What an exciting academic year. We began in the fall with fully on-site classes. Through this wave of the pandemic, we have had shifting guidelines, occasional remote learning, and yet the students persevered and made it a memorable year.

In my personal life, I welcomed my new son, am relocating (locally), and am now moving into the Chair’s office. Professionally, the film is in post-production, the book is moving forward, and the classes were all very successful.

I do want to take a moment to congratulate all our students, colleagues, and staff for such an amazing academic year. We all have so much to be proud of. As Professor Sperry (pictured below/photo by Professor Megan Sperry) tells us, Teamwork makes the Dream Work. And this year enjoyed quite a bit of team work. From our successful Ottaway Seminar, to the Legislative Gazette, to the Lambda Pi Eta induction ceremony, we have seen one accomplishment after another. Among them include new opportunities through our alumni and Foundation Board members Ed Carroll and Gina Carroll, two remarkable people we are honored to welcome back to our area. Their generosity created the podcasting class (see the article below), and have created scholarship opportunities for our DMJ students.

As I enter the Chair’s office, I recognize the responsibility in helping shape and move forward our exciting programs and majors with an eye toward media’s complex future. For now, I welcome everyone to take a breath, and enjoy some professionally produced podcasts courtesy of Professor Barry.