Murray State University Racer Report: July 5-9
By Shawn Touney | Jul 7, 2021
MURRAY, Ky. — See below for the latest news from Murray State University for the week of July 5-9.
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Murray State University’s department of journalism and mass communications (JMC) has received ninth place honors in the Hearst Journalism Awards Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition.
The Hearst Journalism Awards are among college journalism’s most prestigious awards. Schools receive honors by earning student points from the radio and two television competitions this academic year. Murray State JMC seniors Piper Cassetto (Louisville, Kentucky) and Hannah Bullard (Hopkinsville, Kentucky) received top 10 honors in broadcast competitions earlier this year. Cassetto won fifth place in the television features category while Bullard won sixth place in the audio competition.
Other universities that were among the top ten included the University of Florida, Arizona State University, Michigan State University, University of Missouri, Syracuse University, University of Texas at Austin, Kent State University, Penn State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Murray State’s journalism and mass communications department offers majors in advertising, graphic communication media, journalism, television production and public relations, with minors in advertising, graphic communication, journalism, media production and photography. The department also has graduate programs in mass communication and public relations.
“These awards evidence that our JMC students are nationally competitive, with rankings among programs much larger than ours,” said Kevin Qualls, chairman of the journalism and mass communications department.
The Hearst Journalism Awards added broadcast journalism to competitions in 1988. The program also includes five writing, two photojournalism, and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends annually. More than 100 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the awards.
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Murray State University psychology professor Dr. Dan Wann was recently featured on Good Morning America as part of a segment discussing extreme sports fandom. The video interview is available at https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/video/sports-fandom-crosses-line-78442844 .
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An article by Dr. Howard Whiteman, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and Director of the Watershed Studies Institute at Murray State University, was recently published at grist.org. The central topic is restoring coal mining lands for elk reintroduction and how these efforts can have positive economic implications for the Appalachian region. The article is available at https://grist.org/fix/opinion-elk-habitat-restoration-appalachia.