates her projects and programs in such a way that supports and uplifts local communities. As a result, since coming to CMCI, she has received grants from the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

“Like Jan Hawkins, Ricarose recognizes the great potential for new technologies in the learning process, but she has a humanist’s perspective on the centrality of social and cultural context,” MIT Professor of Learning Research Mitchel Resnick wrote in his letter nominating Roque. “Also, like Jan, Ricarose brings a warmth and kindness to everything she does, always willing to help and support others, both emotionally and intellectually.”

Roque was selected by a committee that included five individuals from universities across the country and honored at the 2023 AERA annual conference, which was held in April in Chicago. As a recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award, Roque will receive a $500 stipend, plaque and opportunity to speak at next year’s AERA award session.

“I feel very proud and humbled to receive this award, especially as it honors Jan Hawkins' legacy of humanistic research and uses of learning technologies that respect young people and their communities,” Roque said.

Ricarose Roque, assistant professor in the Department of Information Science was recognized by the American Educational Research Association for her work focusing on technology and education.

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Today: "Science writer wins top honor among national peers"

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 18:08:52 +0000

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Today: "Science writer wins top honor among national peers" Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/23/2020 - 12:08

Featuring Lisa Marshall (Strategic Relations and Communications)

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� to host symposium on “What is a Feminist Lab?”

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Apr 2019 18:01:17 +0000

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� to host symposium on “What is a Feminist Lab?” Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/12/2019 - 12:01

Researchers from labs across the country will come together on ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� campus for a two-day symposium exploring how feminist approaches can be integrated into lab settings.

The “What Is a Feminist Lab?” symposium is free and open to the public and will take place April 17-18 in the university’s Norlin Library. Seats will be available on a first come, first served basis.

During the symposium, which will include both presentations and lab tours, speakers will survey the lab landscape and examine the proliferation of labs, drawing on intersectional feminist approaches. The event is meant to create a dialogue among lab leaders and collaborators from across the U.S. and Canada, as well as students and faculty from various interdisciplinary university labs.

Featured speakers include: Ashley Baccus-Clark, a molecular and cellular biologist and multidisciplinary artist based in New York; Ingrid Burrington, a writer and map maker based in New York; Max Liboiron, an assistant professor of geography at Memorial University of Newfoundland; Elizabeth Losh, an associate professor of English and American studies at the College of William and Mary in Virginia; Tara McPherson, a professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts; Marisa Parham, a professor of English at Amherst College in Massachusetts; Jacqueline Wernimont, an associate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire; and Darren Wershler, an associate professor of English at Concordia University in Montreal.

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� will also provide lab tours and presentations of the Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship; the Media Archaeology Lab; the Unstable Design Lab; Nature, Environment, Science and Technology Studio for the Arts; and Blow Things Up Lab.

The symposium will take place on Wednesday, April 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Norlin Library, room N410. Lab tours will be led on Thursday, April 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., also beginning in the Norlin Library, room N410, and then at each lab’s location starting at 10:30 a.m.

The event is co-organized by Professor and Director of Digital Scholarship for the Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship Thea Lindquist, PhD Candidate and Curator of the Media Archaeology Lab Maya Livio, and Associate Professor and Director of the Media Archaeology Lab Lori Emerson. Major sponsors for the symposium are the Media Archaeology Lab and the Center for Research Data and Digital Scholarship. A list of co-sponsors and additional information can be found on the symposium’s web page.

———————————————————————————————————————

If you go:

What: “What is a Feminist Lab?” Symposium

Who: Free and open to the public, with seats available on a first come, first served basis

When: Wednesday, April 17, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday, April 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Where: Norlin Library Room N410 on April 17th and on April 18th beginning at Norlin Library N410, then at each lab’s location starting at 10:30am

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Center for Environmental Journalism seeking 2017-2018 fellows

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 00:23:37 +0000

Center for Environmental Journalism seeking 2017-2018 fellows Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 01/03/2017 - 17:23

Applications are now being accepted for the 2017-2018 fellowship. Each year, five exceptional journalists are awarded a Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism.

Over a nine-month period, fellows attend classes at the University of Colorado Boulder, participate in weekly seminars and field trips, and pursue their own journalistic projects on a wide range of environmental topics. Former fellows have gone on to collect Pulitzer Prizes for their work, authored best-selling books, and headed up some of the nation's most respected news organizations.

Visit the Center for Environmental Journalism for more information on the fellowship and how to apply.

Each year, five exceptional journalists are awarded a Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalism. Applications are now being accepted for the 2017-2018 fellowship.

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The next generation in the newsroom

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In its fifth year, Mimesis Documentary Festival is getting more play

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Information science professor wins educational research award

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���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ Today: "Science writer wins top honor among national peers"

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���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ to host symposium on “What is a Feminist Lab?”

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Center for Environmental Journalism seeking 2017-2018 fellows

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Today: "Science writer wins top honor among national peers"

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� to host symposium on “What is a Feminist Lab?”