Student Work
Our students produce work that matters, starting Day One of freshman year. From crafting creative campaigns for national brands and nonprofits to covering important national issues like public health and politics, School of Media and Journalism students engage in real issues and with real clients through classwork, student media, professional organizations and internships.
By working on issues that matter, rather than more typical classroom assignments, our students graduate with portfolios that resemble those of professionals with several years of experience, giving them a competitive edge in the job search.
Read about some of the national campaigns, stories and events our students have worked on below. Or, visit the Kent State Student Media website to browse student work produced for our 10 student media outlets.
Internships
All students in the School of Media and Journalism complete a professional internship. See some of the work they produced in summer 2021 by browsing our intern spotlights.
Student Films
Kent State University Independent Films continues to create short student works of a topnotch quality. Here are a few examples and you can see more by visiting KSUIF's web page.
The short film "Pop" by Digital Media Production student Ben Kemper, '20, has had over 300,000 views on YouTube. Ben did his summer internship in 2019 with the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and has been making films since he was 10 years old. In that time, he's made over 50 shorts, commercials, documentaries, music videos and a feature film.
Pandemics and Politics
Journalism major Connor Steffen, '22, placed 18th nationally in the Hearst Journalism Awards — known as the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism — for stories about major national issues of the year 2020, localized for the Kent community.
“For both stories, I really enjoyed taking a somewhat complex issue (whether it be public health or politics related) and simplifying it for viewers. It's fun to take a story that might not be interesting to college students and try to tell it in a compelling way so that it is.”
Read more about Connor's recognition.
The Economic Impact of COVID-19
Students in Kent State’s School of Media and Journalism have been reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic in real time since its start, through student media and various class projects.
At the end of Spring 2021, one year into the worldwide public health crisis, students in two Kent State classes — Advanced Magazine Writing, taught by Professor Jacqueline Marino, and Storytelling with Sound, taught by instructor and WKSU Morning Edition Host Amanda Rabinowitz — teamed up to produce feature stories and podcasts on the economic fallout due to the pandemic.
Giving a Voice to the Elderly Through Film, Poetry
Digital Media Production students, led by Assistant Professor Dana White, created films based on poetry by residents of Cleveland's Judson Manor Retirement Living community. Professor White conceived the film poetry project after becoming deeply troubled by society's disregard for the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was created in partnership with the Wick Poetry Center.
View some of the poems below:
Climate Justice
When Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine issued a statewide “stay-at-home” order at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of Kent State University students immediately recognized an issue that almost nobody else was talking about: Not all homes are healthy homes.
The students were enrolled in the College of Communication and Information course Media and Movements and in the process of creating an advocacy campaign centered on climate justice, a term that refers to the disparities in how climate change is affecting already-marginalized communities. Watch the Public Service Announcement they created:
Campaign for Civility
In Spring 2021, a team of public relations students researched, planned, implemented and evaluated a campaign that raised awareness about the importance of civility. They created podcasts, virtual events and educational materials targeting Kent State freshmen in the College of Communication and Information as well as those involved with Student Media.